Friday, July 20, 2007

An Inside Job

I wonder how many other people have the same issue - great energy one week, a.k.a. "I can DO it" vs. "I'll pick up that paper on the floor later....sometime after nap" the next week. While sitting in my back room, I come up with some great ideas and projects before I go to work. By the time I finish 7 1/2 hours of work and come home, I don't want to start any projects - I just want to veg. I don't get any exercise at work - I'm a desk j0cky, so I shouldn't be tired when I get home. This past Wednesday I came up with the great project of painting the other back room, better known as my husband's computer/office area, and, when company comes, the extra bedroom. This room is a partially converted garage. I say partially because we just closed off the garage door opening, leaving about 4 feet of storage space on the outside. On the inside we carpeted and put a window air conditioner in - and, voila, an extra room. We didn't raise the floor or REALLY close off the room. If the next person who owns the house wants a garage back, all he has to do is knock out the partition. My daughter lived back in that room for a couple of years and she made a few half hearted attempts (read "partial") to paint it. So, there is a partly black wall (don't ask), two partially light green walls, and the rest is the original beige. Just looking at it gives me the desire to run very far away. However, I decided that this weekend I'm going to begin the project to do it "right". No more just throwing paint on the wall without proper preparation. That has been done for many years by the previous owners. This house was a rental before we bought it, so there are a lot of issues that need to be addressed - unfortunately, by us, the present owners.
First, this Saturday, I have to prep the ceiling for painting. That means covering cracks in the plaster (it's an old ceiling) and then sanding. I'm so out of shape, overweight and totally lacking in motivation that just the thought of sanding a ceiling makes my back hurt. My husband has a bad back and cannot do much either - probably between the two of us, we'll be able to do the job. I guess I'll have to paint with primer next, although once I sand and wash the ceiling, I'm hoping I can just paint the dumb thing, and, hopefully, not have to do two coats. But I want it to look nice when I'm done, so I'll do two coats if I have to.
I'm imagining covering everything - there's no way we can move all the furniture - we'd have to call 911 before we even got to the ceiling. Then I'm imagining the paint all over my husband and I from standing under what we're painting. Then there's the 4 cats - they'll definitely be locked OUT of that room, although we did toy with the idea of just covering them with paint when it comes time to do the walls, and let them rub up against the lower portion of the wall - just think, a whole new "textured" look - and only on the bottom part of the wall! OK, so we won't be doing that, not to mention the fact that I'd never harm one of my babies (my cats are my babies) EVER.
Here's the rest of the story. While I'm messing with this "project" who will clean the house, change the bed, vacuum, etc. etc. - all the usual things I do on Saturday? And, for my husband, while he's messing around with this project, who will mow the back and front yards, edge and weed wack in the 95 degree heat (which feels like 110 because of the humidity)??
I really need to either win the lottery so I can hire people to do all this stuff - or - sell (it's a lousy market right now, though) and buy a condo - a NEW condo that doesn't need work for at least 5 years.
OK - enough whining - I've got to take a nap while I try to build up enough energy to START this whole juggernaut going.....

No comments: