lacquer anyone?

after a long wait, our new shelves in our living room have finally been painted. i was told, or rather, warned by the painter that the lacquer spray paint would be very potent and that we should definitely find somewhere to be besides our home for bascially the whole day. so i ventured out with the kids to the park where we were so incredibly hot that we had to walk on the trails in the woods in order to maintain a body temperature of under 100 degrees. here i am with a buggy for abram (that he LOVES) and then eli & caleb walking in their sandals. we did great on the beginner trails, as we have done these many times before. but as we were walking on the first one, there was a little side trail that looked fun where you could see the road, etc so i decided to brave it and try it out. little did i know this was an advanced trail that basically went straight down. imagine a mommy with a baby in a fisher-price buggy thing, a 2 year old screaming at the top and 5 year old about to lose it too as he pretends to be unafraid of the sudden drop. mind you, i have on 2 dollar flip flops and instead of walking down the cliff, i pretty much slid down with the buggy in hand trying to keep abram from flipping over or me from landing on top of him. then i left abram at the bottom and climbed my way back up to get my sceaming 2 year old as i held eli's hand and once again slid down the cliff. of course once we all were safely on level land, we all laughed about it until i looked up and realized that somehow we had to make it back up. thankfully, we ended up back on a trail that was more our speed and gradually made our way to the top. i will admit though that at one point, i thought i might have to use my cell phone to call for some back up! well, we left the park and then ventured to our friend's pool and spent the rest of the day relaxing and keeping cool in the horrible heat, until...we got the phone call that our house was fume-free and we could come back. HA!!! have you ever smelled fresh lacquer? just imagine putting cotton balls of finger nail polish remover up your nostrils times 100. it was nauseating to say the least. i was so afraid my reactive airway children would end up hospitalized, not to mention myself. jerry didn't seem to mind and said that it was simply a smell, not actual fumes. well, besides the fact that every time i woke up at night i thought someone was attacking me with finger nail polish remover, we all survived and now have beautiful book shelves. my advice to you...don't plan on returning to a home that has been painted with anything that requires a gas mask to paint. painters should have to be tested before they're allowed to drive after dealing with those kind of fumes. oh, and don't trust a husband that calls and says, "honey, it's much better now. you're safe to bring the kids home...it's just a 'smell'. " if you can taste it, it's not just smell!!