And Then I Stepped in Gum . . .

I've Always Said White Was Boring . . .

Long story ahead. Get through it, and you'll get the punchline/blog entry title.

So. We're finishing our basement. Well, not so much we, as there are a few contractors involved and lots of money changing hands. But we're cheap, and we've been brainwashed by TLC into believing that we should be able to do it ourselves, so we're doing as much as we think we can safely handle. So the contractor's done the framing, the electricity, the plumbing, the Sheetrock, and the taping and spackling -- we're doing the painting, the ceiling, and maybe some of the flooring. A huge chunk, I'm sure you'll agree. When it's done, we'll have added about 1100 square feet to our house, in the form of a playroom, an office, a guest bedroom, a workshop, and a 3/4 bathroom.

And when I say we're doing the painting, I actually mean I'm doing the painting, as painting is one thing that Dave absolutely despises. I guilt him into taping and dropclothing and cleaning out paintbrushes occasionally, but it's part of our implicit marriage contract that if there's any painting to be done, I get to step up and do it. And it's a lot of painting. The fun kind -- no trim to paint around or flooring to watch out for -- but a lot nonetheless. I've more or less been immersed in it in my free time (and work time) for the last week, and I expect it to continue this week as well.

Yesterday I got to start with colors, after the boring priming and painting the closets and playroom white. The guest room is kind of a tannish taupe, and while I'm not sure I totally love it yet, I think it will work once it's all decorated. The office -- my home office -- is going to be purple. Now, before you think, "Eww, purple? Really?" -- as I know you're doing right now -- let me tell you that it's a lovely, deep, eggplant-y purple, and it looks amazing with gray carpet and white trim. I know, because that's how my office was in Alabama, and I really miss it. So I can't wait until the office is tricked out to my specifications, with -- most important of all -- a DOOR, purple walls, and my own choice of decorations.

The next section of the background of this story is that since painting is boring, repetitive, mind-numbing work, and I don't have anyone to talk to because Dave is watching the kids while I paint, I've been listening to my iPod nano and really enjoying it. My favorites at the moment are the podcast of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me; the Veronica Mars soundtrack; and the audio version of Son of a Witch, by Gregory Maguire (sequel to Wicked). Although I'm not usually an aurally oriented person, I'm enjoying the audiobook, and have gotten through 11 out of 12 CDs -- I'm not sure I would ever have read that far. Anyway, it's been entertaining.

Also, as anyone in my family, especially Ian, will tell you, I'm a notoriously messy painter. My Trading Spaces paint shirt (bought for inspiration) is almost more paint than fabric, and I usually spend up to 20 minutes after each paint session scrubbing paint from my hands, arms, legs, and feet (I paint barefoot). Heck, I don't mind too much -- when I'm painting with white paint, I just focus on all the money I save on French manicures, what with all the paint under my fingernails. So I've been getting a little paint on the nano, but not too much, and it mostly comes right off.

All of which brings us to tonight's events. There I was, painting my lovely purple office with paint that is turning out to be exactly the right color. I'm on the next-to-last CD of Son of a Witch and reaching the climactic moments. It's late -- about 11:30 -- and I'm about 4/5 of the way done with the room's first coat. I lean down to dip my paint pad in my paint tray . . . and my nano slips out of my pocket and submerges itself in a sea of purple.

Of course, I panic, yelling for Dave and running with the paint-logged nano up to the kitchen, dripping dark purple paint on the beige carpet as I go. I commenced washing the headphones; Dave got to work on de-painting the nano itself. The good news is that, while slightly purple-tinged (and ironically, I'd been thinking that it would be fun to paint the thing purple anyway), the nano was still working when we shut it down. The bad news is that not a small amount of paint got into the USB cable port. We're following the time-honored solution to wet electronics of letting it dry and waiting it out, and I'll be sleeping with my fingers crossed tonight. After all, how will I get through all the second coats waiting for me down in the basement without my trusty little white friend? I'm just kicking myself over and over again for dropping it in the first place. Only I could submerge a $200 piece of electronic equipment in purple paint.

posted by Jennifer Morgan, at 11:52 PM