Blood is Thicker Than Paint....is Thicker Than Water

Those of you who read my Scrabble Wars Blog understand, as much as you can, the kind of relationship that my daughter Sarah and I have. We are and always will be oil and water, fire and gasoline, alcohol on an open wound. But blood being thicker than anything, when push comes to shove we come to each others aid with humor and an endless sense of selflessness. Point in fact, when I faced the very real threat of unemployment last fall, all of my kids offered to open their doors to me providing food and shelter until I could get back on my feet. Sarah, simply said she'd pay whatever I needed beyond my unemployment benefits to stay in my own apartment and not move in with her! That's my girl.

This weekend, while her boyfriend was in Chicago at some police academy training, I joined Sarah in a paint marathon at her little home in Euclid. She wants to put her house on the market this summer and the best way to do that is to put a fresh coat of paint on all the walls. Our job was to complete the dining room and living room, applying not one, but two coats of pain. (I'm going to leave that little typo in this post as paint pretty much translates into pain.)It was a long, gruesomely fun weekend. Every muscle and joint in my body tells me today that we successfully completed the task and what's even better, no one died in the process.

To make the job more interesting, we had the added company of her two Rhodesian Ridgebacks and one German Shepherd. The Rhodesians are 120 pounds of mass and muscle. One is an adult male and the other is a nine month old, fully intact, male puppy. These dogs were bred in Africa as lion hunters, so when they want attention they usually get it. And when the pup, Anubis, wants to um...... assert his maleness, well then just don't bend over to open a paint can. Fortunately it was a rare sunny weekend in Cleveland so they were able to stay outdoors most of the time.

We spent Friday evening taping the ceiling line and around the woodwork. Then we moved all the furniture to the center of the room and created a cozy theater like atmosphere between leather sofas and the entertainment center. By eight we were snuggled up, each with a couch and a dog watching Housewives of Orange County. My choice would have been Survivor or Amazing Race, but Sarah never misses an episode of this ridiculous reality show. Like I said, oil and water. I slipped off to bed early with Argos in tow as he was to share my sleeping quarters. I use the word share loosely.

Saturday morning we began the marathon. I took the upper trim which meant up and down ladders but less precision because of the taped ceiling. Sarah took the lower baseboards which meant kneeling and bending. A fair trade off, I'd say. Once the trim was finished we loaded up the new battery powered paint roller which she had purchased. It was my job, of course, to assemble it first! We took turns rolling paint on the walls and working our farms in Farmville. This was the weekend when we were finally allowed to expand our chicken coops and it was important to both of us to stay on top of our progress. Lunch was a frozen goat cheese pizza and a bud lite lime. Heavenly chow!

After my brief nap, (age requires naps) we began our afternoon session, applying the second coat of paint. We were finished by four and were both satisfied with the way it looked. Clean up took another hour. Clean up for each of us personally took an additonal two hours. Apparently the paint clean up and her shower used up all the hot water, so I had to wait for the tank to reheat before I got my turn in the bathroom. We wanted to get dinners delivered from Mama Catenas, but discovered to our horror that this particular night their driver did not show up and therefore they did not have delivery available. Well, she'd promised me Mama Catenas Pasta Primavera and by God I felt she needed to make it happen. So we drove out in sweats and PJ'S to pick up the food we ordered. She made me go into the restaurant while she stayed in the car.

At last we arrived back home, laden with yummy Italian food and a bottle of wine each. Once again we snuggled up with our rewards (and of course the dogs) and watched Braveheart. It was wonderful! I slept like a log with my bed partner, Argos.

Then came the dawn and my muscles seized up on me and I wanted to die. Sarah insisted we go to Target to pick out a rug for the dining room and some other decorating items. She also insisted we use Jim's truck since my car couldn't haul all of her purchases. She laughed as I struggled to get in and out of that monster truck with no running boards to assist in the four foot drop from seat to ground level.

Of course shopping with Sarah means, "Do you like this mom?" To which I reply, "Yes I think that would go well with the paint color." Then she routinely states. "I don't think so. I think this would be better." If however, I said I did not like what she selected, she would say that she liked it and into the cart it would go. Aha! I discovered a faster way to get out of Target. I just said I hated everything she picked out and it went from shelf, to cart, to check out. Only one hour spent in hell.

To finish a long story, we put the rooms back in the best order we could and went out to the Beachland Ballroom for their Sunday , mostly vegan, brunch. It was a gorgeous sunny day and I know we both felt pleased that we'd accomplished so much in so little time and also that we had not killed each other in the process. The food was wonderful, and the company was even better. I may be limping today, but my heart is filled with gratitude for the bonds of family which I am so lucky to have. There is nothing like a little hard work to chase the winter blues away.