The Painting Diaries

My Mom is visiting right now. There is always some sort of project while she visits, usually to ward off her boredom. My brothers and I have a saying: If you ever want to feel lazy, have Mom and Dad visit. They are really the most hard working people I know.

During their first visit, Dad and Mom helped paint the entire downstairs, fix holes in the wall, and fix flooring issues. The second visit, they painted the outside of the house. The third, they built me a pond. The fourth, they remodeled the kitchen.

Actually, Mom and I are getting smarter. While the men (my Dad and Willie) remodeled the kitchen, we went to the spa. Halle and Morgan watched The Jungle Book and Snoopy Come Home five times each.

This visit, it's Halle and Morgan who are doing the painting. And they're having a great time doing it.

Hold Your Horses

I often tell Halle to hold her horses, which of course means, "be patient". Although I have explained this hidden meaning, I still get colorful responses: "Horses are just animals!", "I don't have any horses", "I can't hold horses!" and, my favorite, "I hate my horses!"

Patience is certainly the most frustrating virtue. That's probably why it is a virtue. Something that hard should receive some kind of recognition. I was reminded of another difficult cliche the other day when I sent Halle inside for time out. While playing with her sister outside, an incident occurred wherein I sent Halle inside for four minutes. When I told her it was okay to return, she didn't hop to the door. I went inside to investigate.

You're not supposed to cry over spilled milk, but I guess it's fine to yell about it. Halle had reached inside the refrigerator, retrieved the milk, and had poured it all over the kitchen table.

Yesterday, during quiet time, it was a little too quiet. So I took a nap. Halle painted her nails. Actually, she painted her feet and hands, but her nails did get covered. Good thing I don't have any horses either; otherwise, I would have to hold them.