Painting and Accidents
Jordan's friends are moving into a family-owned house and they were painting today. Even though I'd been looking forward to my day without Jordan (so I could get laundry done and pull weeds) I scrapped that to go paint. After all, Trevor and Carlie are always helping us move... I figured I owed 'em. I actually prefer painting to moving anyway.
I thought they were going to have more people there. I also thought they'd have more taped because the email said they were taping walls and things last night. When I got there, I learned that Trevor had to work 'till 6pm today. It was just Carlie and her 3 or 4 y/o and her 8 mo (I think) baby. I was the first help there... so I took 3 rolls of tape and tackled the walls while Carlie watched the baby. Ellena (the young girl) actually "helped" me off and on. I wasn't really bothered by all that.
Shortly thereafter, Carlie's friend Erin, who had volunteered to watch kids, showed up. I taped and Carlie started painting. Carlie painted slow so I took over. Right as I'd about finished the main wall of the house Erin came inside and told us that the neighbor across the street had backed into her car. Ugh!
Strangely, as I was leaving the house... I had the impression to grab my camera. Why I'd need a camera while painting, I had no clue, but I pocketed it despite my rational reasons not to... so I had a decent camera to photograph the cars with. Also, when I pulled up to the house, I was going to park in front of it-- where Erin had parked-- but I felt like I should park in the driveway... so I maneuvered my car in the rocks beside the carport instead of parking out front. That was lucky. Really lucky. It's funny... sometimes I get "feelings" that I should do something other than what I'm doing... so I do... I usually never know why I did it other than I felt like I probably should do something different. Coincidence in this case? Who knows...
Anyway, it was the neighbor's son who hit Erin's car... but the mom came out and kept trying to tell her story to everyone. I had my digital camera with me, so I stepped outside and took a photo of the back of the truck and also took a photo of the side of Erin's car. The crazy mom was all upset that I took a photo of the back of the truck, so the license plate number was shown... Uhh, lady... when you get in a car accident... you trade information-- which includes LICENSE PLATE NUMBERS! Duh! She was all upset and asking what I was doing. She kept trying to tell me the story and telling me that I was somehow "involved" now because I came out to take a couple photos. I told her I didn't want to hear it-- I'm not involved. That I was just taking photos of the back of the truck because that's the part that hit Erin's car... and also of the damage to Erin's car. That's what you're supposed to do in a car accident! I told the crazy lady to talk to (Erin) because it's her car.
Later, the police came-- Erin called them. The officer kept trying to talk Erin out of filing a police report. She "didn't need to file a report," the officer said, "unless there is at least $500 of damages"... Riiiiight. The cop obviously didn't want to fill out the paperwork and issue a ticket. We told Erin to "be mean" and file the report anyway. This is life. When you make a mistake, you address the consequences of that mistake. Later I learned from Jordan that if there is no police report the insurance companies don't file the claim! So, it's a good thing Erin filed the report. Ugh.
Anyway... Erin and the cop left. (I got Erin's email address before leaving so I could send her the photos.) Painting continued.
Carlie's family, who was helping paint, really was driving me nuts. Carlie's dad is a nice man... but he wasn't exactly thinking with common sense at times. I cringed quite a few times, but I didn't want to say anything... say, when he poked a plug through a taped over electrical socket without removing the tape first... or when he pulled the back corner of the tarp and folded it drippy-paint side down in the next, carpeted room. For that last one, I asked if he wanted any help with that... and he just kept walking, turning the tarp over. When I say I cringed, I'm really not exaggerating.
At around 4:30, I decided I wanted to go home. We'd got almost all the painting done and I wanted to get home before Jordan. I packed up the paint supplies I'd brought over and went home. Jordan called, came home with pizza-- yum! Then, after eating pizza, we pulled weeds in the back yard for an hour. There are so many weeds back there we could just let them get big and call it a lawn! We don't want to spray weed killer back there because we want the soil to stay rich for when we start working on the yard... as soon as we get that blasted federal tax return.
The ground is so hard, I've bruised my palms with the weed digger. I think I'll bust out the new hose and water our weeds just to make the ground soft! Heh. Imagine watering weeds just to pull them up! (I usually pull weeds after rainstorms... but I only have so much time before the ground dries and there are sooo many weeds.
After the sun set, Jordan called Trevor to ask if he wanted us to paint the accent walls that night. Which, we went back and did. The three of us chatted as we painted the night away. We got there just before 8pm and finished painting and cleaning up just after 10pm. El Fin! So... it took me and Jordan a while to wind down and get to sleep. I finally drifted off at 1am.
I thought they were going to have more people there. I also thought they'd have more taped because the email said they were taping walls and things last night. When I got there, I learned that Trevor had to work 'till 6pm today. It was just Carlie and her 3 or 4 y/o and her 8 mo (I think) baby. I was the first help there... so I took 3 rolls of tape and tackled the walls while Carlie watched the baby. Ellena (the young girl) actually "helped" me off and on. I wasn't really bothered by all that.
Shortly thereafter, Carlie's friend Erin, who had volunteered to watch kids, showed up. I taped and Carlie started painting. Carlie painted slow so I took over. Right as I'd about finished the main wall of the house Erin came inside and told us that the neighbor across the street had backed into her car. Ugh!
Strangely, as I was leaving the house... I had the impression to grab my camera. Why I'd need a camera while painting, I had no clue, but I pocketed it despite my rational reasons not to... so I had a decent camera to photograph the cars with. Also, when I pulled up to the house, I was going to park in front of it-- where Erin had parked-- but I felt like I should park in the driveway... so I maneuvered my car in the rocks beside the carport instead of parking out front. That was lucky. Really lucky. It's funny... sometimes I get "feelings" that I should do something other than what I'm doing... so I do... I usually never know why I did it other than I felt like I probably should do something different. Coincidence in this case? Who knows...
Anyway, it was the neighbor's son who hit Erin's car... but the mom came out and kept trying to tell her story to everyone. I had my digital camera with me, so I stepped outside and took a photo of the back of the truck and also took a photo of the side of Erin's car. The crazy mom was all upset that I took a photo of the back of the truck, so the license plate number was shown... Uhh, lady... when you get in a car accident... you trade information-- which includes LICENSE PLATE NUMBERS! Duh! She was all upset and asking what I was doing. She kept trying to tell me the story and telling me that I was somehow "involved" now because I came out to take a couple photos. I told her I didn't want to hear it-- I'm not involved. That I was just taking photos of the back of the truck because that's the part that hit Erin's car... and also of the damage to Erin's car. That's what you're supposed to do in a car accident! I told the crazy lady to talk to (Erin) because it's her car.
Later, the police came-- Erin called them. The officer kept trying to talk Erin out of filing a police report. She "didn't need to file a report," the officer said, "unless there is at least $500 of damages"... Riiiiight. The cop obviously didn't want to fill out the paperwork and issue a ticket. We told Erin to "be mean" and file the report anyway. This is life. When you make a mistake, you address the consequences of that mistake. Later I learned from Jordan that if there is no police report the insurance companies don't file the claim! So, it's a good thing Erin filed the report. Ugh.
Anyway... Erin and the cop left. (I got Erin's email address before leaving so I could send her the photos.) Painting continued.
Carlie's family, who was helping paint, really was driving me nuts. Carlie's dad is a nice man... but he wasn't exactly thinking with common sense at times. I cringed quite a few times, but I didn't want to say anything... say, when he poked a plug through a taped over electrical socket without removing the tape first... or when he pulled the back corner of the tarp and folded it drippy-paint side down in the next, carpeted room. For that last one, I asked if he wanted any help with that... and he just kept walking, turning the tarp over. When I say I cringed, I'm really not exaggerating.
At around 4:30, I decided I wanted to go home. We'd got almost all the painting done and I wanted to get home before Jordan. I packed up the paint supplies I'd brought over and went home. Jordan called, came home with pizza-- yum! Then, after eating pizza, we pulled weeds in the back yard for an hour. There are so many weeds back there we could just let them get big and call it a lawn! We don't want to spray weed killer back there because we want the soil to stay rich for when we start working on the yard... as soon as we get that blasted federal tax return.
The ground is so hard, I've bruised my palms with the weed digger. I think I'll bust out the new hose and water our weeds just to make the ground soft! Heh. Imagine watering weeds just to pull them up! (I usually pull weeds after rainstorms... but I only have so much time before the ground dries and there are sooo many weeds.
After the sun set, Jordan called Trevor to ask if he wanted us to paint the accent walls that night. Which, we went back and did. The three of us chatted as we painted the night away. We got there just before 8pm and finished painting and cleaning up just after 10pm. El Fin! So... it took me and Jordan a while to wind down and get to sleep. I finally drifted off at 1am.