Life Without Prep Work

This week I did one of my least favorite things.  Prepping walls for painting.  But it really got me thinking.  Would I really want to just be able to snap my fingers and have all of it done for me?  Well, maybe the part where I was scrubbing stains of dog sickness off the walls, but it did occur to me that perhaps what I am so proud of in my finished products is the detail work.  Anyone can slap a coat of paint on.  Not everyone can make it look nice.  And, admittedly, we have a few spots in this house that you can tell there is spackle underneath that isn't sanded well enough.  Overall, though, I think I do a pretty good job.

So as I spent hour after hour sanding, washing, measuring stripes, and then taping them off, I tried to remind myself that this is the part that will ultimately make the room a success or a failure.  That I'm glad I spent an hour at Sherwin Williams with them retinting a paint so that it matched (that was actually kinda fun).  And I'm glad that I climbed a ladder 5 million times, even if I'm still incredibly sore.  By the way?  Try strapping 20 pounds to your stomach after you haven't worked out in 6 months and climb a ladder.  Talk about exercise!

I do think that ultimately I'll be proud of what I've accomplished, just like I'm proud when I cook from scratch, study hard for a test, train for a race, or any of the other not-so-fun things that get me where I'm going.  I just need to remember to enjoy the journey a bit more, I suppose.  So, from now on...bring on the sanding!  Yay!  Ok, I'm not there yet.  But I'm trying.