When is Paid Time Off not a vacation?

[dreamshark]

Darling ambertatge came to visit for a week and, taking pity on her aged parents, offered to help with a home project of some kind. There are so many projects that need doing it was hard to focus, but somehow we decided on "paint the bathroom." Even the main upstairs bathroom is small (6' x 8') and half the wall surface is covered with tile, so that doesn't sound like too big a job, right? Wrong. Sure, there's only 125 square feet of painted surface (including the ceiling) but when you consider how many coats of ancient scabby paint are on there it's more like 600 square feet. And that's without even considering the tragic state of the woodwork, which really can't be ignored. I'd thought about painting the bathroom many times over the years, but thinking about it made me actually look at the state of the walls, and that pretty much sapped all my energy. Amber was determined, however, so we committed to it and I arranged to take two days off work so I could be part of this.

The kids and I spent pretty much all day Wednesday and Thursday disinfecting and scraping and spackling and sanding and vacuuming and repeating, and by Thursday night weren't even close to ready to paint. Admittedly, I took a lot of breaks, partly because it was killing my back but mostly because two people in a 6' x 8' space is more than enough and three is impossible. Driven by guilt, I used my AWOL time mostly to do other house projects, so a lot got done. We all took Friday off for various reasons and returned to it today - still several hours away from uncorking the paint cans. Amber and I continued the sand/scrape/fill cycle on the woodwork for a while until Amber pronounced it time to stop futzing with the woodwork and start painting. That meant a couple of hours of taping plastic over all the tile surfaces and fixtures. Finally, well after noon, it was time to start on the ceiling. I can't remember when I last painted a ceiling, but it apparently left me with deep psychological scars and I just couldn't face it. So I just got out of the way and let the kids do it. Amazingly, they had the first coat on in about 40 minutes!

Now the first coat has to dry for two hours, so some of us are off to the Minnstf meeting. We're beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel!

Comments

[seekerval.livejournal.com]

We call it "JOHO" -- the Joys Of Home Ownership. The accumulation of projects, the projects that always turn out more complicated &/or longer than originally expected, and so on.

My house could use painting and the old wood framing around the main floor archways should be stripped of paint and varnished. I came to that conclusion YEARS ago. Things haven't happened on their own, and I have no offspring to come home all grown up and determined and ready to help.

Good for Amber and Thorin! Good for you, too.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on getting so much done, on the bathroom, and other projects lately.