Painting The House

I'm inside in the air conditioning on a quick break from the activity that has consumed my weekends, spare time and residual energy for the last couple of weeks and will likely do the same for weeks to come: painting my house.

When we bought last spring, the inspection said that things were fine as long as we painted within the first year or 2 of moving in. So, here we are, smeared with exterior paint, on a first name basis with the people in the paint department at Home Depot and in command of the exact cost of 5 gallon buckets of paint, brushes, buckets and rolls of blue tape.

We're also at that point in the project where I start getting that irrational urge to dig for my checkbook and throw several thousand dollars at the first contractor I can find. I'm fighting that urge. I understand how it's a rationally good idea for me to be doing this myself. But, standing on a 15 foot ladder as the sun traces across the side of the house toward my position, I feel like the guy in the desert who'd pay $500 for a glass of water. That somehow the sun has bleached all rational decisionmaking ability from my brain.

That's why I'd like to thank Willis Carrier (inventor of modern air conditioning) and the people in charge of putting Coke Zero for saving me thousands. The cool air and cool drink have restored the function of my cerebral cortex and I will be returning to my paintbrush and ladder after hitting "publish".