I need mindless work right now. I have three paint pots with white/grey paint in them (Cornforth White, Blackened, Pavilion Gray) -- I'll put them on sample boards while everyone is sleeping. Trying to finalize the first floor walls -- I have great hopes of Pavilion Gray for the foyer/hallway. Then need to do the second floor. And the third floor. And all the ceilings. That is a lot of colors to choose. And I keep being tempted to do wacky things, like Minster Green walls and a Chinese Blue ceiling (possibly patterned), but I suspect Kevin will restrain me. I'm also somewhat more seriously tempted by metallic-painted ceilings, in silver or light gold. They're reflect a lot of light and as an added bonus, sparkly! (I am essentially a magpie at heart, it seems.) But I doubt Kev will go for that either. Maybe I can get away with silvery stars in Anand's bedroom.
I want to reorganize the living room shelves, which are overflowing post-Christmas, but I should maybe wait 'til the kids wake up, so the noise doesn't bother them. This place is very small. But on the other hand, if I'm going to pack away some of their old toys, it may be wiser to do that while they sleep. Maybe I can be very quiet. Mostly, I need to make room on the shelves to get the art supplies off the kids' table, because as long as they're there, Anand will persist in climbing up to stand on the table every chance he gets, and that's dangerous. Hopefully, once there's nothing to get to, he'll stop. Although I have my doubts.
I have several blog entries full of pictures I've been meaning to post, equal parts photos of kids and photos of house. That's nice and quiet work, and relatively mindless. Maybe I'll do that.
I also need to write the book proposal for book three of the trilogy. I'm waiting to write that, because I sent Bob (agent) book one yesterday, along with the proposal for book two, and I'm not sure I wrote the proposal for two right. It's my second stab at it; even though I knew better, the first proposal I sent him was actually a plot summary, which is totally not what you want to do. So I tried again; I think this one is better. We'll see. I'm kind of dying for feedback over here, though what I really want to know is not how to write a book proposal but rather whether anyone WANTS TO BUY MY BOOK. But Bob's not even going to send it out until Jan 10 or so, because editors are people too and need a little time to get back into the swing of things after the holidays. They're probably mostly still hungover today. Plus, it's Sunday. I know, I know. But my little baby is out there in the world, lonely and looking for a home. Please, won't someone take it in? Think of the children.
I could just read. Kevin got me a trilogy of fantasy novels for Christmas, and they're nice and big, so it's going to take a while to get through them. Especially if I keep interrupting them, as I did yesterday, to read Louise Penny mysteries. (It's not my fault -- Lori came by on Friday for lunch/work and brought me the one I'd missed, #2 -- I had to read it.) I spent 3-4 hours reading yesterday, which I think is pretty good for my New Year's resolutions, since it combines two in one -- read more, rest. I would have rested even more but Kavi completely lost it about bedtime (howling fury, tears and lamentations and hurling herself bodily from the bed, or trying to) and it took literally two hours to convince her to go to sleep, so. I also watched the Dr. Who Christmas special with Kevin, so I got to check off 'spend more time with Kevin,' which was nice. And it was after the living room was picked up, which was particularly nice. (Before the howling fury.)
Did I mention that we got a Melissa & Doug magnetic responsibility board for Kavi? (Actually, her Chinnama bought it for her for Christmas, but we put it on the wishlist.) She is ridiculously excited about getting little smiley faces for 'get dressed', 'brush teeth', 'clean up room', 'put away toys', and even 'get ready for bed' -- although getting ready isn't really the problem, it's the actual going to sleep part. It's actually been pretty helpful in the other areas, though, for two days running, and we've been good about clearing the kitchen and picking up the living room. We'll see if that continues. I love having a relatively neat house again. It would be so nice if that lasted. Not that it's actually clean -- there's quite a lot of grime that needs dealing with. Disgusting, levels, actually. But one battle at a time. (Adriana's mom wasn't available to clean for New Year's, which in retrospect, isn't that surprising. Oh well.) I'll sweep and vacuum today, and maybe get Kev to do the bathrooms.
Off to paint various shades of white. I like painting sample boards, but white? Kill me now.
5:11 update: Pavilion Gray is nice, but I'm loving Blackened. Was hoping for a silvery-grey, and I think we may have it. We'll see how second coat dries, and how it looks against the other colors. Also love description: "Simply made with the addition of 'lamp black', a pigment made by collecting the residue from burnt lamp oil." This pleases me.