with nothing particularly planned for today other than to paint, i could've slept as late as i wanted. unfortunately that wasn't the case and i had to get up at 9am to answer project questions that i wasn't able to answer because i wasn't at home most of yesterday. i made some scramble eggs (4 eggs, a little bit too much, my eyes are always bigger than my stomach) for breakfast, washed it all down with some grapefruit juice. while searching for a nail clipper, i found a toy centipede and taped it to a wall outlet in the kitchen. during the day when i was painting, every single time i saw the centipede i was startled because i always forgot it was fake. this is what happens when you have very short term memory combined with a high level of gullibility.

i started painting at 11am and didn't stop until 6pm, 7 nonstop hours of painting, doing all the trims i primed two days ago plus all the trims that i didn't prime (mostly the wainscotting and door frames). when i finally stopped, the residual white semi-gloss paint on my brush had already dried up. my father stopped by during the final few hours to help out with some of the painting.

for dinner i reheated the lasagna my father had brought over. while relaxing in the living room watching panic room on pay-per-view, i heard my doorbell ringing. it was manny doing one of his signature surprise "i don't need to call first because i'm manny" visits. he brought along his sister maureen and her roommate anna, visiting boston from mt.holyoke. maureen wanted to see my place and the much-talked-about colors. "cheerful" was the adjective both she and her roommate kept on using to describe my color scheme. i was also very proud to show them my little alcove of red toys in the living room, including the fishing cats. after about 20 minutes they left, refusing to accept my offer of surplus halloween candies, not even the malt whopper balls.

it's an idea that i've thought about but for some reason never bothered trying, and that is to use photoshop to change photos of my rooms so i can see what they'd look like with different colors and patterns. i finally did it to the kitchen, to "see" what my banding concept would be like if i were to actually do it. originally i wanted to do horizontal bands, but after seeing the mockup, i don't like it. i can't really describe why, maybe it makes the room look fat. i'd much more prefer the wide vertical stripes, draws your eyes up and down.

with the kitchen pretty much done except for the shuttered folding door of the washer/dryer cabinet, i pulled up more than half of the rosen paper that'd been on the kitchen floor for the longest time. one thing i didn't realize is how shiny the floor is, and how it reflect the 10 spots of recessed lighting on the ceiling above.

later tonight john miller will be coming up from nyc, spending the night in my guest bedroom. although he's the first person other than me to sleep in the guest bedroom, he's not the first guest to have stayed over at my place. that honor goes to claudio when he came to boston to visit back in august, when the house was very much different and unfinished, compared to how it is now.