Humiliation and Recompense

First for the humiliation part.

We are still in the middle of restoration.  It has felt like an eternity.  Today Bill lugged the broken toilet - the naughty culprit of our chaos - out to the curb for the garbage men to haul away (yes, they actually pick up stuff like that around here - even sofas and other large items, if you let them know in advance - I LOVE THAT!).  Normally our garbage men are here early.  Like around 8am or so.  Early enough that you have to be on your game to get it out on time.  We have had many a morning of rushing around in a panic, grabbing garbage from all over the house, and running our heavy-laden can to the street in our pjs as we hear the rumblings of the garbage truck coming down the street.

Naturally, because we had a nasty old toilet sitting on our curb today, the garbage men were late.  So late that when I got home from helping at the Book Fair at the middle school around 11:30, they still hadn't shown up. HUMILIATING.

I wasn't home for long before I had to run a few errands, and was relieved to find when I pulled into the driveway around 3pm, the toilet was gone, baby, gone.  I think we will have another toilet at the curb next week.  People are going to think there are some crazy things up at the Syddall's, but I'm trying to not worry about what people think these days (trying to take care of my own dirty windows).

I would have taken a picture, because there was some humor amidst the humiliation, but I have been too darn busy for more than just the thought that it would make me smile... a month or two from now.


On to the recompense.

About a year and a half ago I was all wrapped up in painting my house (reminders here and here).  The end result was not exactly what I had envisioned, but I have tried to get over it and move on, with an occasional comment to my husband, children, or neighbors about how it just doesn't all seem to "go" as well as I had hoped.

My trim color is a little too yellow.

Maybe I should have done the lighter trim around the roofline.

The green is so dark.

When I see my house from a distance, I have become accustomed to telling myself it looks just fine, and that there are certainly much worse color combinations... around.

Today my friend and neighbor Rebecca just happened to ask me if I had some of the old quarts of sample paints from back then, as she needed to have her rental house painted and was looking at similar colors.  She specifically asked if I had the color Grass Clippings.  "Oh," I said, "I think that's the color of my house."

She said she thought it was a little different, since she had some sample chips and they weren't really a true match.  I told her I would check, since the painters had left a partially-filled 5-gallon bucket of touch-up paint for us after the job was done.

The paint color on the bucket:  Snapping Turtle.  When I told Rebecca, she said she had never heard of that color before, which made me think I hadn't either.  Since I often have hormonally-induced fog-brain, I wondered if that was something I had just forgotten.  The more I thought about it, the more I decided that, no, I had NOT heard of Snapping Turtle.  I shuffled through my files (in the filing cabinet in the living room) and found the folder where I had kept the required HOA approval form with my paint selections.  Sure enough, I had chosen Grass Clippings.

Rebecca brought my quart sample back so I could paint it on the side of the house to compare.  Yes, we concurred, it was a better color.  A little lighter.  A little warmer.  It was more cohesive with the brick and trim.

I called the paint company.

Sure enough, they had the record of my selection (Grass Clippings, remember), and also record of the purchase of 15 gallons of Snapping Turtle.  They were apologetic, and offered to repaint.

I have had a renewed sense of faith in myself.  I DID choose a good color.  (At least I hope I did.)  We'll all know for sure the last week of October, barring snow and bad weather.

I can't wait.