Work Weekend

I've been just moping around for weeks upon weeks upon more weeks, because my boyfriend is out in Florida with his folks - being supportive of them during his Father's illness. Of course he is exactly where he should be, but man alive I am so bereft without his handsome smiling face around here. I do get lots of stuff done that I don't normally make time to do when he is here, and I suppose that is a good thing. I'm back to the painting nightmare-scenario once again. This weekend will be a marathon of prep work; scraping, peeling and sanding the west side of the house, and hopefully actually painting too. It seems like my house will never be finished. I have not even finished the primer coat. When George and I were in Iceland last month, we got a sample of deep blue paint from one of the Icelandic houses which was being painted at the time to match for my house. I love all the houses in Reykjavik (see photo) and Hafnarfjordur which are painted in many different bright hues, all over the entire towns. Houses in USA are just plain boring most of the time - being beige, cream, more beige.... I will paint the windows white, and it will look beautiful. My old house belonged to my Grandmother. When she and my Grandfather bought it in 1932, it was white. It remained thus until after I had moved in around 1995. Then in 1998 it burned when my daughter Hannah left a candle burning in her room. The curtain caught on fire and the house went up quickly, being built of old redwood. Fortunately nobody died, and the entire house didn't burn to the ground, but we did have to have it completely demolished down to the studs and rebuilt. The color of the house became a dark midnight gray/blue, with white windows. For some reason it oxidized into a dull dark grey color. That being a mere 7 years ago, I don't know why the paint is peeling so badly. It is coming off in great strips. It must have just been poor quality paint. I'm excited about the paint color change, and can't wait to see it DONE. That is the only thing that helps me keep painting, stroke after stroke - wax on, wax off.... tedium.........