A chip off the old block.

When I was little I remember times when my Dad would ship us off to an Aunt and Uncles house, or to my Grandparents house for a day or two. Who knew why? In the moment, we had no clue why, - but to us it didn't matter. The time spent with relatives was always lots of fun, and we enjoyed visiting fun places like Calaway Park, and playing 'kick the can' with much loved cousins. When Dad would return to pick us up we'd say our good byes, get in the car, and head home. That's when we'd discover amazing things. Projects my Dad had been working on in our absense. One time we came home to find that Dad had labored all weekend re arranging the rooms so that Chad and Jewel each had bedrooms of their own. Gone were the days of us three girls sleeping in the same bed.
I remember the excitement as we ran through the house inspecting Chad's room that was now ALL the way down in the basement. After all, he was a big boy now right? Well, obviously not that big, because draped over his bed was some sort of dorky Star Wars comforter. Maybe it was Ewoks. Is that the same thing? Brimming with enthusiasm, to say the least, we ran back upstairs, shrieking like a bunch of 6 year old girls (ok we were, but so what) to see Jewel's new room. Dad had bought her a brand new bed and a comforter with peach flowers, because peach was her favorite color. PEACH of all colors? She also loved to decorate with ostriches, but whatever, that's her issue -I'm digressing. Finally, she had earned her OWN room, away from the two annoying snoops she'd previously dormed with. Oh wait- that was ME! I was mildly jealous, but even for Crystal and I, this was a big deal, made all the better by the element of SURPRISE!

Throughout the course of my childhood, things like this played out often, and it didn't take long to realize that my Dad enjoyed surprising us. He knew how sweet a good surprise could be and he LIVED for those moments. Who doesn't right? Right?


Perhaps that is why I've been planning on painting the kids room tomorrow, and still John has no clue! For those of you who might think this is wrong of me to do- it's not like I'm HIDING anything.

I bought the paint, and put it in an easy to see place at the BACK of our closet underneath a VERY easy to see blanket. I mudded and patched up the walls and he hasn't noticed, and I thought surely when I removed all shelves, pictures and wall decor he'd suspect something, but nope ...notta. I'm thinking that it has something to do with the fact that it is finals time at school, and he has barely taken a break to BREATHE, he's so pre-occupied. (I may or may not have been banking on that.)

I'm not even the least bit worried about him reading this by tomorrow either, because ...well...he doesn't read this blog. By posting this though, I've covered my bases. If he doesn't like it, all I have to say in my defense is, "Hunny It's not like it's been a secret or anything. I posted it on my blog for goodness sake." Yeah, That's what I'll say, and when I say THAT, John won't have a leg to stand on AND it will prove that he doesn't ever check in here, and he'll feel bad for THAT and forgive me for doing THIS without consulting him. Or on the other hand, he'll like it. You see - Win Win.


This time tomorrow the kids will be sleeping amongst a sea of soothing WATER COLOR BLUE, and John will get to experience a bit of the excitement my Dad always tried to create for me and my siblings. Lucky guy. Sure, I admit, John won't be coming home to a room of his very own. Nor will he have a super cool new Star Wars blanket. So in reality, I suppose this will have very little resemblence to my cherished childhood memory.

But I can betcha one thing.

He IS going to be surprised.

pray he likes it people.