PANDEMIC MOMENT: What Was I Thinking?!?

THIS MORNING’S PANDEMIC MOMENT

I think I’ve lost my mind. I’m slowly learning, as I deal with one pandemic moment after another, that this is just the way it goes at such times!

I got up early this morning, only because I actually went to sleep at a reasonable hour and slept decently. When I looked out the window, I noticed that the sun had not yet hit the deck. Awesome!

I threw on my work clothes, poured a cup of coffee and headed out the back door. The deck was still shaded, the air ever so slightly cooler and the time was right to strip the top of my BR end table. The plan is to refinish the top of each piece and paint the lower half.

MY PRACTICE PIECE

I carted the piece out on the deck. The smallest of the pieces, it would be the one I practice on and decide on colors. I’d already taken off the hardware, removed the drawers and covered the lower half in plastic. Time to strip the top!

It’s been in the mid to upper nineties for a week or more with no let up in sight. This morning, I had a window of about an hour.  Mind you, I’ve done a whole lot of painting in my lifetime, and even helped strip paint off the exterior of an old house, but I have not, by myself, stripped a piece of furniture I care about!

BREAKFAST COOKING COACH

My coach, deep into cooking blueberry pancakes, hollered a steady stream of instructions behind me as I walked out the door. I began. Clearly, I wasn’t quite awake as I began applying stripper without gloves! My left thumb quickly began to burn blue blazes! I abandoned the application, dashed into the kitchen and washed my hands. A pandemic moment for sure.

I then put on an old pair of garden gloves. Not perfect, as the palms are made of cloth, but all I have and better than nothing. Back to the deck and the encroaching sun. I painted the stuff on, “with the grain”, wondering all the while why it mattered that I apply it with the grain when the stuff was getting scraped off. Nevertheless, I followed the barking orders, now coming through the window.

Step one done, I came in from the heat and waited for the blueberry buttermilk pancakes to be served.  (Have I ever said I am eternally grateful for a husband who likes to cook, and still can?)

But before I could take the first bite, he said, “Quick! It’s drying out, put more on!” I flew out the door, slipped on my gloves and did as instructed. Whew! Lessons: a) I was too timid about putting the stripper on (not surprised) and b) why am I doing this before I’m awake??

TIME TO SCRAPE

Pancakes were yummy, even through the chemical aroma hanging in the air around me. I do hate chemicals of any kind and traditionally avoid using them. But, pandemics call for drastic measures!

It was time to scrape. I hoped this would be quick and satisfying. Trust me, it was not. Using a broad knife scraper I began moving big globs of goop from the table top to an empty plastic salad container – only the goop did not want to move from the scraper into the container no matter how hard I tried to shake, scrape, cajole it off the edge of the knife. Paper towels. Somewhat helpful. But the edge of the piece? the curve, flat, curve, flat tiny edges? Yikes!

Coach tossed me some kind of sponge full of holes to apply paint thinner. So I poured paint thinner directly on to it, forgetting about the holes. No need to describe the results, is there?

My first lesson in stripping furniture is behind me, except for the smell. Half done, it’s now sitting on the deck covered by a giant cardboard box until the sun goes down, and/or I get the courage to go the next round.

What was I thinking?? There’s a pandemic!

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