~The Speth Family~: My House Threw Up

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

My House Threw Up

Really, it did. It spewed all kinds of grossness from every nook and cranny. And guess what? It was my fault. I made it sick. Why? AAAAAAAAGGGGH! I could use a Merry Maid. Actually, that wouldn't even help right now. There is nothing a "merry" can do about this situation - its on hold. On damp, dirtless (except for the usual black spots) fresh smelling carpet - hold.

We had a weird Father's Day weekend. It started with my inability to control my desires. I try so hard, honestly, but after awhile I just explode and we end up in a mess. My desires, of course always have to do with improving our living space. I have a list. Its loooong. Its expensive. I can't afford it.

To curb those appetites, I paint. Its semi cheap, right? At least if you guess the right color on the first try. John has come home more than once to find me in the middle of an unexpected big painting mess. I have a purple wall in the dining area which he never would have agreed to - that sort of thing. I have had an itching to paint Ammon's room for some time. When we bought the house I painted that room a fun, girly green and I liked it (at least I liked the color of the second gallon after the first made me puke, but not literally). I made curtainy things and drapes to cover the closet opening. Lately I have been starting to feel that puky feeling again. I spend a lot of time in Ammon's room - I don't want to feel puky any more. For some odd reason I included John (or warned him anyway) this time. Really, I needed to make sure it would fit in the budget. Because truthfully, the whole painting thing might have been avoided if I could afford a bunch of hardwood and some new carpet. OK, probably not. The painting was to take my mind off of other, more expensive projects that I have to save up for.

On with the story. Thursday afternoon John called to see what we were doing and I told him to guess. Next came his BIG mistake. His reply was, "You're painting Ammon's room?" And he said it without any annoyance in his voice. That lack of annoyance stuck in my head for a full 24 hours until I couldn't hold it in any longer. We have been staying home with Ammon, but the girls needed something to give their dad for Father's day and I HATE to pick stuff out for them. Its not really a good gift unless you put some thought into it and I let the girls do the thinking for themselves. So we made a quick trip out so the girls could surprise John. Since we were out, we might as well swing by Home Depot, right?

After the van battery died and Tara had to leave work to drive us to the train station to get John's truck we made it home equipped with all kinds of painting paraphernalia. I cleaned out Ammon's room before John got home so he wouldn't have to do as much and so we wouldn't be able to put the project off. I had no where to put Ammons stuff and so we added his room to our room (and the hall and my bathroom, and the other hall and the dining room). That's where the mess started. It got worse from there. I spent a good portion of the day changing my mind about the paint color. I made an early trip to Home Depot to have them add a little more green so it wouldn't look "peachy" cuz that would make me more sick than girly green. I still didn't like it so John dumped a bunch out and added almost half a gallon of white that I had bought for the baseboards. Perfect. Then I spent the next couple of hours painting with John and trying to decide if we were going to go back to home depot later, buy more paint and start over. John is soooo much more patient than he used to be.

We finished sometime late that night (Happy Father's Day, honey! This year your gift is a great big LONG day of manual labor! YAY!!!!). We had to let it dry really good and then we decided to clean the carpets since the room is empty so we are still in a mess. I haven't slept in days (weaning the methadone, stretching Ammon's intestines - ooops - I mean stomach - so he can hold a full feeding, and possible teething makes for a cranky baby who doesn't want to sleep).

As soon as the carpets dry I am putting everything back together. Thanks, but no, I don't want help. I am too stubborn and particular for that. In the meantime, we are cleaning out closets, the girls room, and throwing away a lot of junk. It is 1pm and I am still in my pajamas - what have I done? Maybe I will have learned my lesson after all of this. Probably not. OK lunch break is over, back to the carpets...
The before (girly green)

The mess...

More mess....

The (almost) after

5 comments:

JulieJune 22, 2010 at 7:37 PM
I LOVE it! You and I are so similar Suzi! Matt has never once known when I was planning to paint. I would wait until I knew he was leaving town for work and he would just come home to a totally different color somewhere in the house. :) He just learned to stop even saying anything about it. :) P.S. I love the room!
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John SpethJune 22, 2010 at 10:14 PM
Julie - I really like your idea of waiting until Matt leaves town to paint. I think I could go for that, but as it is I get to have the lovely opportunity of painting along side my wife listening to her change her mind 20 times (yes, no, yes, no) until she decides that it will have to do because she can't bear the thought of going back to home depot for another gallon of paint (cuz what happens if I don't like that one ... what would I do then).
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wanderlustfamJune 23, 2010 at 1:18 PM
funny! The room looks nice.
Every time you write about you it makes me miss you so much!!
I wish I could have been there to help, wait no painting for me I'm a mess, maybe just watch and smile and laugh (the peanut gallery, like old times) :O)
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John and SuziJune 24, 2010 at 7:03 AM
Hey - JOHN. In my defense - remember the time you went on a business trip and I removed a few inches of heavy clay from the back flower beds, put down fabric, bought a load of soil pep and filled it back up? Al before you got home? And how many times (pre-soil pep) I weeded that stinkin gigantic flower bed full of crazy tall, thick grass while you were away? How quick to forget. What a shame.
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John and SuziJune 24, 2010 at 7:04 AM
peanut gallery - that made me chuckle.
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