As the winter Olympics approached I was feeling completely blase about them.  I recalled watching the summer Olympics and liking them, but wondered what would be interesting about the winter games.  I vaguely recalled that figure skating was one of the sports.

So I turned on the opening night ceremony, and on Saturday proceeded to watch the games.  Within a few minutes that damned, cunning media had me completely hooked!  As soon as the camera panned on the moms and dads in the stands, and I saw them crying from hope and nervousness, I started crying, too.

This was followed by me being on my feet screaming with nervous excitement during every race.  Naturally, this fueled all-day TV viewing, which as you can imagine, cuts into what a person is able to accomplish in a day.

The good news is that I found a project that allowed me to get something done while watching the Olympics.  I’ve always loathed our red brick fireplace and dark wood paneling, so decided to paint the entire wall, fireplace and all.

I started last Monday, and didn’t complete it until Friday!  As always, I thought it’d take a couple of hours, at best.  However, by the time I’d gotten advice, bought primer, and taped the area to be painted Day One was over.

Day Two saw the beginning of the priming.  I had no idea that bricks could drink so much paint!  As well, painting between the bricks coated the brush with old grout, so every few minutes I had to clean the brush entirely.  There was also an awful lot of filler to be gucked in and around the bricks to fill the holes.

By Wednesday I was done with the priming, and on Thursday I began to apply the colour.  I’m fortunate that I was able to do all of it unsupervised.  At one point, I was standing on a dining room chair, holding the tray of paint, and painting the top corner of the wall.

When I looked down, I was dismayed to see that I’d been holding the tray at an angle, and now paint was drizzled over the chair, and pooling on the wood floor.  I had no idea paint was so hard to wipe up!  However, I think all of these nasty incidents are now completely invisible thanks to my tenaciousness.

On Friday I did the final coat, removed the tape, and put back the plants and art.  I’m happy to report that it looks 100% better.  Bye bye ’70’s.  Though a great decade, it really was time for it to go.

Now it’s Week Two of the Olympics, and I have no more household renovations to keep me busy.  I’ll just have to give in to the urge to postpone pressing matters for another week.