Over the summer and first part of fall, Steve was working on a monstrous job. Monstrous. (And I am so thankful for that monster, really I am.) A large portion of that job was painting yellow stripes on the warehouse floors. He and his guys worked around the clock for about 2 months on this project. As they were nearing the deadline and still had quite a bit to go, he came to me for help. They had to paint numbers and letters on the yellow stripes to mark each bay. He asked if I thought I could find a friend to help me do that part and he would pay us. I enlisted my dear friend and neighbor April to help with this wonderful endeavor. She got paid. I have yet to receive my compensation for working some of the longest most grueling hours I have ever worked in my life. I'm just saying.I was HARD work. Hard doesn't even begin to describe it. I really wish I had done this post back when it was fresh in my mind. It's kind of like childbirth. You know it was really painful when you were going through it but over time you forget just how painful it was. It is the same with this job. It was backbreaking, but I know this post so many months after the fact, just won't do it the justice it deserves.
This is what we had to do. Squat down to measure and mark the middle of each bay so we would know where to put the numbers. Stand up, move a few feet, squat, mark. Stand up, move a few feet, squat, mark. Over and over and over and over again. Then we had to Squat, tape down the stencil, stand up, move a few feet. Squat, tape down the stencil, stand up, move a few feet. Over and over and over and over again. Then we had to squat, spray the number, stand up, move a few feet. Squat, spray the number, stand up, move a few feet. Over and over and over and over again. Then we had to squat, remove the stencil, stand up, move a few feet. Squat, remove the stencil, stand up, move a few feet. Over and over and over and over again. I can't remember what the final count was, but in all we painted over 700 letters and numbers in this fashion. So we basically spent day after day after day doing squats. All dang day long. And you know how much weight I lost in this whole process? I didn't lose SQUAT!
I just found this picture at the link I included above of the warehouse now that it is stocked. See all those boxes stacked up. They know where to stack them because of the numbers I painted on those lines. It's OK, they can thank me later. Just like Steve can pay me later....Either way, I won't be holding my breath.
This is what I gained from this experience. A deeper appreciation for my husband and the hard labor he puts in every day for me and for our children. I really had no idea. Now I do. And if you think I loved him before, I love him even more now. I could not do it. So I am thankful he does. Every day. And I also have a deeper appreciation for the ability I have to stay home every day and take care of my children and my home. Because it was hard getting up and going to work and putting in those long hours of squat after squat after squat. And then having to come home exhausted and barely able to move and do all the mom stuff like make dinner, help with homework, give baths, do dishes. I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father and to my Dear Husband for blessing me with the ability to be a stay at home mom. It seems trivial to complain about a sink full of dishes after this experience. I am glad I didn't blog about it before because I am glad to have this reminder today. While I have a sink full of dishes just waiting for me.Here are my hands after our first day of work. This was after scrubbing them raw to get most of the black paint off. April and I acquired some gloves after that first day. But we both still had the nastiest looking hands for weeks. I felt like Charlie on Lost. Every time I looked at my hands I had an overwhelming desire to take a pen and write FATE on my knuckles.
I will say it was interesting being a girl on a construction site. April and I got some interesting looks. And comments. For some reason every single person felt the need to say something to us when they walked past us. every. single. person. Had something they thought was funny or witty to say to us. And this one guy from the fire department who was there to check the emergency equipment stuff was really really super interested in So other than that whole working woman post, I did a pretty good job of staying caught up on posts in September and October. Here are a few pictures I have found that I thought could use a little blogging. For Activity Days in October we decorated cupcakes. Addy was there with us and she decorated this delicious looking cupcake.
Crazy Sock Day at school
Crazy Hair Day at school
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