I am proud to reveal the new un-white guest bedroom ~ ~ ~ !

Rick helped put the room back together yesterday and I ironed the curtains before putting them up. The curtain rods needed a little attention since they were pulling away from the walls and the screws were somehow stripped, but other than that all went well. We are really happy with the whole feel of the room now. We think it’s very inviting and cozy! And a big change from what it used to be.

Not the best photos in the world since it was a dark day. (Not complaining about the darkness at all since we finally got some much needed rain—2.34 inches worth!)

The green space is all around us (outside). The rain over the past few days has really made the trees unfurl those leaves at a rapid pace. I love the color of new green. There is nothing quite like it. It’s nothing like the middle-of-the-road green of summer. I love this time of year!

Bee on something sweet smelling on my street. Honeysuckle? Taken today.

I have my husband home tonight after one week of having been gone from us. His body is here but his mind is not. He had a hard week. I’m glad to have him home again.

Alex was the most excited of us all and gave him what I like to call his cry-baby greeting. It was so sweet. I was glad to see him too but I think Alex’s greeting was the best.

I don’t get that when I come home, but then again, I am never away from home anymore unless Rick is with me. After all, I’m just Mom who is always here. Mom feeds. She scoops dog stuff and cat stuff and cleans up after us when we make a mess.

Maybe that needs to be fixed.

When my Mom was alive I at least got to break away for a night when I went up to get her to bring her down to New Jersey and Rick got to deal with dogs/cats/feeding/scooping/at home things while I was gone for a short time. Since her death I really have nowhere to go. sniff, sniff. (insert really feeling sorry for myself here.)

I could get on an airplane, but that costs money. And lots of planning. And not my most favorite thing in the world. And, really, where would I go? I want to be taken care of, not take care of someone else if I go somewhere. I have enough of that at home. Is that selfish? Yes. Completely.

There is no clear answer to my dilemma. So, here I am, and here I will stay.

Feeding, scooping, letting dogs in and out, etc.

I know I have so many things to be thankful for, and I am. I am thankful for everything I have in my life, but sometimes the daily routine just gets tiresome and I would love a break. Not really complaining; not really. Well, maybe just a little…

Rick is in Vegas all this week at a trade show. So, while he’s away I am turning what used to be a white space into a more colorful one. The guest bedroom!

When we moved into our house everything was a shade of white. Off-white, but white. The walls were white, the curtains (made out of nice white sheets) were white. We’ve gradually changed all the white walls and white curtains out to be more of our taste. I’m not quite sure why I waited so long to give the guest bedroom a boost.

I like to paint but I am a messy painter. I need to mask everything off which takes quite a bit of time. Yesterday I bought the paint and tape and proceeded to mask the room. Then I trimmed out all the windows, doors and electrical sockets. I hate the trimming task! Ugh!

Today it’s on with the rolling, hurrah!

I ordered a new bedspread, dust ruffle and pillow shams for the bed and new curtains for the windows. Only problem is that it all needs to be ironed and I am not an ironing sort of girl. I hate it. I usually put more wrinkles in than I take out of whatever poor thing I happen to be ironing.

Guests are arriving one week from Friday so I need to have everything done and the room aired out so it doesn’t smell like fresh paint for them. Personally I love the smell of fresh paint but it could get nauseating in a close space. I don’t want sick guests!

Be gone white!

Literally speaking that is.

The other day I was trying to get photos of the little fledgling ferns unfolding. It was necessary to lay on the ground in order to shoot them since they are not very tall. I’ve tried several times to get a good shot of them, but so far I’ve not been pleased. This particular photo shoot was about the same. Nothing much. I deleted them all except for one and even that one was not what I wanted.

In the middle of the night the bathroom was calling me. So, I got out of bed and walked to the bathroom, stepping over Alex who likes to sleep in the doorway between the bathroom and the bedroom.

On the way back to bed I reached up to scratch my head. Hmmm … there was a little bump like a pimple. I got back into bed and got to thinking about what that tiny bump might mean. I reached up again to explore that part of my scalp, parting my hair with the fingers on my left hand. Oh. NO!!! No doubt about it, I had a tick embedded in my scalp! Yuck! I really wanted to go back to sleep because normally when I get awakened at that hour I can’t get back to sleep if I make myself too awake.

But. There was a tick. Embedded in my head. How could I just go back to sleep knowing that? What I really wanted to do was scream at Rick “I’VE GOT A TICK IN MY HEAD. WAKE UP AND GET IT OUT!” but I couldn’t bring myself to wake him up.

Back up, stepping over Alex and in the bathroom once again I forced myself to grab the tick with my fingers as close to my scalp that I could get and pulled. He came out easily thank goodness, head and all. He died a not so quick death (those things just keep wiggling their legs) and I went back to bed.

But I couldn’t sleep. Every little tickle on my body became a tick crawling. I had to keep reaching out, checking, just to make sure. There weren’t any more of course, but I had the creepy-crawlies by then. You know how that is, don’t you?

I hate ticks.

Here is the reason for a tick in my head.

Totally not worth it. Why don’t they make Frontline for people?