Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Secret Mission

My husband had to fly to Portland, OR this morning so it seemed the perfect time for a secret mission, one involving this:
But before anyone (Mom) gets all worried, yes I'm wearing a mask.

See, I enjoy painting, mostly because I'm a perfectionist and of all the four professional painters I've hired in the past I, the amateur, am the best. So not only do I enjoy painting, I can't stand the thought of paying someone else to do a worse job than I would.

The trouble is that my husband and perhaps my mom think that painting makes me sick. That might be because during one paint job I went to the doctor with bad chest pains and was diagnosed as having a severe asthma attack when I'd never had asthma before.

However, after months of medicine and more tests I was finally diagnosed with GERD (acid reflux) - induced asthma and I distinctly remember that I never ever drank any of the paint while I was putting it on my walls.

Okay, then there was one other time I got sick but that was probably just a cold coupled with a bad reflux episode again. There have also been times when I didn't get sick at all.

Anyway, to avoid hearing my husband tell me I shouldn't paint, I figured I would just get it all done while he's out of town. By the time he gets back tomorrow evening the dining room will be completely finished (yay!) and I'll be completely healthy (fingers crossed).

The reason I've done so much painting is because we completely redid our last house, I've helped a friend paint, and now this house just needs some freshening up and I want new colors. With all my experience maybe I should write an advice column:
  • It's not a good idea to wear 2 1/2 inch platform flipflops on a ladder while painting the top of a 10-foot wall.
  • Reconsider starting large projects between Thanksgiving and Christmas hoping to be finished in time for your Christmas party when there's a major stomach virus going around at school and your kids have never been afraid of a few little germs.
  • If you scoot backwards on the floor painting around the baseboards while wearing nylon sweats, don't be surprised when your pants slide down to your knees.
Okay, keep those in mind next time you start a painting project and if you need any more pearls of wisdom just let me know!

1 comment:

Joy said...

I laughed so hard at this post.. what a crack up.. I totally know what you mean about getting sick tho.. man I got the same thing with the asthma... from istalling carpet on the wall in my little store years ago.. yikes.. the fumes landed me in the ER. I now wear a mask when doing projects like that.