Busy Bee

It's been none stop for me today with plenty to catch up with on the home front.

First I set about giving the hallway it's final coat of paint. I can't remember how long it's taken to decorate it, but it seems for ever and so I'm pretty much determined to finish it today. The weather is a bit cooler too, which is an advantage.

I'm a little dismayed though when I first start putting the paint on, it seems to be even more patchy that the first coat despite the fact that it is virtually dry. Not really knowing what to do, I sit out in the garden with a coffee and contemplate things a bit more. There seems to be little point in me continuing with the paint if it's going to look crap, but now half of the hallway has had a second coat and the other half hasn't, so I cant really leave it as it is. So maybe then I need to struggle on and give the remaining half its second coat and then go out and buy some dulux "once" (guaranteed not to need a second coat). But that means the decorating could quite happily go on for another month or so by the time I get around to doing it.

The dilemma was quickly resolved though because by the time I'd finished my coffee the paint had dried even more, to a near perfect unpatchy finish! Quite happy with the results so far then I set about finishing completely, and an hour later the hallway was done! Hurrah! It's taken long enough, but I have to say looks marvelous in comparison to its original decor.

So having now reached the final chapter of "Abi does decorating" I'm happy to report that the next edition of the series will not be published for some considerable time to come... I've had enough of stripping, sanding, filling and painting to satisfy even the most addictive form of decorating bulimia.

I then cut the grass, which whilst it hasn't grown much due to the lack of water, is looking decidedly untidy, growing sporadically and unevenly. It is whilst I am doing this that I realise that I most definitely do not have an allergy to grass pollen, as the front lawn produced a most impressive pollen storm during is trimming, something you could easily equate to a sandstorm in a teacup if you wanted to.

When I finally get back into the house I realise that even though I'd finished the hallway I'd failed to remove the masking tape which has been clinging to the wood work for the past month or so. Well thats no big problem is it? Just pull it off, shouldn't take too long. Theoretically no, in reality it was a right pain in the arse! Because it had been on so long, and had been painted over so many times actually removing it was quite tricky, especially where the paint was thick. I spend another 30 minutes trying to extract the darn stuff, but eventually manage it.

It's pretty late by now, but I decide I should really clean the house. Phil has been putting in some late hours at the office this week, so with little else to do I get on and start cleaning. It will be the first time in a long time that the house will be virtually back to rights since the decorating started.

I'm just about done when Phil gets home, but I'm knackered. We have lemon chicken for tea, and then set about taking some pictures of a bumble bee which had the misfortune of getting stuck in our guest bedroom. The bee was quite difficult to take pictures of as he was a little camera shy - also, we didn't have the advantage of natural day light. So, the pics are ok, but not wonderful... you can have a gander here.

Posted by Abi on the July 19, 2005 10:14 PM

sjon at July 22, 2005 7:12 AM