Finally, a kitchen.

I can't help but wonder if it was temporary insanity or just my measure of faith in my blind dog that made me paint the brand new kitchen with Ray and his high-energy best friend going into and out of the house all day through the dog door. I guess it was just dumb luck that nothing bad happened. The only bit of paint that ended up in the wrong place was a small streak on one of Ray's ears. Despite the fact that I had to put the paintbrush down every 10 minutes and go outside to tell the dogs to BE QUIET, I got quite a bit done (apparently, playing takes A LOT of barking and yelling).

It takes awhile to paint a kitchen three different colors (plus primer, white trim, and ceiling paint) so really, having another dog here to entertain Ray turned out to be a good idea. I could have taken them to daycare but Ray has been in daycare almost every day since the construction started (almost eight weeks) and when the crew told me yesterday that they weren't coming back until we get the knobs for the cabinets, I decided to keep Ray home. Rachel dropped Murphy off in the morning and I decided to keep her here too. I thought both dogs could use a break.

I was careful not to leave the paint tray on the kitchen floor. (I really didn't want to write a blog about white footprints on carpeting, although it could have been pretty funny.) And I tried to be cognizant of where the step stool was in relation to the dogs (although Ray stepped through the dog door and into the stool while I was on it - I was involved in a tricky corner and didn't notice). But overall, having both dogs here while I painted was not a problem.

As a matter of fact, they pretty much stayed out of the kitchen until Gregg started to cook. Then all of a sudden, the kitchen was THE place to be. Murphy and Ray grabbed a toy and played tug of war in the middle of the heated tile floor. Gregg gamely ignored them and I stood idly by and laughed at their antics. Life was returning to normal and it felt GOOD.