I knocked over a domino: the game room makeover.

All I wanted to do was donate a piece of furniture to our church’s annual rummage sale, the WHALE of a Sale. Here’s my facebook version of the last few days:

If you empty an entertainment center to donate it to the FUMCO Whale of a Sale, you’ll be able to see the wall behind it. If you see the wall behind it, you’ll be reminded that you were too lazy to move the entertainment center when you painted the wall eight years ago. When you see the half painted wall, you’ll be compelled to finally paint it. Of course, in order to paint the wall, you’ll have to empty the bookshelves flanking the entertainment center and move all the furniture into the middle of the room. While you wait for the primer on the wall to dry, and since you are already holding a roller filled with primer, you will go ahead and prime the ceiling in the kitchen. Still waiting for the primer on the wall to dry, you will look at the mess you made and ask yourself “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!”

Here’s the first domino. A partially emptied entertainment center
(that’s a DIY charging station in the place where the TV used to be).

After I started emptying the piece, I was reminded that when I painted the room eight years ago, I skipped this wall and covered it up with furniture.

(Hey, don’t judge me, my kids were much younger and my husband traveled a lot. Hiding an unpainted wall with furniture was a brilliant idea at the time.)

This time, however, I was compelled to paint the wall. I always have leftover primer in the garage and that dark green paint would need it if I was going to cover it up. And I happened to have an unopened can of “Lost Atlantis” blue paint by Behr. I dug right in. The room was torn apart, loaded boxes of stuff were carried into the attached living room, furniture was moved in the middle of the room, paint was opened, stirred and poured.

And then.

I realized that while I had half a dozen roller covers, there was not ONE roller in the house.

Tangent Confession: All the paint rollers in my house meet the same fate. I begin painting. When I am finished (or when I get bored) I put the roller and its cover in a plastic bag while I begin cleaning up, because I often find “holidays” on the wall and I need the roller to touch up. Then I forget the roller. Weeks (or months) later, after it is petrified and no longer turns, I throw it away.

So a trip to Home Depot later, I started painting. That was Saturday. Sunday after church was spent sorting, purging, organizing and boxing up donations. Ten years of accumulated toys and kid paraphernalia packed up for the WHALE of a Sale.

Monday, I painted the rest of the room. And let me say. I am good at painting trim. But I HATE IT.

Did I mention I HATE PAINTING TRIM? Takes for flippin EVER.

But. It’s done. I spent days with smurf marks all over my arms and legs and I was a little worried that the cheap laziness which led to me use the paint I already had in the garage would produce a dark cave, but with the white furniture, it’s actually VERY warm and comfortable. I’ll be framing family photos and cool quotes in black frames . . . soon. Theoretically. And I’ll be on the lookout at Whale of a Sale for chairs to replace these as soon as possible.

(click the photos to zoom in. and that’s a lazy black cat hanging out of the cubby.)

Still room for the downstairs printer and the charging station my husband made a few years ago. I also hooked up the stereo I purchased at LAST year’s Whale of a Sale and had still not set up.

The mail station has been slightly reorganized and the stack of paper that had been covering it is now on my kitchen counter waiting to be sorted. woo. hoo.

My husband’s favorite thing is the way I displayed these chess boards. He and his dad made them together when he was a kid. I love the way the brown and gold look against that blue.

And what do I do in this room? I get my GAME on.

So now, I’m on a painting roll (pun intended). PinkGirl has been begging me for a room makeover for months. She’s having a slumber party in November. The before and after photos I took the last time we remade her room are in this post: from pink to pinkalicous. But here’s one of six of those after photos to give you an idea of the project I’m entrenched in today. and tomorrow. And Thursday…

WHAT am I thinking?

48.

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
Ecclesiastes 9:10 (NIV)

another year, over. No do-overs. No take-backs. Only lessons to be learned and new choices to be made.

Lord, am I where you want me? Am I living the life you’ve given the me the way you know would be best?

I want to be a living sacrifice for You. But sometimes – much of the time – I know my choices are driven by my own idea of what that looks like.

What does it look like to You, God?

My fear is that my desires are selfish and much bigger than those you have for me.

Is it possible that the plans you have for me involve me sitting across the table from one person, listening, asking questions and sharing my faith one on one? That this book I’m writing is equipping me for those conversations, but will never actually be read? or even finished?

Is it possible that the plans you have for me mean that the primary reason I’m recording is for the witness that occurs during the recording sessions themselves and that these recordings will live forever on my computer in obscurity?

And those things are good. Very, very good.

But you know I want more. Is that from You?

The last thing I want to do is pursue a dream you haven’t given me. I’m desperate to saturate myself in your will and I want to have tunnel vision when it comes to following Your lead. Please don’t let me pursue anything that actually takes me away from You. Please show me what I could or should be doing to bring You glory.

I think of the story about You asking a man to push against a rock. Day after day, year after year, the man pushed, eventually becoming discouraged, saying, “God, I give up. I’ve pushed and pushed with all my strength and I haven’t moved this rock even one inch. What did I do wrong? Why did I fail?”

The story says that you replied by saying, “I didn’t ask you to move the rock. I only asked you to push against it. You say you’ve failed, but have you? Look how strong you’ve become. You’ve done exactly what I asked.

Now I will move the rock.”

I know you don’t need my help Lord. Please allow me to serve you anyway. Please use me anyway. Please guide me. Please equip me. Help me to be obedient. Please don’t ever let me give up.

Too often, we bide our time with the routine of a life that we hope
will one day take us across the chasm. Our days become stacked upon other days.
And as time moves forward, we think about the great abyss in our quieter moments.
We wonder if we should take the leap soon.
But the busyness of our days pulls us back from the edge and we perpetually postpone it.
Why? Because we are afraid we do not have the strength to make it.
Don’t let that happen. You’re stronger than you think.
Dr. Les Parrott

ithinkicanithinkicanithinkican

facebook fragments:

Friday, 9:30pm:
Voices in My Head –
Me: “yo. treadmill. I am SO not in the mood to even come near you right now. It’s Friday night, for cryin out loud.”

Treadmill: “no problem. I knew you were a wimp.”

Me: “Shut up.”

Treadmill: “hey, you were the one who said you were walking THREE 30 minute HIIT programs today. I’m sure you’ll be happy with your decision to wimp out and only do two. 30 minutes is an awfully long time. Have a Cheez-It, it’ll make you feel better.”

Me: “I hate you.”

Treadmill: “Where you going?”

Me: “To put on my shoes. Did I mention I hate you?”

An Hour Later: “Treadmill smack talk ticked me off. I did two – 4 total for the day. That equals 6 miles.”

Today:
6 miles at an incline yesterday. Ibuprofen today. 4.5 miles by the end of the day. Stronger tomorrow.

Ithinkicanithinkicanithinkican.