I got the hole patched (my stubbornness will be the death of me)

I got the hole patched. It’s funny how some things manage to come all the way around to bite you in the butt years later. If I had known when I was running the vent pipe in the tiny attic above this stairwell that my one little slip up (literally my butt) falling through the ceiling here would be such a horrible hole to fix so many years later… Would I have been a bit more careful to keep my butt on the rafters? Yes. Yes I would have. In my defense though I could barely SEE the rafters through the decades old blown-in insulation, dirt and squirrel poop that I was working in…

I never realized why I procrastinated for so long on this job until now… In fact, when I called in my nephew to help me get the sheetrock up I was in pretty high spirits of getting this whipped out in just a couple weeks.

I was really wrong.

IT TURNS OUT I IRRATIONALLY HATE LADDERS.

I have no problem with heights – put me on a roof and I’ll put down steel or shingles all day without an issue.

Looking back I realize now that getting up on the roof has always been a little shaky for me but its not like it takes that LONG to climb up on a roof, ya know?

Haven’t I done hours upon hours of work from the top of a ladder on this house and in my life? You know it! But that was on a sturdy FLAT surface where I could get down and move two inches any time I ever felt unsure.

I’ve never had a bad experience on ladders besides the usual life-flashes-before-your-eyes-whole-body-seizure we all experience when it twitches unprovoked beneath you.

NONE OF THAT MATTERED HERE.

I can’t remember ever having to give myself a pep talk (SO MANY TIMES) just to get something like this done.

But was I going to ask for help or admit this to Lodi or anyone? Of course not! Miss ol’ DIYer herself over here can’t get a little hole in the ceiling patched because its at the top of a ladder?!

WHAT?! AS IF!

So many times I just stood in this stairwell, arms crossed, staring at it and hating it and, also, wondering how in the heck such a little job could defy me.

I was so close to just taking down the ladder and building a major platform to stand on but every time I went to do that it just seemed so silly!

It was just one little hole! I’ve patched ACRES of sheetrock in my life!

I can tape and mud in my sleep!

So, I’m giving myself a whole blog post just to show you guys the before and after of said patched hole because I decided that I deserve it.

I don’t think the hole above (and the walls on either side which were no big deal) took me more than three hours…

It took me four months to get three hours of work done. I’m laughing hysterically and crying at the same time, this is just so ridiculous I can’t even believe it. Of all the crazy crap I’ve done working on this house (some very dangerous things actually) this was my Achilles heel?

REALLY?

Ok, I’m going to defend myself a little as I don’t think this would have been a fun job for anyone with my particular height and arm reach. (And its not like this had to get done ASAP… its been a decade.)

Because I’m short I had to stand on the last step of of the ladder. I couldn’t make the ladder any taller so that meant the far side was almost vertical making it feel like it was absolutely going to tip forward at any given second.

And it absolutely would have as I ran several tests before going way overkill in screwing that ladder down to the steps – IT WOULD NEVER GO ANYWHERE UNTIL I SAID SO.

But even if it had tipped, where was I going to go?

Literally nowhere.

The ladder would have simply tipped forward the less than two feet of distance to land on the back of the stairwell giving me (no doubt) a complete mental break and yet not hurting me in any way.

(Of course this knowledge did nothing for me.)

Unfortunately, because of the very vertical other side of the ladder, I also couldn’t straddle the top and just put one foot on either side (I tried… oh Lord I tried) so it was just me up there… hanging out… balanced entirely on my lower shins…

And patching a hole in sheetrock means I had my hands full which means I had no hand to even put on the wall beside me. Just me. At the top of the ladder. Nothing to hang on to. Reaching and straining with everything I have, on my tiptoes, to patch a silly little hole above me.

*head hits desk*

I’M TOO OLD FOR THIS CRAP!

After the first (and worst) coat I looked into ceiling tiles to cover it all (or something.) But I still would have been at the top of the ladder then just trying to nail (or stick) something to the ceiling which actually might have been even worse lol.

And I’m stubborn.

I just could not let this beat me. After everything I’ve done in this house it was just too irrational and stupid.

I only gave it two coats so it is FAR from perfect but I got the hole patched.

I’m about done with the rest of the patches and mudding too so its just paint and trim (which I’m confident won’t be near so horrible) and then I can take that damned ladder down FOREVER.

(For anyone giving me the side eye: YOU’RE RIGHT If I’d just built a platform to stand on this would have been done months ago… but I sure showed that ladder whose boss… NO, I really didn’t lol My stubbornness will someday be the death of me.)