My sister and I decided back in December to pick a weekend and help my Dad paint their house. He's been pecking away at it for awhile now but scraping and painting a house alone is a daunting task and we knew he would appreciate us coming over to help.
This past weekend was chosen and we all met at my parent's house Saturday morning to get started.
I don't really mind painting but scraping paint sucks. And there was a lot of paint to scrape.
We scraped ALL DAY LONG.
Naturally, the part of the house that needed scraping and painting is up high, which presents a real problem for me.
I'll admit that I may be a little on the neurotic side and all kinds of things bother me or weird me out but I have 2 serious phobias - snakes and heights.
And by serious I mean can't breathe, chest pain, full blown panic attack kind of serious.
I've gotten a little better about snakes but heights? Not so much.
It dawned on me on the way to their house Saturday morning that all of the work to be done had to be done from a ladder.
Fortunately, my Dad is aware of this and knew I wouldn't be the one hanging from the eaves with a scraper.
See the blue ladder?
Where the Island Girl is standing is as high as I go. And even that is pushing it for me.
At one point the Island King and my BIL starting teasing me and wanting to know why I didn't have to climb up high like they did. I rolled my eyes and told them that I'm scared of heights which makes me exempt from extension ladders.
They started saying things like "Well, my knees are bad" and "My shoulder is hurt." I just laughed and told them that only pre-existing conditions exempt you from the tall ladder and that my fear of heights is well documented.
We were glad to see the end of Saturday but knew we still had more scraping to do before we could paint on Sunday. Lovely.
The kids spent the night at my parent's house and on the way home the Island King and I talked about it being Saturday night and us having no kids.
Did we want to go home, shower and then go out for a while?
We considered it for about 30 seconds and then opted for a quick stop at Blockbuster for a movie.
Saturday night, no kids, and we were asleep by 10:00. Scraping paint will do that to you.
Sunday morning came and back to their house we went.
For more scraping.
A little after midday it was finally time to paint.
I thought that hanging from an extension ladder was scary but for painting they brought out the big guns. Braces on the ladders with a board across the two made the perfect high wire for my BIL to paint from.
Every time a gust of wind would hit him he'd turn around and yell "I'm going to need another beer!"
The sun came out and we put everyone to work.
After a weekend of cold, gray skies we were treated to a beautiful sunset.
We didn't finish but we made a major dent and I think one more work day will finish it up.
At least I hope so because my body is unhappy today. My shoulders and hands are a little sore from scraping and painting but my legs and feet are KILLING me.
Being scared of heights means that every second I spent on the ladder, the muscles in my legs and feet were clenched as tight as they'd go. I kept telling myself to relax but it never happened.
So I'm limping around today like an old woman.
I think we can safely rule out a career in house painting for me.Labels: Done
