And so it begins...

I went back to work today. I'm not terribly happy about it, because it really has been a great summer. I'm sorry to see it end, but continue to tell myself that summer isn't really over---we still have plenty of nice weekends to look forward to, I hope.

It was hard to send Andrew back to the sitter's today. Granted, he has a blast there with the other little kids, and he's probably more entertained than he was here with me this summer, but we'd gotten into quite the little routine of enjoying being homebodies. I'm going to miss watching Lazy Town and Blue's Clues with him and making him scrambled eggs for breakfast just about every day. I'm going to miss building tents and hallway "bowling," and the many other silly little activities we came up with for entertainment this summer. I know, the weekends are always there for those things, but somehow there never seems to be enough time, especially if the house is going to continue to run smoothly. I'm sad, as I have been at the start of every school year since he was born, but I'll be okay as things at school start to pick up.

I started working on his playroom today and hope to finish it in a week or so---certainly not by his birthday, but hopefully close to it. I have this vivid idea in my mind of what I want it to look like; it's getting there that's the problem. People who live in normal houses don't quite understand, I don't think. When your house is 100+ years old, the tiniest remodeling tasks can be really daunting. So, instead of just slapping a coat of paint on the walls and buying some cute accessories, I have to deal with a huge mouse hole that needs to be filled, a complete wall board missing where it was busted out to fix a heating pipe and never repaired, and a mystery picture that I'm scared to touch because it might be valuable. Not to mention the fact that the entire room is at a slight angle.

I suspect the "picture," which is actually a framed poster or print of some kind, was used to cover up the back of a chimney, which is one good reason not to take it down--you just never know what's behind the walls in a house like this. It's about five feet tall and is of a girl in pigtails and a bluish dress sitting in front of a large ornamental fireplace. She's sitting on her legs and has a book open on her lap; there are two more open on the floor in front of her. She's looking up, sort of towards the viewer. I have no idea what a five foot picture like this could have been used for, and I can't find anything on the internet to give me a clue. It looks like it could have been an ad for something, but there are no words. It also looks like it could be a movie still, but I have no idea of what. I'm stumped, although it occurred to me that that's where the hidden treasure James and I fantasize about finding in the house could be hidden---it might be worth tearing it down after all, and then I wouldn't have to go to work, which is how this whole post got started in the first place. ---T