fresh paint (and why i'm called odd jobs)

As the Nie Sale draws near, i find myself in the most "oddjob" state that i've been since i was pregnant with Sheamus. My morning starts: I walk to the "junk" cupboard for the umteenth time to try and find some chocolate "fuel", thinking that maybe in the last 10 minutes a king size snickers bar will have miraculously appeared amidst the picked over contents of pocorn and jello pudding mix (only now what i want is that straight instantly gratifying chocolate injected into my veins). On the way i see the stack of frames i scored at the closing hour of an estate sale last saturday with Bert ( i can spruce those up for NIE i think...ill take 'em.... fill a box for $1! HOLLA).  So i think i'll go look at the spray paint i have, and into the laundry room i go, where i see the NIE sign i painted last week (you are starting to get a idea of what my house has been like lately...paint on the floor, flyers on the counter, spraypaint by my hamper, emails up the wazoo, etc.) So i go to take it (the large YELLOW wooden sign) to the garage, clearly a more sensible storage place.

I open the garage to greeted by bags, signs, boxes, and furniture staring at me practically begging me to spray them first. My thumbs quiver at the memory of the 15 spray cans lined up in the laundry room. The frames can wait, i think, until i find some inspired artwork to fill them with, right? I pull out a pair of old wooden chairs (that i began and abandoned sanding in a fit of "oddjob craze" months ago) and start to tediously scrape the remanants of flaking paint in the crevices that were no match for my sander. 


 It is 11:30am. I take turns with one hand pitching "screwy" and batting with "darlin'" (aka. playing baseball with Sheamus), simultaneously and precariously scraping flaky paint with an old steak knife in the other. I then pull out the white spray can and let loose. As the first coat dries, i spot the wicker chair beckoning me from a dark corner ("me next!")...

...about 8 cans of spray paint, 5 hours , my 2 now practically bloody thumbs (who will likely strangle me in my sleep if these chairs don't sell for a million dollars) 4 diet pepsis, and about 6 neighbors who see me braless later (remember this was a spontaneous morning task) i look up, discouraged to find about thirty more things that also need my "special attention". I spend a while chatting with a good friend who brought some items to donate, and realize only after i go inside, that not only was indecently clad in my pajamas and covered in paint chips, but have a black mustache clinging to the peach fuzz on my upper lip! Glorious.

What will tomorrow bring?? more spray cans i presume...and hopefully good news from CJane's blog. That's right, there is a reason for this madness...6 very specific reasons: Nie, Christian, Claire, Jane, Ollie and Giggs to be exact. After a long day of toxic fumes and way too much caffiene, my sweet husband runs to fetch a woozy me some "emergency" tacos from my fav mexican dive, kisses my thumbs, and resists his urge to tease me for the random impulsive sequence of my day. He tells me i look beautiful in my cutoff jeans shorts (what else?) and now sunburned forehead. 

I think of Nie and her Mr. Nielson and how much they are fighting to be home again doing such random things (and would probably give anything for merely sore thumbs), their kids doing their best to have hope while missing their sweet parents, and amazing CJANE for all her incredibly generous accounts of her experiences loving those same cute kids. I am then reminded that even though this event may yeild a mere drop in the bucket of funding, and though none of this will bring them home any sooner, people need a way to be involved, to love thy neighbor as so many of you have for this family. I only wish (rather fantasize) i could inspire one person like the Nielsons and Co. have inspired so many to act out of love for a stranger. Tonight i will pray for NIE, and tomorrow you can bet i will be in my garage, spraying away...

...but this time i'll put on a bra ;)