Party bloopers

All is quiet at the Sugarmama ranch just now. It's the calm before the party storm tomorrow. I mean that quite literally, I'm afraid. It's supposed to rain buckets and thunder and lightning tomorrow, beginning right around the time that our first guests arrive. Husband is in a panic because, as I think I've mentioned, there will be 9 older kids here along with 5 1-year and younger kids. I'm thinking it's just time to go hit the movie store for a stack of DVD's. There'll probably be some running around, but movies ought to work to keep them still at least while they're eating. And an inside party just means I don't have to knock myself out getting the floors spotless, right? There'll be muddy, pine-needly tracks all over it in short order anyway, so why stress? (said through a steely, tight-lipped smile)

No, my bigger concern just now is that I finished repainting the window shutters on the front of our house yesterday. Now, everyone who knows me in real life knows of my love affair with the turquoise and aqua color family. My kitchen is painted aqua, Bean's room is painted turquoise, I have turquoise sandals, jewelry, etc. 'Why not take it outside, too?' methought to meself. And so I took it outside and had a lovely time painting the shutters a pretty, Robins' egg sort of turquoise blue. The contrast between that and the orange-y brick of our house was pleasing indeed while it was 12 inches from my face. But once I finished and fairly skipped to the curb to get a good look from the street--oh.my.god. What have I done?! You can't believe how garish it looks! Like blue eyeshadow heavily applied on the innocent lids of our house! Ack! So goes another painting mishap here at the Ranch, my third after a year of pink-beige bedroom walls that I initially thought looked serene and vaguely Japanese but in fact looked like cheap foundation after awhile. I painted our shutters once before, too--a weird purplish-mauvey-beige color that matched the brick, but clashed with all the plants I ended up planting in front of the house. (Don't look at me that way! These things matter!)

Anyhow, the shutters will remain turquoise for the next couple of years at least, til I can't stand it anymore and the memory of what a pain in the ass it is to haul our extension ladder around and jam paintbrushes into hundreds of shutter louvre cracks fades completely. Until then, please say how much you like it when you see them, okay? I'll pretend not to notice your steely, tight-lipped smile if you do.