04 April 2011

Mothers' Day

Kay is 200 miles away revising for an end-of-term exam this week, so I had intended to spend Mothers' Day on my own just bumbling about doing whatever took my fancy. Maybe a long lie-in, followed by a special unusual breakfast, then maybe watching wall-to-wall TV (which is unusual for me), a long relaxing bath, a bit of TLC. But Fate had other plans.


Last week, I had shortlisted three painters to inspect my kitchen/diner and quote me a price for just painting the ceiling, obliterating the nicotine stains. To be honest, I was happy with the first one I saw but then felt I had to go through the charade of seeing the other two just in case they were even better than the first (but they weren't). So I rang the first one again on Saturday lunchtime to hire him. He knocked me off my stool by saying he would turn up on Tuesday. (When he had called to look at the job, I had stupidly mentioned to him that I might also want my bedroom ceiling doing too at some stage, although there was no urgency and some time after Easter would be fine for that). However, when I rang him to hire him, he said he would prefer to do both ceilings on Tuesday as opposed to having to allocate two half-days to do the two jobs separately. As I have been waiting since November for the job to be done by the guy that let me down last week, I did not want to let this opportunity go, so I feebly agreed.


Mothers' Day therefore saw me climbing up step ladders in both kitchen AND bedroom to get all the pictures down, ornaments off tops of cupboards and floor-length curtains down too. Because of the layout of my house, there is nowhere to put away all this stuff which doesn't involve carrying things up or down at least one flight of stairs, so it has been exhausting. These are the two rooms of the house I use the most, so there are more things to remove than in any other room and the disruption is huge. I also have to find somewhere else in the house to sleep while the bedroom is out of bounds.


So much for a quiet Mothers' Day. I did end up with a relaxing bath at the close of the day, simply because I looked a dirty miserable wretch by the end of it all. And to my horror, when I took all the pictures off, this was the state of the disgusting kitchen/diner wall as a result of years of Greg's heavy smoking. (I hate to think what my lungs look like on the inside), but hopefully within a few weeks, I shall get round to doing the walls myself and it will all look a lot different. My blog may be a little quiet for a while, but I'll try to get round to yours as and when I can!


Oh and by the way, it's Snoopy's 12th birthday today.

17 comments:

DD's Diary said...

Just think how gorgeous it's going to look when it's done! I'd be tempted to get your painter to do the walls while he's there .... you'll be so happy once that nicotine yellow is gone x

Irene said...

I would have the painter do the walls too. I would save you a lot of work and heartache. Book him for another day or so.

Happy Birthday, Snoopy!

Flowerpot said...

I'm exhausted just thinking about it and I expect you are still now! Still, a very productive mother's day. Oh and a very happy birthday to dear Snoopy. Hugs to you both xx

Gattina said...

I had the all rooms repainted in our house too, a months ago ! after that I was on my knees. Now it's only allowed to smoke outside or in the kitchen. It's terrible what nicotine makes !

ADDY said...

Trouble is I enjoy decorating (therapeutic and all that). I just hate doing ceilings.

AGuidingLife said...

Oh Happy Birthday Snoopy! Good luck with the decorating. I too love painting but ceiling are just such a pain aren't they. Think I am going to treat myself to a decorator for the hall, stairs and Landing ...I can't imagine how I would reach up the long wall without killing myself in the process! I wondered if you suffered any nicotene withdrawl symptoms, your body must have got used to it.

Anonymous said...

Hi Addy,

Pity mother's day was so exhaustive but I think you should pencil in that day of TLC for some other time soon. I hope all goes well with the ceiling work.

All the best

Necthan

Spencer Park said...

Happy birthday snoopy. If my maths is right that's 84 in dog years. A grand old age!

Personally, I would go with Nora's suggestion. There must be something more therapeutic then painting? I hate it!

Achelois said...

Happy Birthday Snoopy.

You couldn't send the painter to my house, we need some serious decorating done!

Thank you for popping over to my place.

Take care and enjoy your spot of decorating.

Eleven's Ink said...

Love your blog, the honesty that comes of it. Happy birthday Snoopy! And enjoy the smell of fresh paint!! :D

Ellen said...

I love painting walls too, and completely empathise with you about the dreaded ceilings. Hope the painter made a good job of them today and a happy birthday to Snoopy.

Furtheron said...

Happy Birthday Snoopy

Hope the ceilings have been painted by now and look good

Nota Bene said...

Happy birthday Snoopy. There's nothing better than watching paint dry eh?

hyperCRYPTICal said...

Happy Birthday Snoopy!

Addy - I love decorating too. The pleasure of standing back, thinking 'I did that!' is ace.

Hope things go to plan!

Anna :o]

Anonymous said...

A belated happy birthday to Snoopy!! Having a room freshly painted is such a breath of fresh air. I remember when the farmer's dad died, he smoked around 30 a day and it was a long time ago when the house was previously painted. It took us a long time to scrub nicotine stains off the panelling in the kitchen and dining rooms and the bathroom ceiling was a mess. Spruced up now of course, but it's not a pretty sight when you're doing it.

CJ xx

Eliza said...

Good luck with the decorating. My house needs a major makeover. How is snoopy? Give him a birthday cuddle from me.

Lorretta said...

It will look ace when it's complete. I fell off the step ladders last time I tried to redecorate.