I'm feeling a little crabby at the moment, and what do I do? BLOG! Of course! I've been spending the last few days trying to finish the painting job in the dining room that I hired a painter to take over for me when I couldn't get it done after I'd gotten the room all taped off before my surgery. I have been frustrated by the seam created by the vertical line of separation that we had to create on the wall where the dining room meets the adjoining hallway. Unfortunately, when I took off the tape (at the appointed time) that was used to separate the two spaces, it also began to peel the paint off the wall near the point where the wall meets an arch. It pulled in another spot too, but I was able to salvage that. The part at the wall pulled and tore. After the fact, I was able to determine that it was because the painter used only the regular wall primer I had purchased as a base over the joint compound he had put on the wall to correct some imperfections that a painter hired by the builder had previously left behind.... *frustrated sigh* A primer designed to adhere to any surface (like Zinsser's) would have been the better option for the base coat over the joint compound, and I even had some available that could have been used.

I'm kind of irritated about the whole thing now. I know the guy had a lot of personal issues to deal with last week, and I am grateful that he was able to paint for me. Overall, he did a decent job. But the parts he didn't do decently are really nagging at me. I ended up patching and resanding the wall, and it didn't look great despite my time and effort. I like perfection; I can't seem to get it. When I took the tape down that I had put up to facilitate the repainting, it pulled the paint from the arch. Apparently, the joint compound extended further than I knew. I had to use a utility knife to cut the tape in an effort to minimize the damage, but it didn't help much. The paint on the arch peeled away & bubbled. I couldn't get it to lay back down, and I didn't want to have to sand the whole thing and start from scratch either. I did the only sensible thing I could think of the try to get the semi-wet paint to adhere to the wall: I got a glue stick and glued it down.

I was hoping the glue would be tacky enough to cover the joint compound and hold the loose paint edges that had peeled up against the wall's surface. It appeared to work. I went over it with a paint brush hoping that would provide further sealing coverage on the edges. At the moment it is drying, and I am "cooling off" as I write. I'm still pretty irritable. My thoughts range from thinking I should have just painted the whole hallway the eggplant color from the start, and considering that as a future option, to thinking about hiring someone to just come in and redo the whole arch for me, and maybe open up the doorway & remake it so that it has a defined boundary wall rather than the common wall now shared with the hallway. That would have been the SMART thing to do, but I didn't have a smart builder to begin with, so that is expecting too much and entering the realm of fantasy. If I just painted the whole hallway the eggplant color, I think putting a huge mirror on the wall in the hall to reflect additional light would be a good solution. I can see it in my mind. It almost works. It is an idea I would have to sell to the hubster though.

I have this nagging thought that I'm going to end up redoing that whole arch and section of wall from one end of the hall to the other end in the dining room. I just think that the places where the plain wall primer and paint met the joint compound aren't really going to work, and I am going to end up doing a major overhaul involving much sanding, and then repainting the whole thing because the paint I have left isn't going to be enough and won't match up exactly with the dye lot of the original batch of paint that went on the walls. This is not quite the way I envisioned the end of this project....it's sort of like the "Groundhog Day" (think of the movie) of painting. BOO - HISS!

Quote of the Day: On Fashionable Clothes & Ideas

"Every generation laughs at the old fashions but religiously follows the new."

~ Henry David Thoreau

Heroes & Perspective in Facing Life's Trials

Recently, I had a "cancer scare." The reason it's called a "cancer scare" is because you are given reason to believe that you may be facing the prospect of a battle with cancer in the foreseeable future, and given that it is often a battle for your very life, it can be quite scary. In fact, when you have a "cancer scare," there is an aspect of living with cancer (whether you have it or not) as you await the final word on the diagnosis, because if cancer is confirmed, it will turn your life upside down, and you know this going into the waiting period for that diagnosis or that reprieve, depending on the situation. If you are proactive, you start working at getting those things that you can in order - just in case - because you know you might not be able to do them later. It's stressful, if nothing else. There are a lot of things I could write about my experience in potentially facing the cancer demon, but the thing that came to mind today was just the fact that a sense of normalcy is settling back into my life now.

I was told going into surgery, just about a month ago, that I had a "really big ugly mass" inside of me, among other things. Going into surgery, I knew I could awaken being the last to know whether or not I had cancer. The only thing I had going for me going into surgery was the fact that blood tests for four tumor markers had come back within normal limits, or negative for cancer, but that still didn't mean that I didn't have cancer. I was fortunate. Despite the fact that my inner anatomy was pretty messed up by not one, but TWO (!) big ugly masses (the one we knew about and its hidden evil twin), as well as other mutant abnormalities, I came out of surgery WITHOUT a diagnosis of cancer.

My recovery has been amazing in some ways, and the peace I had going into surgery, which I believe came from my faith in God to be with me, regardless of the diagnosis, was nothing short of awesome too. That is not to say that I didn't have apprehensions; I think it is entirely normal to go into surgery with some apprehensions - especially after the pre-surgical counseling where the surgeon tells you everything that could go wrong (even up to & including death during surgery). But going into surgery, I knew it was out of my hands. There was nothing I could do to alter the situation. So, I turned to scripture and prayed for my surgical team. Overall, I felt oddly at peace with the situation. My prayers were answered this time. I am thankful.

I have had a little extra time as a result of being forced to take it easy while I recover from my surgery. Now that I am able to sit at the computer a little longer (up till now, it tended to make me hurt more than anything else), I have had the opportunity to read a few blogs I was previously unfamiliar with. There are people whose prayers were not answered in the way that mine were. They got the unfavorable diagnosis; they faced the specter of death. One family faced death, and is now taking things a day at a time with a glorious sense of peace, attributed to the graciousness of the Lord. Another faced death and came through the fiery trial that cheated death but did so with many scars & much pain. These folks are heroes in my mind, and as far as I can tell in the recent brief introduction I have had to them through their writing about their experiences, those experiences have not made them bitter. That is a blessing and a gift in itself.

Comparatively, my recent trial was nothing, and the few scars I have as reminders are either hidden or too small to be noticed. That doesn't mean that what I went through was completely insignificant in my life, but it does offer some perspective, and it makes me think of all of the people who have so much going for them, and yet they cannot appreciate the blessings in their own lives. I know some of these people. They are so overwhelmed by things (trials that, for them, perhaps are not insignificant), but they lack the ability to see beyond the things that are so consuming to them now to recognize how much they have going for them, and to be thankful for what they DO have. I have always tried to be cognizant of the blessings in my life, especially in recent years, and to make a conscious effort to express thankfulness for those blessings. In light of my recent cancer scare, I think I am even more thankful, and there are things I consciously enjoy more. Maybe I am a happier person, overall; I don't know if that is true, but I feel happier most of the time. It really is a gift, a blessing.

But some of the folks who have really been through the Refiner's fiery trials, who have managed to still convey peace and joy in their forever altered lives, these folks are the heroes, and we can learn a lot from them by how they have coped with the losses associated with their trials. Most people will not experience trials of the scope the people I am thinking of have experienced. Whatever the trials though, I believe it is easier to bear them if you have a belief in God and know that Jesus is right there with you in the midst of the trials. I don't know how people who do not have this faith get through similar trials. It's got to be a lot harder. In any case, I am thankful, and I am inspired by the grace I have vicariously observed in the way the people I have referred to previously, in this post, have exhibited in coping with their own trials. Who are these remarkable individuals? The Sullivans and nienie. May God bless and keep them as they continue to fight the good fight.

The Rain Cometh...

Just checked the radar, and a ring of rain is shown as approaching. It looks something like "the blob," gradually approaching and overtaking white space on the map as it moves ever closer.

We didn't have the chicken stew and biscuits I'd planned to make last night. We went to "Plan B." I'm kind of glad. I think the chicken stew & buttermilk biscuits will somehow taste better on a cool stormy night.

Today I want to put the paint on the wall over the primer I put on it, yesterday, so I can get my dining room in order - finally! It's been a long time coming. The challenge is getting the line straight on the wall as I have an odd long wall that connects the dining room with a hallway to the kitchen, and I opted not to carry the dining room paint color all the way across the long wall because it is such a deep dark color [Eddie Bauer's Tannin (buy it at Lowes), but we call it "Eggplant" because it has a purplish hue, and after all, I don't like the color purple, so it's "Eggplant." Humor me.]. If it had been solely up to me, I probably would have done it, but the hubster thought it would be too dark for the hallway part of the wall. I am a little disappointed that the wall isn't as "clean" as I'd like it. Between the builder's lack of expertise and the painter's corrections and lapse in not putting the plain, sticks to everything, primer on the joint compound he put on the wall to make the corrections before he primed and painted the wall, the wall doesn't have as smooth a finish as I'd like. I did what I could to clean it up though. It'll do for now, but it'll look a LOT better when I get the paint on over the primer.

Contemplations on an Overcast Autumn Afternoon

After a solid week of cool weather, overcast skies, and intermittent rain, we had about two and a half days with sunshine and more seasonal temperatures. It was nice. Still, as the clouds thicken and my mind ponders the cooler temperatures that will arrive again soon, I am not minding this somewhat gloomy autumn weather. In fact, I find myself embracing it. The cooler temperatures don't bother me all that much - at least not yet! I think because the landscape is still so saturated with color, thanks mostly to the autumn foliage, that it doesn't seem so dark & dreary, even on overcast days, as it will in February and March when the landscape is mostly a palette of grays and browns, and the trees and shrubs that are now softly outlined with leaves will be stark figures with their naked outstretched branches.

At the moment I have a chicken and veggies simmering in a pot on the stove. There is something about the aroma of chicken stock simmering in the kitchen. It is a warm, comforting scent. It makes me feel even better because I know the nutrient-rich broth will not only produce a hearty and delicious chicken stew with biscuits for tonight's dinner, but the extra broth will be available for other dishes after that, or in the event that someone is sick and needs some of what my mother has referred to as "Jewish penicillin" even though we are not Jewish. Homemade chicken broth, or chicken stock, is just so delicious AND good for you.

Today I am especially tired. I haven't been sleeping well, and last night was a little worse than usual. I tried to nap earlier today, but that didn't work out well. My mission is to stay awake long enough to get through dinner, tidy the kitchen, & prep for tomorrow, but otherwise to get to bed as early as possible tonight. A brief nap is sounding good at the moment, however. Perhaps I can sneak in a few winks while the primer on the wall dries. I am trying to fix what the painter I hired didn't quite do correctly. It's not so much fun. I thought I had the place cleaned up and could put the room back together last Friday. We are getting there.

The Crimson Hatbox

Lately, I've been wanting to blog about things that are on my mind. You know, the random thoughts that pop into your head, the things observed, appreciated, and experienced in the daily living of life, those are the things I have been wanting to write about. I haven't felt like I had the right outlet, but I am going to give this a try. It's a new day, a new season, and a time to try something new as well. I like to think that "The Crimson Hatbox" is kind of like a box you find tucked up on a shelf in the closet with bits of life's memories tucked inside, and a happy place to steal away for a bit and experience what's found inside the box.