The Wallpaper Saga-Part 3

I refer you to the previous posts regarding my wallpaper woes.

When I posted Part 2, I anticipated the paper being sent by the fastest possible means.  Monday I called and was told by the local store that it should arrive Monday or possibly Tuesday, i.e. today.  But, today I was informed that they do have a tracking number, and it will arrive.....Friday.
Oh, joy and delight....Friday is the day we are scheduled to move.
I guess we will move everything but the kitchen and the bedroom.  We will eat and sleep in our present house until I can get the paper on the walls of the new kitchen.  Then we will finish the move.  Good thing we are only moving about 2 miles away.
I guess I am supposed to be thrilled that they are planning to give me a $34 credit as compensation for all my trouble over this paper.
I wish they had spent that $34 on the cost of overnight shipment!
No, wait, that would have actually made sense.
What was I thinking!

A Little Slip

When I dressed for church this morning, I decided that since the day was supposed to be warm, I would only wear a half slip under my denim dress.  My first choice slips turned out to be just a bit too long for the dress.  That narrowed the options down to a black half slip with a lovely lace border at the bottom, but some beginning-to-lose-its-snap elastic at the waist.  I thought that shouldn't really matter as there was a bit of stretch still left, and there would be enough friction between the dress and my panty-hose to keep the slip in place.


All was well until after church.  My friend was getting things set up for the beginning of the new children's church season next Sunday.  She needed to move a table downstairs.  There were only a couple of men around, and they were occupied discussing whether they needed to get more paint to spruce up the handicap ramp.  We decided we could carry the table downstairs ourselves.  It took some effort and awkward positioning to make the turn into the stairwell.  Apparently this was too much for the slip.


As we set the table down in the basement, I thought I felt something strange in the vicinity of my ankles.  Uh-huh.  My lovely lacy black slip encircled my feet on the floor.


I dissolved into a fit of giggles which, of course, drew my friend's attention to the situation.  No one else was around, so it wasn't really embarrassing.  I'm just glad it didn't happen when I was standing up front doing the children's sermon, and that it didn't trip me up going down the stairs.


Life is just full of interesting little slips.

The Wallpaper Saga-Part 2

I am not by nature a patient and gracious individual.  Today I have been stretched to the absolute limits of my endurance.  I can't begin to explain how badly I wanted to scream and throw things.

A quick review of the previous "Wallpaper Saga:"

*paper was ordered in June

*all but 6 rolls came in 7-10 days

*6 rolls were back-ordered...unfortunately, this is the kitchen wallpaper...the kitchen being the one room in a house that you really don't want to have in an unfinished state when you move in.

*oh, gee....the paper is not actually printed yet

*the wallpaper is printed but the company re-sends the border instead of the paper

*paper to be shipped on a Monday, still not shipped on Thursday

*paper is in Florida...why?????

*paper shipped, but arrives after I leave for Chicago

I came back from Chicago on Monday, but the young lady who is working with me wasn't available to help until today (Thursday).  This morning I dressed in my "grubbies" and went to the new house expecting to jump right into the papering.  It turns out that the person who was supposed to clean all the old yellow paste off the walls had not done so, and the person who was to have filled nail holes, etc. had done a lousy job.  By the time these issues were taken care of it was afternoon.  Still in good spirits, I began the task.  Things were humming along nicely.  I had two double rolls of paper up and looking great.  Then I opened the third double roll.

Oh, NO!  The colors on the third roll were decidedly different than the colors on the first two rolls.  I opened all six rolls.  Although all had the same run number, two of the rolls were different than the other four.  The difference was way too obvious to ignore.  All of the color tones were lighter on two of the rolls and some of the leaves were yellow instead of green.

I took the two "off" rolls and one of the others for comparison back to the store from which they were ordered.  When the clerk saw me and the look on my face, he said, "Oh, NO!"  My sentiments exactly.

So I have pleaded for delivery by the most rapid means possible....I think they owe me that.

I did not swear.

I did not yell.

I did not belittle anyone.

I did not threaten anything.

I did not cry.

I think I will now go upstairs and throw pillows at the wall.

45 years later

I recently returned from an amazing weekend in the Chicago area.  Forty-five years ago I graduated from the diploma program at West Suburban Hospital School of Nursing.  Our class had not gotten together in a very long time, so this past weekend we gathered at a hotel in the area.  Sixty-one graduated in 1965.  Six are deceased.  Of the remaining fifty-five, thirty-one attended, plus one classmate who started with us but left part way through the program.  Eight husbands also came to the reunion.


The incredible thing about the reunion was that the bond forged through our common experiences and faith was still totally intact.  Each person had the chance to share with the group an outline of her life's journey.  The direction of many of those journeys was unanticipated at the outset.  Professional and personal lives went in directions that could not have been foreseen.  Amazing opportunities mixed with heartbreaking challenges. 


The group included OR nurses, ER nurses, school nurses, OB nurses, medical-surgical nurses, a hospital administrator, several who work as resource nurses available by phone, and a few who have spent the majority of their lives as stay-at-home mothers.  Some have spent many years in foreign countries.  Others have repeatedly gone on short term missions projects.  Classmates have been all over the world using their skills to help hurting people.


But, classmates have also been deeply hurt themselves by divorces, miscarriages, the death of a spouse, the death of a child, physical and mental illness in the family, and personal health issues.  Three of the classmates who attended have had breast cancer.  One who was unable to attend is currently going through chemotherapy for lymphoma. Some have mobility issues and were unable to attend.  One came in a wheelchair with the help of her husband.


As each person shared, the love and support of the group was obvious.  Anything and everything could be poured out with no fear of anyone being judgmental.  We all have been battered by life and survived.  There was no reason for pretense.


Words are inadequate to describe the spirit that pervaded our time together. As we sang our class song,  I think most of us were amazed at how relevant it was to our lives, having been written before we stepped out into the world as nurses.  Our big sister class had chosen a verse for us on which we were to base our class song.


Isaiah 26:3  Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee.


During my nursing days, I pray,
Give me thy perfect peace each day.
Show thy love, thy strength through me.
May I always trust in thee.


When trials come and I'm afraid,
Lord, may my mind on thee be stayed.
Often hard my way will be.
Keep me trusting, trusting thee.


When blessing come, may I recall,
That thou, O Lord, art over all.
May my heart be humble still.
Keep me centered in thy will.


Then perfect peace, my heart shall know.
Then shall my lips, with praise o'er flow.
Where ere I am, others will see,
Jesus alone living in me.

The Strutter

She has been circling our block over and over again for the past couple of weeks.  Sometimes she is accompanied by two young children....perhaps younger siblings.  I have also seen her with another girl about her age and with a couple of boys close to her age.  She is probably about 13.


It's a free country, and she can walk around the block on the sidewalk as much as she pleases.  But, she concerns me, because she isn't just walking.  She is strutting her stuff..."her stuff" being those newly acquired curves that a girl her age often has.


I have seen this type of activity in a girl her age before, and I know it can lead to trouble.  Although we live on a lovely street with good neighbors, I have over the years been aware of unsavory characters on both cross streets for our block.  I don't know if she is trying to attract the attention of someone specific and would be smart enough to run from the advances of men of inappropriate age, or not.


Additionally, she has not confined herself to the sidewalks.  Our neighbor caught her in his yard taking apples off the trees.  I saw her in our back yard by the tomato plants.  It appeared that she was picking green tomatoes.  I banged on the window, and she ran away.  Yesterday my husband, who was sitting in the living room with the front door open, heard her outside our house bragging to some companions that she had messed around in our tomatoes.


So...what to do?  
Ignore her?  But then I would feel guilty of something happened to her.
Speak to her?  She will just think I am a foolish and clueless old woman.  Girls her age know everything, or at least, think they do.
Talk to her mother?  I have no idea who her mother is.  If she allows her daughter to "strut" maybe she doesn't care...or maybe she isn't home and the girl is supposed to be babysitting the young children who circle the block with her.


So I am pondering:  if I see her in the tomatoes again, what if I follow her home....don't speak to her...just walk around the block about 20 feet behind her, until she goes into a house or apartment?  Then I follow her in, knock on the door, and see if an adult is there and willing to talk to me.  Too confrontational?   Might just end in trouble?


Sigh....I know I can pray for her, but sometimes action is required.  What to do?

The Wallpaper Saga

Although I do like wallpaper, it is much easier to repaint a room than to repaper.  So, in redecorating our new house, I chose to only paper walls which already had paper on them.


When I hired the handy man to do the work, I asked if he painted and papered.  He said that he did, but over the next couple of weeks, I began to realize that I knew more about papering than he did.  He was planning to have his daughter help him, but eventually I figured out that she too had very little experience.


Meantime, I ordered the wallpaper necessary for the rooms that had paper on them....22 double rolls, over $1000 worth.  Most of the paper arrived in less than 10 days.  However, while the border for the kitchen was delivered, the paper for the kitchen walls wasn't.  A call to the store from which I had purchased it revealed that it was "back ordered," and would be shipped in a couple of weeks.  The couple of weeks passed and a further call indicated that the paper was not even printed, but was scheduled for printing this past week and was to be shipped on Friday.


By this time, most of the ceilings and woodwork had been painted, so it was time to begin papering.  I told the young lady who was working with her dad at the house, that I would do the first room with her and see how she did.  Although she caught on quickly to the actual application of the paper, I did not have confidence that she would be able to measure accurately and match the patterns.  I resigned myself to working with her.
First, we did a bathroom.  We were one piece short...my fault.  I knew when I ordered 2 double rolls that I was cutting it close, and that if things didn't match up conveniently I was probably in trouble.  Worst case scenario prevailed, and I had to order an additional roll.


I placed the order while home for lunch, then went back over to the new house and papered all afternoon.  When I got home there was a message to call the store.  The person I needed to talk to was gone, so I called again the next day.  They wanted me to come in and put a deposit down on the paper.  I was NOT pleased.  I have shopped at this store for 35 years and have an account there.  I had just ordered 22 rolls which were entirely paid for, although 6 were back ordered and not yet in my possession, but they wanted a deposit on one stinking roll!  If I wanted to be treated that way I could shop at certain other big chain stores.


The papering endeavor continued.  As of Thursday, we had done all of the rooms we had paper for...two bathrooms, a dining room, the entry and a long hallway with lots of doors requiring lots of cutting in.  On Friday, I came home from doing some school-shopping with my granddaughter and found a message from the store..."Your border is in."


I called the store.  The manager cheerfully greeted me and asked, "How are you today?"
I said, "I will be better when you tell me that you misspoke, and that it isn't the border you have, but the paper for the walls."
After a very long time on hold, he came back on the line and informed me that sadly the company had reshipped the border and it was now too late in the day to send out the paper.  It will be shipped on Monday.


Good grief!


I did tell him to hang on to the border, in the event, which I am beginning to believe is quite likely, that the color on the border I already have is not a good color match with the just printed paper. Sometimes dyes vary enough that one needs to be concerned about such.  That would be the crowning blow if the paper arrived and didn't really match the border.


It will be a long time before I want to paper again.

The World's Worst Mother

One of my nieces posted on Facebook that she is afraid she is "the World's Worst Mother."
Ha!  Don't give yourself so much credit!  I'm sure I had that title long before you did.


Every mother is the world's worst or the world's best, not by any objective standard, but by the moods and whims of her children.  This is particularly true when the children are teens, which her children are currently.


I have the distinction of having been reported for child abuse of which I was not guilty.  Lucky for me, the child involved went to the police who verified there were no marks indicating the abuse the child claimed.  Therefore, when that child the next week went to social services, which has to investigate everything reported, there was credible evidence in my favor.  This whole situation, however, filled me with terror.  Eventually I was cleared and all record of the accusation supposedly "expunged," but the anxiety of the experience is easy to recall.


We mothers have to set a standard for conduct.  Some children are going to be compliant and not rock the boat.  Others are going to take every opportunity to try to sink it.  We wouldn't feel so awful about this if we didn't love them so.


I used to tell the non-compliant ones, "I am standing next to the highway jumping up and down and screaming that the bridge is out ahead.  You are ignoring my warnings and zooming by with the accelerator all the way to the floor."  What is a mother to do when she sees disaster looming?  Is she suppose to stand idly by?  No, I say keep jumping up and down!  Maybe...just maybe...they will eventually get the picture before they go crashing over the cliff.


Here's a little secret.  If they do go crashing off the cliff and end up in pieces in the ravine, guess who they are going to call for help?  Be prepared to keep loving them and trying to help them patch up their lives.  Maybe someday they will understand that you are among THE BEST.