February 1, 2019 – I will be going “dark” for a few days

         Next up is moving the computer to another room so that I can do the flooring – which means – nothing in the room in order to accomplish that project.   So, I’ll be off line for a couple of days.

         Yesterday, I painted the big wall – half of it I painted from the scaffold.  I will honestly admit my knees were a bit wobbly by the end of the high wall painting.

         The scaffolding saved me moving a tall ladder every two and one half feet of wall for about 20 linear feet of wall. It also saved the stair stepping up and down a tall ladder countless times.

         I must admit, standing on the scaffolding was a bit scary.  I imagine if one did it often enough they would get used to it.  I have two more rooms that have this high center peak, so I suppose I will get used to it in the future.

         Today I spent most of the day cutting and fitting the new baseboard that I will put in place after the floor is put down.

         All of this is sort of fun – for a woman to do.  It is something that is not in our usual job descriptions, like baking a pie or making a pot roast. But, I was brought up with two older brothers and I learned the difference between a flat head and a Phillip’s screwdriver when I was about eight years old.

         I have tackled a lot of minor home repairs and do-it-yourself projects over the years.  Of course, painting was the first one I tackled and now I find that not that many women I know paint.  Usually, they hire someone to do it for them.  I’m too cheap or maybe you prefer the phrase frugal.  Why should I pay someone to do something that I can do well? 

         During one of our corporate moves, we ended up in an old two-story rental house in the historic section of Rutherfordton, North Carolina.  We had a nice landlord. We were between houses and we affectionately called the place, “The Big House”.  It made the new landlord smile as we could see the brand new county jail from the kitchen window.  So, our calling it The Big House had a double meaning and he got the inside joke.  He had eyes that twinkled when he was amused.  He was the best landlord we ever had.

         Back then, I didn’t have a single problem finding the pale yellow that I repainted the kitchen in that big old house.

         The landlord was a good sport.  I said, “I want to paint.”

         “What color?”

         “Yellow in the kitchen, polo green in the small bathroom, white in the upstairs bath, French blue in the living room and taupe in the dining room.”

         “Sure, at your cost,” he said with a big smile – wondering if I would actually be that ambitious.  [Didn’t I surprise him!]

         The place hadn’t seen paint in at least two decades and the plaster walls were riddled with cracks.

         I called my Dad and asked him how to fix the cracks in the plaster. 

         When I told him what I wanted to do Dad said,

         “Daughter, you need a really good ladder – has to be fiberglass . . . .”  I’ll send you a check for a quality ladder – don’t start fixing the cracks or painting until you get that ladder.”

         “Yes, Dad.” 

         Over the next several weeks Dad and I had many discussions on how to fix cracks and what type of paint and many other “how to fix” things.

         Back then we had one of those DVR cameras and I took a before video and an after video fixing up that old house. Mom and Dad got a big kick out of it that Christmas when I sent it up to them.

         Many friends said to us,

         “It’s a rental – why are you wasting your time?”

         “Because we have to camp here between selling one house and buying another and this place is hideous.”

         The only redeeming quality of that big old house was the landlord  allowed our cat and dog - and it had an extra bedroom to use as a storage unit so we didn’t have to “unpack” everything from the attic or basement from our previous house.

         That paint made the place “livable” and it was a smart move, as we had to camp out much longer than we expected between one house and the next.

         I remember I did all that under $250 – in fact, I recollect the figure as $238 – but that was then and the cost of paint has drastically changed since then.

         Just the other day when I came in with gallons of paint, my husband asked,

         “What did that cost you?”

         “You honestly don’t want to know.”