I only needed a 10 minute window. Cole had just fallen asleep for his nap and Nicholas had just woken up from his. The paint was open, the twelve foot ladder in place and I have been trying to get this project done since before being pregnant with Nicholas.
The house we bought a little over two years ago came with a really, really ugly shed—I’m guessing older than the ages of myself, David and all of our kids combined. Originally we intended to burn it down. But since the roof was intact and no moisture was getting in, we decided it was a rather convenient place to store lots of junk—which one might understandable deduce our garage is therefore junk-free. (Only in my dreams!)
So since the shed was going to stay, I’ve been longing for quite sometime to just complete the paint job and be done with it. Note to all readers considering painting exterior buildings—DO NOT CHOOSE RED!! It is very hard to work with, requires a gray primer first, and if you drip your white trim paint on it . . . it takes several steps to get it red again. Aaaaagggghhhh!!!!
I put Nicholas in his stroller and parked him near my project. As soon as I was on top of the 12 foot ladder with my paintbrush and paint can in hand, I noticed one of our neighbors’ beautiful, indoor cats was eyeing my sweet son the way most cats eye a fat mouse. After ignoring my commands to, “Get lost”, I descended my 12 foot ladder and shooed him away. This scenario repeated itself 3 times before BRILLIANCY took over and the cat became an occupant of the shed I was painting.
Once again I ascended my 12 foot ladder only to find the neighbor’s other really beautiful, indoor cat trying to jump in Nicholas’ stroller. For the 4th time I descended the ladder. I guess he knew he was about to join his fellow kitty inside my shed because he quickly ran under the porch. Once again, the non-blonde side of my brain kicked in. I barricaded the small opening under the porch and for the 5th time ascended my 12 foot ladder.
I was right. Ten minutes was all I needed and the red paint I started nearly a year and half ago is now complete. In case any cat lovers are wondering about my neighbors’ beautiful, indoor cats—I released them to the wild . . . uh, the wild merely being our yard.
15 comments:
No Pilates needed for you today. You seemed to have gotten all the exercise you need. We once painted our little backyard barn "barn" red. I know what you mean..bad color. It looks great, but it's a toughy to work with. The job is always ten times harder when working around the kids nap schedules. Glad your finally finished. Cute picture :)
Maybe the cats were there to provide entertainment to the stollered son?? Cats are facinating in their irritation factor, they can totally sense when they are unwanted and they LOVE it! If that's the "old" shed, I think it's charming!
Love the shed! And you are right, red is a hard color to paint. I'm so impressed with you!
I painted today too...finger painted with my kids. Does that also take the place of pilates?
Why is red so lovely to look at and so diffifult to deal with? I would have chosed red too, though - makes it like a cute little mini-barn?
Just so you know, I mentioned the pilates because I was sitting on my backside typing to you as my daughter was in front of me working like crazy doing her pilates. Guess we all know who is motivated around here :) I'd much rather do finger painting with anyones kids.
Alright Ginger, if you want to fingerpaint with kids, you're invited! It's such a messy project that we always put it off, but my kids LOVE to do it!
And Beth, I'll have to really look at the shed next time we're at your house, because I can't say I've ever noticed it needed painted! :)
We painted one living room wall in our house red. I love it, but it could have been the end of our marriage by the time we were done. We've since painted our living room and Ken's office...both big rooms that were much larger without any issues at all. Red is definitely it's own special challenge.
Leah
Actually Lisa, you never saw it in it's original stage. Most of it was painted when you moved here—I just needed to finish the red. : )
What funn to catch up on your last 3 blogs... SO...how do the neighbor's cats survive ???? I'm sure the shed looks great now...can't wait to see it. Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow. I hope we can see one of Ashley's games. Let us know her schedule.
I need you to come to New York and help me finish painting my apartment. I started this project two months ago. How pathetic am I? You can even bring one of those beautiful, indoor cats if need be.
Why am I procrasinating this task? Am I a loser? I hope I'm not actually lazy and this is proof of it. HELP!
Ahhhh painting... the curious part to me is that you only had 10 minutes of painting left. What happened the first time out painting? Did it get dark or something?
I still have a header in my kitchen that needs to be painted. Thatnks for the reminder :-/
Snowball is missing. When we came home this morning, there was no sign of her anywhere. Do you think she will come back when she is hungry? I hope no coyotes come after her... especially after she has survived this long!! LOL. Awe, I miss her already.
I loved this story. Very descriptive. I think my problem would be keeping my son out of the paint. When I repainted our kitchen he kept wanting to dip his hand in the paint.
I was going to commment on the great exercise you got, but I guess Ginger beat me to it!
Nicholas as a mouse...hmmmm...Halloween costume?
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