Painting with the President

After two years, I have finally finished painting my kitchen ceiling. I enlisted the President and Senator Kerry to help me out, but in classic bureaucratic fashion, they just stood around and argued about the best way to get things done without actually doing anything. So I labored, and now am feeling dizzy from the fumes. I didn't think to open a window until I was mostly done. I also began painting the "mud room" which is hardly a room. It is a small space where the kitchen door opens over a tiny tiled patch of floor where shoes often get piled. I chose "caramel honey" for the color there, which is really a yellow gold. Paint names are fun, but they seldom tell you a lick about what the color actually looks like. I had tried to have a painting party for next weekend, but I only had two volunteers, and one was my mom. So I decided I'm just going to tackle this solo. I have a number of painting tasks to tackle, and most of them are necessary. But it is also somewhat psychological : new paint = new life.