Update

I've almost survived my DIY "vacation". I took a few days off to paint my bedroom and it's about killed me. Well, actually I was ok until I wrapped up the beautiful paint job and headed off to Target to pick up that cute little corner tv stand I had my eye on. It was waiting for me on the bottom shelf and it looked pretty heavy but I had to try it out. I actually heaved the thing up and would have made it into the shopping cart but those cursed wheels just made it slide away from me. I tried a few times before realizing my back was about to snap in half. Eventually I found a red vested Target employee to help me. He scolded me for even attempting the heave. Oops! Of course, once it was in my cart I noticed the "Extra Heavy Team Lift" sticker on the side. I'm now in pain. Good grief, it will be a miracle if I can get out of bed tomorrow.

It might not have been such a big deal but after a weekend of packing, lifting and stacking heavy boxes filled with books and the obscene use of muscles long left happily dormant... well, let's just say mama needs a massage.

The cute little "Extra Heavy Team Lift" item has been a bit of a nightmare to put together mostly because I don't have an electric screwdriver. Many of the wood screws are in awkward positions so an electric would be nice. When I first saw the intimidating instruction manual I could only think of the Queen's stiff-upper-lip advice to her subjects during the blitz: "Keep calm, Carry On." I did, and it's helped. I plan to keep the Queen's advice in mind as often as possible.

Of course, all of this will be worth it when my little project it wrapped up. I have a soon-to-be delightful bedroom. I wanted a happy, upbeat green. I picked a Glidden color called "Lime Twist". (I'd show it to you online but when I looked it up it's all wrong on a monitor.) It's vibrant and fresh but was, frankly, freaking me out when I first slapped up a patch. I decided to throw caution to the wind and go with the color anyway and I'm glad I did. I kept thinking I thought I loved it but it reminded me of something. I feared it was the color of Kaopectate but then, happily realized it's actually the exact shade of my favorite flavor of ice cream: Pistachio. Yippee!!

Oh, and in honor of Earth Day I used a Glidden Evermore paint that has a low fume blah, blah, blah factor. I can't remember the exact benefits but the paint smell was minimal and I'm very happy with the results.

I learned a few thing along the way while handling this project:

• iPod shuffle is great to paint to
• Air is too introspective to paint to
• Los Lobos is fantastic to paint to (and not the stuff you remember from the 90's)
• That bright blue painter's tape really works
• Don't lift big boxes in Target
• Invest in an electric screwdriver and some Aleve before attempting any big DIY project (I'm just realizing that 40, indeed, sucks)
• Pick a crazy color and go for it!
  

When I eventually unpack and find my camera cord I'll show you a couple of the artifacts I found while clearing stuff out. Until then remember to keep calm and carry on.