Ah, it's been a satisfying work weekend here. After a long week of agonizing prep and dutiful spackling duties, I finally picked up my rollers and let the paint fly. The walls and ceiling of my home office are now happily and thoroughly covered in fresh paint.
Hallelujah, I love a good transformation.
Today, I've been cooling my heels, waiting for my equally fresh and oh-so-shiny refinished baseboards, chair railings and crown moldings to go back into place. Darn you, Cleveland Indians, for making the post-season playoffs and distracting my carpenter from his duties.
In the meantime, I decided to snap some comparison photos to show how far my room has already come.
^ Goodbye, dark red upper walls! You were good to me but I am so tired of looking at your multitude of imperfections.
Goodbye, dark taupe-y colored lower walls. Twenty years we have had together. That's too long. I'm over you.
^ Welcome back, bookshelves, from your drop cloth bubble. You are a cluttered and dusty mess, and I'll be taking you apart next!
^ Now, at this early stage of my photo shoot, a little someone came wandering into the room, looking for me.
Yes, my Irish Setter and constant companion Ranger, had realized that it was about time for our daily afternoon walk. It's absolutely his favorite time of day and he gets super excited about it. Also, his sense of timing is uncanny and he KNOWS when I'm late for our standing date.
Look at his eyes. He uses those lasers to pierce my soul.
You don't need me to tell you what he's thinking, but I'll translate: "Mom. It's time. Pleeeeeeease can we go now!!?"
^ Abruptly, momentarily, his attention shifted to some minor disturbance in the front yard. A squirrel, one of our cats, maybe even a leaf tumbling by in the wind. Always on watch, my handsome guardian is. But I knew he would not be distracted from his great task.
^ His eyes and attention returned to me in a heartbeat.
Warming to his task of persuasion, Ranger decided to start off with a good and proper stretch. He always goes through this little yoga routine in exactly the same way. First, he stretches out his front legs, shifts his weight backwards, and works out the kinks in his front legs and chest: a classic downward-facing dog pose
^ Then, in Phase Two, he shifts forward onto his front legs and gives his hips and back legs a mighty stretch of their own.
When Ranger was younger, he would do a triple pump, and stretch the front half all over again. But now that he's older and wiser, he has honed his art to perfection in just two moves. Clever lad.
^ Notice, please, that during this entire procedure, Ranger's eyes remained riveted on me. I was doing my best to stay cool, snapping pics and trying to appear nonchalant.
Because at this point in our routine, any twitch on my part, any sudden movement, any indication at all that I might be moving toward the front door will send this bloke into fits of enthusiasm and abandon.
But I successfully played it cool, because Ranger decided to amp up his game to the highest and most persuasive level.
^ He barked at me.
Well. He whined, pleaded, cooed, begged, and asked me pretty please with sugar on top. All at the same time.
Just look at that mouth. When you can see his bottom teeth like that, and his lips are all furled up on the sides, you know he is in his hard-core negotiation mode. I don't really stand a chance.
Because the noise he makes is both powerfully persuasive and incredibly annoying. Just like a newborn baby's cry is biologically programmed to spur caring adults into action, so is Ranger's whine designed by the Creator himself to kick me into walk mode.
So the photo shoot was abruptly abandoned, the office remodel temporarily forgotten, and I went to fetch my darling puppy's leash.
* * * * *
And that is how I make progress around here. Slowly, patiently, and often according to other people's schedules. But somehow, I am managing to move ahead in my office remodeling project, and still find time to take my wild-tempered Irishman for his daily walk.
Room makeover in progress! To catch up on the project, read:
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