“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 839 (Saturday) – kicking back

Today had a low-tech, kicked back, old school feel to it. I was up at the regular time of 6:00, dusting, vacuuming, washing the kitchen floor, and taking inventory of the pantry for lunch. Coffee was consumed. More coffee was made.  

Mom and StepDad arrived after getting tangled up in parade traffic in Pepperell. Who knew the Independence Day parade would take place a week and a couple days before the holiday? Not us, obviously.

We set the umbrella back in the table stand, then had coffee on the deck. StepDad set the screw in the umbrella base this time, so it should hold better than the previous faulty situation that led to the airborne umbrella.

Mom and I played Scrabble on my totally old-fashioned flat board that is not on a swivel like hers. There were two games with one victory each. StepDad tackled a small project in the enclosed porch. There was lunch on the deck and conversation. It was relaxing.

Shopping haul.

After they left, I headed to the moving sale at the Tyngsboro JoAnn Fabrics for I wasn’t sure what. I wanted a sea sponge, but there were none there. I also wanted paint, but had no idea what color, so the shelves of many little bottles and large spray cans was a bit overwhelming. I finally chose a boxed set of small tubes of acrylic paints, assorted brushes, jewelry beading wire and jewelry E-6000 glue, and other random less fabric and craft store items like a Ghiradelli milk chocolate and caramel bar. The next stop was Dollar Tree across the parking lot where they had stencils and a few other things. 

The temperature had crept up to hot by lunchtime, as promised, and the car A/C seemed to have trouble keeping up. Mid-afternoon I remembered I need an inspection sticker by the end of this month, but I don’t see how I’m going to squeeze that in now unless I can time travel back to this morning or last Saturday. The weekday hours are not exactly office worker friendly.

The evening was still pretty warm, but light breezes had returned, and thank goodness for ceiling fans. I am positive I would never survive one of those TV decorating shows because the first thing the team does most of the time is rip out the ceiling fans. I would be ripping out someone’s throat.

My phone was plugged into the charger and left there all day. All day, all day. I was halfway to JoAnn Fabric before I realized it was still plugged in at home. Deep breaths were taken. Panic was avoided. I carried on, and somehow survived.

Paint time!

After supper, it was time to relax with some mindless Hallmark movies, a big glass of ice water, paints, a large and a small canvas, a sponge, a foam applicator thingy, some cupcake liners, and stencils. In the living room, of course, because the element of risk of spilling paint on the ottoman adds a sliver of danger to keep the relaxing from becoming too sedate.

After turquoise and dark blue with metallic gold stenciled elements were applied with a makeup sponge and the foam dabber thingy, it was time to stop for the night. It’s entirely possible there will be more paint added tomorrow. Or not. And I still need a sea sponge to maybe do one more thing in the bathroom and then I can rehang the artwork and the clock..