So last week I ended up taking an inadvertent break from my Smart Barre workouts. At first it was because we were busy getting the playroom finished and I felt that using an orbital sander for hours at a time definitely counted as exercise.
But then I started feeling kind of bad. And then I couldn’t move my neck and I was like Joan Cusack in Sixteen Candles. And then I had friends coming in from out of town and it was the weekend and I generally try to not exercise on the weekends because I feel I should observe the Sabbath.
It always comes back to how spiritual I am.
By the time I returned to Smart Barre on Tuesday morning, it had been a full seven days since my last workout. Forgive me Father for I have sinned and also eaten two gallons of chocolate peanut butter cup ice cream. And six pounds of crawfish. And my body weight in guacamole.
Needless to say, it totally kicked my rear end. And I woke up Wednesday morning almost as sore as I was the first time I ever did Smart Barre. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you it felt like some effort to squeeze toothpaste on my toothbrush and lift it to brush my teeth.
(Well, maybe I’m exaggerating a little, but that’s what I do.)
But I went to Smart Barre again because the only way to get rid of the soreness is to go through it all over again. Exercise is the worst.
And I think it’s indicative of my true feelings about the whole exercise thing when I was almost excited to realize I won’t have time to go to Smart Barre on Thursday morning because I have my annual exam at my doctor’s office.
What is wrong with me?
Anyway, since I mentioned the playroom, I thought I’d show you the beds now that they’re finished and stained and decorated with bedding that was picked out without much drama at all. At least not much drama for our house. And certainly not as much drama as yesterday when Caroline wanted some kind of special ponytail in her hair but couldn’t find a picture to show me what she was trying to explain and, OH THE HUMANITY, her life is very difficult.
So here are the beds.
I know. They are the cutest.
We found the quilts at World Market. They’re called the Paisley Rialto quilt. They’re a little thin, but that’s actually a good thing because it makes them easy to tuck in. Plus I’ve ordered two cotton blankets from JC Penney but apparently they’re backordered and my life is very difficult.
The turquoise side table is another World Market find and all the pillows came from Homegoods. I have big plans to get those linen-colored ones monogrammed with Caroline’s monogram in turquoise thread, but that would require me to remember to take them to the monogram place. And we bought that chandelier at a garage sale several years ago. It has been in a corner of Caroline’s room, but as the playroom started coming together, Mimi suggested it might be the perfect light fixture for in there. So P worked his electrician magic and I love it so much.
I also feel like the following picture sums up my whole house. Perhaps even my entire life.
P would argue that the Antelope of the Lord is the prettiest thing in that picture. I would beg to differ.
But I’m so pleased with how everything turned out. We finished it last Wednesday and Caroline has basically lived in there ever since. Occasionally we go visit her on the top bunk, which we now refer to as her little perch, to remind her we exist.
Now I’d love to find a cute rug that’s impossibly cheap so I won’t be obsessed about things getting spilled on it. Ideally it would be made out of something that would repel stains, but I don’t know that anyone is making teflon rugs. Any suggestions are welcome.
Then eventually we’ll add a little desk or drawing table. And Caroline has informed me she’d like to continue to add all manner of fish mounts and deer heads to the walls.
I can’t even.
So for now I’m just going to enjoy the present and the subtlety of having just one single enormous antelope on the wall.