The Rest of the Story

Well, the rest of the story of the new mattress and painting...

I slept on the new mattress for a few nights and it wasn't great. I ended up getting a mattress topper and going to see Dr. Jerry for my back. The mattress is okay now, but I could probably have just gotten a topper and had Jerry work on my back.

The painting - Dumb, Dumb, Dumb I know better. I had about a fifth of a gallon of paint left and the quart I had bought. So I decided I would paint as much of the closet as I could. It probably needed it and it wouldn't hurt to do it. So, I opened the gallon and started on the biggest wall. There wasn't quite enough paint to finish it. I opened the quart - not quite the same color. I know from experience that this happens and that you should pour the two together and mix them. Well, it's a closet and nobody will see it much and there will be things in there. So I went ahead and finished the wall just a little lighter color. There was paint left; so I decided to paint another wall but just under the shelves not above them. I got two walls painted that way. The next morning I woke up and looked right into the closet. Oh, No! It was extremely obvious that above and below the shelves was a different color. I would never be happy with that. I went to Leoti, took my paint chip and said please match this as close as possible. After all it is a separate room. They did a great job of matching! I took everything out of the closet and painted and repainted. That took almost a whole gallon. Altogether I used three gallons of paint. Since I had everthing out of the closet, I went through all of my clothes and made a pile for the Thrift Shoppe - quite a few things. Now I have a clean and refreshed room even though that is not what I intended to do when I thought I needed a new mattress.

It Came!

A few weeks ago, I woke up with a backache. That occurred 3 or 4 times. I thought "I'm going to have to go see Jerry." (or maybe the chiropractor in Leoti) It was so bad I decided to sleep on the sofa. Next morning my back was fine. Thought - You need a new mattress! So I went and got our old one from the basement in the south house to try again. One side was soso. The other side was AWFUL. OK - I need a new mattress. Tuesday I called the store in Scott City - "How soon can you deliver a mattress?" "This afternoon - no, wait, Friday would be better because we are going to Leoti then" "Ok, I'll be over to pick one out." Halfway to Scott City, I thought that I might as well paint the bedroom before getting a new mattress. Gwen would probably help me get the mattress and box springs out to the garage; then there would just be the frame and headboard to move. I had been thinking I needed to repaint the bedroom for about four years, but I needed to sand, stain and seal the window sills and that should be done first. But ok, I'll paint. Since I was in Scott City I bought paint there. (No need to drive to Leoti 24 miles away when I was in Scott.) Gwen helped me with the mattress and boxsprings and with emptying a dresser (with a heavy mirror) of drawers and moving it away from the wall. Later I was moving other things out of the room to be ready to paint in the morning. Well, I looked at the window sills - I have sandpaper; so I started sanding. I washed the walls (Joann does this - I never do) The water was really dirty! The next day I painted. A gallon of paint JUST BARELY was enough for one coat. Of course, a second coat was needed. The next day I went to Leoti to finally go to the treasurer's office to change the title for my new (to me) vehicle. I looked at the papers that had come (finally after 25 days) with the transfer title - I had to have the Highway Patrol check the VIN number since the vehicle had come from out of state. Well, the sheriff could do it; so I went to Leoti and got that done. Then over to Scott City for more paint - couldn't get that brand in Leoti. When I got to the lumberyard, the lady that waited on me was a student of mine when I taught 6th grade at Shallow Water 39 years ago! She said the walls must have really soaked up the paint. She asked me how long it had been since the room had been painted - 16 years. Thursday I painted the room a second time, put stain on the windowsills and some other places that needed it and put on a coat of polyurethane. Then I put some furniture back. Today I washed curtains and the new mattress came. I have a really clean room. I had maybe a fifth of a gallon of paint left and a quart I had bought the first time just in case there wasn't quite enought of the first gallon for a second coat. Now I am trying to encourage myself to paint as much of the closet as I can - at least one wall. I'm sure most of you did not know that buying a new mattress entailed that much work.