Spring Painting

Today I realized that it's actually March and Spring really is coming, along with Saint Patrick's Day, Easter, and about a million birthdays. And a christening. And Spring Cleaning. I realized this because the daffodils are finally pushing through the frozen soil; finally. So today I started organizing for some heavy cleaning (organizing for it, not doing it--there are rooms in the house in which the floor is only visible in less-than-square-foot patches. Rooms.)

And I decorated for Easter, just a few things. Today I bought some mossy bunnies that looked cute in the store, but now I can't decide if they're cute or creepy. I'm leaning toward creepy, but I like them anyway. Somehow they remind me of aliens, maybe because they remind me of teletubbies.

And then, we decided to paint birdhouses. Just me and four kids under seven.

What. A. Mess.

The littlest one got mad and started swinging a paintbrush dripping in green paint. Twice. Which accounts for the spatter on the walls, but I'm not sure how the purple got tracked across the kitchen. Or who left the orange fingerprints on the pantry door. Or why there's paint under the kitchen table.

Seriously, I was a CSI, looking at the spatter on the wall and debating whether or not to compare shoe treads to the paint tracks and maybe fingerprinting the guilty looking ones. I didn't go as far as oral DNA swabs but I did have to wash a few mouths and faces. I think one of them was eating paint. Maybe two of them.

But the kids had fun and the houses look great. So we packed up the paints and brushes and newspaper and everyone went home. Phew. But not before they planned more painting (the finishing touches and decorations, of course) for tomorrow!

On the Boards

I've finished up the bulletin boards; their recipients are pleased. I like 'em, too. I should have lined the light pink one, but it'll be covered with photos and notes and cards soon, so I don't think I'll change it. That and the lazy thing.

I made the blue and yellow one a few years ago, and I sewed the buttons and ribbon to the fabric before I attached the fabric to the board. Again, that was a few years ago, pre-children, when I had time. And wasn't so lazy.

To make the newer boards, I stapled the fabric to the back of the corkboard, then stapled the ribbons to the back edge of the corkboard, also. I glued the buttons to the ribbon, and later glued the ribbon intersections (under each button) to the fabric to make some places to set cards/photos/etc.

I expect the stapled/glued corkboards won't hold up as well as the sewn one--that'll be evident the first time someone tries to use the board as a ladder to reach, you know, the ceiling, of course.

That's it. An extreme lack of sleep is preventing me from thinking clearly; you know that feeling of seeing everything through a haze? I'm beyond that to the loss of emotion state: I am now an automaton. Time for sleep!