Just For Openers Apr 2009 Issue #122

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J U S T FOR OPENERS APR 2009 I S S U E #122 Spouse’s Corner By Pat Stanley, the Editor’s Spouse What a Wonderful Time of Year…..the grass is green, trees and flowers are in bloom, and the time til JFO is going zoom, zoom, zoom!!! Thought I better compose my corner, though I don’t think John is near production time on the newsletter. You see, this is Basketball End of Season…that’s the reason. At this point the Carolina Tar Heels are in the final eight. Still recovering from the last game that ended shortly after midnight. And of course, another reason for newsletter delay, is that John was sick all last week-end with a spring cold. Much better than last year, as he was in the hospital this time last year….trying to get well enough to get to JFO. The newsletter is not being delayed because he has been cooking in the new kitchen as promised. He makes corn bread every night and that is all. Every time I cook, I have to really clean up as I don’t want the newness to ever go away. Every morning before I go to work, I shine the stainless steel sink….it just warms my heart to see such shine, a bright spot to start the day off. Guess kind of how John feels when he shines all his openers! I stayed outside all day last Saturday and Sunday, good time to have an outside project when the house is full of germs and John was overdosing on basketball. It was suppose to be our first quiet week-end as we had continued to have more done to the house after the kitchen was completed Christmas Eve Day. The guys who did some of that work paint on the side on week-ends. So for three weeks, they showed up promptly at 8 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday and put in a full day of work. The 3 rd week-end they were to paint “the opener room”, my office and the guest bedroom. I had hurt my shoulder and was not up to dealing with my office being painted…plus I had painted it a couple of years ago, so it could wait some (just looked dull after everything else in the house was done in richer colors). And I was concerned about where all John’s “stuff” would go when he moved out of that room. Good thing my office is on hold, as he had openers everywhere. Could not walk through the living room! Then he didn’t like the color of the paint he had signed off on. Most of the house is painted in yellow tones with brown undertones. And Arizona Tan is in a few rooms, a color he had been calling “baby shit brown”. He did not want yellow, so I showed him how the color for his hobby space was not yellow and not as brown as Arizona Tan. Well, he only could see yellow after two coats and said he really wanted the Arizona Tan. This is Sunday afternoon….no where to go get paint and we were having dinner guests the next Sunday…so the living room would still be totally blocked along with other minor areas like the table holding part of the collection on one end. Oh by the way, the guests were my boss, his wife and another couple. I had never had a boss to dinner before and was beginning to wonder whatever possessed me to have anyone over with all this going on. John left for lunch and called me two more times to tell me how yellow the walls looked….just in case I had not heard him the first twenty minutes that he carried on about the paint. Finally, he called and said it would be ok as it finally sunk in that I was pretty upset that he was so unhappy. Everything else had turned out so well. And I hoped that when everything was back in place and pictures were up again, all would be well. Most things are back in place, but I’m afraid to ask. PAGE 4 John worked hard to get things back in order before the dinner guests came. Everyone seemed to have a good time and dinner turned out fine I think…but again, best not to ask John!! I did cut my finger right as I was putting everything together to serve which certainly is not a cool thing to do, but my boss’s wife came and helped. After dinner my boss scraped dishes while the one usually doing that, Mr. Clean was walking the dogs. I work with a down-to-earth man and live with one who goes into orbit over a simple paint color!!
J U S T FOR OPENERS APR 2009 I S S U E #122 PAGE 5 Spouse’s Corner (continued) So back to the week-end project. I admit, I often think I can accomplish more than a reasonable person would consider possible. The plan was to power wash the back yard picket fence Saturday and paint on Sunday. Problem #1, could not power wash both sides as just spraying dirt back and forth as I was knocking the mulch out from under the pickets so I could stain the entire boards. Plan B was to do the inside of the fence first, as that side has two cross boards and would be harder. Power wash of one side completed on Day One. Sunday, started with a sprayer I got to use on the shed, but could not use as you could not angle 45 degrees. Too broad of a spray area for a picket fence. Started with a brush til John went out and asked him to get me a bug sprayer like I had seen someone use (on a solid fence, not one of these work intensive picket deals). Now I know bug sprayers dispense lots and lots of liquid because, you are, after all, trying to kill bugs. Going through way too much paint. Back to the brush. It was a nice day, so not too bad. But daytime was going quickly after spending time with those sprayers. Still determined, opened another gallon of stain. After using a little, I noted that it wasn’t real stable where I had set it down, but I’d be careful not to knock in over. Well, as it was that day, gravity must of taken over as it rolled down the hill (remember we have a hill that both the shed and the gazebo are on). Went inside, looking for a little support. I must have been overcome by paint smells to think that would happen when I told him about the paint. No, he was not upset about the $25 wasted….but that the dogs would not be able to go out in the yard ever again…I had contaminated it. So now I have two sprayers and a paint brush to clean, plus have to remove painted soil and soak it down hoping it will all go away. I called it a day…can you blame me? Now mother nature is calling for rain Wednesday through Sunday. I would be back to power washing again, so I took Tuesday off. Being more realistic now, didn’t think I could paint the rest (most) of the inside of the fence in a day. Thought I would let it warm up some before I started and went after more stain first thing in the a.m. My car thermometer kept showing the exterior temperature dropping. The last one I saw before I stopped looking was 42 degrees and the wind was blowing. Okay, I’ve already taken the day off , so I didn’t get ready for work…even a Mary Kay consultant doesn’t put on makeup to paint…so now it would be lunchtime before I got to work if I backed out. Remembering that I am a Canadian, I put on a neck warmer, hat and coat and went out into the elements with determination. I kept a positive outlook until a dumb plumber next door replaced their sump pump and released all the water into our yard. The two foot wide river flowing under my freshly painted gate became noticeable when the cold ground I was sitting on also became wet and I had to go change clothes. The good thing is that the adrenaline started flowing too when I went to tell him how unhappy I was with him and now the dogs couldn’t come out in the yard because of water (didn’t tell him about the paint). The good news is I finished the inside of the fence. Hope to do the outside before JFO, but it’s raining again this weekend and now my first priority is getting ready for JFO!! The souvenir opener is here and the display awards are packed to go (so Bring a Display). I’ll start making name tags this week-end for the great list of people who have signed up. John can’t bring as much this year, as there will be two doggie seats in the car with two great little travelers who will be glad to be coming with us. Think we will leave as soon as the groomer gets them all trimmed up for the trip Monday of JFO Week. Of course, before we get out of North Carolina, Snazzy will take Jazzy’s bow out, but keep her own in all week. If both bows are in/out, this is how you tell them apart. Snazzy starts with an “S” as does small and silver which describes her. Jazzy (much bigger) starts with a “J” as does Jumping and she will be the one we will be yelling at to stay off of everyone, as she is the one who wants attention the most. She is my shadow at home, always hoping for a little pat on the head. Oh my…I may be exceeding my allowable space and after all, most/all of this newsletter should be about openers. So I will sign off for now since I get to see some of you soon anyways. Looking so forward to this annual event with friends, having fun. PS, Bring anything Michigan to Troy.
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Just For Openers Apr 2009 Issue #122

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