Decorating with kids or why I love chalkboard paint

The start of school this week included, beyond back-to-school shopping for a girl who grew nearly an inch over the summer, some spiffying of the home front. It will come as no surprise to many that furniture was rearranged yet again — K’s room and the living room. But that wasn’t quite enough to ring in the school season. So we zipped over to the paint store. For about $15 and hours of fun, you can transform nearly any surface into a chalkboard.

Exhibit 1: the preparation

Exhibit 2: second coat being applied

Exhibit 3: the finished product

You may be wondering whether it’s wise to let a 6-year-old paint with black. We had a few “oopsies” past the blue tape but chalkboard paint wipes away if you get it speedy quick. Otherwise, it’s a good idea to have extra door color paint for touch-ups.

I tell you, chalkboard paint is addicting. I have my eye on one narrow kitchen wall. After all, I have half a can of paint left!

Fun with laundry

Fun? With laundry? Yes indeed dear reader. When the laundry basket is upstairs and the washer downstairs, the best way to bring them together is by tossing everything over the banister.

I don’t think the ducks approve but K and I find the practice hilariously funny. And because it’s fun, I have a great little helper with no complaining! The laundry does get a bit delayed on its travels to the washer because, once on the staircase, it makes the most wonderful backdrop for creative play.

Of course, this technique does require a two-story house though I’m sure we could adapt it for single-story abodes. I’ll keep you posted.

My sister is a rockstar

My little sister is a hotshot mergers and acquisition attorney who is also passionate about sports. She began training for triathalons a few years ago. A hairline hip fracture set her back for a bit but only for a bit. This past Sunday, she participated in the Chicago triathalon at a personal best of under 3 hours. 2:57:54 to be exact. She may be 8 years younger than me but she is a constant inspiration.

Refuel

The juggling Monday through Friday routine gives way to the weekend. Mugs of steaming coffee. A foggy day. Quiet. Ready to be filled up.

Celebrating poets

Today Grace Paley passed away. And today my dearest friend’s first full-length collection of poetry went on sale. One leaving and one arriving. The yin and yang of two creative selves. The coincidence is heavy with meaning and portends, I think, of something remarkable underway.

In an iChat exchange, Sage said she felt better after she blogged about Grace; like she paid her respects. I responded that I planned to talk about Grace as way of introducing her book. We surmised that there are women blogging about dear Grace all over the world.

I share with Sage a favorite Grace Paley quote. There was an interview in which Grace Paley was asked, “You’re a mother, a wife, a writer, a teacher, an activist. How do you have time to do it all?” To which Grace responded, “Well, I have all day.”

That line fundamentally changed the way I approach life. Just as surely as Sage’s book of poems change, nourish and inspire me. “Like the Heart, the World” accompanies the reader through the blighted streets of New York losses, the oceanic melancholies of San Francisco and Portland’s orchestral embrace of the ripening, welcomed self.

I will long cherish my autographed copy. You can get one too right here. You’ll cherish it too.

There’s no time wasted when you’re bonding

When it takes half an hour to navigate from Fort Mason in SF to Chinatown, you have to look on the bright side. After all, San Francisco is less than 10 miles across. I’d like to think it was the map but I’m pretty sure it was me. There are spots in the City that I know like the back of my hand. And then there are seemingly simple routes that just baffle me.

There we were, six in the car, traversing the City covering many of the same streets multiple times. Luckily we were fortified with a lovely lunch from Greens, which began with grilled peaches + mascarpone, honey and watercress. Mouthwatering good.

And there was the fact that we were all in one car. Instead of one following the other. And like Donna said, “there’s no time wasted when you’re bonding.” Exactly right.

Finally we made it and, as luck would have it (no doubt fate smiling kindly on us after the driving detours), the perfect parking spot materialized. The food tour continued with fortune cookies from the fortune cookie factory, lotus cakes and rice candy. From there it was quick hop to the Ferry Building … with no unfortunate driving detours since I actually know how to get to that place speedy quick (well, fairly speedy quick). Herb bread + chocolate + lavender cookies … oh my! We feasted all the way through.

It was one of those perfectly sparkling San Francisco days made all the more gorgeous by the very best friends. Thanks Boss girls!

Oh! And thanks to Carrie for the fabulous addition to my Hello Kitty collection.

Exactly

3:24 p.m.

and the silence is palpable. The demolition across the street is done for another day. Yesterday, it was so bad that I yelled, “shut up” from inside my office, which of course no one could hear but I did feel marginally better.

All told, yesterday was one of those days that kicked my butt. I plowed through a mountain of work (the corporate paying kind) that required revisions and updates to 8 different pieces, all with slightly different nuances. My brain spun with the juggling. And just as I hit send, the client sent over new information so I got to do it again. By 4 p.m., I had to take refuge.

Off to the kitchen I took my princess self, where mincing and dicing did its magic.

There is nothing like cooking to reverse the tedium that can come from arranging words on paper for hours at a time.

Now the trouble with days that kick your butt is that it’s really hard to muster the energy to charge the mountain the next day. And really easy to decide that the laundry and rearranging the spice rack should come first. Only then you know what happens? The deadlines get closer and, well, you guessed it. Another butt-kicker day. At least it will be Friday.

4 Sudokus solved, 2 magazines read, 1 client letter written and a week of menu planning done …

… that was what I had time for while waiting in the dermatologist office. 3 hours total, 2 of which wearing nothing but a hospital gown. Why do they do that? Why not let us sit in the nice reception area, fully clothed, until the doctor is ready?

Oh, and get this … I had to see a resident first (2nd day on the derm rotation) who was too nervous to ask me all his questions at once. It was a revolving door of fun. But before the resident came, an hour and a quarter passed without a peep from anybody. I thought they forgot me. Really had to pee. Hard to walk down the public hall, though, when you wearing a gown that exposes your backside. Hapless resident was good for that … found me another gown to put on backwards so that all of me was covered in green housedress-like garb.

Boy, I can’t wait to go back.

A room with a view

Yup, that’s the view outside my home office window. It comes complete with the bone-jarring sounds of jackhammers and big-toothed machines that crunch the pavement after it’s been broken into pieces. From time-to-time, the windows rattle and house trembles.

The jackhammers started on Friday after a massive truck that sounded like it had a bad case of gas unloaded yards of chain-link fencing. On Saturday, a “gosh we’re sorry for the inconvenience” letter arrived with the news that the high school’s side parking lot would be undergoing modernization from August through October. Really? I hadn’t heard that there was new technology in parking lots but what do I know?

My friend Sage says, “when life gives you lemons, put them in your bra.” In my case, there’s no room for lemons but I’ll go for the spirit of the sentiment. The noise outside gives me a chance to practice focus. The clinking and clanking of the temporary chain-link fence being pulled apart by overly eager workers at 6:45 a.m. means K and I won’t be rushing to get to school on time. Here’s to modernization!