As a service project, the ward has decided to rehab my friend/VT partner Peggy's house; today was the kickoff.
The menfolk did yard work, cleared brush, trimmed trees and scraped paint off the front porch. Next week, they'll take down the listing brick facade. The women were inside on ladders wetting the ceiling and scraping that popcorn crap off the ceiling. (It was so easy, it got me psyched to scrape the popcorn crap off OUR ceilings!)
After the ceilings were done, I chipped at a corner of paint on the mantel and discovered the top layer peeled off rather easily. I scraped further and found a layer of wood grain contact paper, which also pulled off in sheets. Under that was a coat of mustard yellow paint, and below: the original 1920s hardwood.
At the same time, some other women were scraping the paint off the woodwork and hit hardwood, too. The RS pres & others got all excited and wanted to strip all the wood and leave it exposed. They'll have to scrape whether they paint the wood again or not, so why not rehab the wood to add value?
Restoring the woodwork went beyond the original scope of work the ward planned to pay for. The ceiling scrape revealed more areas that need new drywall, too, and that will cost more. The RS Pres also has designs on redoing the hardwood floors once the walls are done and the carpet's up. Scrape a couple of ceilings and we all turn into Ty Pennington.
The bishop walked into the house and overheard our Woodwork Fever and He. Freaked. Out. Went all Nazi/authoritarian on everyone: This is for The Bishop to decide! (along with Sister Peggy, he allowed). Additional work HAS to be approved by The Bishop!
The bishop actually told Peggy, the RS Pres and a handful of nearby women NOT TO TALK TO EACH OTHER while he dragged the contractor guy into the bedroom to discuss the additional work. When they emerged after sorting it out Man to Man, the bishop dragged the RS Pres off to sit in the cab of his truck for 15 minutes, I supposed to rein her in on the creeping scope of work.
Despite my bitching, there are some good-hearted folks in this ward. At our high point, there were 30 people working on the house and yard. But the sudden transformation of the bishop, from mild mannered to throwing his weight around as reigning ecclesiastical authority was nothing short of WEIRD. In fact, maybe I'll start calling it that: McAllen First Weird.
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6 comments:
This story is so weird I don't even understand it. The BP was cranky that you went beyond popcorn scraping to paint scraping? Did I miss something in those steps?
I'm tempted to rant 'n rave again, but I won't. What was The Final Decision from The Authority Figure?
Ugh.
The Weird will still pay for items in the original scope of work. They'll paint the interior anyway, but not the woodwork.
From what I understand, there are two catches.
Anything extra, like scraping and refinishing the woodwork, will have to be done on someone else's dime (given the number of women willing to pony up time and money, I'm guessing this won't be a problem).
And stripping the paint off the woodwork will have to be done *before* the Weird comes back in two weeks for Service Project, Part Deux.
The RS Pres suggested we cancel presidency meeting this week and go to Peggy's and strip paint instead. I'm game. Wonder if the Education Counselor/Bishop's wife will tell hubby where she's going?
It's a good thing you girls had a strong man there to keep you in line. Otherwise, you might have done something crazy. Serving someone during a service project? What were you thinking???
I still contend you're a better person than I am. I would have taken one look at the guy and said, "You're full of sh*t" and walked off.
Hm. I guess I'm more bitter than I realized...
I know, way to beat the momentum out of the service givers. If some of us wanted to do more and it won't cost the Weird more, what's the problem?
J, I wasn't in the klatch of people the Bp was admonishing not to talk to each other. Mike overheard that and told me.
I did hear the Bp's first protests that he didn't think there was enough manpower to do the woodwork. I was across the room and jokingly hollered, "Yeah, but you've got the womanpower!"
The Bp had his back to me and I guess didn't hear, otherwise I might have gotten one of his special lectures, too. :)
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