Day two of painting ended up ending slightly prematurely on account of bloodshed…
February 15, 2004, 12:40 AM
Don’t worry… it wasn’t a lot of blood. But Mom’s stepladder finally gave up and I fell. I did land on my feet. However, I do have some cuts on my feet now, and I skinned my knee pretty well. The cuts on my feet were caused from where the metal stepladder broke apart, and my feet hit the recently-broken metal. The skined knee came from the fall, where my right knee scraped past the undamaged top step a little too closely, and skinned my knee. No blood there.
In all honesty, the stepladder should have been retired a long time ago, since the first step was starting to get a little questionable. But unfortunately, my parents, who have seen the stepladder, never replaced it when it started becoming questionable as far as safety goes. My parents generally use everything until it breaks, which in this case, caused an accident.
This is why they say that the home is the about the most dangerous place you frequent. Since there are no laws governing what people do as far as safety at home. In the workplace, safety is important. There are laws about job safety. At home, it’s our responsibility to stay safe, and we often fail.
So anyway, I will recover and be just fine.
As far as the paint job goes, I actually was only about four feet away from my intended stopping point for tonight. I did all the edging around the floor in the first section that I’m painting, I completed the one corner, and I did all but four feet of the edging around the ceiling (I would have completed the edging in the affected area had the ladder not broken). I’ll do the areas I missed tomorrow night. Plus tomorrow night I break out the roller and officially really start spreading some paint around.
Meanwhile, tomorrow I’m getting out the big ladder, which is sturdier, and pricing stepladders after work.
Speaking of work, amusing story. At our Wal-Mart, the in-store McDonald’s runs “canned” announcements on the PA system advertising their products. I don’t know a soul that actually likes those advertisements, since they tie up the PA system. Often, one will go off and we’ll make some smart-ass comment about it. This comment of mine really brought down the house:
Canned announcement: Calling all Wal-Mart shoppers! It’s hot outside… (it continues)
Me: (deadpan) No it’s not.
Believe it or not, a lot of people really cracked up about that one. Since it’s amusing that they’re playing that one right now, since it is so obviously NOT hot outside, based on the dress of the customers and the associates. And if that doesn’t give away that it’s winter and cold, just step outside and look at your breath.
Anyway, though, I’m done painting for tonight. That accident was enough to end it for this evening, trust me.
Oh, and happy Singles Awareness Day, everyone.
Web site: A government Web page about ladder safety
Song: One of those Nick at Nite jingles
Quote: "Calling all Wal-Mart shoppers! It's hot outside, and so come on down to your McDonald's in Wal-Mart for... (whatever)"
Categories: Bedroom remodel