Adventures in Dizzy Painting, Take 2

My Apologies

I like to blog through projects because I can almost pretend I'm on one of those home makeover shows... almost... because no big sponsor came through to pay for the materials... there is no secret crew that comes in and does all the work... there is no hot carpenter on the job who can and does build anything you need... and it's always far from perfect at the end. Nonetheless, it is kind of fun to blog projects - so I apologize if I'm boring you with them :)

It also seems sillier than usual since some of my readers have recently purchased new houses and are in the midst of much bigger projects on said houses, so my bedroom painting marathon is nothing... but here it is anyway. And by the way, I'm still waiting for pictures of the progress on YOUR projects... (you know who you are).

The Rationale
I am planning to move into the small room (formerly Patty's, Lisa's, Kara's, Donal's room - all at different times). It's definitely small, but I don't really spend any time in my room except to sleep, so I'm happy having a smaller room (or theoretically I am, we'll see once I try it). Lisa did a beautiful painting job in there when it was her room, nice dry brush decorative painting on the bottom. But it's tan, varying shades of tan. And I'm not a girl who can have a tan room. I need color. Besides it's got a lot of dings and nail holes from the subsequent inhabitabts, and it's time to repaint.

The Color Scheme
Choosing a color is always hard. Part of me wanted to branch out, but my quilt (that I spent a lot of time on) is blue and yellow, and I still want to use my quilt, even if it isn't quite done (though I've been using it for over 4 years now). Admittedly, blue and yellow are my favorite colors - my kitchen is yellow, I have a perwinkle blue dining room, and a mural of the ocean (in blue) in the basement family room... yeah, I'm pretty predictable. My current room is yellow on top and dark blue sponge painting under the chair rail. I almost bought yellow paint for the new room, but made a last minute decision to branch out and picked "rain water blue". (I know, it's not that much of a stetch, but it's at least a little different).

So the walls are now rain water blue, which is really pale blue. Maybe too pale, though in a tiny room I didn’t want anything too bright. The dresser and the shelves will be chocolate brown, with silver handles on the dresser. I think I'm going to like it a lot and am already thinking about curtain fabric... so many possibilities.

Before

Adventures in Dizzy Painting, Take 1

Hello Readers,

As usual, I have ambitious plans for my weekend. Sadly, some of these ambitious plans are already being crossed off the list because of this nifty little thing I seem to have acquired called "vertigo"... yeah. Tuesday morning I woke up, got out of bed to turn off the alarm, and had to grab the bed to keep from falling over... I naturally tried to pass it off as dehydration (not likely), uh... allergies? also not likely, just a random dizzy spell? I can't really complain because I've been able to mostly function normally. While sitting it's fine, so driving isn't a problem. The only real problem comes from looking down or looking up, or standing up quickly. All of which cause the room to spin, momentary seasickness, and some exhaustion.

Today I broke down and went to the doctor, who says I have mild positional vertigo (it's related to what position I am in or something like that). She gave me a prescription for an anti-dizzy medication to take and some exercises to do to help dislodge the crystal in my inner ear probably causing this. She also instructed me to avoid high ladders and dangerous projects. Okay. Back at work I took said medication, but I couldn't really tell the difference. Still kind of dizzy, but functional.

Ever the optimist, I headed for Home Depot as soon as I was off work. I bought the supplies, picked up a stack of my painting equipment from my brother's house and headed home to my dogs.

The Original Plan

Small Bedroom:
- move everything out of the room- guest bed, bedding, etc
- remove closet doors
- remove shelves (for painting)
- spackle and prime walls
- paint walls
- paint shelves and dresser


Large Bedroom:
- Replace ceiling fan
- remove all nails
- spackle walls


The Modified Plan is still too optimistic, but at least I am admitting that changing a ceiling fan when a person can't really look up isn't going to happen. I'd still like to do those other things, but realistically am not sure how much I'm going to get done.

Only after arriving home, Friday evening, did I notice this little bit of information... which is terribly ironic seeing as the doc prescribed this to combat dizzyness.



Regardless, I took another dose, made coffee, drugged the Suze, and was ready for action...


Randomly, this is how Suzie takes her benedryl: stale cracker, peanut butter, pills.


After moving all the bedding to the basement, throwing in a load of sheets, removing dead bouquet from visiting bridesmaid (found under one of the beds), taking down the shelves, and removing the nails from the wall, I had to lay down I was so dizzy.


Scrap Friday night. Instead my friend came over and we watched a movie and hung out for the rest of the dizzy evening.

Today I was walking out to my car as the same time as my boss, the Cat in the Hat. "So..." he says, conversationally. "What do you do in the evenings?" My mind goes blank. What do I do in the evenings? Well, it depends on the day... the minute... I might do laundry. I might bike with the dogs. I will probably spend some part of it outside in the yard. I kick a ball a lot. I play softball. I hang out with my friends. I attend "Craft nights at Karen's" which is a bunch of my lady friends watching a movie and doing projects. Sometimes I go to women's group. Sometimes I do projects around the house. Or replace toilet innards. Or hang pictures. Or bathe the dogs. Or fanatically clean something. Or make lists of things to do and projects I want to do. Sometimes I just go have dinner at a friend's and watch their toddler bounce off the walls until bedtime. Sometimes I have a friend over and we just catch up. Sometimes I go to Encyclical Guild. Or to softball practice. Or iron linens for church. Sometimes I waste time on the computer listening to moist licking. I don't know... What do I do in the evenings??


I know my boss is trying to get to know me (he often asks what I do on the weekends)... and I'm not actually trying to avoid the question... but I don't really know how to explain my life sometimes... (or I'm afraid to admit what my weekends really look like).


The real question is: What do people do in the evenings?

More terms from Neverland

I enjoy going over test results and finding this:

"Stability Test....................... FAIL"

I think that applies to me some days (maybe most days).


And one that doesn't usually apply to me, but does apply to the moms going through menopause and some of my preggo friends:

"Abnormal Temperature Test.............. PASS"

Tidbits

A few Neverland tidbits to share...

___________Tidbit 1___________________

As you might expect, learning a new job (all things electrical safety) you might encounter some new terms. Being a person with a quirky sense of humor, sometimes these words provide endless entertainment inside my quirky brain... Here's one of my favorites:

"Creepage"

--The dictionary says: "(electricity) The conduction of electricity across the surface of a dielectric" which is what they mean when they use it at work.

--What goes through my quirky brain: Haha, creepage, oh yes creepage. So many good examples of creepage: some of the guys a friend dated... "I love you for your young womb" (said by one such creep)... my cousin butt bumping me while dancing... Brendan touching Betsy's leg to silence her (back in college days)... you name it! Creepage. It's my new favorite word.

___________Tidbit 2___________________
Most mornings, somewhere between 8:15 and 8:30, a few of us trek down to the cafeteria to fill our large mugs. The group is usually Thing 1 and Thing 2, Foo Foo the Snoo, Red, and me. The water trek usually comes with free entertainment, mostly because Foo Foo and Thing 2 like to bicker... so sometimes the rest of us just hang back a few steps to watch.

A couple mornings ago, Foo Foo reached for a straw after filling her large water mug. The straw container was empty!! Oh no. Foo Foo immediately asked the kitchen staff, who said we were out. Foo Foo wailed: "What am I going to DOOO???" I nearly busted out laughing, until I realized she was serious. Oh boy. My plan was to drink out of large mug without a straw that day. Foo Foo had no such plans. "I can't drink out of this huge thing! Now I'm gonna have to get another cup, I can't BELIEVE they are OUT OF STRAWS!!" (In case you can't tell, Foo Foo is a bit of a drama queen).

Overheard this morning in the Coliseum (my name for the area of cubes I work in).

Thing 2 to Foo Foo (his big sister): Wanna go get water?

Foo Foo (in her loud whiny voice that she only uses with Thing 2 - guess it's a sibling thing): What? Nooo, will you get me water?

Thing 2 (in his rebellious bratty teenage brother voice, that he only uses with Foo Foo): No! I'm not getting you water. I get you stuff all the time. Get your own water!

Foo Foo: What? You don't get me stuff all the time? That's ridiculous. You got me Arby's once. I got you this JOB!!

Thing 2: Yeah well, you can get your own water!!

....

Thing 2 to me (in a normal adult voice): Hey, wanna get water?

Me: Sure...

___________Tidbit 3___________________

Another part of my job entails looking up component certifications on this website. Once you've found one component and need to search for the next, you get to hit this link...

Haha. "OCD home." I love it. Maybe I relate to it a little too much, but it always makes me chuckle.

___________Tidbit 4___________________

I haven't said much about the lab guys who work with my group. One of them is middle aged, obviously has been doing it a long time. I couldn't put my finger on why he looked so familiar, until Red at work referred to him as "Willie Wonka" and suddenly it all made sense. Imagine this guy with lab glasses that are actually your bifocals and regular glasses and you can picture one of my coworkers. His code name is obvious (though not Dr Suess themed).

The other lab guy is younger (maybe a couple years younger than me), he does not wear lab glasses outside the lab, is really cute, but doesn't really speak much. Sigh. We'll call him Quiet Man. I only see him once a week if that these days, and, like I said, he doesn't talk much, so I don't have much material to share here. Stay tuned. Maybe someday I'll actually talk to him.

This has been Tidbits from Neverland, tune in next time to...

Gardening Drop Out

I feel like a gardening drop out. Usually this time of year, I have seedlings taking over my entire dining room, getting big and ready to go into the garden. This year, I didn't plant a single seed inside... sigh... like I said, I feel like a gardening drop out. The sensible, realistic person within argues that it's been a crazy few months, that there have been more important things to deal with than seedlings, etc. but the crazy overachiever still can't believe I didn't plant the seedlings, feels like a failure, and is realizing that I'll have to go buy plants for the garden in a couple weeks. Oh well, you can't do it all, even if you're a crazy overachiever who wants to.


But hey, a day at farmer's market picking out all the seedlings to plant will be fun :)