TC -Rock and a Bucket of Paint

Today I am thankful for a bucket of paint. Over the Christmas holiday our landlord had the ceiling in our bathroom replaced. A leak in the roof had caused the bathroom ceiling to fall into disrepair. Our landlord wanted to save some money so he had planned to do the finish work and painting. Unfortunately, his wife had to have hernia surgery around the same time and weeks went by without our bathroom getting finished. It was driving me insane and when Jess dropped by the rent check he suggested that we could finish the bathroom if the landlord would supply the materials. The landlord readily agreed and even offered a small discount in the rent.

I have to admit I wasn't too happy with Jess for volunteering us because I knew I would be the one doing most of the work. I started sanding and painting over the weekend while Jess was out of town. The whole time I mentally practiced my angry speech.

Last night I enlisted Jess' help to finish the job. Strangely, it turned into one of the best nights we have had in a while. Squashed into a tiny bathroom slathering mustard colored paint on the wall we reminisced about the last time we had painted. It turned out that we had both done some painting in the military.

When you're a lowly private in the Army you're basically slave labor but you have health insurance. I remember spending many hours doing manual labor and Jess and I compared stories. There were lots of instances that we moved mounds of heavy stuff. In the civilian world you would have used a fork lift. In the Army you use privates. Jess and I laughed as we recalled be told to build things, asking for a hammer and being told to find a large rock.

Our bathroom is almost finished. I'm looking forward to hanging out in a tiny bathroom with my husband again tonight. This is our first home improvement project to do together. Maybe in a few years we'll be working on our own place.