Last night was the 73rd Golden Globe Awards; I’m not covering the event here on the blog because I didn’t see any of the movies that were nominated for or won an award. And I don’t know who Ricky Gervais is or why he’s famous.
But life can be like a movie or Tee Vee drama and this weekend might have been called Upstairs, Downstairs (which was nominated for several Golden Globes and won one in 1975.) Handy and I were painting my office on the second floor landing of my house. I say “Handy and I” were painting, but the truth is, Handy did all the hard work and I acted as his assistance. If Handy said “go clean this brush, please” I ran downstairs and cleaned the brush. Then I’d run back upstairs to deliver it. If Handy said “we need another can of paint up here,” I’d again run downstairs, get the paint, and then run back up with the trim paint or the “Pale Straw” colored wall paint. I was a general gopher, or Handy’s Helper.
The project lasted all weekend. It was a good weekend for staying in the house, with temperatures rising about freezing on overcast Saturday and then unbelievable torrential sideways rain and wind gusts on Sunday. At different times during the day the house shook as the zephyr winds whipped around.
We finished at 4:00 p.m. and I started putting the office back together; Handy went to his house to make some dinner. I walked into my first floor laundry room to start a load of towels and got hit in the forehead with a big drop of water. Handy says rainy days like Sunday are good for finding the leaks in a house and I guess I’ve got one in my laundry room.
After a productive weekend of painting and home improvements, the small leak was unsettling but I vowed to “carry on” and drove over to Handy’s for dinner. I showed him the pictures of the small hairline leak, told him my theories, and then asked if he thought the laundry room ceiling would collapse during the night.
“Is that what you’re worrying about?” he asked.
I admitted this was my current and worst fear.
“The ceiling will not collapse.”
Then he sang the opening line of a bad 70’s song.
“There’s got to be a morning after…”
The theme song from another Golden Globe nominated movie, The Poseidon Adventure! I had to laugh and since laughter is the alleged best medicine, that sinking feeling in my stomach disappeared. Plus, dinner was ready and I knew Handy would find and fix any problem.
With a hot dinner, a freshly painted office, and the promise of sunshine on the horizon, the lyrics to the song seemed about right. Plus, the Powerball jackpot is now up to a gazillion dollars.
“Let’s keep on looking for the light.”
Julie-Ann Baumer 
Yes, storms like the one yesterday are great for revealing that your house isn’t as buttoned-up as it needs to be. I spent much of yesterday afternoon and early evening checking places with a history of spring leaks.
My notorious NNE-facing basement window always leaks when we have a rain storm out of the northeast, or driving rains from the east. I suppose I could replace the window, as it leaks three or four times a year and has for 25 years.
Other trouble spots held up during yesterday’s sideways rain and “zephyr winds.”
My day was productive overall, and it sounds like yours was, too.
Yes, NNE zephyrs are troublesome, as are poorly installed windows. Handy to the rescue, long and short term fixes.
I like this color. We have been steadily removing wallpaper and painting the walls to get our house ready for sale (again) in the spring. The home buying Millennials who are apparently our target market do not like wallpaper and are afraid of a little elbow grease, so it is up to us Gen-Xer’s to do it for them. Anyway, trying to find a neutral color that will sell this place so far has come from a recommendation by our realtor and one of our co-workers. I like this color too. Think I’ll bring the paint swatch into HD and get them to mix it up in Behr paints and save some money. They’ve done that twice for me so far! Thanks for posting!
I am so happy I could help you! And thanks for sharing a real estate tip about wallpaper and Millennials. I love the color and it seems to be extending from room to room to room. Happy stripping and prepping and painting!