New House DAY 15

I finished the big yellow wall and also took the yellow around the corner and up the stairs. The tricky part is getting the very top of the wall, above the lowest stairs. You can't reach up very high from those low stairs.



I reached part of the wall by leaning around the corner from the big yellow wall. I could reach some of it by using the ladder safely on the stairs. But there was a triangle of white that was left, that I couldn't quite reach. I became very stubborn and determined to finish that whole wall!

Dad, don't read this: I found a painting tool with a handle on it so I could stretch farther, took some long, slow breaths, and stood completely on top of that ladder, on the stairs, balancing carefully. I s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d out my left arm with that corner-painting tool and ever-so-carefully covered the last white spot! I said aloud, "I'm doing it!"

And I only got a tiny bit on the ceiling, but I still had to climb back up to the top of that ladder with my ceiling paint to touch up the ceiling.

It was all worth it: the heart palpitations, the terror of some lawn-maintenance company ringing the doorbell and startling me off the ladder, the unnatural contortions to reach farther than a body is made to reach. It looks pretty good, and I didn't even come close to falling off or tipping over.

Man, my leg muscles were sore that night from tensing so much to keep my balance!

Isn't that ladder cool? It straightens out to be 16 ft tall (in that form it can only lean against a wall), or it can be 8 ft tall and stand alone, or it can be like 5 feet tall for easier storage, or it can be staggered to use on stairs. I couldn't have done it without that ladder.