Lots of Work. No Thanks!

This weekend I was on a painting mission.

Now that the contractor had finished with his drywall and sanding we were at the point where I needed to basically finish things off. Last weekend I did a coat of primer. This weekend I was planning on finishing the rest. Luckily Number One was sleeping over at a friends house Saturday night so I didn't have to worry about getting it all done around her sleeping schedule. I figured it would be a great surprise for her to come home and find her room finally back in order and looking nice. After all, it had been in rough shape for quite some time now.

I started Saturday morning by putting another coat of primer on the ceiling. Ceiling painting in not fun! That took me until around 11:00am. I then cleaned my brush and roller and tray and waited a couple of hours until it was dry enough for me to paint. I decided that the ceiling was going to stay with just the primer and I would paint the walls the cream color that the landlords provided. The walls I was painting were previously a burgundy color so I knew it was going to take a couple of coats to cover. I planned on doing 3 coats.

While I was waiting for the ceiling to dry I discovered that the basement was flooded. This is an annual event at our house. I was looking at the water from my painting gear mixed with the bathwater from Number One and the water from a load of laundry. We called the landlord and he asked if it was emergency or if it could wait until Monday. As far as I'm concerned, anytime a family of 5 can't flush the toilet without the contents floating around the basement it is an emergency. We said yes it's an emergency and he told us that it would be a little while before the plumber came.

I took the opportunity to get back to the painting. I applied the first coat. It all went smoothly. It sure didn't look very good but it was just the first coat. It took a couple of hours, not bad I thought. I couldn't clean up my gear because of the basement situation so I had to wrap everything in plastic to keep it all from drying up. Four hours until I could put on the next coat.

While I waited for this coat to dry the plumber arrived and pulled a massive chunk of root from the sewer line. The smell drifting up from the basement was disgusting and it reached every corner of the house. It smelled like every shit we'd ever taken was coming up from down there!

He finished his work just before 5:00pm. That is when I decided to get on the second coat. The ceiling light was still missing and I was losing sunlight fast. I got the second coat finished by around 6:00pm and it looked pretty good. I probably could have gotten away with leaving it at two but decided to go for three coats just to be sure. Nothing is too good for Number Ones bedroom! However, it would have to wait until Sunday. I was done for the day.

Sunday morning I started nice and early, so it could be done before Number One got home, and was finished the final coat by just past 11:30am. I moved all of the furniture and stuff from the hallway back into the room and had things looking pretty good for when Number One got home. By 7:00pm I had the bed made up, the curtains back on the window and her posters and stuff up on the walls. It looked great, if I do say so myself.

It turns out I did have to say so myself because Number One sure didn't say it. The first thing she wanted to do was hang up a used pinata from the birthday party she just attended. I told her she couldn't put it on the newly painted walls. Well that sent her into a snit before she even looked at the room. After I put up the posters and final touches I told her that the contractor would be back to put the light fixture back in and install the closet rack, thinking this might get some kind of positive reaction (a final end to the construction). Nope! All she did was complain because she thought the contractor was going to put a light into the closet too.

There you have it! An entire weekend devoted to getting her room finished for her and what do I get for it? Not a thanks, not a, "It looks nice", not even a smile. Now that's the kind of gratitude that really makes it all worth while.