Life in Construction Land with a Brain Tumor Chick

So I'm thinking that we have completely established that brain tumors change your life in more ways than one :) Pre-brain tumor there were big plans to add onto and remodel our itty bitty little house. This was the 2nd attempt at such. We had our plans drawn up, we had made all the big decisions and BAM brain tumor land hit. So after all that we've been through we have made the mature, reasonable, tragic and heart wrenching decision to put such plans on hold till we find out what old Egore is going to do next. So after I got off the floor from kicking and screaming (just kidding but I wanted to) I decided that there were a few things I could do in the meantime to make the house a little more 'livable' that would not break the 'Egore' bank! I swear even after his extraction he rules our life :)


My first idea that I put into action was to swap rooms with my kids. My room is larger and lets face it...I have no cars to play with and no GI Joe men to spread out everywhere so since they are now sharing a room I would give them the larger room and we would take the smaller. I say that this is a bright idea only because Robert just painted the boys room a very 'boyish' grey at my request about 6 months ago. If you've ever been to my house you understand that painting a room is not just painting a room. We have solid pine paneled walls that you will see in the pics that follow. There is detail work between each panel. It's about a 75 yr old house that I really do love but the original owners got the bright idea that staining all the wood in the house cherry red (including the hardwood floors) was a WONDERFUL idea! So literally after Robert and I got married and I moved in, EVERYTHING from the walls to the floor was CHERRY RED! One word...YUCKO. He thought it looked very 'beach shack'...hilarious! It was more like 'dungeon shack'...really. One of these days I will get brave and post pics of our old room that I am about to paint for the boys so that you can fully understand what I'm talking about. Anyway, I had him paint the boys room 6 mos ago. That entails sanding the solid pine walls, priming them, caulking any rough spots in the pine (knots and such) priming again and then finally the paint which you first must apply with a brush to 'properly' get into all the grooves of the panelling. It needless to say, is no simple task! So the thought of redoing it was a little crazy! :) Did I mention I just had brain surgery :) But I could not live in a very boyish painted light grey room...that was certainly not suitable to my healing needs :) he he!


So I got the GREAT idea that although I am still recovering I'm going to re-paint the boys old room before moving into it, a more pleasant, little bit girly, color...soft aqua! Yes I said soft aqua. It's my quirky fun loving, truly beach shack (not dungeon shack) style! So...without any further ado....I finished it! Yes it took me like 2 weeks OK maybe 3 weeks of off and on working(I still can't use my arms a whole lot without bothering that muscle on the side of my head, so it makes perfect sense for me to painting a room :) but I did it. And it's beautiful! It is the perfect shade and very relaxing for my 'healing needs'.

And yes I painted the hardwood floors too. Most of you can pick your jaws up off the ground now :) I really did it. Most would not like that, me on the other hand, love it. The floors were damaged from a few stints of carpet over it and considering that we intend to add on in a few years, depending on old Egore, and replace all the flooring with new hardwood that will flow throughout the house it was simply too much work to completely restore these. So I decided to do something fun with them that I would probably never have the opportunity to do again. I really do love it. I like the scratches and scuffs that come with it over time.

I'm almost all moved in to my new room and taking extra care to make it extra organized. You just never know how organized you need to be until you spend a lot of time away or have major surgery, it really helps when others are able to find the things needed! :) Somehow they didn't love the hide and seek game :) I can't take too long because...I'm not going to lie...my living room is filled with the boy's stuff until we get my old room cleaned out. Hoping to have that remedied by the weekend. Scratch that...NEED to have that remedied by the weekend in order to preserve all sanity in the house :)

Now I have to start on the boys 'new' room...my 'old' room. That is going to take a little longer! It has not been recently painted so all the prep work will have to be done. I think I will enlist help on this one! I don't know...I start Physical Therapy for that muscle on Thursday so who knows, maybe painting can be incorporated into my therapy :)

Physical Therapy, aside from the ability to do more painting, is exciting to get started on. Just one more adventure in the recovery process. Anxious to get it going and get done and feel 100%! The muscle that's giving me grief runs along the edge of my face. It's kind of comical to think of getting PT on my face. On Thursday I get an evaluation...of my face...here's hoping I pass that one :)