When Push Comes To Shove

Four years ago, I purchased this wallpaper. I saw that it was pretty and the display was inspiring. I picked up all the tools that a wallpapering job needed. I brought all the stuff home, lugged it upstairs and then looked at it. I read the instructions. I rubbed the flat walls (I had asked the guys to leave without texturing). I read the instructions again and then decided I am not ready to attempt this. I told myself that the walls needed much more prepping.

On Friday Doug picked up door trim. I asked him where he was going to put up door trim. He said, "At the top of the stairs, I going to finish around the doors." I immediately thought of my wallpaper job. I knew that Doug would be putting up the trim SOON. Unlike me, when he decides to do a job - he does it, pronto!

When I got home I went up into the "Chickadee Room" (an attic room way up at the peak of the house) and sat on the stairs and looked at the wallpaper once again. I read the instructions and looked at the walls. For a fleeting lazy second I wondered what the walls would look like painted.

Okay! I am going to do this.

I've never wallpapered and I've never watched it being done. I have a big bucket of wallpaper paste and tried the first strip of paper that way. The paper is prepasted, but the bucket instructions says this paste should be used with prepasted paper to insure a good stick. So, I did it. Not only did it add a lot of time to preparing the paper, it was messy.

The prepasted papers instructions says, roll your cut strip and slip it into water for 30 seconds. I thought, that sounds way easier! I did that. Dipped into water and then stuck it up on the wall.

Two strips up, one pasted and one just dipped in water for thirty seconds. A friend of mine told me that when she wallpapered she got up in the morning and the paper had unstuck and was hanging down. I decided I am going to watch this. I will make sure it's gonna stick up there. I woke up the next day and it was still up. Smile.

Today, the Trim Man brought his tools into my garage (put my car out into the FREEZING driveway!) and I knew I needed to get this wallpaper job done if I didn't want the added trouble of trim in the way. I went upstairs and began to work.

I worked all day. I am sore! My back - aching. But - I love the walls. My daughter Marie called. I told her I was papering and that I was so tired. "Stop now Mom, and do more tomorrow, you might hurt your back."

I think that maybe wallpapering should be a job for two. It is hard to match the design and mark where the wallpaper needs to be cut at the same time! I am not tall enough to reach the ceiling even while standing on my step-stool without fully stretching and getting up on my tippy toes. When I am in that position then my legs start shaking too.

Anyway, I need to do some prep work on one of the walls but I am almost done with getting papered around all the doorways and Doug can finish his work.

While I spent the day with Millie on Thursday I read some more on the "Signature of God." I found this information to be so incredible. First of all I cannot even fathom the billions and trillions of miles that make up our Galaxy, and then to read that "the known universe contains more than fifty billion galaxies" makes me giggle in awe of our Creator! The author suggested this exercise to get an idea of the vastness of our universe.

Take a sheet of paper, draw one small circle at the top of the page to represent the Sun, draw another much smaller circle nine inches below, that is Earth... now to see just how far away our closest star Alpha Centauri is to Earth - draw another circle ---over forty five miles away! I can understand those terms and this all fills me with awe of my Creator.

Light travels at 187,000 miles every SECOND or six trillion miles every year. A flicker of light from our closest star will take four years to reach Earth. That flicker of light has to cross twenty four trillion miles of empty space! I can't even imagine that number, or even assign the right zeros to a zillion number!

Have an wonderful day viewing our incredible universe - created by my INCREDIBLE God!

"By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth...For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast" Psalm 33: 6, 9.