Windy’s Blog

Well, here I am, back in Louisiana for work. It’s been an adventure, as usual. Before I left for the trip, my assistant gave me some advice: bring an umbrella. She is from this area and probably knows the deal with the weather.

So after packing my suitcase to the maximum capacity, I arrived at the airport. As I pulled that 40 pound baby out of the car, my umbrella fell out from the back seat. I couldn’t fit another thing in the bag and didn’t feel like carrying an umbrella around all day, so I said “forget it” and tossed it back into the car.

I had a layover in Charlotte, NC and as I was waiting there I saw several women carrying large hat boxes. I was thinking that maybe they had been to a wedding show or something, but later heard one of the men in the group talking about horses. I realized they had been at the Kentucky Derby. I have wanted to go to see the run for the roses ever since I was young. Maybe one day I will be the one carrying my hat box at the airport!

I finally arrived in Baton Rouge and made my way to the car rental counter. As I walked toward the counter, the clerk greeted me by my name. I thought that was pretty cool, until I remembered that it was 6pm on a Sunday and I had a reservation. So I guess the guy was expecting me. Still, for one moment I felt special!

I completed the rental stuff and walked outside to a wall of heat and humidity so thick that it took my breath away. The windshield on the rental was dirty, so I turned the wipers on and spent several minutes trying to figure out how to get the washer and wipers to work right. The car has one of those keyless starters, which kind of freaked me out, but I finally figured that out too. I was ready to move on.

Two minutes later, as I drove out of the airport, it started to rain. Not a nice gentle rain, but a full fledged downpour! I was glad that I had figured out how to get the wipers on. Then I realized that I had NOT taken my assistant’s advice: I hadn’t brought the umbrella!

I walked into the hotel looking like God knows what, and the front desk receptionist must have felt bad for me. I asked if I could have a room
similar to the one I had the last time I stayed here: one in the middle

section and not near any elevators or stairwells where people would make noise. She ended up giving me what she called an “upgrade,” which meant I was moved up one floor. The shower also has one more head, for a total of three. I really don’t know why anyone needs three shower heads, but apparently that’s part of the “executive” upgrade package.

After unpacking I decided to try out that shower. And discovered that I really did enjoy the different sprays, but I only turned on two of the heads. After all, two heads are better than one!

Some women collect shoes. I like sunglasses and coffee mugs. Strange, I know. I’ve been in the process of moving, once again. Most of my things have been in storage for three years or more. Tonight I began the process of unpacking some of those boxes. The first box I opened was appropriately labeled “coffee mugs and glasses.” (I always mark each box with the contents, it really does make the process so much smoother when you have to sort the boxes later).

I had fun unwrapping the coffee mugs and discovering what was under the newspaper. The first mug was one of my favorites: I called it my Jesus Loves Me cup, because that’s what is written on it. Next came another favorite: a large mug that my cousin, Sandy, had given me years ago. It has a snow scene on it, which I don’t really care for, but the mug is large and sturdy, and I’ve missed drinking out of it.

I laughed as I unwrapped the mugs, remembering where I got each one, or who gave it to me. There was my pink mug with the Patriots logo on it, a medium sized dark blue mug that I used frequently, and a green mug with the logo from my alma mater, which was given to me by my cousin, Sheila. Apparently 1998 must have been a good year, because there was a mug with the calendar from that year printed on it. I don’t know why I saved that mug, but it was funny to discover it among the others.

Next came the glasses, and some of my old favorites emerged again. There were two glasses with ”You’ve Got The Right One, Baby”  printed on them. I preserved these drinking glasses from the 1980′s, mostly because they are just the right size for a drinking glass. Not too large and not too small, they were my favorite. I washed these with care tonight, because I would really be upset it they broke after all of these years!

Also among the mugs and glasses was a decorative vase and an expresso set I bought while vacationing in Sicily. I had forgotten that I even had them.

Discovering my old things again is fun. I know that I will end up throwing some things out in this process, but now that I am unpacking my things again, I am starting to feel more at peace with this move.

Tomorrow night I will unpack the “plates and saucers” box. I can’t wait to see what I packed away in that box, and am wondering if the 1998 mug had a matching saucer!

So I took two and a half days off of work to paint the apartment that I am moving into. The first day I left work early in order to pick out the paint for each of the 4 rooms. My sister, Pam, and my niece, Jessica, came with me for support and advice. I had wanted something calming, but light, for my bedroom. So we chose what the color swatch stated was Pistachio. I decided that I would paint both the bedroom and the second room with that same color.

Next we deliberated over a grey color. I was looking for a muted grey, a little dark, but not drab. It came down to something called Mendicino (which reminded me of the song) and Grey Moire (which I could not pronounce because it was French). We chose the Mendicino because the color seemed lighter.

The next day I began the painting task. I borrowed a ladder from my brother-in-law and I was off to the apartment. After putting up all of the painting tape, I was finally ready. Reinforcements came to help me (thank God). My niece’s boyfriend, Chuck,  and my grand nephew, Mikey. Both are very tall, so I decided that I would take all of the low areas to paint. That meant bending and squating like I hadn’t done in months.

We pressed through and completed two out of the four rooms, with the Pistachio color. The end result was that one room looked more blue and one looked green. I think the color we were painting over in each room had something to do with that.

The guys left, and I continued. Up and down the ladder I went, as I taped and continued to paint. Each time I moved that ladder, it seemed to get heavier! My niece, Jessica, stopped over in the evening to help me. She put the first coat of Mendicino (remember, the grey?) on the walls for the kitchen. It was white.  White! Not a hint of grey in there at all! Since I had bought two gallons and you can’t return the mixed colors, I was stuck. So we decided to just continue and hope that the color would miraculously change to grey over night.

I drove home and stumbled out of the car. I was exhausted, but happy that we were able to get almost 3/4 of the painting done in one day! I popped two Advil and went to bed.

Today was the second full day of painting. I awoke, and when I went to get up, I realized that my body did not want to get out of bed with me. Every muscle hurt, especially my buttocks. I guess those “down low” painting strokes really took their toll on me.

After three cups of coffee and a hot shower, I thought I was ready to continue with the painting. But when I arrived at the apartment and went to move the ladder, the darn ladder wouldn’t move. I then realized that it wasn’t the ladder’s fault. After all, it had not gained weight overnight, but somehow it seemed even heavier this morning! I began to hate ladders, right there in the middle of my kitchen floor.

Alas, the “fading to grey” miracle did not occur either. The walls in the kitchen still looked white. So I applied the second coat, tossing all caution to the wind and hoping yet again that somehow this color was actually still going to change, and match the color on the swatch in the store. Holding the brush was a challenge today, as the area between my thumb and index finger was sore from yesterday. But I pressed on.

Help came a little after noon time, as my grand nephew, Justin, stopped by. He is also tall, so he didn’t really need the ladder much. As he finished up in the kitchen, I went to the store to pick out another grey color. I didn’t want to paint my livingroom in white. I stood looking at the color cards in the store, and finally decided to go with my gut feeling. So I chose the Grey Moire that I was looking at yesterday, and headed back to the apartment.

I finished taping and began brushing the low areas, this time with the new grey. It didn’t take long for me to realize that this color was not grey either! It looked like a light tan to me, and certainly did not match the color card from the store!  What is the purpose of having the cards at all, if the colors don’t match? I don’t get it.

All four rooms were finally completed, even though the walls are now some strange combo that was not intended in the original plan. Oh well, I am too tired to think about that, now.

As the walls were drying, I went to the store and rented a carpet cleaning machine. Oh, wait, according to the clerk at the store, it is a “hot water extractor.” He reminded me three times of the name, as he explained how to use the machine.

Back at the apartment, I had to move the ladder out of the room and into the car. After a big “heave ho!”, I finally lifted the now ONE TON ladder, and put it in the car. Then I began the task of cleaning the carpets. The “extractor” was not difficult to operate, but I was so tired that it took me about an hour to complete the job.

I finally arrived back home, and when I went to step out of the car my legs, butt, arms and even hands screamed “NO!!!!!”

But, alas, I was not done yet. One last time I lifted that darn ladder, as I returned it to the garage. Then I stumbled inside the house for the second night in a row. Since then, I’ve been sitting here updating the blog. I don’t think I will be able to move from this spot. Truly, I may need assistance.

My two days off from work are over and tomorrow morning I must return to the office. The one good thing about my day job? No ladders!