Pleased as punch...

If ever I say that I am going to do this, this, and that, feel free to laugh. I mean ... GREAT BIG GUFFAWS!

I did not get up early.  I did, however, get up in time to paint one coat of paint on the steps before I gave my computer lesson.

The latter was difficult for me, because the person was late and yet didn't let me know ahead of time.  I honestly believe if you are going to be late that you should phone, text, or email ahead.  To do so take mere seconds and shows that you respect the time and feelings of the person you are to meet.  Despite being late, I still had a schedule to keep ... to get back to painting afterward so that I could finish in time for the paint to cure enough before the temperatures drop again tonight.

Since much of what I was doing was already taught and texted and emailed and phoned before, when I was prepping for the lesson, I broke down and made a communications binder with a monthly schedule for the communications tasks, notes for writing newsletters, an overview of how to use the audience management segment of the email distribution system, and how to open, change, save, and email as an attachment Office files.  Then, I went online and read through about two dozen articles covering the person's industry newsletters.  I chose the three most helpful, which included topic ideas, and printed them out.  All went into top-loading sheet protectors and a half-inch 3-ring binder.  I made a cover sheet for the binder and put in a divider between the operations information and the informative articles.

I confess that I was resentful doing all that.  I mean, it is not my business that is at stake here.  I shouldn't have to take notes or create such a resource.  However, I am weary of re-teaching the same things. I guess I am not such a gracious volunteer after all.  I want to be thanked and I want you to work to retain what I am teaching if I am doing something for free.

Back when I was a professor, I used to tell students that if they gave me an inch, I would take them a mile.  But if they did not, I had no help for them.  The job of a student is to learn, not expect to be spoon fed everything.  It still galls me that college students expected professors to take notes on the readings and hand them out!

Anyway, my boundary is that, having documented all of the things I have taught before, I am not going over that ground again.  I created an operational resource and passed it on to be used or not.  Either way, my part in the learning process is finished.

Working on all of that also made me sad.  I struggle with the fact that I still have value to contribute somewhere, but am someone who does little besides battle nausea and dizziness and fainting and cold spells and such.  Well, and snuggle with her fluff-ball.  And I struggle with how ... used ... I feel when I do something like I did without any real recognition or acknowledgment of the contribution or similar type help in return.  Should't I just be happy to be helpful???

Well, back to painting.

Here it is before, primed and waiting from yesterday.  [Ignore the fact that I forgot to put away my stool for this photo.]

Here it is after.  [Ignore the fact that I forgot to put my statue back in place for this photo.]

I will note that, despite the fact that I still need to do a final coat when I get the right color paint, I am very, very, very pleased with how the steps turned out, even with the treads still not cleaned and sealed.  Painted the house red color, I think that the stairs are now tied into the house.  What I envisioned when I thought about painting them instead of just sealing everything came to fruition even better than I imagined.  Pleased as punch and tickled pink!!  Translation:  I LIKE IT!

You can see that I have yet to paint the posts.  I am fairly certain that I do want them painted the house red, but I am not sure I should be the one painting them.  You know, standing on ladders and leaning all about to paint them.  However, as you can see, in pondering the matter, I noticed that the window and the door trim were not painted house red, whereas every other window and door frame (save for the front door) are house red.  So, I painted two coats on them as well.

Yes, I had to stand on a ladder for the door, but I did not do so for long and I refrained from dealing with painting the interior of the transom window framing because it is DIRTY.  Cleaning and prepping that area could be a whole day's worth of work (a day of Myrtle's ability to work). I like how they look and am a bit puzzled how I could have lived here for nearly four and a half years and never notice that color omission.

The sunlight really shows the orange undertone of the wrong-color paint.  UGH.  Still, the back porch is looking more and more and more as if all the changes I made were part and parcel to the house originally.  So, although I still despair over the work of painting the railing, I am pleased with how this is progressing, delayed though it be, having started last fall.

Wouldn't it be most wonderful if I were able to find a photo that showed how the airing porch looked originally??

Having showered, put on my pajamas, and collapsed into the GREEN chair, I am thinking that if I have any sense at all, I will refrain from trying to tackle part of the railing on the morrow even though it will be prime painting weather.  I am exhausted and trembling and fainted three times because I have been on my feet too much over the past two days.  Were I smart, I would rest until meeting my (hopefully) new GP next Monday.

Will I be sensible???????