Week 25 - Did It Myself!

Before (see the green tinge?)---------------->After (MUCH better!)

I finally did it! I gave up on my painter and finished the painting (OK, almost finished) myself.

It was a normal week but nothing in my house felt normal. I knitted on Monday and Tuesday after work so took a night off on Wednesday and sat in my wreck of a family room watching TV online. Sitting in that room with furniture still pulled out from the walls looking at the funky colored walls was the last straw. I decided then and there that I couldn’t wait until the end of month for the painter to return so I would bite bullet and paint myself. That meant Friday I’d be at Menard’s duking it out over the “fixed” remix, which still wasn’t the right color.

I went straight to Menard’s after work on Friday with a big list of stuff to buy once my paint was redone. Can you spell bad service, readers? They begrudgingly gave me new paint, mixed using Pittsburg paint so it’d be the correct base. I then happily shopped, finding nearly everything on my list, most of which was too big for a bag. But when I got to my car, my paint brush was missing. I checked the cart again then went back in to ask if she had forgotten to give me a bag, which she of course denied. They, begrudgingly again, went and got me a new paint brush but when I got to my car I went through my receipt only to find there was another missing item. Back inside and this time they made me go find the item myself. In all of these “opportunities” for good service, only one person apologized for the inconvenience. Sheesh!

But I was home and ready to paint! I had a plan. I was going to do a wall at a time so I would not get into another situation of having nothing done. But once I moved all the furniture to the middle of the room and started cutting in, it became clear that I could do it all so I just kept going and did all the cutting in. I didn’t tape and couldn’t use an edger against the trim so I did the best I could and did lots of wiping up paint smears. I went to bed tired from all the up and down on the step stool and figuring I’d get 2 coats done the next day. But I couldn’t sleep and so found myself getting up at 11:00 and painting until after midnight, finishing the first coat in the dining area where my desk is. I slept like a rock!

By noon Sunday I had done a first coat everywhere and a second coat in the dining area. I did the 2nd coat in the rest of the room in late afternoon and then started cleaning the floor at the edges that are usually covered with furniture. When I was done with that, I started moving the furniture back to where it hadn’t been in almost two months. I left everything an inch from the walls but couldn’t tell. To me it looked normal. It was 7:30 and I’d gotten nothing much done except painting – no cooking and no chores – but my house felt normal again.

I took a shower and was ready to relax for a few hours when I remembered I had transcription work to do for Backyard Farmer – a new volunteer job for my master gardener hours. I checked my email and saw it was due by noon Monday so blazed up the online show and started editing the closed caption files they had sent. It was harder than it sounded when I signed up and I didn’t finish until after 11:00. Exhausted is not strong enough of a word to describe how I felt when I finally got to bed. Of course there was yet another thunder storm overnight (it had rained all weekend and most of the week too) to keep me from getting a good night’s sleep. That and the sore lip I had from the front tooth I managed to chip Friday night eating nachos. You got it – another exploding tooth and this one with no filling! But at least my house is back to normal. Life is good!