I settle down to write, finding the remains of a can of Red Bull, fizz gone, but being mother eve, have no problem claiming it mine, and not wasting it.
I am in the midst of painting. I am painting the baseboards and the doors, and door jams of my home in hopes that I can sell it for a good price. I have been working on this project all week. And the project of “get the house ready to sell” for a year now. Partly, waiting for prices to go up, and partly because of the interruptions of life–like two marriages and visits when my kids arrive with all their stuff.
I had been working a couple of hours but took a break to get some breakfast with Hyrum (who arrived with Arleene in the wee hours of the morning), and Seth. Our favorite French Cafe–breakfast crepes for the boys and an almond croissant for me.
I have been working on one of the bathrooms, and what a job. Scrubbing grout, painting, reaching around the “water closet” and at the same time, stopping to grade math problems and go over new assignments. This is all part of Home school. Having done that, I see Seth march off with his orders, math book under arm to go do his problems.
Back at the work site,I find my place and continue to paint. I need a break for a moment.
As I walk past one of the fully finished bedrooms (all ready for that home tour), I see Seth perched out on the window sill/roof. Ah yes, an excellent location for solving math problems. Mind you this window is one of the many that I paid to be professionally washed yesterday morning. I may not have been my calmest as I told him to come back inside, don’t touch the window, don’t touch the newly painted walls, and don’t step on the snow white comforter as you remove yourself from that window.
Math is to be done at a table, or a desk I remind him. Math is to be done in pencil, and neat, with the answers circled or boxed. I do love math, because of the orderliness of it all–no subjective call here, you either solve it right or not. Math was my best subject in school and I belonged to the math club in high school and tutored kids older than me. Why I did not major in math in college is beyond me. I wanted something more challenging, which was biochemistry for me.
Anyway, it does not matter what age your kids are, they seem to undo whatever you are trying to do. I moved into this house when Seth was about 2 years old, and I recall trying to pack boxes and quickly tape them up before he had unloaded them.
I have to stop and take a deep breath and remember what is important in life, or I can become myopic as I pursue the goal of the model home to sell. Rachel just called too, will be over with one year old Ollie and two more dogs. Good time to break, take the dogs to the park and chase squirrels.
These are priceless times, and I will yet finish my painting and scrubbing, locking each room as it becomes renovated. And there will always be more of the same work, but less of the growing up years with my kids.
