I don't like it, I love it

I had this mad idea yesterday that today we would redecorate Tess's room in a day while she was at school.
I kept the idea to myself while I planned and ordered stuff and got the plan straight in my head. Then yesterday evening I said to Richard, 'You drop Tess at school while I clear out her room and then you can repaint the walls.'
'Really?!' he responded, not impressed.
'Really,' I said.

So that's what we did. We got rid of the pink walls and pink shelving and faded 2nd hand curtains. She's got new curtains, new bedding, new pictures and I moved the furniture around. We even managed to squeeze in a trip to Dunelm Mill to get her a set of bedside drawers.

We were still putting things back when it was school kicking out time, but I had it straight by the time she needed to go to bed.

She's really pleased. She's been saying for ages that she's embarrassed about the babyishness and the pink - that she so loved when she was younger. She's gone off pink now.

After seeing her new room she said she didn't like it

She loved it.

She even called me cool.
I thought she said "cruel" and was a bit confused...

There's been a lot of post-decorating crap-clearing-up that I've mostly done myself this evening because Richard went out.

Unfortunately I had an anxiety attack for an hour or two before Richard got home, and it was still spilling over when he got in. (It wasn't helped by the kitchen bin emptying itself all over my bare feet, and washing up liquid squirting in my eye.) The mass rush of cortisol means I've been charging around like a whirling dervish but at least it got the kitchen clean.

Someone on the radio was talking about mindfulness today. It was very interesting. He talked about living in the present and not spending too long either dwelling in the past or imagining the future. These are both things I am guilty of. The trouble is my imaginings of the future are based on things that have really happened so it's hard to tell myself I might be making it up.

I guess I'm being a bit enigmatic. It's what happens when you can't share the actualities of your life only your feelings .


Anyway... Tess is happy and comfy, and tomorrow she's having a friend (who missed her 9th birthday) over for a sleepover.