The Whole Day Spent Painting

1. I finally made my way to the paint store around 9am. Anyone who knows me should be able to immediately recognize that this was a bad start. The paint store opens at 6am. I could have been there then.


2. Do you know that horrible feeling when you start on the second coat and then realize that it is going to need at least four coats? I do. I should have predicted this based on all the time I used to spend watching those decorating shows on cable tv. You know, the ones where they hastily remake a room? The red-based paint always takes way more coats than they expect.


3. Fun fact: a few years ago an episode of one of those cable tv decorating shows was filmed in my neighborhood.


4. It's as if I'm playing a game of chicken with my next door neighbor. Neither of us has curtains or blinds. I was standing on the ladder, painting the window trim, and I start to feel as if I'm being watched. I glance over at his house. He is watching me paint.


5. As you can probably guess from this blog, I'm not super-obsessed with my privacy. However, once the paint in dry on the window trim, the first project on the list is to hang up curtains.


6. Around 9:30pm I realize that there is no point starting on the 3rd coat, as I will be painting all day today, too. Still wearing my painting clothes, I go for a walk. On my way back, as I'm crossing the street near the post office, a big black pick-up truck pulls up to the intersection and stops at the light. I cross in front of the truck. A guy leans out of the truck and yells, "Hey! Ms. Hirta! I'm in your 8am class!"