Thursday, May 29, 2008

Ouiz learns a lesson

I'm afraid that this will be a rather common theme seen here on my blog:

Ouiz learns, yet again, that it is simpler to FIX a problem rather than complain about it.

You may remember my kitchen cabinet. For 14 years I complained about how ugly it was, and how cute it could be if it were just painted. FOURTEEN YEARS I wasted complaining about the darn thing, and how long did it take me to actually paint it?

TWO HOURS.

Yes indeed.

Unfortunately, I have a bit of a negative side (as all those who know me IRL gasp in shock), and I tend to see 100 reasons why something CAN'T be done, rather than expend that energy to make it happen.

It's not a part of my personality that I'm proud of, mind you... but you can see that the Lord has quite a bit of work left to do in me.

So, with that in mind, let me direct you to the latest project Chez Ouiz:

The front of my house.

My house is, oh... how shall we put it?

Small.
Brick.
Non descript.
Needing work.
Lacking in curb appeal.

We bought it because it had "potential"... but, being the people that we are, my husband and I haven't had that "gung-ho spirit" that enables people to turn trash into treasure, or work those miracle before/after transformations that are seen so often on home channels.

For 11 years now, I've hated the front of the house -- specifically, the windows. They are of the late 50s vintage, with ugly institutional gray trim all around. I got rid of that institutional gray in my kitchen (ooh. That was bad...), but driving up to my house always gave me a rather "blah" feeling.

Still reveling in the high I've been on with the other projects I've tackled, I decided to face my walk of shame head on and work on THE WINDOWS.

I felt the old "this is going to take tooooooooo looooooooooooooooooooong" whines creeping up, but I told myself to just enjoy the process, and focus on ONE window. Monday afternoon was dedicated to the first window, and I was pleased with the results.

Today the Lord gave me the most PERFECT day to continue the work. The air was cool, there was a gentle breeze blowing all day long, my kids were exceptionally well-behaved, and (get this!) Grace decided to TAKE A NAP.

Everything was aligned... all I needed to do was get up and start moving.

I picked up my scraper and started working. One window... two windows... three windows... and then four and five.

I was stunned. The work was going much faster than I thought.

I started washing and getting all the surfaces cleaned. Again, the kids were good as gold and needed nothing from me. Grace was still asleep. Could I actually start painting?

Sean took over cooking lunch, so there was no stopping me.

I got up on the ladder and started going... praising the Lord all the way through for His gift to me... talking to Him and slapping paint on.

Three and a half hours later, I was DONE.

Final tally: less than six hours to fix a problem that had plagued me for over eleven years.

Isn't that sad? I could have worked for 30 minutes A YEAR and gotten the same results.

Still, I am proud of myself for actually getting up on the ladder and getting this project done. Next on my list will be to paint the soffits/facia/trim so that they will look nice as well.

Moral of this story: it won't take NEARLY as long as you think it will, so get up and start working!

2 comments:

Beth said...

That's great Ouiz! Lets see a picture of your work :)

Kristen Laurence said...

Congratulations! Did you pour yourself a glass of champagne? :)

I wish I could say the same thing about my dining table refinishing. I stripped and stained it TWICE now, and it looks terrible! I have a feeling I'll be purchasing a lot of tablecloths in the near future. :)