Sunday, June 29, 2008
Playhouse
Yeesh! My first post since June 11. Today is the first quiet day I've had in the last few weeks thanks to various things in life that have kept me busy — the main "thing" being the building of Lily's Playhouse, which I wanted to make usable by her fourth birthday party. After several weeks of doing a bit here and a bit there while working on the computer when I got a chance, in the last week I put website work on hold and spent every day outside in blistering heat. It was quite literally all hands on deck as I went around (mere hours before the party yesterday) with a nail gun, nailing down the deck planks. In the morning I'd been finishing the deck rails and adding a little step outside her "front door" — not to mention putting a second coat of primer paint on the inside of the house, which I did first thing — and mowing, and clearing up, and... and...
Seriously, I've never worked so hard, for so long, in such heat before. It was a wonder I didn't keel over! I must have drank a few gallons of water and coke and juice, and hardly went to the toilet at all (okay, probably more information that you needed) — I just sweated it out all day long. And I forgot to sun-block the back of my neck, which started bothering me around 2pm. Oh, and I ate nothing all day long. Neither did Nessa, as she had her own endless list of things to do. You may think this is an awful lot of work for a party, but in all honesty we tend to use "hosted events" as deadlines for general spring cleaning and tidying-up chores! The party was just a small part of it. If there hadn't been a party, we would have let all that stuff drag on for weeks...
But it was worth it in the end. I didn't get everything finished; the inside of Lily's house had two coats of primer but no proper finishing paint, and the vinyl flooring was only laid, not stuck down. But, with the colorful pink kiddie kitchen, and small round table and chairs, and specially made curtains, it was still pretty darn cute and Lily enjoyed herself with her friends. They crowded around the table and had their picnic, while the rest of us (adults) sat outside on the lawn watching the approaching storm.
We'd been expecting showers all day long, but this one was a biggie. It held off just long enough for the kids to have fun outside, and then lightning struck on the horizon and the wind picked up... and everyone headed indoors. I used to think Americans were wimps when it came to storms, always worrying about being on the phone and so on, but when I moved here I realized the fears were for good reason. Storms hit hard here, and lightning/thunder is JUST like in the movies — it crashes and flashes and rumbles every few seconds and the power goes out nearly every time as somewhere nearby a tree is a hit and its branches come tumbling to the ground. When the rain arrived, it bucketed down. Wind, rain, lightning, thunder, the works... but in thirty minutes it was gone and the sun was back out.
The storm didn't spoil anything, but something did go wrong. Jennifer, a good friend of ours (one of Nessa's closest friends from college), had come up early to help get things ready. Being a talented weaver by trade, with her own loom or two, and probably miles of yarn crammed into every niche of her home, she was kind enough to make Lily's curtains and install them when she arrived. Then she set about putting together the flat-packed kiddie kitchen, which took hours — this thing has a fridge, oven, sink, and everything else, and each has its own set of screws and hinges and shelves. Anyway, the finished product weighed quite a bit and it needed two of us to lift it into the Pug for transport down to Lily's Playhouse. Well, Jennifer accidentally stepped off a low wall and landed heavily on her foot, twisting her ankle. Turns out she cracked it — a clean break, but still six weeks worth of nuisance to put up with! It swelled up instantly the size of a golf ball. I realize that's a cliche, but it literally was the size and shape of a golf ball beneath the skin of her ankle. Now she's hobbling about on crutches, or laying with her foot wrapped in frozen bags of peas.
Poor Jen. Now of course we feel eternally guilty because she was helping us when it happened. What makes it worse is that she drives a manual car (a "stick-shift"); had she driven an automatic, her damaged left foot might not have mattered so much as far as driving was concerned. We'd lend her our car, but it's got brake issues and I don't want to be responsible for causing more injuries!!
Despite everything, the party went okay and I achieved most of my goals with the playhouse. I still have siding to put on, a roof to build over the deck (hence the odd-looking posts, of which there will eventually be four of even height), and some more decorating to do inside. But all that's for later. Right now I have website work to do, blog posts to write, and a good few hours of sitting-around-doing-nothing to catch up on.
Hmm... I did some website work earlier today, and have now written a blog post... which leaves... :-)
This post has 12 comments
Poor Jennifer -- hope her ankle is soon better.
Kay, I think "multi-talented" in my case means "jack of all trades, expert at none."
Ilsa, you're absolutely right, Lily doesn't mind the primed walls at all. She doesn't spend a lot of time in her new kitchen, but she has "made" me quite a few plastic burgers in the last week or so. She crams everything in her microwave -- burgers, fries, knives and forks, plates, cardboard boxes, the works -- and sets it to "Pretend Cook." Always tastes amazing though.
Anita, I'm pretty sure Jennifer is kicking herself (no pun intended) about her broken ankle. It's the inconvenience of the thing! As I'm sure you're aware, what with Riyad's arm and all. Let's hope all these broken ankles and arms get better soon!
Having a playhouse for your daughter is a fabulous idea. And having it out in the garden, you don't have to worry about it if she'll grow out of it when she grows older. Just turn it into a "shed" where she can hold meetings and meetings with her friends... ;)
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