My green house

Just for the record... Yes, that is a toad in the hole of a birdhouse. Probably one of my favorite pictures I've ever taken. (If y'all like it, I'll post the full version.)

I live at home still (so what! I'm only 21). My parents built their house shortly after they got married in 1979. I think people who have been there would agree, however, that they have kept it up-to-date in terms of decoration. There isn't any shag carpet, awful wallpaper or dated furniture. In fact, the last wallpaper in the house (which wasn't even very old at all) was just removed.

It started a few years ago when my mother painted the basement (finished) a light "apple" green. It's nice, etc. She also wallpapered my bathroom a dark-green and white vertical stripe. It was classy. Then she painted their bedroom a "sage" green. At the same time, she was painting things various shades of yellow as well. Fast forward a few years and she paints the spare bedroom (formerly that of my older brother) green. Shortly thereafter, she decides to repaint the yellow dining room... you guessed it, green. A nice light-green to be exact. At the same time, she ventures to remove the blue and white wallpaper in the kitchen and paint it a slightly lighter shade of green than the adjoining dining room.

Okay, okay. Now you are starting to see. But it's not over. She's tired of the green and white wallpaper in my bathroom and the blue and white wallpaper in her bathroom. These were nice, subtle vertical stripe wallpapers but they had been in place for several years now. So what does she do? She painstakingly removes the wallpaper and paints the bathrooms... blue! Well, an aqua... greenish blue. But still... it's more blue than green! Until she decides to dab light-green paint over the blue so that the rooms are now just as green as they are blue.

No more new green rooms for the rest of the year.

Ah, but 2008 is a new year which means new green. It doesn't take but a month and a half for the long hall (previously yellow) and the short hall up front (previously yellow wallpaper... the last wallpaper) to be painted green. The darkest green yet, in fact (still not very dark by my tastes). She has more plans, though. The living room will be green too. A very light green because "it's just such a dark room anyway," she says. But the mantle and bookshelves will be green too. And then there is the sunroom. That is going to be painted green after that. And she is going to repaint downstairs. If she changes the color for that, it will just be a different green.

So what does this leave me? My bedroom. It's blue. It doesn't even have the tiniest hint of green. If anything it's a grey-blue.

So here is a rundown of rooms in the house and their respective colors:

• Kitchen - Light Green
• Dining Room - Slightly darker green than the kitchen but still light green by all means
• Living Room - Light Yellow but soon to be Green
• Short Hall - Medium Green
• Long Hall - Medium Green
• Guest Bedroom - Light Green about the same as the kitchen but different. Closer to the Master Bedroom. Lighter than the Dining room.
• My Bathroom - Green-Blue
• My Bedroom - Blue
• Master Bedroom - Light Green about in line with the kitchen and guest bedroom but different than both. Still lighter than the dining room, though.
• Master Bathroom - Green Blue
• Sunroom - Light Yellow but soon to be Green
• Basement (all rooms) - Light "Apple" Green

So, we can go ahead and count the "soon to be green" rooms as green. That gives us:

Green - 9
Green-Blue - 2
Blue - 1

So, when I talk about my house "going green," I don't mean environmentally friendly.