Our bathroom project is This Old House meets That 70's Show. I.T. is like a
Norm Abram protege.
He seriously can figure it out even though the whole time he is muttering, "I don't know what I am doing." And me- well, I stay near I.T. and catch snippets of falling paint shreds ,while I await his instruction. Kind of like Vanna White standing beside the puzzle, just waiting for someone to buy a vowel. Except I look a little more like this
:
He'll say, "Hand me that putty knife" or "Will you rinse this off" and I gladly do it, because I am so thankful to not be scraping the glue anymore. We gave up on that. I.T. sanded. I especially like it when he asks, "Will you bring me a glass of water?" I'm out of that bathroom in a New York minute. I make the best glass of water with ice, which takes a little time. Happiness is not being in that bathroom.
There is this blog I read,
My Sweet Savannah- she redecorates every day, I think. Entire rooms- poof- new look. I go over there and listen to music play- it comes right out of her freshly painted rooms, while I browse and dream. It's absolutely lovely every single day and always just a click away.
Back here in THE project, I play my favorite Christian music station on the radio, while we work. If I didn't, I wouldn't survive. Thank you
WJQ-99 FM! But the feeling from Sweet Savannah doesn't transfer.
Do you know I went to a paint store yesterday- I explained the whole bathroom project- the wallpaper glue, the scraping, the uneven walls from the scraping, the sanding, the uneven walls from the sanding. The paint professional knew just what I should do and she told me, "You simply paint this stuff on, it dries hard, then you sand it off, then you paint it on again, rough it up and paint over it."
I gave her the blank stare for about three full seconds before I repeated, "I paint that over all my walls, then I sand it all off, then I paint it over all my walls, then I sand it, then I paint?"
"Yes," she was satisfied with herself for having explained it so well. She held it out for me to take to the register for purchase.
Thinking back, I know it was impolite, but I told her I wasn't doing that. I couldn't. She didn't understand that I wanted the bathroom painted before Christmas 2012.
Last night, we decided we had to paint the ceiling. I was hoping we could paint the walls and call it a day, but I.T. thought the hairline cracks all through the white ceiling paint would be even more prominent against freshly painted walls of color. He thought he'd just rough it up a bit. Turns out the ceiling paint is barely attached to the ceiling. The paint began to peel off in long, wide strips. I.T. teased that the ceiling paint was coming off a whole lot better than my wallpaper glue. Oh that gave me a laugh. Right. Then the ceiling paint began to fall and hang in strips like this:
The ceiling paint was coming alive and reorganizing. I thought we should just walk away and return next week. Who knows. The whole bathroom might redecorate itself.
And I.T. has been sanding, then slathering plaster paste or whatever it's called all over the walls and he tells me he's going to sand it all again when it's dry. That sounds so familiar. I know I've heard that somewhere before.
I can't promise I won't blog about this project anymore until it's finished, whatever finished is- sanity is important.
May the good project fairy twinkle on our bathroom today. Poof- new look!
As for my birthday- I'm getting a steady stream of lovely cards from my aunts. My amazing and ridiculously birthday card sending time conscious aunts are the most faithful birthday card senders, who ever lived. In fact. It is said in my family that if you do not receive a birthday card from my aunt Donna Lou, it probably isn't your birthday. I can't believe how blessed I am to have aunts like this, who think of me, the peon niece in Michigan, every single year after year, and send me a glittery, "you're the best niece" card. This always makes me smile.
