Ready, Set... Fizzle

I had good intentions. I made a list, and I even got off to a decent start, but then little by little, my summer just derailed. 

First of all, my mom had a mini-stroke, and I spent a weekend trying to convince an incompetent group of nurses that denying food and medicine to a diabetic with high blood pressure and a history of stroke was a bad idea. A couple of days after Mom got out of the hospital, she had a car wreck. (She would want me to point out here that it was not her fault. Some young punk with no insurance ran a red light.) Luckily, she hobbled away with only a broken ankle, but the accident brought a little more chaos.

I love my mom, and I would drop everything at a moment's notice if she needed me. However, I am a total wimp when it comes to rolling with the punches. If anything alters my routine--and I mean anything, like running out of peanut butter or taking a different route to work--my sense of stability evaporates. I'm not proud of my inflexibility, and I'm trying to rewire my brain. In the mean time, all I can do is try to regroup as best I can.

I did get a couple of things done before my attention span was all used up. First of all, I painted the dining room red Rhett and and our friend, Wally, painted the dining room red while my inner perfectionist ran wild and stressed over every detail.  Thank goodness for second coats--and thank goodness for friends like Wally! I'll post pictures of the dining room as soon as we're completely done decorating so you can see the full before and after effect. (At the rate I'm going, expect pictures the spring of 2011.)

I also started taking down the wallpaper in the kitchen. I started with a small section, so I could see if the Wallwik would really work as promised.

It worked great! I was so encouraged by my success that I set about scoring the wallpaper in the entire kitchen so I could remove the rest of the paper right away.

 

And that's where it ended.

I had hoped to finish the kitchen before my trip to Mexico, but I just don't see how I can get it done.  Until we get back to the project, we're just claiming that we've redone our walls with a new "scribble mark" faux finish.

I've still got a couple of weeks before I leave the country, but at this point I've given up. If I can manage to get to the airport on time and not get quarantined for swine flu while I'm in Mexico, I'll be happy. I'm sure my kitchen that looks like it's been attacked by an angry toddler and my red but undecorated dining room will be right where I left them when I get home.