Coming along

The painting is going well. ‘Well’ should be pronounced ‘without major incident and/or outbreaks of severe bickering between the spouses’.



My husband the artist is going back in to ‘refine’ the curves and do the finish work after this last coat dries. He is handy that way. My ‘finish’ work, on the other hand, looks absolutely appalling. And also will never actually be finished, because every time I go in to touch up what I messed up last time, no matter HOW CAREFULLY I tape off, no matter HOW CAUTIOUSLY I approach the area to be fixed up with the tiniest brush we have delicately dipped in paint, I will somehow manage to get huge daubs of the stuff all over the other parts of the wall. And drips. And bubbles. And any other painting-related horror you can think of.

I am a painter’s worst nightmare. “Hello Bob the Builder, your assistant today will be Tama…” “NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

It occurred to us that really, it was about time to move Captain Adventure into a bed. He is, after all, three years old, no longer being imprisoned for an hour or two each day so mommy can sit down by herself for a minute taking naps, and hopefully about to start potty training.

It is time.

Given that we are putting waves on the walls, we got a case of the snickers and decided we would get this bed for him:



I know. Cutesy-wootsie. But he is only three, so we figure we’ve got a good seven to ten years before he starts swooning from The Shame Which Is A Baby-Waby Beddie-Weddie. Also, it has a toy chest in the bow and a trundle bed under the hull (which if we took the trundle out is a massive drawer) (but we won’t, because we are constantly short on sleeping space when people visit – go figure), which makes it a pretty darned functional piece of fun kid furniture.

When I bought the bed, they gave me such a ridiculously fabulous price on a matching dresser that I said, Sure! They then offered me a nightstand and I said, Eh, naw! And a desk and I said, No thanks!

Because I have a solid oak desk that needs a new home, and perhaps also a new life. It is one of those pieces which you can’t damage, no matter how hard you try. Five thousand years from now, when they are excavating the ground on which the Den once stood, they will find this desk – INTACT! – and the lead archeologist will say, profoundly, “Geeable bizbliffem bak!” and everyone will nod wisely and say, “Ooogaahya…”

But that’s just a guess. I actually have no insight into how the language of the future will sound.

Anyway, after the kids are back in school and I can actually do such things during the week without a lot of “help”, I’ll be sanding the damaged bits off and repainting it with the lighter blue. Ordinarily I’m one of those ‘oh, don’t paint over that beautiful wood!’ people, but honestly? This desk? The wood is not so beautiful. It is at best ‘eh’ and at worst…ugly.

Paint! Paint! Paint! Paint!

Being indestructible, I doubt even Captain Adventure will be able to total it.

I just hope he likes it. He’s a funny little dude that way, actually – on the one hand, he tends to go with the flow (as long as mommy is there to cling to) and doesn’t get too bothered by disruptions like new school schedules or Go, Diego, Go! being on at 9:30 instead of 8:30. On the other, he will occasionally react to change the same way a fish yanked out of water does: Flopping wildly and doing everything in his power to get back into the water. And we’ll be jerking his chain a bit, because the paint won’t be dry so he won’t be allowed to explore it just yet, PLUS he will be camping out in his biggest sister’s room until his new furniture arrives on Friday…I dunno. It might be a little much for a kid to take, ya know?!

So wish us luck, people. We are messing around with our Lord and Master’s private chambers here…and disobedience will be most severely punished!!!