Fired!

I got fired last week. It's not quite as bad as it sounds, and in many ways, it was actually a good thing. 

A little background information first. We bought Justin a house. This is something we have wanted to do for a long time. We bought a house for Ryan in CO in 2013 (back in the olden days when real estate was not a circus), sold it in 2021 with quite a gain, and used the proceeds to buy another house in PA. John has always wanted to be able to start both kids out with housing, so we've been looking for something for Justin for quite a while. 

We finally found it - 10 minutes from Justin's work, at the end of a cul-de-sac, on an acre lot with a creek at the bottom of the back yard, and bordered by county open space on two sides. Deer, rabbits, and other wildlife are regular visitors. The seller grew up in the house and when his father died, he wanted it to go to someone else who would appreciate it. It's a 60s-era house in need of some updates, but that's perfect for Justin who cares more about where his house is located than whether it has granite countertops, a kitchen island, and an en suite bathroom. 

John has been at the house for several days sanding and putting polyurethane on the hardwood floors, taking care of some plumbing issues, and getting a radon remediation system put in. Justin's girlfriend, Jess, will be living there with him much of the time, and she decided she wanted to paint some rooms. I'm engaged in the ongoing process of learning to keep my mouth shut, so I didn't blurt out, "But the sellers just painted all the rooms a lovely pale grey-green that will go with everything!" We all went to paint, and I was assigned what I thought were some easy tasks - above the taped baseboards, in the corners, and around the electric outlets that had the covers removed. All the places where you can be a bit sloppy before rolling the big sections of the walls.

I had done my painting in two bedrooms and went to make some lunch on the grill. When I came back after lunch and asked what I should do next John told me to go knit. It took me a couple of minutes to understand what he was saying, but he thought that I had done such a poor job on everything that I painted in the morning that he had to re-do most of it. I was fired, and have never been so happy to receive my pink slip! (I really hate painting!) I left the paint crew to go to the rug remnant store to give them measurements for some rugs that Justin is having cut and bound. This job was perfectly within my capabilities. :-)

You can see I was working with a very nice pale green before I was summarily dismissed. Next time we go to the house I have placed myself in charge of wet-mopping all the dust that John generated from sanding the floors and I will also be thoroughly cleaning three bathrooms. These are tasks I excel at and won't have to be fired!