Now let me qualify that statement so as to not imply the falsehood that the painting is completed around here. The house itself is completed. The painting on the carport hasn't even begun yet (and there's probably more to paint there than on the house!), nor has the shed or James' office out back, or the fence, or the gates... But hey, I intend to rejoice in what I have accomplished: the HOUSE is PAINTED! I can't help but feel pathetic, though, knowing that we live in a BRICK HOME and there's mostly just trim work to paint, but it still seems to be taking me forever!!! It's the time consuming "detail" work (lots of straight line brush work to be done) that kills ya'. I worked 14 hours on Wednesday, then until time to get ready for church last night, then until about 1:00pm today and I'm finally THROUGH with the house. Wa-Hooo!!! And (I'm really hoping this is good news) James bought a paint sprayer that I HOPE is going to make the rest go much, much faster. I won't know until sometime next week, however -- and that's JUST FINE with me. I'm so ready to be a wife and a mom and a cook and a housekeeper and a laundress (is that a word?!) -- anything but a PAINTER for a while. I got the house all put back together this afternoon, except for the kitchen floor and the bathroom. (The house seems to self-destruct when I get involved in big remodeling projects and the like.) I intend to finish up in the kitchen and bathroom tomorrow, then get the kids' Sunday School ready for the next day, then maybe find some time to work on my QUILT. That would be wonderful!!! Something domestic! Seems like ages. I did make chicken parmesan for dinner tonight and it was delicious. I'm so sick of fast food. We've been living on it ever since I picked up the paint brush.

Hhmmm... I'm trying to think of what else is going on around here. It's been mostly just PAINT, PAINT, PAINT EVERYWHERE! That and trying to figure out how to make plans for the upcoming Presbytery Meeting. What a solemn and weighty thing this is! How desperately we need the help and direction of God right now! Pray, pray, and pray some more. And fast and then do it again. We've GOT to be sure and do things God's way and find His answers. I know He wants to give them to us.

Things in Texas have been rather uneventful since the rattlesnake incident. Unless you count Sammy clunking Katie in the head with a rock yesterday. (Not intentionally, believe it or not -- although that didn't rescue him from the severe spanking he got for throwing rocks.) It swelled up the size of a golf ball, bulging out of her forhead, within just a few seconds. We got ice on it right away and it went down lots. There's a tiny mark where it skinned her, and a larger area that's just now starting to turn blue. If it gets really cool I'll be sure to post a picture of the little freak. ;-) I remember when Libby and I used to compare bruises to see who had the biggest and best. Ah yes, the good ole' days!

Guess that's it from here. Hopefully I'll have something more exciting to talk about next time. And hopefully I'll be a little more cognizant as well. I feel like I've been in a fog all day. It's because that slave driver husband of mine has been working me so hard. :P The neighbor (a very old man) hollered over the fence at me yesterday, "Hey! Where can I find me a wife like you who'd do all the work?!" I said I didn't know -- we're pretty hard to come by. I thought about telling him that if the workload didn't slow down around here I might be available due to widowhood! Ha! Then the lawn guy pulled up after a while and said, "You'd better be careful or that husband of yours is going to hire you out full-time!" I told him I didn't have time to work for anybody else -- I was too busy around here! Naturally, James wasn't too appreciative of my actually taking the credit for my labors. Tee! Hee! In all fairness, James has been working pretty hard himself, just doing non-painting things. And he even helped paint yesterday -- did the whole garage door. Still, it was nice to get a little recognition!

Okay, that's really it. I'm going to bed. I am wiped out.

~One Sleepy Gal~