Well, when I got home at 3pm, he had only done a tiny portion, and it was all blotchy, and didn't look right at all! He was mad, he'd had to go to all these stores for his mom, and to find paint rollers, and to JoAnns for two chairs I wanted for Mothers Day. And he was hot, the temp was in the 80’s, and it turned out the old stain he had applied wasn't working out so he'd gone down to Lowes to get fresh stain. He said the stores were so busy you couldn't move, which made him even frustrated because he doesn't like shopping in the first place. Tom picked out a color that was close to what we used in the past, but it was very different once we opened it. Before, we stained it in a red brick color, this new color was the color of a clay pot, and I loved it! But since it was different he was very upset.
So I said I LOVE it, lets start painting. And he said no, that f*cking cheap paint roller I bought at Giant Eagle isn't worth a crap, go to Drug Mart and buy me one that says "for rough texture". So off I go. I was wearing the shoes I wore to the shower and they were killing my feet! I could hardly walk through Drug Mart! But I limped through, and bought two rollers, so I could also roll and help him get this job done double fast.
So I got back home, changed my clothes, and we started putting the stain on, and we were both so hot, and he was so p*ssed and frustrated. You see, you aren't supposed to walk on new stain for 24 hours, and he'd wanted it finished by 2pm, so when we have our 'Mothers Day cookout' tomorrow the 24 hours would be up. But here it was, 5pm, and we were just putting the new color down. And guess what, since it is a new color it needs two coats, you can see the brick red color through it.
Also, I didn't say any thing, but when he was at Lowes, he bought semitransparent stain, while before we bought, I'm pretty sure, opaque stain. There is a difference, but he was so p*ssed I didn't want to point out another mistake he'd made. And in-between all this, he's saying put the leash on the dog and take him out to pee, (cause he can't be outside cause he'll walk on the new stain), so I'm trying to do this too, and the phone must have rung 10 times, my persistent brother had left 14 messages wanting us to come out to the farm for a weenie roast last night, and was calling every 10 minutes to see if we were interested. And to say that by the way, he had a flat time on the lawnmower, and could Tom fix it. So Tom wouldn't answer the phone, so he just kept calling all day.
Tom had wrapped an electrical cord around our gate entrance on the patio to keep anyone from entering there. Well, my brother has this inclination where if he doesn’t hear from you, he will just drive over to see you physically. So of course he showed up. Tom and I are working so hard we are out of breath, and brother heads out the back door. He stopped before stepping onto the fresh stain thank God. He made his way into the back yard, standing around and it just makes for some more tension, you know.
Then Brian came, and had brought me a new red dogwood tree, a Mothers Day gift from him and Mike, and he wanted to plant it right now. I wasn't unappreciative, but the timing was quite off. Well, he has to get shovels, and tools from the garage. and the location I want it is where our old dogwood was, and all that's left is a stump, and I want the stump removed first. So Brian is dragging tools around the patio, into the front yard. Tom goes into the house for something and Cecile the cat wants out to pee. But when he opened the front door for her, she heard Brian hitting the stump with a sledge hammer, and it scared her, and she wouldn't go outside. Tom saw her go back behind our desk, where she has peed before; we spent a week getting that stain out about a month ago. He chased her away from there and said she ran upstairs, so we don't know what she did. But that's another story, about the cat and her aversion to the litter box.
I finally gave into his bad mood, and now it was me saying f*ck this, and f*ck that, and you know what? Now HE feels better, and I'm p*ssed.
So that is the story of yesterday afternoon. We finally finished, cleaned up the paint mess, ate, and relaxed. Today we will put together my two new Adirondack Mothers Day chairs, and put the patio back together, go to the store for groceries, which we didn't have the time or energy to do yesterday, mulch the new tree, (it is beautiful), go get Evelyn, get the boys over here to cook chicken for their mom and grandma and Uncle Frank, and who knows what else will come up, but I have a feeling it will.
Anyway, happy Mothers Day to you!
