Finally - A Job Taker - The MOAT Blog by Kay Wyma

My job postings have been available for months. Today… I finally had a taker! TTO, in need of some green stash to pay for his monthly iPhone fees came looking for an odd job or two. (Oh happy day. XBox has been put back in the box unless friends are over and playing in person … we thought this would be a good compromise :)

I pointed to the chairs on our front porch in great need of some rejuvenating spa time. The tired old regulars who greet our guests and often provide a nice respite and spot for some good neighborly conversation have seen better days.

In need of a serious facelift!

Visitors that took a seat had to do some major brushing to get the paint flakes off their pants.
After we dropped the girls at their super snazzy Typing Camp (hey… trying to keep it happy since their at the end of week 2 and its taking on more mind numbing characteristics than we expected), we dropped into to one of our favorite stores. Lowe’s. (No slight to our Home Depot friends that we equally love.)

It’s so hard to leave Lowe’s with only the items for which we came. I saw all kinds of things I “needed”: a huge plastic tub for all our balls, some shelving to organize our garage, a few terrific magazines/books on how to fix and decorate things… Good thing the kids were with me. I could have browsed for hours.

I noticed as we walked into the store, their white rockers were on sale for $83. It warmed my heart to know that we would have the same look in only a few short hours for a much better deal.

The paint guy fixed us up with a sanding sponge, a quart of white semi-gloss paint, brushes and a super cheap plastic drop cloth. TTO scanned our items through the self-check out lane, then we were off.

Transformation in progress.

Plus teamwork.
I helped out at the beginning, showing them how to sand the chairs, clean the dust/remnants, and paint without drips. The project started out with lots of whining at each other, “You’re doing it wrong”, “Hey that was my spot.”,”Quit dripping.” I excused myself. Our niece then braved the pair by joining them to sand. She only lasted about five minutes. Compelled by their disagreeable attitude toward each other, I sighed and entered the danger zone again to give the pair a little life lecture on working together without complaining or grumbling … or maybe an “only say things that build each other up” one.

I was stopped in my tracks.
“Mom … We’ve stopped griping at each other.” Sister Save-A-Lot informed me.
“Yeah, we’re done.” TTO added.
I stayed for a few minutes to make sure, then nonchalantly “left” my phone on the nearby ledge. Agent 99 here was secretly recording the paint session. (Yes. I’m a little embarrassed to admit it … but, I went there.) I wanted them to hear first hand what they sound like. It didn’t matter. They really were working together at this point. Griping over, the chairs emerged victorious.

So beautiful and inviting.
Not only did they earn some cash. They worked through sibling issues, started and completed a task and productively used their lazy afternoon. To top it all off, they get to see the fruit of their labor every day as they bound from the car to our front door.

If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and sit a spell. Come and enjoy a cup of coffee (a super yummy Keurig cup of coffee) and we can have a nice chat … maybe even solve a few of this world’s problems … definitely rock an afternoon away and rise from our chair with no white paint flakes stuck to our bums.

Thanks for walking the road with me.
-Kay

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