Karate Kid paintwork

I have been wielding a paintbrush quite a lot these past two days, and I have thought several times of Ralph Macchio in the original Karate Kid film, where the instructor has him doing lots of jobs around the place, painting the fence and things like that - and then reveals that the work has been strengthening him for the real task of karate.

(image from imdb.com)

Well, I have to say, being outside and being busy has helped me cope with the boredom of the phone job a lot more easily this week.  People are on holiday, and for every person I speak to, about another ten phones go unanswered.  And it is just a tad b-o-r-i-n-g counting rings again and again!

Yesterday I cut the three lawns that I didn't manage on Sunday, and then I painted the end of the verandah which had never been treated with wood stain.  Looks a lot better now!  With the stain left in the pail, I did another section of the chicken shed - that is nearly finished now.

And today, I have done four hours on the phone, and had a new adventure in Painting.  Chalk paint seems to be fashionable, and I was looking through the old posts on Mortgage Free in Three for the chalk paint recipe which Elaine uses at the weekend.  Then a new post popped up as she is redecorating her eldest's room, and using the paint to revamp his furniture.  I needed to do something with two small bedside chests of drawers for the EF girls, to make their room more attractive.  The drawers are probably about 15 years old, still good structurally, but rather orangey pine now!  I decided I had nothing to lose.......

And I have had a lovely afternoon painting them - but more to come on that when I have photos to share of the finished article.  The only thing I will say now is that I didn't use Elaine's recipe for the paint as I had no powdered tile grout mix, so I went on Pinterest and found another one - which may even be a better one [sorry, Elaine!] because Elaine says hers seizes up, but the one I have found has been usable for over six hours today - and I have been well pleased with the result.  All will be revealed later in the week!