Farm Progress

Oh my, we have a long way to go on our staining project. After painting for eleven hours straight and using six and half gallons of paint, we weren't finished with the main level entirely. We ran out of stain and couldn't finish the small portion of the garage we had left.

I hadn't been this "quietly, tired" in a very long time. So, long that I had forgotten how good it feels to sit quietly and not think about all the things you need to get finished, how the shoppe is doing, wondering if Erin is having a good time in Colorado, my parent's health, etc.

When you are physically tired all those things stop and you just sit and truly relax quietly. It was a wonderful feeling.

It's one of the blessings of hard work. One of my very favorite movies, "Return To Me" has a line where the Irish Grandfather tells his granddaughter that he has been blessed with work. I love that line. It's a wonderful movie that I promise you will enjoy.
Here's a few tips when painting or staining your home. Sanding windows or any uneven surface is alot easier with sanding sponges. They are basically sponges covered with sanding paper. This allows the sandpaper to curve around uneven surfaces which really speeds up the sanding process and cuts your sanding time by half.

We have the main level of the house finished - the easy part. Now the challenging part, the upper level. I am still unsure how we are going to reach some of these higher areas. Dan says not to worry as he has it all figured out. Good. One less thing for me to think about. He says that my part in the staining process has come to an end as the rest will be ladder and staging work. I didn't argue one bit.
Another time saver is putting your brush in ziploc baggies when you want to use them again later but can't leave them in buckets - a big NO, NO. Instead of cleaning the brush, you can just empty the brush by using up the paint in the brush and then placing in the baggie.

Pop it in the fridge and you can use it again hours later without having to clean the brush in between painting sessions. We do this when we break for lunch, or if we are switching to a roller for a larger area.

I don't like to clean out brushes in the first place so, anything that limits me to one cleaning each day is a great tip.