I spent my day breathing through a dust mask

With our house being an unknown age upwards of 75 years, there are a shitload of projects that need to be done. One frustrating issue with these projects is that whoever did similar projects before us often had them done half-assed and so my job becomes much more difficult.

One such job is our front porch. Part of if needed to be sanded and painted and another part needs to be replaced all together. Luckily, my stepfather has said that he will help me with the replacement part when he is here next week. Today was the day I planned on renting a sander, being done that stept halfway through the day so that I could prime and get a first coat of paint on the part that was to be painted by the end of the day but oh! no! Something had to go wrong and make what I was hoping to be a slightly smooth ride into more of a mud bogging adventure.

If you think of my porch as an oreo cookie, the sweet delectable inside is a different kind of wood with a shitload of old green paint stubbornly holding on for dear life. It took forever to get it off. To make matters worse, I started with the wrong type of sander. I had used the first sander when I refinished my floors upstairs in the house and it was fine. I really thought it was going to be ok. I did not want to try a drum sander because I was afraid of them (and because I heard my dad's voice telling me I'd wreck the wood with it). In the end, I rented two machines and didn't wreck any wood! The drum sander was much easier to use but the whole round of sanding took until 5:30. Edging needs to get done tomorrow and I hope it goes a little smoother so Big Love can spend a few hours at work. (We also need to get to a friend's house for dinner because she made me a birthday cake that I have to eat tomorrow.)

There is one aspect of this whole thing that I am very happy about and that is the fact that I did not end up lying on the porch sobbing because I had to spend more money than I thought and it took so much longer. When I did my floors upstairs I followed some bad advice and the project did not go as well as planned and I had a few meltdowns. I guess I can call this progress! (Now if only I can turn off the negative chatter I hear every time I start something like this.)

Now I will go and enjoy the first muscle relaxant I have taken since before I was pregnant. These muscles are aching and I'm looking forward to the trip!