Amused and Amazed

So what have I been doing?  Visit with friends,  meetings in restaurants, movies, children's music recital,  renting and cleaning of the studio for summer tourists,  trimming trees, finding guys to fix roof tiles,  steps etc, gathering cherries from our own tree, spoiling the cat.   Just normal stuff.  

  But I am practicing being amused and amazed.  That is my mantra right now for my daily life.  Be amused and amazed as much as possible because everything is meaningful and nothing is meaningful and you might as well get something out of everything.   

I have been exploring the "Amazing" with the painting dilemma.   I had decided to paint the outside trim on my house and cement garden walls.  This is my idea of a fun project....so I went to buy the paint from the corner hardware type store: Bricorama .  Here is the short version of the seemingly never-ending story.  

1. Used first color on three garden walls, went back for more, was told it was paint for wood not concrete (even though I had specified that I was painting cement walls).   Nice kid sold it, he just heard "exterior" when he recommended the paint.
2. Bought a different "facade paint" with the new vendor and used it for several hours.   Later that day I had a spontaneous nose bleed while at lunch with a friend.   Hmmm. 
3. Wore a mask for the next day of painting with the resin based paint and that night another nose bleed.   Googled it.  Its the resin based paint.  It happens to some people.
4.   Next day I wore two masks and no nosebleed but ran out of paint.
5.   Bought second can of same color mix, same paint.  Painted 3 more hours with two masks on, thinking new color would darken.  It didn't . The can is a different color!!
6. Gave up with Bricorama and decided to go to the professional paint store to choose color ( Albertini's).   Got home and realized that the new color is way off of color chip I had shown them.   I Can't use it.
7.  Went back to professional paint store to choose a color myself.  Second color is even more off the color I want.   It is "daffodil" .  Great color for plastic beach shoes!  Each liter can is 35 euros !! Ouch. 
8. Go back to first store and ask them to remix the "lethal" paint that is too light.  Of course, how can they since some is used up.   I buy third can  of 2.5 liters for 30 euros more... even though this is the one that gives me nosebleed.   The machine mangles the lid and they can't get it back on.  I tell them to use the previous lid and I bring it back home.   I put it in the corner but get a nosebleed that night because they opened it for five minutes right in front of me while they were fiddling with the lid.  I put the paint aside, what is in this stuff anyway? 
9.   Monsieur, the master problem solver, suggests I mix my two expensive pots of water based paint from Albertini .  I am a colorist and I do know about such things but I am skeptical....  but what the hell.   AMAZINGLY I get a great color:  not to sandy, not too yellow.... kind of a soft ochre.  Hallelujah.

And yes, I am still working on the AMUSING part of this story.... but somehow it didn't manifest until just now.   Now, I am bemused over what we put ourselves through in the name of progress.