Aqua and Green
1:09 p.m. - 2008-12-14


I think winter has arrived in earnest. It was pouring rain on the way home from church and is still pretty cold. We closed on Melissa's new abode last week and got the papers at the start of this week. She and the spouse are starting to get things from the storage unit and are cleaning and taping in preparation for the painting. As I was leaving church this morning, J told me a scary story about when he painted his paneling and it went all buckled on him, and he had to replace it. This scared me so I stopped by the 'manufactured home' on the way back from church. (One of the church ladies who lives in a seniors mobile home park was much offended by my use of the term 'trailer home' and insisted that it is a 'mobile home', but 'manufactured home' sounds even better.) Melissa told me that J had told her the same scary story about painting paneling over at Jason's house the other night but that she had decided to ignore it and paint anyway. We decided that if you could scrub the paneling down with water and it didn't buckle, painting should be OK. Melissa has picked out some super duper colors, an aqua similar to the one I used in the guest room, and a great acid green for her studio. Her house is really wonderful with big rooms and a remodeled kitchen with wonderful cabinets, including those great extras like a spice rack that slides out, a slim cabinet for cookie sheets, and a can cupboard with trays that slide out. Not to mention granite countertops. Plus central air. I told her that next time it is 120 degrees I was coming over to stay, and she just laughed and said OK, it would only cost me $20 a night. That's my girl.

Today, as I was leaving Melissa's new place, I was struck by how nice the landscaping is. M seems to have citrus trees in the yard and what looks like lots of camellias so it should look great in the spring. In addition, because the homes are set closer to each other than regular houses, you can smell what the next house is cooking for dinner. Today the neighbors were making a pot of beans, a lovely aroma, just like home. The park is nice and quiet and very good looking, so we feel it is a good place for M and hope she will be happy there. She will have room for a studio and still be paying less than the cost of an apartment in this crazy-expensive area. My baby is all grown up now, a homeowner.

I was going to do a little Christmas shopping today, but with the rain and the crowds, I decided it would be better to attempt it on a weekday. We still don't have the tree up because of all the painting and moving and whatnot, but perhaps later this week.