A Month Later

    It has been a month since my last post... what have I been doing???  Still homeschooling my granddaughter, still researching my ancestry, still watching the news, still avoiding people, still binge watching stuff...  A month ago, I wrote that the kitchen would be done soon.  
    Surprise -  a whole month has passed and the kitchen isn't completed...  the project that, in my mind, was going to take 4 to 6 weeks is now passing the three month mark...  12 weeks and counting!  It's surprising that I haven't lost my shit before this but I finally got around to it this past weekend. 
   The not being able to walk in the damn living room without stubbing your toe and the boxes of crap sitting in the dining room and the doors of plastic that you have to make your way through while hauling clothes and food and coffee and anything else that happens to be in your arms was getting totally on my nerves.  My last little tiny frayed stinking nerve!  
    In my head, I know it is no one's fault - it's a pandemic... things are messed up... nothing is normal... everyone is making adjustments... it isn't business as usual... and honestly I have been able to cope quite well over these long weeks... but then I snapped... nothing really happened to facilitate the snap... it wasn't like the straw that broke the camel's back... I just had had enough.  I was done.  I was simply "over" the whole  remodeling thing.  
   I absolutely needed something to bring me a semblance of order - a step forward - I craved progress, I craved activity - doing nothing was not an option...
    Sooooo I decided I would paint a picture.  That big old south  wall in the kitchen was bare... It was screaming "I need color and lots of it".  I calmly asked the screaming wall if it wanted a scene?  "NO - I need to make a scene... I need emotion..."  I gotta tell you that wall was a screaming basket case - you think I'm losing it - that wall is out of control...  
    I pulled out every last little tiny frayed teensy eensy itsy bitsy nerve that had been waiting to explode and poured them right out onto that nice big old canvas... I scooched those nerves over this way and covered over others that way and highlighted a few of the braver (or maybe they were more aggressive) nerves with squiggly lines.  
​    When I was done, I felt tired - it felt good... I went upstairs to bed and didn't give those pesky nerves another thought. I left those nerves drying in a muddled mess and I was fine...  I was fine until I heard a faint whimpering.  It was coming from downstairs... from behind the plastic divides... it wasn't the wall, the wall is a screamer... it was the nerves  - nervously drying on the canvas and whimpering. 
   I cautiously approached the nerves... the nerves sensed I was drawing near and turned their whimpering into downright serious whining. Whining about their crowded conditions - oh my gosh - red didn't like teal next to her pillow and yellow was totally pissed that blue had his hand up his nose, orange was pissed about something pink had done but I couldn't quite make it out.  Brown, beige and cream were neutral but thought purple and lime needed to get a grip.  
   The whining continued until I spotted a warm, gray green paint sitting by the side.  I opened the lid and poured a bit here and some there - the nerves quieted.  I smoothed the paint out using a long piece of cardboard.  Dividing the large canvas into generous segments calmed everyone down and the bickering stopped.  
    Remodeling during a pandemic makes me crazy.  And no - the wall doesn't actually scream but it can be demanding.  Hope you are all coping well during these trying times and I am going to make an effort to write more often... channel some of that nervous energy... take care... Hugs!