It wasn't that bad

Truly, it was not horrible. Cluttered, for certain, and definately dark and forboding, but not utterly awful. It just needed a face lift and some storage. The time had come. I think the highest irony of my life is my inability to escape a certain set of colors in my decorating attempts. I went to Home Depot full of anticipation. Which colorway would I select of the millions of options? I laid stacks of paint chips out in front of me. Eventually I whittled it down to - and sorry I tossed them now - three options. One utilized cool whites and dove grey with accents of plum. Soothing. One was insanely orange with a lime green twist. Very tropical feeling. In
the end I chose this; ranges of peach and orange with sage accents. What a shock. I mean, since I have painted, what, six rooms in my life in these or very similar colors? And at my first wedding the flower girls wore peach (my pick) dotted swiss (not my pick) and I cried because the sticklers in the family would not let me put peach bows on my wedding dress? My car is orange, like a creamsicle (or a circus peanut!). My favorite Noro Silk Garden colorway is 84. I bought this pattern and this yarn to make it up in last year. (And maybe someday I'll even knit it up...) I went shopping with my MIL and Girl and came home with four blouses all in similar colors - ranging from orange to peach and back, and I bought a pair of shoes in a color that can only be called bronze, and was sad that they did not "have more orange in them". Clearly I have a palatte problem, as in "limited".
Now, in our last post the paint was completed, and we needed only a floor, some trim, and a lot of Ikea boxes opened and stuff put together (we're not there yet, but soon). Monday was supposed to be floor day. I got a rain delay. I have enough trouble with the saw blade, let's not add water. Actually, that's a bit of a fib, me and my saw are really bonded. I bought it with tag sale money specifically to install another floor many moons ago, and we've become quite good friends since. Somewhere there's a list of safety instructions that say things like "do not allow fingers past this point" and "always wear appropriate safety gloves and eye protection when operating this unit". And I am pretty sure "do not operate saw from standing position while holding up one end of board with big toe and holding down other side of board with finger 1/2 inch from blade, while pulling saw head down with left hand when you're right hand dominant" was in there too, but since I never read it I figure it does not apply. Yesterday was sunny and bright and warm enough for sawing on the deck, so I began the flooring process. First I assembled my tools. This caused concern. The dog in the fore is a concerned Milla, who is technically the dog-daughter of my sister-in-law Maureen, although she's currently living with my mother-in-law Judy. The dog in the rear is a very nervous Owen, or Boo, who fears anything involving loud music, saws or banging. They really had nothing to fear. Until I discovered that the closet, crammed full of all manner of crap from board games to reams of paper to dog grooming supplies had to be emptied in order for the job to proceed. At that point the dogs left the area completely. Milla holed up under the dining room table with her paws over her head, and Boo went and sat - straight and stiff and slightly shakey - in his bed.
By afternoon we were here - not a bad place to be, but not as far along as I would have wished. I got some more done after I had a haircut. This was a truly desperate situation if ever there was one. It had gotten so bad that I refused to leave home without a headscarf. I hate it when it brushes my nose. It's all I can do to keep from taking scissors to it myself. Apparently while my mother was sick and I was finishing up the sock book and buying a car and all of that craziness I missed a hair appointment. Today is the day for finishing floors, because sitting on the floor with the keyboard on my lap and the mouse beside me with my coffee is not the most comfortable position to blog, email, read in. It is sunny and bright and I hope to be done by noon and off shopping for t-molding and reducers for the doorways. And a mountian bike. And a starbucks cinnamon dolce latte thing, decaf, skim. Mmmmm.
Now if I could just find this print with exceptionally good color quality and in the perfect size for some wall of this office, my life would be complete.

Wiliam Holman Hunt
The Lady of Shalott
Go see it.

"She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces through the room,
She saw the water-lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She look'd down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
'The curse is come upon me,' cried
The Lady of Shalott."

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Lady of Shalott (1842)