Shades of Blue and a Little Green

From left to right: Tenderness; By The Sea; Spa; Angel Eyes; and Innuendo.

Since beginning our home improvements, I’ve learned a new way to make my husband really mad. Not that I want to anger him, but it really pushes his buttons when I paint many stripes of different colors on our walls. Since I discovered that I can buy small cans of paint samples, I have been a fiend about checking to see if I really like a color before buying enough to do the room. It all stems from when we last painted seventeen years ago. At that time, husband was still in his “white is the only appropriate wall color” stage. So, I picked out a shade called, “Ice Blue,” which was supposed to be white tinged with blue, but it turned out to be Robin’s Egg blue. Which I hated. Now I am nervous about picking a shade until I see if I really like it. Thus the rainbow colored walls. He is not only annoyed about the different shades, but it makes him feel like I am forcing him to paint when he is not ready to. Bossy and demanding are words he used. And the fact that I try so many colors makes me greedy and particular. Maybe. If our marriage survives this year of home improvement, we will be lucky. I do tend to be compulsive about finishing what I’ve started. The bedroom will complete the downstairs. I think I can manage to wait to do the upstairs for a few more weeks. Anyway, I am sampling different paint colors in blues and green. I don’t really hate blue. Just the shade we have. And if we paint in blue again, it will cover without having to use primer and, most importantly, I won’t have to repaint the closet. But, I know from my friend, Vicki, that blue is a hard color to predict. She recently painted her husband’s office purple when it was supposed to be steel blue. So, we have four shades of blue to consider. And just for good measure, I threw in a light green. All those colors would look really good with our bedding which is a white quilt with prints of green, blue, lavender and pink. I have to decide tonight because I want to buy the paint tomorrow. In between analyzing paint samples, I’ve been thinking about husband’s accusations. Today, I came to the realization that I have been spending a lot of time wishing I had more money. I’ve been playing the “If only” game. If only I could afford to give oldest son the money he needs for school. If only I could buy my boys new vehicles. If only I could afford new furniture. If only I could build a pool. And I realized how much time I am wasting wishing for “If only” when I have a perfectly good life now. I plan on reining in my desires and learning to be satisfied with what I have. I promise. As soon as we finish painting.