Extreme Home Makeover

Well, not like the TV show but we've done well for us! It's been a busy day.

Deb is gone. She moved to a therapeutic foster home in a neighboring county Thursday night. Her worker picked her up from school and took her there. I haven't had the chance to say goodbye but hope to soon. We still have a lot of her stuff here that we need to get there. I'm rather anal about kids getting everything that is theirs when they leave here. Foster kids often get a raw deal so I do my part to help them along the way.

Anyway, the departure of Deb frees up a bedroom. Cori is moving in there. (That's been the plan all along. Originally, DCS was going to move Deb to another foster home before they'd let Cori move in. Of course, things got delayed and that didn't happen. So, Cori moved in the room with Beth...just until Deb moved.) About 5 years ago I'd painted that bedroom yellow. The paint sample said "Mellow Yellow" but it turned out to be more of a Big Bird Yellow. I haven't liked it the whole time but I didn't have to sleep in there (and it looked better than the 70s brown paneling that it covered) so I left it. I decided since the room was temporarily unoccupied, this was the time to neutralize the Sesame Street room.

I got up this morning and headed to Wal-Mart (ALONE - everyone else was still asleep). On the way the temperature light on my van came on. I immediately turned at the next street and headed for my mechanic's shop. About a half-mile down the road, the light started flashing and a warning chime kept dinging at me. I pulled over in the nearest parking lot and called the mechanic. He came right away and got my van running. (He added two gallons of antifreeze!) He said that should hold me until I can get it into the shop on Tuesday. I love that man!

I got to Wal-Mart later than I planned and was caught up in the rush of everyone that shows up there on Saturday mornings. I finally parked and fought my way into the store, dodging the usual collection of Boy Scouts selling fundraiser products and people giving away unwanted kittens and puppies. I grabbed the first paint that didn't make me sick (a light yellow named Lemon Chiffon) and the necessary equipment and headed back out, declining the repeated offers of overpriced popcorn and free pets with mange.

Since I'd been productive for the morning, I took some time off for lunch and a movie I'd Netflixed (The Shawshank Redemption) which my teens had seen before but I hadn't. It was great! Then, I painted, turning the Big Bird room into a yellowy off-white. It's not exactly what I wanted but it's better than it was. Once the walls were freshly painted it was obvious that the carpet badly needed cleaning. The girls went out to rent a cleaner and pick up the ingredients for vegetable soup for dinner.

The girls are now busy with various tasks. Beth is moving the full-size bed from Deb's room to hers. Cori is moving her twin bed into Deb's old room. The carpets have been cleaned and look much better. When they dry a little more, we'll move the rest of Cori's belongings into her new room and help Beth get things settled in her old room that she has all to herself again. (That makes her very happy.) Alli alternates between helping the other girls and then arguing with them. At least she's not arguing with me. Elvis is engrossed in watching "Meet the Robinsons." I'm just glad he's agreed to watch that because he's watched "Cars" so many times that I have it memorized and often quote along with the DVD.

Tomorrow promises to be busy as usual. We'll have to finish the moving and cleaning tasks. For tonight, though, I'm looking forward to some homemade veggie soup and enjoying having my kids around. The roller coaster that is my life continues...