Kitchen, Day 2

So…day 2.  Day 2 was not so kind.

The plan was to do the priming in 2 days.  This is hopefully the 1st of those 2 days.

7am: woke up sore from the work the day before.  Knut took Ingrid from between us and headed downstairs.  I pulled the covers over my head as he started breakfast with the kids.

8ish, give or take a half hour: I got up and had breakfast with everyone.  Coffee…mmmmm…

8:30am: Knut is at work.  I clean up in the kitchen.  Using the term “cleaning up” pretty loosely.

9am: get little kids dressed.  Shoo everyone outside.  Cover recycling bins with plastic in garage for a good place to spray doors.

9:30am: start up paint sprayer I borrowed from Knut’s brother.  Primer leaks out one valve like a crazy pump.  I turn it off and tighten it up.  Everything seems to be working fine.

9:45am: I start spraying a door, and the spray works great, but primer is pumping out of the valve by my hand, right under the spray.  HUGE mess.  Lay down more plastic.  Catch the puddle of primer.  Yes, puddle.  Primer on my shoes, primer all over my hands, primer all over my pants.  Oops.

10am: run out of all painting rags, and dig into old dish cloth pile.  I could use some new ones anyway.

10:30am: still can’t get sprayer working right, no matter how I try to tighten it.  Close to tears.  Begrudgingly text Knut at work.  Have a little personal temper tantrum because of my “I can do it all by myself!” attitude the resembles my 3 year old.  I wanted to be strong enough to do this myself, but I needed his muscles.  He texts back he’ll be there right away.  I told him I didn’t need his help for this project, and now I need his help.  Urgh!

10:35am: Knut says, “Whoa.  Hmmm…”  His eyes dart around at everything.

I tell Knut everything his brother told me about the sprayer when I picked it up.  Knut looks over every piece.  He shows me how to use 2 wrenches at a time to tighten the valves tighter.  He discovers that a little washer thingy had fallen out of the hand piece when I put it together, and that’s why it was gushing when I was spraying.  We test it and get it working.

11am or so: start spraying inside of all the cabinet doors.  It’s going fast.

11:15am: one of the chickens won’t go away.  Cats are starting to snoop.  Call all the kids over to block for me, as this is all spread out all over our driveway.  I wonder if chicken prints on my cabinets make it the “authentic” farm kitchen look I’m going for.

11:45am: kids remember where the chalk is, and start a hopscotch tournament.

12:30pm: heat up leftover lasagna for lunch.  Get a call from our neighbor.  We confirm her daughter sleeping over at our house tonight.  She’s Silje’s best friend.  I ask a favor if she can pick up Silje for me on her way to the book club both girls go to, since my project may prevent from Silje making her meeting.  She says she’ll pick her up at 3, and drop both girls off afterwards.

1:00pm: baby girls are happy, and only the drawers and 5 doors are left, so I resume spraying before nap time.  Sprayer stops working during the last door.  So I have half of the last door left and all the drawer fronts.  I take apart nozzle and soak in hot water.  That doesn’t work.  I take apart more pieces and wash it out.  Still doesn’t work.  Get toothpicks out to try to unclog the sprayer.  Accidentally spill toothpicks all over the kitchen floor.

1:30pm: text Knut at work again.  Tell him I’m sorry, but I can’t get it working.  I’m trying to clean out everything, but I still can’t get it going.  Girls need to take a nap soon.  He texts back to call his brother for what to do.  I call his brother.  No answer.  I’m pretty sure he’s left for Mexico with his youth group.

2pm: put little girls to bed.

2:15pm: hear little girls giggling upstairs.  I go and fiddle with getting the sprayer going, in hopes that they will settle down.  They didn’t.  The boys ride bike all around the yard.

2:45pm: hear little girls dancing and/or jumping on beds upstairs.  There’s usually a party going on in whatever room Solveig is in.

3:00pm: Silje gets picked up for her book club.  I finally stop fiddling with cleaning out the sprayer and put the little girls to bed.  Again.

3:30pm: girls finally fall asleep.  I bring all of the doors, mostly dry, in from the driveway and into the garage.  The trees are dropping all sorts of things on them, which is fine because they’re basically dry, but the chickens won’t stay away either.  Such curious creatures.  So the remainder of the painting will have to be done with the garage door shut, and the regular door open for ventilation.  Work on sprayer some more.  Nothin’.

4:00pm: put my feet up and have a snack of Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups taken from the hidden bag intended for the kids’ Easter baskets.  It’s the only logical thing to do at that point.

4:30pm: Boys watch their favorite show.  Girls still asleep.  Silje still at book club.  I take a shower.  Can’t stand the smell of myself.

5:00pm: little girls wake up.  I call Knut and ask him if he thinks it’s worth it to start painting the portions inside to be done with the roller, but he agrees that there’s not much point for the rest of the day, especially with company coming over after bedtime.  I heat up some frozen wild rice soup.

5:15pm: Silje and her friend come home from their meeting.  They check on their chicks outside then watch “Frozen.”  Obviously.

5:20pm: I peek in at the kids watching the movie.  Silje’s friend has Ingrid in her lap, and is playing David chess while singing all the songs on the movie with Silje.  I love having this friend over.

5:30pm: I pretend to be cleaning up the dishes in the kitchen mess while the kids watch the movie but I actually write portions of this blog post and hang out on Facebook.  Enormous headache begins.

6pm: Enormous headache continues.  Reach for some peppermint oil (my headache go-to) and drink a bunch of water.

6:30pm: supper.

7pm: Get a text from Knut that he doesn’t know when he’ll be home.  Tech guy for troublesome planter  they’re trying to get field-ready just got there an hour ago.

7:30pm: start bedtime routine.

8pm: My mommy friends come over for our twice a month book club.  They all know about the mess, but don’t care.  That’s why they’re my friends.  We go hang out in the clean living room.  My head was pounding so much I nearly called them and cancelled, but I wanted to see them so badly that I just let them come.  I’m glad I didn’t cancel.  They’re always fun.  We actually talked about the book too.  Twice, I think.

8:15pm: Knut gets home.  Finds the leftovers for supper and actually cleans up some dishes, (instead of theoretically, like I do them).

10:30pm: Mommy friends go home.  Knut brings me a bowl of ice cream.  We set up the hide-a-bed in the den for Silje and her friend.  I try to research a bit what to do about the paint sprayer.  Still don’t know.

11pm: most certainly bedtime.