Kyle took the boys up to his dad’s house in Saskatchewan this past weekend and I didn’t go (boo) because of my work schedule – meaning that for the first time in twelve years, I was totally alone.

“You should book a spa day or check out the Fargo Street Fair,” Kyle told me as he packed up the truck on Friday morning.

“Great idea,” I said, even though I knew exactly what I’d be doing for the next 72 hours and it wasn’t any of that.  You see, I had secretly decided that I was going to use their time away to paint my boys’ bedrooms.

You’ll be unsurprised to hear that I had made this secret decision without a lot of secret planning.  On Thursday morning, my best friend had asked what I was going to do for the weekend and I was about to type “Sit around in my underwear watching trashy television” and instead I typed “Paint.”

“Why would you do that?” She asked – because, as my best friend, she knew that 1) I had been scheduling, rescheduling, and re-rescheduling a painter to come in and paint the entire house, 2) I am very lazy, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, 3) I hate painting.

“Because,” I said, which was the exact reason.

“Which colors are you going to use?”  She asked.

“I guess the ones I picked out last year for the painter,” I said, “Although I can’t remember what they are.”

“That makes sense,” she said.

On Friday after work, now temporarily unencumbered by Kosiors, I went to the paint store and got three gallons of paint (in an unremarkable story, I found the old swatches).  I went to the hardware store and got plastic, paint rollers, and tape.  I went to the grocery store and got food for dinner.  I drove home, ate and cleaned up dinner, and unloaded all of the painting stuff into the hallway outside of the bedrooms.

Then my phone rang, and my neighbor invited me over for a glass of wine on the patio.  For as much as I hate painting, I love sitting on my friends’ patios drinking wine.

“Yes,” my heart said.

“No,” my mouth said.  I explained what I was doing.

“You can’t paint by yourself,” she said.  “I’ll be there at 8:00 am tomorrow to help you.”

“No,” I said.

“Yes,” she said.

“No,” I said.

“Yes,” she said.

“Come at 9,” I said.

“I’ll be there at 8:30,” she said, and hung up.

Up until that exact second, the chances of me actually painting were about 80-20.  Only my best friend and the paint store people knew, and I hadn’t told my husband because he would have 100% talked me out of it (not because he gives two craps about home decorating, but because he would have told me to use the weekend to relax).   But now my neighbor was helping, and if she was going to give up her entire Saturday for this ridiculous venture, THEN IT WAS HAPPENING.

You may have heard that I hate painting.  I don’t mind taping.  From the moment I got off the phone to the stroke of midnight, I cleared out and taped my boys’ rooms.  I would have been done at 11:52, but I went to push my older son’s bed out of the way to put down the last three feet of tape and broke the leg off the bed; so then I had to stand there for seven minutes and try and figure out what to do since it dawned on me as the bed went “Craaaaaaaaack” that Kyle had said something prior about not moving around that bed because something was wrong with the legs.  At 11:59, I decided to think about it tomorrow, finished off the last bit of taping, and went to sleep.

Bright and early the next morning, my beautiful, kind, wonderful neighbor knocked on the door.

“Let’s paint!” she said.

We painted.  We chatted.  We painted.  We ate granola bars and mixed nuts because, in the words of my friend, “We ain’t stoppin’.”  We painted some more.  We painted so much that we ran out of paint and I had to go buy more.

“How goes it?”  The paint store guy – who, the day before, had the good fortune to hear all about how much I hate painting – asked me at the checkout.

“My friend is helping me,” I said.  “She’s actually there now painting while I’m here.”

“That’s some kind of friend,” he said.

“You have no idea,” I said.

“Still hate painting?” He asked.

“Not as much,” I said. “Today has been pretty fun.”

Long story short, we painted from 8:30 am to 3:00 pm and then we were done.  Not done for the day; done-done.

“Well,” she said, wiping her hands off on a towel, “Time for a quick eighteen holes of golf.  Want to come along?”

“I think I’ll take a nap,” I said, which is what I did.

Later that night, we celebrated golf, painting, and Saturday by going out to eat.  I had done some quick math in my head and realized that if she hadn’t helped me, I would have been painting until the wee hours of Sunday morning.  Instead, I had enough time to take a snooze, eat a leisurely dinner, and then hang out by my neighbors’ fire pit until 1:00 am.

The next day, I slept in until 10:30, went for a bike ride, and put the boys’ rooms back together.  I called my neighbor’s husband – who, coincidentally, is also my neighbor – and he fixed Twelve’s bed.  (Fun fact: Kyle is finding out about this bed thing right now as he is reading this.)  I took a video of the two finished rooms and sent it around to my parents.

“You have the best neighbors,” My dad said.

“You’re telling me,” I said.

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The photos above was taken at dinner. Kyle was very jealous because he, too, loves dinner and these people.

Speaking of Kyle, Kyle now has a North Dakota hockey podcast on Pulltab Sports. It’s called “North Dakota After Dark” and he hosts it with our friends Kelly and Corey. It’s pretty dumb, pretty funny, and I said, “KYLE, you can’t say that” at least 3x when they were recording…so be warned. For those of you who aren’t from North Dakota, it’s worth it just to listen to Kelly, who has an actual North Dakota accent. Click here to listen.

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This week on North Dakota Today, we talked lemonade stands and Women Who Explore.  Check it out! (North Dakota Today)

Phoenix’s Ron and Christy Webster took to Minot’s “Minot Whiners and Complainers” for a little North Dakota Nice (and to get their luggage back). (KX Net)

After the Backman Family of Bismarck couldn’t put up their holiday inflatables in December due to snow, they decided to celebrate Christmas in July. (KFYR TV)

 Bismarck’s Cade Feeney has been drafted by the Boston Red Sox. (Valley News Live)

The Minot Police Department’s Caspian is a Dutch-speaking, explosive-trained, good, good boy. (KFYR TV)

Grand Forks’ Roxie the Snake is now 100 rocks strong. (Grand Forks Herald)

On Monday, July 17, the City of Bismarck was so named 150 years ago. (KFYR TV)

Here’s Teddy – aka Mr. Charming – talking about his Wish. (Facebook) (Valley News Live)

Similar to Women Who Explore, the Camping in North Dakota Facebook group is an online place for outdoors people to gather. (Fargo Forum)

 Congratulations to the two North Dakota teams – the Bullinger brothers from Bismarck and the Martel/Dewald duo from Jamestown – who placed in the Top 10 at the High School Fishing World Finals in La Crosse, Wisconsin! (Fargo Forum)

Mapleton’s Daxton Stoner has the type of salad that (probably) wins championships. (KFYR TV)

 Obviously, Grand Forks has been named one of the Most Charming Cities in the Midwest by TravelMag. (Grand Forks Herald)

Excavation teams have uncovered the original foundation of the University of North Dakota’s first building, Old Main, built in 1883 and demolished in 1963. (UND Today)

 Minot twins Todd and Troy Gunderson have each published a new book – for Troy, his first, and for Todd, one of a series. (Minot Daily News)

Casselton’s Kyle Gagner and Josh Silbernagel have created North Dakota’s new state anthem.  Here’s something else: I met these cool dudes on one of my previous visits to North Dakota Today – picture below. (Fargo Forum)

As a reminder, I’ll be appearing on North Dakota Today on Monday mornings. Tune in, and send me the people and stories that make you go, “Oh, for nice” (and if you have already sent me stories – THANK YOU!).

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