Lost My Painting Arm

Last night I was having a hard time falling asleep. Nothing new about that, but the reason was new, my arm hurt. It was my right arm and I did not think it was a heart attack warning since everything else about me felt fine. Why in the world? I wondered as I tried to find a comfortable position. Then it dawned on me…my painting arm was out of shape.

After my summer of painting all my kitchen cabinets I thought that I had an invincible painting arm. Now I was feeling my frailties. I think that trying to paint the inside of the lectern shelves, with the weird angle I had to hold myself at caused me strain on my painting arm. I was definitely in the minor leagues of painters since I had only primed the lectern.

This morning I got up, arm healed and ready to go, and went back to the garage to knock out the top coats. I took a preemptive aleve and got to painting. I put the first coat on. Looked good, but definitely called for a second. I let that one dry throughly and went back for the second a few hours later. It was looking good, but I needed it to dry to judge if it was done. I came out and looked at the lectern in the afternoon sun that was streaming in the garage.

Looked like I needed one more coat on the big flat surfaces. Of course no one is ever going to look at this thing in direct sunlight, but I had the paint and my arm was holding on. One last coat on the outside. I did not see the point to add a third coat to the inside, which really very few will see.

And now it is done. I am letting it harden for the next five days before Russ and I attempt to bring this over to church. Cabinet paint really hardens up over weeks, but I think it will be good enough to move next weekend. Tonight I am taking some painkiller before I try and go to sleep. I don’t need two nights of sore-arm-no-sleep.