If you’re just getting caught up, here’s Part I and Part II.
In Part II, I mentioned our old house acoustic ceiling tiles and how in our living room, their uneven tracks were especially unappealing.
The fall before this past one, we had mice that took 6 or 7 tries from a surly extermination company before we were rid of them. At night, we could hear them under those ceiling tiles as we sat on the sofa below. If you’ve seen the 1997 movie Mouse Hunt or have had mice, you may understand the depth of desperation that might have caused me to rip down some of the tiles, looking for the mouse highway. We eventually got rid of the mice, no thanks to my rummaging in the ceiling.
I did find the mouse highway. I also came across sagging plaster with gaping holes and lots of dust. We left it. There was no mental energy for it over the winter and spring.
Then, one of the kids broke a pane of glass in our front door, which is in the living room. When we had the handyman to come replace it, I asked him about the cost of dry walling the ceiling, if we took care of demo. He gave me a price that was about 75% of the cost the last person I’d asked had quoted me. It was a number we could live with. We made the arrangements.
If you missed it, here’s Part I.
Around the same time that I made the coffee table, I started tackling the fireplace. It was dark and ugly. The brick and tile were dingy. There are differences of opinion about whether or not brick should be painted. I am not in one camp or another. But I knew the brick in my living room needed a facelift, and washing it didn’t help. So I matched our home’s cream-colored trim in masonry paint and had at it.
When our house got featured on Design Mom, I was excited. It was before I had my own blog, so it was a chance to flex my new photography muscles, and get in some writing.
When I found out which photos she’d selected for the post, I discovered she’d chosen not to feature our living room. Besides the kitchen, the living room is the core of a home. We spend a lot of time in ours. We do most of our schoolwork there, and it’s where I typically hang out during quiet time. Not featuring it seemed like it was leaving out an essential part of our home.
But when I looked at the photos I’d submitted, I realized why she’d skipped it.
Like I mentioned in this post, I often work a night shift just before we leave for our yearly Tobago trip. This time around, I scheduled myself off that weekend, so I tried something else instead. Another gong bath. This time, I went by myself.
Why are you telling me about another gong bath? You could rightly ask. After all, I’ve been to two already, and I’ve written about both. I think the reason why I want to write about this one, too, is that they’re all different.
I have a theory about preparing for disaster when traveling with kids: Whatever you are prepared for, that isn’t the disaster that will happen.
I’d rather pack light and have my hands free to deal with whatever comes my way, than to have neatly packed baggies with special treats, toys to give my kids on the plane, and a fresh change of clothes for everyone. Bare essentials for a five-hour flight?
