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Saturday, May 9, 2020

Beyond exhausted

I spent the morning doing the watering so when my son arrived this evening I wouldn't have to water while he was here. Next my plan was to eat and take a nap. But when I went to the bathroom before my much needed nap, I noticed the wallpaper that's been on the ceiling for over 40 years was falling off. For years silverfish had been eating away at it and I wanted to take it off, but figured it would be an ordeal to scrape it off. I opted to let the silverfish eat it all off. But when I saw big clumps falling down, I pulled at some and discovered it was easy to remove. Suddenly, I couldn't stand it another minute, so I removed every last shred, then couldn't stand the bare wood, so painted it. A real killer! I can't move.

Naturally, since I didn't know I was going to do all that, I didn't take a before photo. It didn't occur to me until I started painting. All I had was my white tank Drylok sealer but it worked fine. I'm a messy painter and dribble a lot. That stuff dries in a minute or two so I had to constantly get off the chair I was standing on to clean it up before it dried rock hard.





The ceiling is just plywood and really rough, but that's OK. I'm not as picky as I was 40 years ago. Rustic is fine. The Drylok helped  smooth it some. If it bothers me I can patch it and repaint it someday. After all, I built the bathroom, did all the tile and wallpaper* myself, so what's a little paint work! Except that I'm 40 years older.

Lest anyone is curious, the bathroom is just a small, but perfectly adequate, under the stairs bathroom. 


When my son and his wife did arrive from Austin, they were big time social distancing. He's so afraid that I'll get the virus that he carried his bowl of "Mom's chili" outdoors to eat. Can't eat with a mask on. His wife's mother had the virus and was pretty sick with it. (BTW, his wife Morgan didn't want any chili.)


Got a slightly better photo of the American Lady I saw the other day. That's it.  All work and no play.


I'm a happy mother. Hope all you mothers out there are too.

__________________________

I had two grandmothers growing up. One was wealthy and the other was poor. I loved them equally and fit into either world. My poor grandmother made a living hanging wallpaper. I loved wallpaper. So when I built a rock and wood house, banning plasterboard or particleboard, it was hard to find a spot to wallpaper. My kitchen back-splash is vinyl wallpaper and the bathroom ceiling was regular wallpaper. That's all. I didn't know what silverfish were back then.

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