Weekend: the Blur that Just Passed

The princess was away this weekend, so we did the couple thing. How cool is that?

There was a really interesting time of meditation on Friday. A labyrinth was laid out on the floor of the meeting area at church and there were several stations built into the labyrinth. All those participating were given a portable CD player with headphones. A narrator and music guided the participants through the various stations, allowing more than adequate time for reflection. Some challenging questions were raised. There was a special time for personal communion. And there was opportunity to simply sit and be. In all my years participating in organized religion, this is one of a mere handful of creative, paradigm-smashing encounters with our Creator that I've had the opportunity to participate in.

Saturday we did a bit of work around the house. Thank you to all my crafty mentors. The faucets in the bathroom now run and the sink drains. Simultaneously. And this is a very good thing. Not only that, but the wayward flaps of wallpaper that felt 20 years was more than enough time to stay attached to a wall have been shown the error of their ways and are now back on task. And the towel bars are now securely being one with the wall in a very Zen sort of fashion.

The towel bars were formerly semi-detached. One end of the towel bar (in each bathroom, no less) would regularly pop out of the drywall. Since we vetoed the idea of re-papering, we were left seeking a solution that would both cover the growing hole that ever more loosely contained one end of the towel bars and secure the towel bar to the wall.

My first response to this issue was pragmatic. I got one of those doohickies that hangs over the bathroom door. Suddenly, I was the proud owner of THREE towel bars. They are not of the finest quality. They bang loudly and annoyingly against the door when I pull my towel or washcloth from them. But they have a fancy hook on one end that will hold a belt, a backbrush, or BVDs. And the whole deal doesn't pop out of the wall. What's not to like?

Unfortunately, this left my bride to fight the escaping towel bar on her own. Hey, I solved my problem. Now it's hers. Certainly you can see that? Yeah, well, neither could she. So this weekend we took one more item off the If-I-Had-A-Real-Man-Around-The-House-I'd... list. Enter the leftover baseboard. Wait. No! That is not baseboard. What were we thinking? That is chair rail. Definitely chair rail. Never to be kicked again. What's more, it is a chair rail in rooms that have only one chair, if you will. And the odds of that chair EVER being against that chair rail are so slim (and the results would be so messy) that they are not worth mentioning. Still, it fulfills the purpose. It hides sins and keeps those pesky towel bars in its manly grip.

Having nailed that "chair rail" into the studs, I am feeling nearly as secure as the towel bars themselves. If this thing comes out of the wall, you were not retrieving a towel. You were doing chin-ups. And shame on you.

In addition, I replaced light bulbs that were many, many years old as well. Now everything is bright and shiny (except for the mirror that I need to remount), staying up, and all that anyone could have hoped for given our budget.

So today, while our princess was in transit, we painted. We painted walls that became exposed when we replaced the cabinets in the bathroom. We painted walls that had reached a level of ugliness that could no longer be ignored, in our foyer. We painted trim around the doors on the deck, and we painted a switchplate. If you doubt me about the switchplate, come and look. And bring an FBI agent to verify my thumbprint in the lower corner. Yeah. I didn't know we painted the switchplate. That tells you it was painted by the royal "we," and that ain't me. It looked safe when I picked it up. That's all I can say.

Other than turning a compost pile, chatting with a friend, watching a DVD biography of Gene Kelly, and beginning a book by Mercedes Lackey (another in the Heralds of Valdemar series), we did absolutely nothing this weekend. And we're better people for it.