More painting, flying solo today. Some of the tile commencing next week. Shares and sales needed.

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

Welp, so I made more work for myself.

Today was supposed to be edging only, possibly another light coat of the pearlescent white. Unfortunately, once it had dried overnight, it appeared too opaque. I italicized "appeared" because it truly was a matter of appearance v. reality: The paint was indeed very sheer, but the silver on top of the texture, particularly in the light that mostly hits that wall (and in combination with the darkness of the bronze) produced the effect of seeming to gray it out. Up close and in the light, the colors were visible, but barely otherwise, and it turned the pearlescent white into a pale pewterish shade. I wanted the copper to to be primary shade to show through, to pick up the color in the plaster on either side downstairs, but the copper got overwhelmed by the other two.

So. The only solution was to add one, possibly two, more artisan coats. Today was the sponged-on copper; tomorrow will begin with edging and then with sponged-off pearlescent white, and might possibly need another very thin sheer coat of the same thing. We'll see.

On the plus side, I seem suddenly to have gotten over my paralyzing fear of hanging off the ladder that many feet up, because I did the whole thing today without a spotter (i.e., without Wings holding the ladder). He was too busy with a ton of other things that had to be done, so I just went and did it, and he finally realized an hour or so into the process that I hadn't called him to come and help. Bu then I had half the wall sponged, including adjusting the extension ladder downward twice, and I had moved it to the other step to do the other side. Unfortunately, the ladder, fully collapsed, has a tendency to get stuck, and I couldn't unstick it, so I had to fetch him and have him deal with it. I then proceeded to finish up on my own, take the ladder downstairs, and haul the large stepladder to be taken upstairs so I could do touchups in the open area at the head of the stairs. Yes, "to be taken"; by then my hands were fried enough that I had him take it up the stairs as far as the platform, and I hauled it the rest of the way up.

I'm beat.

In other good news, Floyd was out today to see what they can do and when on the tile. They're mired in another big job, and this one is as subcontractors, rather than reporting directly to the homeowner as they're doing with us, so they're stuck until it's done, at the mercy of the contractor's schedule. But he's sending Randy out on Monday to install the baseboards in the upstairs bath and get started on tiling the vanity top (it's got a vessel sink, not a drop-in or undermount). Toward the end of next week, he and Gary will probably have a brief lull, and they're going to finish off the walls and ceiling of the shower in the downstairs bath and tile it all, as well as shower floor and bathroom floor. They might even get as far as the slate tile in the utility room. It'll probably be two weeks after that before they can get to the rest of the downstairs (which is all slate), but that ironically works out well, because Tony and Reynaldo need to get the upstairs flooring in and the stairs done before they can do the living room/dining room areas anyway.

So much more to do. So much more expense, so we need to make sales, badly. We also need shares; the more of the cards we can accumulate, from folks who are willing to donate credit card points, etc., to them, the less cash that will have to be diverted to creating an actual kitchen. So here are the links:

• Wings's site, for sales;
• Lowe's cards (the physical version) via our Amazon wishlist;
• Lowe's e-cards (delivered via e-mail) here; and
• Home Depot cards via the company site. The e-version using my e-mail address is great; I take the tablet to the store with me, and they scan it off the screen.

As I'e been saying, I feel like I need to reiterate at this point: Sales are always needed and helpful, because that's our living — both the baseline of the construction and our day-to-day living expenses. But other than that, right now? More than donations, the HD and Lowe's cards are truly the most useful; they free up our cash for things that can't be done any other way. And until we know whether the septic is truly covered or it's going to set us back some more, we need to keep as much cash in reserve as possible. (Of course, there may well come a point where we need cash to finish it all off, but we're not there yet.) Much gratitude to y'all who've kicked in over the last few days, whether $$ or cards, and love to everyone. And I guess the answer to last night's final question is "Or not."

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.