Additional degrees of difficulty.

Two brief tales of yesterday:

First, our morning paint spot-check led to the discovery of a few inevitable drops of blue paint on an off-white ceiling. And the eventual related discovery that we have eight different shades of off-white paint (!) stored in cans downstairs from the previous owners. And the later discovery that none of these shades were distantly related to the upstairs ceiling, after multiple patch tests (!!). And the eventual resolution whereby Matt chipped out a small section of the ceiling and took it to the Depot for a paint match, which will now be close enough to use to touch up. We were briefly confronted with the possibility of painting the whole ceiling, then of course basically re-doing the room because ceiling paint always splatters onto the walls...speaking of brief moments of despair. So hurray for the modern miracle of paint matching, and we'll hope to get the touch-up work done tonight and tomorrow.

Second, the Tuckmeister had an incredible meltdown, even for him, at the grocery store yesterday. Sunday afternoon at 2:45 p.m. is apparently an incredibly busy time at the Soopers, so we were four deep in line with everyone's full carts. By the time we were next, he lost all patience and indeed his tenuous grip on reality. (It is worth noting that the people in front of us took this opportunity to fill out the form for a discount card, then to pay by check--I am not kidding, almost 10 minutes of forms--they were NOT HELPING!) He threw a full-body tantrum and when I picked him up he hit me in the face repeatedly and sent my glasses flying. Luckily they did not break. But we seriously had an audience of at least 25 people when I put him down for a second to grab my glasses, and he rolled over and LICKED THE FLOOR. Of the grocery store, on a very muddy/ slimy/ snowy day, the week after he recovered from pneumonia. So I picked him up again and let him flail over my shoulder for a few more minutes before he finally went limp. The man behind me was heard to comment that he would have been beaten at that age for acting like that, right before he congratulated me on doing a great job for not hitting him. That was sweet, really.

I love my son even when he has completely lost his tree. And he did calm down and give me big sorry hugs and sloppy kisses afterwards which did restore our equilibria considerably. Still, I would be the first to invest in a toddler-arm-restraint system of some sort if a humane option were available. Imagine, say, a vest with wristbands that would restrict arm movement by pinning arms and hands to the ribcage with strong magnets after 5 seconds of arm-flailing trigger the system. Any takers? Thoughts for improvement?

Obligations.

The painting is well underway upstairs, although we will be doing the final spot check in the morning with good daylight before the final room cleanup and reset begins. The bug put in an hour's worth of heroic effort painting the edges near the trim with a small brush, and she got a special painting hairdo which meant she actually let me put her hair in a ponytail for approximately 2.5 seconds. She does not approve of hairstyling in general, although she will occasionally let me put some curls in her hair on truly momentous occasions like Easter and school picture day.

This will mean night 2 of sleeping on the floor/couch in the living room due to room rearrangement, and this is unlikely to be restful but it's better than the alternative of sleeping in a not-quite-dry-latex-smelling room with the window open during a mild snowstorm. The children are both in bed and nominally asleep which is great but also unlikely to last. Tuck learned to make siren noises yesterday afternoon and made sure we knew he had gained this valuable knowledge this morning at 2 a.m. which was mildly alarming until I realized there wasn't an ambulance outside in my half-awake fogginess.

Tomorrow church, then the cleanup. And perhaps a few long-overdue thank-you notes, and grant writing, and a few minutes of bliss visualizing a blank to-do list...

Change of scene.

Tomorrow we will be painting the master bedroom an actual color. This is hideously exciting to me because our walls throughout the house, except for the kids' rooms and our bathroom, are all blah beige. It may be officially called "vanilla creme" or something like that, but it's blah beige with white trim.

Before-and-after pics will be forthcoming, but I am excited for the transformation. After so many years of frequent moving it has taken over four years in this house before it's started to feel like it's really ours. The paint is just a sign of taking ownership, and it was fun to pick something without worrying about resale potential or alienating buyers (not that it's not a great, livable color!).

And because they are beautiful...

My gorgeous husband and our sweet (sick at the time) little boy...even rough mornings at our house aren't all bad. :)

And Matt with the bug at the National Western Stock Show, watching a rodeo clown. He wasn't a very funny clown but it was still an educational experience for the family.

Breathing.

It's about time that I attempted a return to blogging, methinks. I just caught up on several friends' blogs--about a month or two worth from each--and decided that I'll be trying daily blogging for Lent. More or less with the goal of doing something extra to connect to the special people in my life (friends and family) because I am way behind in all forms of communication, written, emailed, blogged, Facebooked, or otherwise.

To me Ash Wednesday has always seemed like New Year's Day--an excellent chance to begin again, to reflect on the past year, and to begin coming up with new organizational systems for improving myself, relationships with others, and my faith in the year ahead. And you all know how I love organizational systems!

Today I am especially thankful for my family's health. For those of you keeping up with other family members, you know the polliwog is just getting over pneumonia and Matt just about lost a finger this week. Today I am so glad we are all breathing regularly and are in one piece! I have a few minutes in my office to breathe before sprinting off to the next meeting, and want to know: how do you fit "breathing" into your daily routine? (And what does "taking a breath" mean to you?)