Paint

J and I created a list of things we would like to have completed by the end of the summer. The list is taped to the inside of our hall closet. In reality, the list is impossible to complete in the timeframe we allotted, especially with all of the weird curve balls life has thrown lately (i.e. Blood, the Sewer, etc.).

The thing is that J is a “Get R Done” type of guy. He finds great satisfaction in crossing things off of our list. He likes to feel productive. I too am dedicated to working on the list, as J is a little easier to deal with when I can show him all we have accomplished. With that said, the list remains lengthy and J perseverates (no matter how much he denies it) on the same.

J and I tend not to be too wasteful when it comes to our finances. It is true that I seem to have a shoe fetish and a serious latte habit and J has an affinity for car parts, but seriously, we think about what we spend before we do it (for the most part). J and I are both much more likely to spend money on others before we do on ourselves. With that in mind, we do not like to hire people to work in our house. It seems silly. Why have someone else do what we can do if we set aside the time and put in a little effort?

Over the past month, I have railed against our traditional lifestyle. I want my husband available to me when I need him. Moreover, I want him paying attention to me when I need his help. I do not particularly care how many miles there are until the car needs an oil change. I do not care if the lawn is watered. I am learning to let those details go. Of course, it is important for us to take care of what we have. I have pride in our things too. With that said, I am okay with things not being perfect. My boy J has a more difficult time taking on this frame-of-mind. I suspect that he can see the list in the closet through the wood. I would not be too surprised if he has every moment of every day off for the next 3 months scheduled in a plan to knock off that list.

A couple of months ago I proposed that J and I consider having someone come wash our windows. They were filthy when we moved in a year ago and just get worse with time. I realize washing windows is not that big of a deal. The fact is that we just were not getting around to it. For whatever reason, setting aside a day to attend to this chore just was not happening. Despite my knowledge that paying someone to complete this task is wasteful, I went online and did some research.

One company agreed to come out to do an estimate the following week. I scheduled the meeting for the one night that J was home. As it turns out, the company was comprised of an eastern European couple. They presented a very fair offer and we agreed to have them come back to complete the job in a few days.

The couple did a great job on our windows. They were polite, efficient, and affordable. Overall, we are satisfied with the work they did. The company e-mailed me a few days later thanking me for our patronage and offering us 10% off of our next service. I looked at their services again. They also paint. I have wanted to paint our entire upstairs for months. The couple that resided in our house before us had an affection for ugly colors. We painted our family room so it is no longer peach. We painted the guest room so that is no longer a loud periwinkle. Most recently, we just painted our office to update it from the dark middle-age man’s den to a more bright working space. J and I both hate painting and all that is involved in it. I also have the misperception that we have a little more money than we actually do (we still need to pay the deductible for the car, our insurance is due this month, etc.). Therefore, I arranged for the company to come back and give us another estimate. I had them give me a price for our master bedroom (which is a horrible brown), our master bath, and another bedroom upstairs. If all of these rooms are painted, I can mark three things off of our list!

The company came out again. This time, it was the original couple plus a man I can only assume is their grown son. They looked at the rooms, asked us about colors, and talked with each other in their foreign tongue. All of the sudden the woman said my name (first and last) as if it were a question. I replied, “Yes” (I don’t know why). She said, “You teach at the college?” Okay, what does this have to do with paint? I replied, “Yes” again. She then asked, “You teach there this fall?” To which I replied, “Yes, will you be in my class?” She giggled and said, “No my daughter had you last year”.

Awkward.