Some beautification...

When I start working on home improvement, these days, you know something is wrong.  SIGH.

This is the bookshelf in the basement that I use in a home office sort of fashion.  As you can see, it really is awful.  For a while now, I have thought about painting it.  So, I used my current upsettedness to effect a change.

I was going to be lazy about this project.  I am rather exhausted after all, and I am so much weaker than my last laborious home improvement project.  However, I had a Come to Jesus talk with myself about the fact that, especially in an old home, you never know what type of paint was used.  Not taking that fact into consideration is the single greatest reason a paint job can fail.

Since I am never without bonding primer, I slapped on a coat.  Well, first I cleaned the bookshelf and gave it a light sanding.  The thing really was filthy.

My Facebook peeps provided positive feedback about this color choice.  I had two GREENS in mind, paint that I already have.  I was leaning toward this rich GREEN because it is already on the door to the utility closet and the steps.  But I wondered if it was too bold.  However, the peeps who responded were in agreement that this was the right choice.

Here it is with the first coat applied.  The paint is still wet and is much lighter than what it will be.  I wish that I were not such a drippy painter, but the bookshelf will be ever so much more attractive now.  It truly is the last eyesore in the house, the last thing that screamed "I AM OLD."

Gosh, painting is getting ever so much harder.  My right shoulder is really sore, as well as my hands, even though I tried switching back and forth between them to help mitigate the pain.  I am proud that I primed yesterday and waited until today to do the first coat.  Being sensible about spacing out work is not my strong suit.  I want my visual rest back ASAP.  Right now, that area of the basement is a mess, with the contents of the bookshelf on the table, on the chairs, on the floor, and even on the dryer.

Tomorrow, my friend Celia and her family will be stopping by ... well, we are meeting at a restaurant!  My prescriptions were not ready today, so I hope to fetch those, too.  Basically, this means that, if I am sensible, I will wait until Wednesday to add the second coat.

I would like to shampoo my carpet upstairs on Friday, so that it is all clean before my mother arrives next Tuesday to help me with the surgery on Thursday.  I spot cleaned all the places where Amos vomited when he was so ill last month, but the carpet really should be cleaned.  I don't remember it being all that difficult to use the machine, but I am such the procrastinator these days.  The thought of doing more than the little I do each day exhausts me.

• Paint the second coat on Wednesday.  
• Shampoo carpets on Friday.  
• Put the bookshelf back together on Sunday.  
• Shampoo Amos on Monday.

My friends drive-thru visit is actually a greater blessing than just  her wonderful presence.  I used the visit as impetus to clean the floors on the first floor and to clean the half-bath off the parlor.  Cleaning the bath helped me to discover that the lotion I keep in there for guests was empty.  I never use that location and my vision is just horrible, so I never noticed that it got used up until I lifted it to clean the counter beneath it.  I am thankful for noticing that.  I do like to be a good host.

I am looking forward to no longer seeing such an eyesore in my basement.  I suppose, in a way, I am also thankful for upsettedness.  Just a bit.