A Poem For Kallista

A flaxen haired girl

Lives in my memory

Frozen in time.

A sub zero Boston winter

Hand in hand

We defied Mother Nature

Her frigid fingers

Bitter red hot cold

Stealing our breath

Leaving only our smiles.

Living Room Disaster

Palm Sunday. Not one Easter decoration has been placed in my house. We are still trapped in a disorganized, dusty, puttied, mess. I removed the wallpaper from the living room a few weeks ago hoping to have the place ready by April 9th for a party. Well, the invitations never went out because my walls grow dreary and scarred each day. Removing the wallpaper I left some glue, a few scraps, gouges, and outright holes. I am embracing my new role as home remodeler and being an expert I simply went down to the basement and grabbed some putty ( year-old external use putty) and slathered my living room walls like a birthday cake. Creating a lovely textured mountain range that as might as well be made out of stone. For those of you who are as clueless as me about home repairs outdoor external putty is made to withstand Armageddon. I have spent the last 3 weeks sanding. My living room looks like the blizzard of 78’. Inches of white powder cover every surface. I have grown new arm muscles but only in one arm. Then Dave showed me where we keep the electric sander. The good news is that my arm doesn’t burn all the time, but the bad news is that some of the mountains have turned into lakes and valleys. My enthusiasm and excitement over painting these evil walls has turned to dread and procrastination. The annual egg hunt has been turned into a scavenger hunt (with egg shaped vessels) that I am planning in May, if I am finish by May.

I sanded, washed, primed and painted a whole kitchen and hallway in less than two weeks. I am three weeks into this project, maybe four, and I am yet to prime an inch. I am so over this living room. I am sick of moving the furniture into the center of the room in order to screw up the walls more.

I did have a visit on Friday afternoon from my construction guardian angel tom Brady Jr. (Not that Tom Brady). I am talking about Franklin’s own hammer wielding super hero and devoted dad. He is also a good friend and came over to try and teach me a few simple tricks that may save my walls. He even left me with some key tools that I was missing and other misc. items to help me not completely ruin my interior.

Right now it is Monday evening. I have put about 60 hours into this room and it looks just as crappy as it did the moment I stripped the last piece of wallpaper off. I did use Tom’s metals putty knife and the good putty, but the wallpaper scrapper might have been too much tool for me. I now have a few more holes and a lot less motivation. I am so over this room renovation. If it was up to me I would simply hand a professional the paint I bought and a blank check and let the room be done.

I am done for tonight, too tired to do more tonight. I’ll be up tomorrow morning to battle again.