Married to the Project Manager

Before I begin this post, I must share a statement made by Bookworm at a work day for the local softball fields...

Helpful Parent: Man, we should have done this differently. We need a better project manager!
Bookworm: My dad's a project manager. He manages EVERYTHING at our house!

Now Gentle Reader, I ask that you stop and ponder that statement for a moment. You know kids usually say the truth, and usually when you really don't want to hear it. So, please understand, that after years of "managing" jobs, my husband is very managerial at home...

We had some home improvements to do this weekend. I wanted to work on the fence. He is not interested in completing our fence at this time. He is interested in tearing out the gravel and mulch and chewed up bushes in the flower bed by our garage. He intends to level the ground and put pavestone there, and a trellis of some sort to block the Oklahoma wind, and then set up his grill there. I have no problem with this plan, however, it is not currently correlating with my plan to build a bigger fence and get the house painted....

As part of his effort to placate me and stop the nagging (not that I ever nag mind you, I simply nudge or suggest), we did go to grab a few paint samples yesterday at Home Depot. They are only three bucks a sample, and that seems so cheap that the trim on the back of my house is in danger of becoming a rainbow in my quest for the perfect shade of brown. One color is too red. The next is too brown. The next looks suspiciously like poop... We decided on the wall paint for the gables already. The trim has proven more of a problem.

As we were staring at paint chips and flipping through idea books, I stumbled upon this lovely shade of turquoise. I had to have it. However, I had nothing to paint that particular color. Then, I remembered my sister mentioning a table and chairs at a junk store. It was a butcher block table with white legs and three chairs, one of which was missing a slat in the back. However, it was only thirty dollars. "You know, that would be really cute to paint up and put on your back porch." You see, she had seen my back porch with the old table and chairs, two of which were chewed up by Holly...

How exciting! I now had the perfect excuse to buy that paint!!! And, I was kind of considering this other color for the trim, but was afraid it was going to be too red (which it is), but I decided to buy a quart for the other color of my soon to be purchased table and chairs for my back porch!!


Isn't it adorable? I had the bench on my front porch. I snagged it from Brent's aunt a few years ago. It was previously brown, but in my mind it was always supposed to be turquoise or red. And, as I did a quick and dirty job of sanding it (the paint was peeling off) I discovered that at different points in time it had been blue, white and, yes even red! Bookworm is actually who suggested using it for the fourth seat at the table. Good job, Bookworm!

What you need to know about this project is that Studmuffin made me sand everything before I painted it. "What is the worst that can happen if I don't sand it?"

"The paint won't stick," he replied, as he began to get out the sander, and string extension cord.

"But I don't want perfection! It's an outdoor table. I want to see streaks! I want the person who sees it to understand that this is a table who has had a previous life, and a previous family, and it is now being repurposed to bring joy and happiness to my back porch!"

He decided that it was entirely possible that I was going to openly defy him and paint it without sanding, so he offered to help instead of doing his own project, which of course I considered pointless and a total waste of time anyway, since it wasn't the project I wanted to work on....


What you also should know about this weekend, is that I got up early and decided to finish staining the deck of the pool. I had started it in April, but when I ran out of stain, it fell by the wayside. Studmuffin had bought more stain, but I kept thinking of better things to do than stain the deck. I finally finished it yesterday, and I think it looks a whole lot better! Some of that wood was so faded it was nearly white!

I still had paint left in each color after I painted the furniture yesterday. I decided maybe I should paint the bench on my front porch the terra cotta color since the stain was pealing and flaking off, and my bottom sometimes itched after sitting on it...


Luckily, the project manager of the house spoke up and said, "Hey, why don't you use some the last of your deck sealant on it? That would look really nice."

"Does that mean I have to sand it first? I don't want to sand it! Sanding in no way shape or form appeals to my desire for immediate gratification. Besides, if the paint is a little uneven, the bench will have character! It will fit in with our casual/comfy/come as you are/put your feet up on my coffee table that is actually an old school desk lifestyle!!"

"I think you should sand it and stain it," he said in his most reasonable voice as he continued to shovel rock into the wheel barrow...Grrrr...Why is he always so rational?

"But I don' wanna stain it! I don' wanna do extra steps!" And, I stomped into the shop where everything has it's place and every extension cord is neatly coiled and put exactly where it goes, grabbed the stupid sander, flung out the extension cord that wouldn't even tangle up so I could gripe about what a pain it was, and got to work....

Ten minutes later the bench was sanded, and stained.

And Studmuffin continued to work on his excavation project, then kindly helped me carry it back to the front porch where he said, "Babe, that looks great. You did a great job."

He didn't even gloat that he was right and I was wrong, and staining it was absolutely the right choice for that bench...

I hate it when he's magnanimous!

Now. I still have about a fourth of a can of each paint left. They are just crying to be used. What will I paint next?