I can't remember what I did Saturday morning, but clearly it wasn't terribly difficult or frustrating. I tend to remember that kind of stuff. I know that we went to visit Dan and see how his basement was coming along. Looks amazing. On the way back down, we stopped to admire the work being done on the cabin next to his. They were painting the windows and eaves. Looked amazing. Inspiring even. Well shoot. Now I feel like I need to paint our windows. Fine. I put on my adorable coveralls which Mike had bought for me. I look incredibly goofy and everyone comments and giggles. They are comfy and protect me from paint. It doesn't matter that I have to roll up the bottoms so I can walk. I'm cute dag nabbit!!!!

Mike did assorted things during the course of the weekend. I wasn't happy he and Dan took the top rails off to dado (did I spell that correctly?) the spot where the LED lights go. Was done before, but Mike wants it to be deeper. Dan is kind (or crazy) enough to do it. I thought it was fine the way it was and now our deck looks all wonky. Okay, wonkier than normal. I know Mike also moved the solar light and took some pictures so we could show the inspectors we had done what they requested. That's all I can recall seeing him do, but he's sneaky about doing little things here and there or maybe I'm just oblivious to my surroundings.

Okay, so with cute outfit applied, I grabbed the paint (which I opened with a neat little paint opening tool that I didn't even know we had but made the job so much easier) and a chip brush (stop cringing - you'd have to see the windows to understand why this would normally be an okay painting tool), a shim to use for a stir stick and some nitrile gloves. I waddled off around the corner and over to my first victim. The side window had not required much sanding since it is mostly protected from the wind and sun. This would be easy and should take me like maybe 15 minutes. Wow, I'm short. I can't reach much of anything. Slop, swipe, repeat. It took all of about 5 seconds for me to realize this was going to be a nightmare. The windows have a billion panes and the edges have been badly coated with paint previously so that nothing is straight. The glazing is coming out in spots and it's not possible to use the chip brush to cut in. I didn't want to tape anything. Sigh. I waddled back to the garage and whined at Mike. He mostly ignored me so I whined in a higher, squeakier, louder voice. He told me he didn't care if I used tape or a better brush. I found a slope-y brush and waddled back. Nope. Still couldn't cut in. It's impossible because nothing is actually straight or flat. Everything is bumpy and crooked. Waddle to get the tape. Waddle back to the window. Taping doesn't work well because NOTHING IS STRAIGHT!!!!!! Whatever. It's better than it was.

Waddle to get the ladder. Waddle back with it. Dan was observing my less than stellar paint performance and quickly set up the metal climbing contraption for me. There was no flat spot to use it in the fully open position, so he leaned it against the wall. I climbed up and wiggled a little. Seemed okay. Paint, paint, paint, lean a little more than I probably should have...oh squiggly piglets! That was terrifying!!!!!! I didn't fall and the ladder was probably 100% sturdy, but it wobbled and I screeched. Adrenaline made it impossible to paint for several minutes.

I eventually finished that section (conned Mike into helping with the super high part when he came over to inspect). Well, that's not entirely true. There are some pane dividers I didn't paint, but the glaze had disappeared from those and I didn't think painting the bare metal was a good idea. I know Mike bought glaze, but I'm not volunteering to use it and so far he isn't offering. Had a discussion with another cabin woman about glaze. Maybe someone reading this knows. Does the glaze come in a caulking gun type of container or can you only buy it in the little can thing?

I moved around to the hot and sunny side of the cabin and mashed paint around for awhile before it was getting late and I had to get things ready for dinner. I was back out there Sunday morning with my cute fluffy outfit and my paint brush. I essentially did the "easy" parts and taped up a ton of the harder parts. I still have at least 3 tons to go. It looks great if you are half blind and standing across the street with the sun glaring in your eyes. It looks passable if you are across the street with no other issues. Looks terrible if you are up close inspecting. I'm going to have to try using razorblades to see if I can get off some of that old paint. Maybe it would make it easier to attach the tape. I don't know. It went from a fun idea of a project to a tedious and frustrating chore. I will have three more window sections after this and none of those have even been sanded yet. I just know as soon as this project is done and I sit to relax, it'll be time to replace the aluminum windows and I'll have to do a bunch more painting. Once that's finally complete, I'll have to start over with touch up paint because the yearly inspection peeps will be grumpy and demand it. Jerks. Wow, I didn't really mean to be all angry-like.