This last painting project has given me a new appreciation for why we hire professionals to help us with certain things.  It’s so we don’t break our necks in the process of doing it ourselves.

Painting above my cupboards seemed like a fairly easy endeavor.  And it might have been if I were a foot taller and my arms were six inches longer.  My cabinets are big and my countertops are wide, so my six foot ladder (which would normally work fine for the ten foot ceilings) was not adequate.  At one point I was perched on top of my refrigerator, climbing up from the countertop.  I must have looked ridiculous, but it worked.  Then I still couldn’t reach above the other cupboards standing on the counter, so I got my cute little retro green foot stool and placed in on the counter and climbed up.  If I didn’t step precisely in the middle, it would tend to slide, leaving me dangling.  I learned that when this happens you should not grab hold of the crown molding at the top of the cabinets.  It will (and did) fall off and you will be so close to having a really ugly fall, that your feet will sweat profusely (does that happen to you????) because you are so scared and your heart will pound and you will say over and over, “this is a really bad idea” but you will keep going because this color is so great and your kitchen is going to look so warm and cozy.

I discovered how great it is to have toes, because you can stand on your tippiest (on top of the stool, on top of the counter) and reach those places and corners that you could otherwise not get to.  And, for the first time in my long painting career, I didn’t use blue tape along the ceiling.  I did it by hand and it turns out I can cut a mean straight line, even if  I am stretching on my tiptoes on a stool, on a counter. Who knew?

I didn’t die yesterday.  And it’s kind of a miracle.  This, you see, is why I do these things when Mark is out of town.  My unconventional and sometimes unsafe ways would only make him a nervous wreck.  Yeah, I could hire a professional.  But, as I said when I was two and stamping my foot, “I DO IT MYSELF!”

(btw – I have a guy coming today that I think I may hire to paint the twenty foot walls in the family room.  I don’t think my toes can tippy that high…) 🙂