The Glass is Half Full

Photo by Bailey Weaver

It’s been one of those days. It’s only two o’clock. So, I suppose it’s been one of those mornings…the ones where everything seems to go wrong.

It technically began last night. After sanding all of the trim in the living roon and hallway, I ran out of painter’s tape, preventing me from at least priming the trim.  I had plans to go first thing this morning, return home, tape the rest of the trim, and start painting. Except that not 30 seconds after my husband set foot out of the door this morning, he turned back and called from the front door. Normally he goes out through the garage. Having an undersized one car garage means we’ve turned it into a nice sized mud room. This morning he went out the front door because last night’s storm knocked out our electricity, again. You would think that if the electric company had decided to replace all of the electric poles with the equivalent of gigantic lightning rods, they would have had some sort of reboot system in place.

This morning, having waved to my husband as he headed out for work, I was contentedly nursing my one year old back to sleep while my other children were curled up around me…until my husband opened the door and called in that our van door had been left open….all night…during the storm.

There went my plans to go get painter’s tape. There also went any hope that my one year old was going back to sleep. This morning I got to pull everything out of our sodden van. Four carseats came out. Everything that had accumulated in the van was removed. And then I waited, as I couldn’t vacuum or steam clean the van without electricity.

My morning kind of went on from there. However, I’m always telling my children that while they can’t control everything that goes on around them, they do have complete control over how they choose to respond. So, after downing one of my husband’s sodas (which I’ve been trying to convince him are bad for him), I decided to look at the positive.

We had fresh and canned fruit for the kids to eat, requiring no electricity to make and allowing us not to open the doors of the refrigerator or the deep freezer. I went ahead and primed and then later painted the trim that I did have taped. It was a more manageable amount. Any more and my attempts to keep little hands out of it probably would not have succeeded. The electricity came back on at 10:30 AM. That’s an improvement over the 12 hours it took last week. We didn’t have any firm plans for today minus hockey, so a day at home due to the van being wet was not that big of an inconvenience.

I was able to vacuum and steam clean the van. While it’s not as nice as a professional detailing, I must say it looks rather good. The car seat covers are drying and I will be able to reinstall carseats later this evening, all ready for the multiple actvities we are supposed to attend tomorrow. The rain has stayed away and allowed me to leave the van doors open for a while to air dry. I closed them after viewing the neighbor’s cat stalking the van, looking for a place to nap. After this latest coat of paint dries, I will be able to remove tape and move furniture back in to place. I must say the painted trim looks amazing compared with the beat up golden oak that it once was. It really opens up the room. I can’t wait to finish the rest of the house.

I’ve been viewing a lot of other things with a positive viewpoint today. It makes life more enjoyable. I will say that I left a message on my husband’s phone saying I wouldn’t object if he showed up with McDonald’s for dinner tonight. Not having to cook dinner from scratch would be a relief after today, and I refuse to feel guilty for feeding my family junk occassionally (there will be slight guilt but I will try to ignore it).