Well, we've gotten the kitchen more or less done, the living room more or less done, and the kids' rooms more or less done. Em's room is as done as it's going to get; she invited five friends over to help her paint, and they came up with what Em called a "teenage paint job." It's a hideous combination of red and black, which either looks to me like a crypt or a tenement, depending on my mood. Needless to say, she loves it. ("Should we be worried about her?" I asked Emil this evening. "What, are you afraid she's going to turn into a crack [unprintable] or something?" he replied. "Well, no . . . but that's my point. Should we be worried?" I answered. "Oh, like, if she does turn into a crack [unprintable], we'll say, 'Gee, never saw that one coming!'")

Charles has completed roughly 90% of his walls in a very cheery, sort of lime-sherbet green. He's going to be dismayed when I insist that he finish tomorrow. But he really has got to move his couch and paint behind it, like it or not. (He couldn't do that earlier today because his friend Sean, the laziest human on the planet, was sitting on it watching TV while Charlie was painting . . . )

For my part, I have decided that I have reached the Painter's Equivalent of the Bibliography: I have the trim yet to do. In fact, it's exactly like having the bibliography left: It will take every bit as long as the rest of the painting, it will require complete attention to detail, and I will get pissy and inaccurate about it very soon. The only saving grace is, the painting doesn't have to be done by morning.

Which is a good thing, because tomorrow morning is the Alpe d'Huez time trial in the Tour de France, and I intend to be glued to my seat in front of the TV in the basement for the whole thing . . . My Painting Goal tomorrow is to get enough trim done to be able to reassemble the living room so I can [a] get the vinyl records out of the kitchen, and [b] take down the Dog Barrier so that the dogs can re-enter the living room.

Tomorrow also starts Art Fez, and the weather is going to be suitably hot. So by midafternoon I hope to be back at the pool . . . I continue to enjoy myself and hope everyone else is having fun, too . . .