La mia Settimana Bianca

Isaiah 58:12
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

That's us! That's me! The "repairer of Broken Walls" :)

A new meaning to

“White Week”

Here in northern Italy, especially in the city of Milan where we live, the Italian’s are accustomed to taking a holiday they call “white week”. Most of the schools close and families pack off for the mountains in order to take advantage of what is often the last chance to go skiing for the year. Hence “white” week because they’ll be surrounded by snow. Nice tradition don’t you think?

Well, I was off from “normal” work this week too. I had a lot of inquiries along the lines of:

“Where did you go skiing?” “How has your break been?” “Where did you spend White Week?” etc.

I have to laugh because, as you’ll see, my week did turn out to be very white, but unfortunately, not quite in the traditional way. Also, because when people were asking Zeno how I was enjoying my week off he was inclined to say,

“She’s spent most of the week in the house plastered…” That’s right quite literally!

I’ve been tearing down the old 30+ year old plaster in our kitchen and the hallway leading to the kitchen. The jolly good news is that – It’s finally all down!!!!! The downright depressing news is that – even after working at it for a whole week on my own and then one weekend together with Z, we are still quite far from showing off pics of the final result and kicking off a celebratory “we’ve got the new walls up” party…

indeed, as we speak, I’m working up the courage to go attack the fine, fine plaster dust that has made it’s way around the entire house blanketing everything in, you guessed it: white. White Week in the Tutino home!!!!! Come one over we’re surrounded and covered in it!!!! I wouldn’t be surprised if we’ve been eating a bit of it… I know we’ve inhaled quite a lot of it despite the precautionary measures of goggles, surgical masks, etc.

As we were surveying the damages yesterday night, exhausted from the labors, and feeling the pangs of bitter disappointment that we’d not moved along further in our endeavor (we're always underestimating the amount of time/work it will take for our cherished home projects! – why is that?) … we were bravely smiling at each other and saying,

“Don’t be disheartened Amore! Just imagine how wonderful it’s going to look! You’ll see, it will be worth it all when we’re through.”

At the same time we were envisioning the hours of cleanup that were actually staring at us and our words of hope and encouragement didn’t quite hold the clout we intended them to… Here's a glimpse at our efforts:

The original old, gray, peeling plaster walls:





The wall with ALL the plaster scraped off!:


The Battle Attire:




Cleaning up! Completely Plastered :)






Nothing like preparing dinner in the midst of the works:






Can you see the dusting of white we got for White Week?

Yet, I’ve got to say, right now, surrounded by the remnants of white week (and realizing that much of the whiteness is going to stick around for weeks to come) I am truly inspired by our efforts! It’s been long enough that these works have been sitting there staring at us and begging for attention, and now we’re moving forward, making progress!!! That’s what it’s all about.

As my very wise Dad and Mom are always reminding us, A&Z, the house work and repairs will never be done, so the best advise is to learn how to enjoy the process.

So here I go, to delve a bit deeper into the enjoyment of the process! Finish up the last few sips of my comforting and strengthening cup of tea… just you wait, it won’t be long before you’ll get to see those final result photos!

A Very Happy White Week to You All!!!!