Updates

1) We finished the room and it looks great! I still need to pick up the nightstand next weekend, and I'm going to ask my friend to build her a bookshelf that matches. I must say, it is very nice!


2) I finished reading Grisham's "The Associate." I kept waiting for something, anything, to happen in the plot, but it never really did. Could there be a squeal planned? there were lots of loose ends untied when I finished. I'm now about half-way thru "The Shack" and its really quite interesting.

3) Its doubtful that Buster will ever go on a bike ride with me again. As spring arrives he becomes less and less focused on his runs. I've run over him twice now because he for some reason he thinks he can run in front of the bike, but luckily he was not hurt badly. Last Thursday he decided to stop at a fence without my knowledge and caused a major crash. Now my legs have scraps and bruises all over them, not to mention my pride. Two of Riley's classmates were right there and came to my aid. My face smashed into the grass only an inch from concrete. It it had been an inch to the right, the dog would have been gone by sundown.

A new room

Spring Break! Our exciting adventures this year takes us to Riley's room.

• On Monday we went shopping for a new bedroom set and was successful after only 5 hours.
• Tuesday was cleaning day, she boxed up all her stuff and removed it from her room -- all the way to the hall bathroom!
  
• Wednesday was the real working day. We used the electric sander and removed and/or smoothed out the rainbow paint and primed the wall and around the ceiling and floors. Most of the old furniture is removed. After a trip to Home Depot we have 2 gallons of "Egyptian Nile" paint and various painting supplies.
• Tomorrow (Thursday) the walls will be painted and then the carpets will be steam cleaned.
  
• Friday the new furniture arrives and the (a fraction of) her stuff will return to the room.

A little history of the rainbow ... Riley's favorite part of our house when we moved in was her bright pick room with the wide teddy bear border ... she was 4 yrs old. After only one year she decided pink was not her style (and definitely not mine) and wanted a blue room with giant rainbow. I was all too eager to get rid of the pink room so I spent 3 days removing the ugly border and painting the walls sky blue. My good friend's wife, Tami, spent 8 hrs helping me one Saturday evening painting the rainbow. We used rust-oleum paint that was very thick created a texture on the wall. I dreaded the day she outgrew the rainbow because I knew the texture would need to be smoothed. I spent about 6 hours sanding it down, peeling it off, and applying mud to repair holes I created in the drywall! Riley has been a trooper and a huge help! She wanted to get it painted tonight but my back needed some rest.

I'll post a picture in a few days to show the friuts of our labor.