Hard at work...

This is me, hard at work! 

Myrtle decided to finally paint the back stairwell and the hallway upstairs. Oh, my, if I had a quarter for each time she deliberated about stripping off the wallpaper first, I would be able to purchase all the bacon I could ever desire! [I wouldn't desire it so much if Myrtle would not be so selfish about sharing hers.] Over and over and over again, I heard the argument about the "horrid" seams on the walls and the possible "disaster" of pulling down the ceiling once she started. Something about the mess of old lathe and plaster. Finally, she decided to just paint. As she put it: to finish the blasted job I started over a year ago. 

You see, the hallway and back stairwell now match the foyer, main stairwell, and parlor. All of the walls that needed to be painted are painted. And the white walls that did not necessarily need to be painted but were driving my puppy momma slightly crazy now sport some color. 

This is me when my puppy momma started improving her walls, just after I came to live with her. Such a tiny little fellow, eh? Adorable, though, right? Back then, Myrtle's painting was so stressful for me. I could barely stand to be away from her and the ladder was so scary and I didn't understand what she was doing. Now that Myrtle has painted the basement living space, the basement bath area, the laundry area, the living room, the parlor, the master bath (including the antique tub), and all the places I mentioned above, I know full well what painting entails: Myrtle starts making a mess; hours later, Myrtle cleans up her mess. All the while she works, Myrtle doesn't want my help. 

This is the finished project (at least the hallway...the stairwell is kind of boring). I take full credit for it. Yep...you read that right: full. You see, painting is much, much, much harder for Myrtle now than it was when she started over a year ago. It causes her a lot of pain (which is why I think the walls were perfect the way they were before she started). Pain from her arthritis and pain from the now constant tendinitis in her elbows because of the muscle weakness in her forearms. So, I keep her company, the whole time. As you can see from the photo array above, I have learned to keep out of her way (I ended up with absolutely no Mellow Ivory in my curls--a first for me). And I am so darned adorable when I sleep that I kept distracting her from the pain as I shifted positions, looking even more adorable in the new one than I did in the one previous. So adorable, in fact, I bet you are having trouble reading this because your eyes are drawn back to the top and all my snoozing glory. 

That's the kind of fellow I am. I sacrifice willingly for my puppy momma. Instead of spending the ten hours it took for her to do the painting job comfortably in the GREEN chair, I spent all that time napping on the cold, hard, unforgiving floor. I did so, because even though I think Myrtle was slightly crazy for making herself hurt just for the sake of colored walls, I love her. I love my puppy momma. And she needed my help. 

This is my life with Myrtle. Amos Adams signing off!