I have hesitated to post pictures of what I have been working on. Not that it’s bad or that I’m not proud of the results but because I really didn’t want to hear negative comments.
I have been working in the bedrooms upstairs. They started with linoleum and/or painted floors. The linoleum was peeled up with a heat gun and then both were sanded with the floor sander.
The floors are the only remaining original heart pine floors.
Yes they are pretty floors. They are in fair condition. If you look closely you not only see my dirty socks but you see the bondo required to patch the floors where there were gaping holes. Also there are black marks that do not go away. The budget did not allow for new oak floors to match the first floor and I didn’t want carpet.
I have had many comments and non-verbal comments. I take all comments to heart. Truly I do. However I have known for a while what I wanted to do with these floors and it was nothing that anyone talked about. I showed pictures and nothing negative was said, but when the eyebrows go up you know it’s not a positive reaction. Even my bestest of friends have said “I know it will be cute but I’m not sure I could do it.”
I sent pictures yesterday to a friend for a response and I told her I was not posting them because I didn’t want to hear any response from the “Painter Haters.”
Yes after the floors were stripped of the linoleum, sanded, the grooves painstakingly scraped free of Lord knows what, primed, sanded again and finally given a final coat. I give you white painted wood floors.
Now before you say anything. This girl has been my right hand and left hand. She has bled and blistered right beside me during this process so be careful she’s a little cranky 
I have been known to do things out of the ordinary. I have very specific wants and I don’t sway easily however this week has been a little out of my comfort zone. I don’t want people to say they don’t like my ideas. I want to be accepted just like everyone else.
As I sit here tonight listening to Christina Grimmie sing “In Christ Alone” thinking of the short life that she led and how she was so unashamed of her faith and her love of Jesus. The song says till He returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.
I sit here tonight receiving texts from both of my adult kids letting me know that they are safe as they are at benefit concert raising money for the families of the people who were killed at the Pulse nightclub. My kids are both extreme. They are activists. They have both been drawn to the underdog. To the ones not accepted and that need just a little more. They don’t sit on the sidelines waiting for something to happen. They do it afraid. Do I always agree? OH MY WORD….No. But I strive to be like them.
This week has been hard. There have been comments made all over social media about the Pulse nightclub incident and the people involved. There have been an outpouring of love and at the same time many who do not understand, might be afraid and others who hate. My extreme kids have been slap in the middle of it. Not only does Kyle live in Orlando but he had a friend who was killed. Kyle instantly went into extreme mode. He called people, he began gathering people to give blood, he went to a community center to help because that’s what Kyle does. He is a mover and shaker. He even came to Ocala to attend the vigil on our very own downtown square.
My friends, when they found out I was going to the square offered to go with me. I have amazing friends. And there is my extreme girl. Hearts and a sign…. I love her.
I didn’t want to be nervous. But I was. I didn’t know what to expect.
I watched and listened. I wanted to be brave and talk to someone. What was wrong with me, I can talk to anybody? I love people and most of the time they love me back.
And then this happened.
I was waiting for my friends Chris and Charity to be done talking with some of their new friends. I was too chicken to go and butt into their conversation. Why? I do it every other time. And I missed getting to #LoveGod #Lovepeople. So instead of getting to be in the huddle, I prayed on the bench. Thanking Him for my extreme kids and how they teach me things everyday and I am so eternally grateful.
Love,
the girl who has as much paint on her as the floor
The AC company are not our favorites at the moment.
The Downtown Farmhouse 