Fake Life...

...where the calories don't count and someone else makes your bed.



Every once in a while, my Dear One and I need to get out of Dodge.

Sometimes it's as close as the Hampton Inn a mile from the house.  Other times we venture a bit further.

This past weekend we took our Fake Life, as we like to call our time away, in Grand Rapids.

A cousin was turning 50 so we went to join her celebration.

We asked if we could bring some party crashers and Jen agreed, so we picked up our son Michael and his best friend Zahraa and we all got to eat wings, pizza and dessert and enjoy the music of "Ryanhood".   They are a two man acoustic band.  I had never heard of them, but they were pretty good!


We left the party early to take a short road trip.

As my regular readers know, we vacation in Grand Haven every year.  Well, Grand Rapids is so close to Grand Haven that we couldn't not visit.  So we drove to the beach!  Just driving into the town makes my blood pressure drop.

It is so beautiful and peaceful.

We got there a little before 9 p.m. which happened to be enough time to park and walk to the beach to see the sunset.

I got a couple of terrible photos (faceless bodies and electrical wires and a pole) but it's enough to remind me that we were there.

The kids can take better ones when we return together. 

I'm not a corn dog fan, but the place the kids frequent, Pronto Pups, was doing booming business. I've never seen the line as long as it was Saturday evening.  My cousin (a different cousin than the birthday cousin) reported that her hubby stood in line for 1.5 hours waiting for corn dogs for the family.  According to those who would know, it's totally worth it. 

After the beach we hit IHOP.  It's a late night tradition Wayne and I have when we are doing Fake Life.  

We stayed at a nice hotel where the sheets and towels had been washed by someone else.  We slept in and ate a nice breakfast that we did not have to prepare and then went to Mass at the lovely Cathedral of  St. Andrew.

Internet Photo

We drove home enjoying quiet conversation, lunch prepared by someone else and I got a short nap in the vehicle. 

Fake Life ended rather abruptly. We walked in to a trashed kitchen and laundry that needed to be done. We forgot the all-important "heads up, we're on our way" phone call, but that's ok.   It was enough of a breather that I didn't even mind doing some dishes and letting Wayne cook me some supper. 

Next Fake Life coming up soon.  

Paint Job

This week I was blessed to have a professional painter paint the master bedroom in our home.

We have 12 rooms with painted walls in this house.

All but two of them have several coats (many, lots, inches) of paint on them. You get the picture.

When you have nine children and they swap rooms at least yearly (Mom gets bored!  Plus you really have to vacuum under the beds and dressers once in a while) you tend to do a lot of painting.

I have painted, my hubby has painted, each of the children has had a turn or two wielding a roller.

Some of the colors have been beautiful. Some challenging to live with.  For example our U of M room with maize and blue walls.  Or our room with the purple ceiling.  We even had a pink closet for a time when our tenacious one wanted her own room and that was the only space left to put her.

This week, all that 'self' painting took a back seat.

We hired a professional.

"Wow, isn't that expensive?"  I can hear you asking.  Remember I said only two rooms don't have several coats of paint on them? Those two rooms would be the master bedroom and bathroom which we added on to this house when we moved in 21 years ago.  The paint that was applied then is what was just covered. The bathroom has not been done yet.

So, if you figure we've only painted twice in 21 years, I would say it was very affordable...and I did not have to do it!!

I have to explain that our bedroom has a pitched ceiling and a beam running down the middle of it.  That requires a lot of trips up and down a ladder and a very steady hand so you don't wreck the stain on the beam.

The gentleman we hired came highly recommended by the project manager of the company who is currently putting a new bathroom and laundry space in my mom and dad's house.

Here is his card:

I am terrible with "before" photos but great with after!  Here's what it now looks like.  I got a close up of the ceiling/wall seam so you can see that straight line!!  

Not only did he paint, he repaired a crack in the drywall, filled all the holes from our wall art and put a bead of caulk around the base boards, and all of the door and window trim so that no paint touched any wood. 

I am in awe of how beautiful it looks.  

Thank you, Thoma!!