Sidor Adventures: April 2025

House painting

The house has been in need of some siding work since I bought it 2 1/2 years ago. I considered RE-siding it for awhile, but the quotes were all high enough to put the idea into fantasy land for me. Then I thought I could re-shingle it myself, one small section at a time. After mulling the options over, I have decided that the best route would be to scrape the shingles (even though they aren't in such good shape under the paint) and simply paint the house. I started scraping the other day, and am fairly pleased with the progress so far. It's a challenging project. Takes a lot of physical stamina...and I never thought I'd actually engage in something that really worked my triceps. Well, I have found the ultimate tricep workout here, I think... :) Now I just need to perfect the scraping on the parts that DO want to stick to the shingles, get it all cleaned up, primed, and pick a new color. I never was really fond of that blue. As Tina pointed out the other day, I am obsessive compulsive. Once I decide to do something, I throw myself into it. Besides, scraping and painting my house is REALLY good therapy for me right now.

Adivasi

Jewelery, textiles and landscape art. All the vision of Shram Bhanti.

Where is my crystal ball?

I have a lot on my plate and I need to decide which way to go. A crystal ball would be great right about now. As everyone knows, I have told WSC that I am leaving. This means I will be entirely supported by what I earn freelancing. THIS means my income will be changing significantly. This then means that a bank won't give me a mortgage (probably) once the WSC job is over. So...do I sell the house for whatever I can get in the next 2 months and quick find a new house? Or do I take my time, make the payments somehow, and stay put? And if I am selling the house in the next 2 months, it needs to be painted NOW. This paint job will go down in history as one of the longest processes ever. I have been using personal and comp time at WSC this week- the weather is perfect for this, I have to at least TRY to finish. I was up there today on the ladder at the 2nd foor level...not as bad as I thought it would be but really, I don't feel good up there. Oh, well. I am recruiting help. Chris came today and Mark, Tony and Chris are coming tomorrow. One good thing that happened with regards to the WSC job and benefits being over is that I no longer need to worry about health insurance. I called my ex-husband, Jim, and he is happy to put me back on his insurance. It was actually the one thing on the divorce decree, that as long as neither of us was remarried, I was entitled to be on his plan. And he is ok with that, so all we need to do is submit the request. Wow! THAT was easy. And it will be the exact same plan I am on now. Nice!! (We are both state employees)