At my Mom-in -Law’s suggestion, the boys took the dragon with them to Lowe’s and picked a paler color of the tongue. The first coat is actually up on the walls now, it does make the room feel smaller as she warned, but we love it so far by daylight, florescent bulb, and reflected lights from the hall. Its actually a yellow orange according to the paint can. When M was allowed into the room after the paint stuff was cleared away, he began running in counterclockwise circles for 15 min. I hope his reaction doesn’t mean he’ll have trouble settling down to sleep in there – but perhaps B will wake up earlier in the morning? That would be a lovely side effect. Color is tricky and emotional. I’m glad DH tackled the problem directly with the children, and let me stay home to pack my bookshelves.
The work day was a great success: Thursday night two college guys from church gave us a head start by clearing out the boxes B had packed of his books and toys. This morning our first set of volunteers arrived (we had 10 people total today, but not all at once). By 11AM B’s room was completely empty, and I’d vacuumed and high dusted, in addition, M had been taken to the park and had gone puddle jumping. He was then duly changed and warmed up with cocoa. By lunch the middle 6 volunteers had moved our desks and drawers into the new study. By 3:00 PM all the boxes from the old study and closet were crammed into the new study (Deep breaths Chris, at some time they will be unpacked and you can use your sewing desk, it will happen, have faith. But in the mean time, DH and the guys made sure you can get your e-mail and blogging fix by hooking up the computer and keeping this desk clean and available!) The ladies were nearly done washing down the walls in the new bedroom with TSP by 3:30. By supper, the last set of volunteers had taped the woodwork and painted the first coat of paint. My Mom figured that as long as she had a bucket of TSP, and it had made the old eggshell-white flat paint look so much better, she’d tackle the grubby walls in other places of the house. I grabbed the high duster and took out cobwebs all over the place – I actually enjoyed it, I guess I am capable of nesting after all.
Because our landlord is giving us special dispensation to paint in the first place, we untaped and wiped down the woodwork as he requested, so we will have to tape again before we can get the second coat of paint on, but we are way ahead of the proposed schedule as it is: the original plan didn’t have us even washing walls until Monday night.
Now the plan is for my Mom to watch the boys Monday night while DH and I go to IKEA to buy the furniture and make sure we get into the delivery queue in time to receive the shipment before next Saturday.
I mostly stuck to my job of food provider and M distracter. M and I drover over to Seabra’s the Protuguese/Brazilian grocery store to get fresh bread and cold cuts for lunch, and then to Dunkin’ Doughnuts for a box of coffee and 50 munchkins. I broiled some chicken breast to offer a low sodium alternative to cold cuts, several of our volunteers have just started treatment for very high blood pressure. Then I blew it for them by putting out salsa and chips in the afternoon. For supper I made pizza, but that was easy because Thursday I’d made triple the dough, and grated triple the cheese with my mixer attachment, then tucked them in the freezer for today.
I think next week I’ll make my Mother-in-law’s recipe of ‘stromboli’ – Italian bread with cold cuts and green onion rolled up and baked together for lunch, not sure what low sodium alternative to offer, but I’ll think of something. Pizza is a standby, So we’ll keep that on for supper. Maybe instead of chips, I’ll put out cheese and grapes. Only about half of the box of coffee was drunk, so I’ll brew a smaller carafe myself (we don’t have an electric coffee maker, I make coffee one cup at a time, which isn’t very convenient for crowds).
The food seemed to be an important morale booster for the men, they enjoyed the check off chart and floor plan too, but the ladies didn’t seem to have quite as much fun today, the small hauling things weren’t as well organized as the big ones, and I hadn’t thought through what sorts of cleaning supplies I’d need to have on hand for them. Other women can be intimidating, especially the ones who have made an art out of cleaning. I don’t think I quiet carried off my interactions with them with as much grace and confidence as I’d hoped to.
I’m not really sure how much school we can get it this next week. Going from 10 adult volunteers to me and two children plus a tired husband after work is like leaving the highway to drive down a residential street. I hope I can stomach the boxes-boxes-everywhere feeling. Maybe we can escape to the library or the park where it is spaceous and orderly, we can’t really move the boys’ stuff into the new room until there is furniture to put it in (and a second coat of paint), unpacking the study will take time when the boys are occupied otherwise, but I don’t want to over use the PBSkids!
Hosting a work party seems to effect me like jet-lag. It is nearly 4AM, I’ve been wide awake for two hours, and my muscles are tense. Now that my head has dumped out all these thoughts, maybe I can get to sleep? Maybe I’ll take a bath now – that would make one less person to clean up before the rush-out-the-door-to-Sunday-School-after-oatmeal. I’m so glad our Sunday tradition is to hang out at my Mom’s house for dinner. Her house isn’t full of boxes, though with all the stuff we pack to play with, you’d think we were weekend guests, not afternoon visitors.
Wow! It sounds like a barn raising!
Give yourself more grace on trying to get school done this week–maybe it's time for a museum/library field trip that won't be able to happen for awhile after the baby comes!
Blessings,
Annie