The Project

I was on a mission. I had one day to get Riley's room done. Tom needed a break from the hospital. The pressure was on. Elmer and his crew arrived at 8:15 am. I am so grateful to them and to my mom for hiring them. I had the room cleared of all the books and nicknacks, thanks to a dear friend yesterday, packing it up. The furniture was quickly moved into Trevor's room, so I could use the game room later for other things.



Riley had a twin bed, a dresser, a bedside table, and a two book shelves. The room was gutted of carpet and furniture, the tack strips pulled, and the room painted. The crew was done by 11:30 am, with two coats of paint ceiling and walls.



Friends started to arrive to help. I even had time for a quick cup of tea with the first one to arrive. She brought a meal with her for us to freeze and eat later this weekend. One vacuumed, and tackled the bathrooms cleaning. The crew used up all of the two gallons of paint I had bought.

I was looking at the boys bathroom, that they had shared with Grandpa Tom for a year. The walls were really grungy and were the same flat primer paint as Riley's room had been before painting. I scrounged all the little sample quarts from the garage I had from picking house colors last summer, and brought them into the kitchen. My neighbor ran to her house and brought over a clean and empty 5 gallon bucket and paints from her garage. There were four of us studying the cans seeing what combinations we could come up with to make enough to do the bathroom.



My house exterior has shades of grey, but originally we were looking at blue. These were just sample quarts of color and I had 10 of them. Many were only half full because I put big samples on the walls. We tossed them into the bucket one at a time. A little lighter, a little bluer, it turned from grey to brown then back to a rich dark grey. I loved it. My girlfriends were nervous, too dark, too grey. I said "trust me it will be lovely." Two of them went to work on the bathroom.



Unlike me, who never bothers to tape before painting, they did a meticulous job. The bathroom was stunning, in a rich dark slate or steel grey, that looked great with the grab bars we had installed for Grandpa . The girls asked if they should remove those industrial strength bars I had installed. I told them to leave them just in case Riley needs them later.



During all this action, another friend arrives with a spaghetti lunch and salad and brownies for everyone. The crew is cleaning up, so her timing is impeccable. Every one takes a break and eats. Of course, I am calling downstairs wondering where everyone went, and wondering why they take so long to eat, as I stress the waisted time. I do that to my boys also, I am such a slave driver with my projects. No eating or drinking until the project is finished. The volunteers enjoy their meal.



We are rocking and rolling. The crew leaves after lunch and we get on to the floors. I had debated sealing the subfloor, but with the vapor barrier pad, and the time it would have taken to dry we opt not to seal the floor. The crew has pulled all the tack strips and staples and nails. I run a putty knife along the floor just to check. They only missed a few. Its fantastic, we can start laying the floor and it is only noon. Some one vacuums, while I get the pad. It rolls out and we have plenty.





The first few rows are always a little more tricky, because they slide. But I found with this many helpers, we just got it done, easily. Sitting on the floor, we each could snap in a board at the same time in the row. The mom that brought lunch was comfortable with the saw, so she was running downstairs to the garage, making the end cuts at each row turn. Someone else would hand us the boards.



We were three quarters done, when lunch mom got a call that her horse was loose and limping so she had to leave. The bathroom moms were done and it was getting to the end of the school day around 2:30 pm. My friend from Longview needed to avoid the rush hour traffic, at least I hope she did. That left my neighbor and her brother in law (who had painted my house last summer). We got all the way into the closet and to the thin last pieces against the wall. We were tired and the last boards are always cut pieces. It seemed like forever. We couldn't get the pieces in. We did the whole room in 3 hours and spent the 4th hour on the last 2 boards. We decided to leave it until tomorrow when we were fresh and rested.



Everyone was gone. I finally went downstairs for a quiet bite of that delightful lunch spread. Just that little break gave me the energy, and fresh perspective to cut the last boards. All that is left now is a little fill piece at the closet door and hanging the clothing racks back up.



I could not have accomplished this task without all that help. I am so grateful to my mom for providing the demo crew and painters for the morning. I wore everyone out just doing the parts we did do, painting the bathroom, cleaning, and getting that floor down all in one day. Whoosh.



I was incredibly stinky after all that work so I grabbed a quick shower, threw on a dress and grabbed Trevor and headed out to the hospital where Tom was dieing for a break after 3 days and two full nights. He had tried to escape to my moms house, but Riley had had a little melt down over taking his pills. In the middle of the morning, my mom had called and said Riley was in distress. He wouldn't take his pills. He wanted me to come. Well, there I was with 9 people in my house ripping out his room. I called Tom and told him he would just have to go back to the hospital. So I knew I had to get everything done and get to the hospital ASAP.

Trevor called in the morning just after the painters started. He had left his reading book at home. I am trying really hard to give him good quality time and not get mad at those silly things Trevor is prone to do. I run the book to the school. In my car returning, he calls, "Thanks mom, and I think I forgot my math at home." Thank goodness I had gone through his binder last night. "No, its in there. Look again." I can but laugh at that boy sometimes.

Did I mention after school, Trevor has his after school bible study going in the dining room, with two friends. I am try to keep all routines. What a day. My sister and her daughter were at the hospital when I got there. They had brought Baskins and Robins ice cream. The hospital also had a dinner spread in the play room offered by Bon Appetite Restaurant. They volunteer a dinner once a month to the whole ward and visitors. The children watch Indiana Jones. My niece slaps Riley on the arm for something he says, and he yells "You can't hit me". She is mortified, for a moment she had forgotten Riley is so sick. He seems so normal at times, even with the tubes hanging off his arm. Everyone has to leave shortly. They all have school and work tomorrow.

I get ready for bed, then tell Riley to scoot over and share a spot in his bed. We are both wrapped in our special shawls. I ask him about this morning and what happened that caused him to have a melt down. Grandma had opened one of his pills and sprinkled the white powder over the apple sauce. He couldn't eat it. It wasn't the way he does it. He is so much like his grandfather, my dad, my mothers ex-husband. There is a reason why they are not married. My Dad could be so difficult. Things had to be just so.

Riley takes the spoon and dips it in the apple sauce then he buries the pill in the tip of the spoon. He takes the bite and the pill slides down his throat quietly. He couldn't take the big horse pill sizes, so they give him five little cyclosporine. He also takes Tylenol and Benedryl, but the nurses have learned that he can do those in liquid form, without complaint. The predizone is also added to the mix, but sometimes they give that in his IV. When he gets home it will be in pill form. We talk through, Riley's options and how important it is for him to take his pills. I explain how everyone takes pills. Trevor and I take big fat vitamins and fish oil pills. I talk about all the people we know and the pills they take, especially the relatives that need special medicines for their health. We talk for a while. Riley is tired of apple sauce, he doesn't like the chocolate pudding alternative. I suggest maybe yogurt or peanut butter and tell him to think about what he could order at breakfast that he would like to put his pills in.

I am almost tempted to stay squeezed into that nice comfortable twin bed. The mattress is really soft. It is just a little tight for the two of us. I give up my spot. Riley falls asleep shortly. I was happy to hit the day bed in the hospital window. Tom sends me a text message telling me he loves the king size feather bed at home. It's really soft and comfortable. Then he calls and tells me about the day.

The doctors were able to postpone the red blood another day. Even though Riley's number are falling, they are falling slowly enough. It is best to put off the red cells as long as possible. Tom and I are in agreement. He wants me to call him in the morning with Riley's blood counts. We both are so tired. We wish each other a good night's rest.