Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Jessie threw down the gauntlet

Jessie, a long-time reader and first-time commenter, just wrote that our blog is "occasionally hilarious". Hmmm - sounds like it's time for me to get funnier :) By the way, Jessie seems to also be here in the great state of Maine and has her own blog here. Nice kitchen re-do - those before photos were definitely hilarious.

Anyways, today's progress was good so far - I began my most hated task of wet sanding all the trim to prep for paint. As you all know, I'm totally allergic to painting wood trim, but the upstairs rooms originally had painted trim and they look really nice when done.

So, no cool photos to show (things frankly look just the damn same as when I started this morning). So I thought I'd up my hilariousness factor with a brief overview of the Levels of Crappy Work Clothes That are Worn on Staycation.

My day, complete with wardrobe details*:
  1. Wake up, shower (maybe), and on go the PJ pants and probably whatever shirt I was wearing before we went to bed. Coffee, breakfast, email, a bit of catching up on work that can't wait during vacation.
  2. If I think I might be seen outdoors (getting mail, running to garage for supplies), or if I need to feel motivated to do more job-work, on goes something comfy, yet reasonable. This week, it's the old, too-big jeans with holes all in them that I found when cleaning out our room. Total joy! From a distance, no one can see the holes and they're not totally disgusting so I can wear them, for example, to the bank or a hardware store run.
  3. Time to work on our bedroom. On go the crusty, gross, 5 year old fleece pants that won't die, and an equally gross shirt. Key characteristics of said pants: they have pockets (for my Blistex, I'm an addict) and they can be washed in HOT water repeatedly with no damage. Not that any of that washing gets any of the paint or goo off. That fleece is indestructible! On a rare occasion, they can be worn to the corner store for a beer run at the end of a long painting day (though that's what I was wearing last time I ran into Steven King at the store, so not the best idea).
  4. Clean up time - post work, the crusty crappy pants go in a special designated spot on the floor so I can pull them back on the next day for more adventures in gross-ness. Then, shower and back into the moderately crappy outfit (holey jeans) or PJs (if late enough).
* note that ALL Staycation outfits include the wearing of a comfortable, non-steel-reinforced bra. Now that's really a vacation!

The good news: when you keep changing from one fairly icky set of clothes to another a zillion times a day, you don't really have to do laundry very often. And at the end of the project, there's always the option to throw out the gross ones with the last bag of garbage. It's almost time on those fleece pants...

3 comments:

Susie said...

Three cheers for staycation clothing. Is it wrong that it sounds like my post-work clothing is the same kind?

Jessie said...

Ha - thanks Sarah! I am also allergic to painting wood trim. Thankfully only the kitchen and downstairs bathroom trim in our house had been painted. We are in the midst of stripping it now and it has been no picnic. Anyway, it sounds like you and Susie need to get yourselves some coveralls. I got a pair at a fair in upstate NY and boy are they great! You can just don it like a haz-mat suit over whatever you're wearing, and the best part is there's nothing to come untucked. Good luck on the bedroom!

sarah said...

Good idea, Jessie. And I'm green with envy about your non-painted trim...