It smells like…

…teen spirit! Of course!

It started like this. Back in the day, The Asshole and his friends would take over my living room and drive me insane. So the “Man Space” was born, and we built him his own room to destroy at will. A 9×12 space, we put a tv, cable, couch and chairs, a drumset, and a bar -complete with keg and tap kit – inside. Color the Asshole and his friends happy!

Fast forward to the past years since Kevin’s death: The boy spent a LOT of time in the ManSpace. We got a new heater, and he continued to spend time there, and then he got friends who love the idea of the ManSpace with their whole teenage little hearts. I’m the cool mom -I have cup of soup and the ManSpace!

Soon, the boy was spending the night in the ManSpace, leaving his room neglected and empty. You can see where this is going, right? The boys asked me if they could get some of the storage boxes out of the manspace and into the garage. I said sure – clean the garage, and work with me over the summer, Boy, and you can make the Manspace your room (though we have some things we have to finish according to Papa before winter sets in again – as well as the fact they had to keep it clean in case we had visitors that needed a place to stay, he’d have to give up the room and couch surf). OH the GLEE in his little eyes and his not so little heart! Only thing better would have been handing him the keys to a brand new Mustang or something…

So move he did. He got all of his items from the room, and enter The Girl. Oh how her eyes gleamed at the thought of an empty room. I, of course, being the mean mommy that I am, told her that I was going to reclaim it for my office, as it once was before she was born. Hahahah! She gave me that wide-eyed pitiful look that she’s so good at, and I confessed to thinking one of the girls could take over the Boy’s old room. GLEEFUL CHILDREN! She shocked me by claiming the smaller room recently vacated by the boy, instead of kicking her sister out. Then she asked if she could paint over the old icky marked up blue walls. I agreed. SHE could paint over whatever she liked. After all, I firmly believe in avoiding manual labor letting a child learn by experience.

On her shopping day, The Girl and Nana picked out paint, and curtain material for Auntie to make up new curtains, and toothpaste to be used as cheap spackle. (Yes, Toothpaste. It was recommended, and it works! There’s your tip of the day!) They also got a basic painting kit, with rollers and edgers and all that good stuff. Nana loves her muchly, it’s true!

So, this weekend, she and her BFF cleaned out the rest of the room, washed down the walls, and then toothpaste spackled. I only peeked on occasion to be sure they were allright – after all, it’s manual labor a learning experience and there was a LOT of giggling going on. A lot. Giggling like that scares me, so I sat here and listened from afar. They then had to wait for the toothpaste to dry completely. And wait. And wait. and Wait.

Until there were only a little bit that wasn’t dry, and The Girl decided she had waited LONG ENOUGH and she wasn’t going to wait any longer and she’d just paint around the couple of still damp spots and dammit her room would be PAINTED!

Then came the question “…mom? how do I do it?!” As if she hasn’t watched all the episodes of Trading Spaces WITH ME. Harumph. You get your NEIGHBOR to do it. But, barring that, I gave her the basics I had gleaned from my considerable experience sitting on my ass observing, and let her loose. I did a little, but she honestly wanted to do it all herself – all the paint spills and glops and pink spots on the ceiling and all. We’re not about perfection here in Casa de Lessa, after all! We’re in it for the EXPERIENCE.

See more after the cut!

So after school today, it began. There as edging. There was graffiti.

There was painting the sister.

There was painting the walls.

And the socket plates.

Heh. Whoops. I hear that there are three walls currently finished, with a fourth in the works. Then there will be touchups, and a second coat most likely. She should have it ready to move into by this weekend.

The most important part, of course, is the fact that she’s having fun. Our paint jobs in this house have never been perfect – we ain’t that kinda folk. She loves the color she chose, she loves the fact that she will have her own space since her sister was born 8 years ago – and a little bauble here and there in painting style just gives the room character.

She’s happy. Nothing else matters.

ETA: And now, 4.5 hours later, c’est finis!

And boy is SHE exhausted!

Tags: family, girl, painting, pinkify, room