100 Days of Happiness – Day 10

Mr. Fantastic is an acolyte in our parish and this morning he had to serve both the early and the late mass. We went to the first one together. He has to be on time (aka really early), so I have quite some time to spend in church before mass begins. As usual, I tried to pray and, as usual, I failed and my thoughts went from one thing to another. I still don’t really what my line of thought was, but suddenly I was convinced we should paint the stairs today. So, after the early mass, I told Mr. Fantastic my idea and he was immediately enthusiastic.

There’s a story to those stairs. You see, when Mr. Fantastic moved in five years ago, they had received a basic layer, but that was it. He was planning on putting a few coats. He even bought some round carpet steps (I don’t know what the correct term is in English, but in Dutch it is ‘trapmat’). He never got around to do it, but it was something he really wanted to do. He even told me about it (and showed me the carpet steps) one of the first times I visited him. I was no fan of the carpet steps and though the stairs were getting really dirty, it wasn’t really something I cared for. That is, until I broke my toe going up the stairs! I still don’t know how I did it, but I did break my toe when I (slowly, carefully) went up the stairs. Add to that the few times I almost fell down the stairs because the steps are too smooth, and it’s no wonder I changed my mind.

I’ve already talked about the ‘Sunday date night’, and this week it was my turn to pick the date. I had a hard time picking a date. I was thinking about playing a board game, as I love that, but Mr. Fantastic doesn’t, so I hardly ever get the chance to play games. But then, right before mass, I got the idea to paint the stairs as a date. Of course, painting (and buying paint) in the evening isn’t such a good idea, so we had a date afternoon instead of a date night. It was so much fun! It was the first time since we were married that we worked on the house together (well, we did some small things, but no big jobs) and I think it was our best date in months!

So, the undercoat is done, tomorrow we’ll put the first coat on and maybe Tuesday the second one (if necessary), so we can put the carpet steps on by Wednesday. I’m really looking forward to it! It might seem like something simple and dull, but it made me so happy, both working together and seeing the result. 🙂

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