... I end up painting. It's been like that - in fact I remember an offer to paint the house was a bit of a sweetner with Sue's dad, before I asked to marry her! So, no surprises that here we are, paintbrush in hand, working to get our new Healing Home ready for July 18.
My dad taught me that three-quarters of painting is in the preparation. I'm following in the footsteps of some very interesting former painters who found a way to finish their previous job 75% faster. Susie and Rim, who takes a new position as a cleaner, are sweating it out, cleaning ahead of me. This is great on-the-job training for Rim, who is quickly learning Sue's standard of what clean means.
Susie up our 3-metre ladder cleaning the front bedroom with a 3.9 metre stud. She's smiling thru' the sweat - we can ring our shirts out after half an hour of work!
Meet Rim, our sweet new girl. The front windows got put in yesterday, the new bathroom is nearly complete. Meanwhile, a couple of bathrooms upstairs have now been ripped out as they were leaking. I literally found concrete stalegmites (or are they stalegtites? - the ones that hang down!) on the ceiling downstairs underneath!
Here's the house, with alterations well on the way. Our inside colour scheme is pretty basic - cream downstairs to keep things light and to remind us of Tip-Top icecream, and a light coffee shade upstairs to remind us of a real latte.
The contractors bring their families and live on-site for as long as the job takes. These hard-case little ones have a game they never tire of - they stand in the door and shout 'Barang, barang' ('foreigner, foreigner') at me. Then they inch closer in 'who's afraid of the big bad wolf' fashion before running away, squealing! It was interesting to observe them yesterday when a really good storm blew in, with amazing thunder claps. The kids never blinked; never missed a beat - they are so used to electrical storms.
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