Help?

Greg and I are do-it-yourself-ers when it comes to our home remodel. I'll be the first to (quietly and slightly embarrassedly) admit that lately it's been more Greg-does-it-himself and Megan-sits-on-the-couch-and-makes-another-craft. There are times when I am fine with this arrangement and there are times when I feel horribly guilty for not lending a hand when I'm perfectly capable of doing so and my lame excuse for not is that my millionth pair of baby booties needs to be finished.

The thing is, that 99% of the time, Greg likes this arrangement. I mean, so long as I'm not irrationally demanding or bitchy, he really enjoys being the one to enable my daily crafts. He genuinely likes being the sugar daddy in my life that, instead of cash, heaps free time on me. It's adorable and even though I do occasionally feel guilty about it, there are times when it almost feels like I'm doing him a favor to be sitting there hand stitching a Happy Birthday banner while he cooks dinner and does the laundry. It sounds crazy, I know.

Like I've said here, about 4 weeks ago Greg decided that he would finish our bedroom completely by my birthday. I didn't know it at the time, but he included new carpet in that definition of "completely finished". The carpeting will be the first thing we're really contracting out for our home. So far, we've installed all new flooring ourselves (Laminate wood, tiling, etc.). I thought this would be a treat. An expensive treat.... but a treat.

Besides - all our bedroom really needed was some spackling, some sanding, and some paint. When we talked through it the first few times, it genuinely sounded like Greg would be finished with it in a week, max.

Oh, how we delude ourselves.

Despite the greasy carpet sales guy trying to convince us that it would be best to wait till AFTER the carpet was installed to paint everything -- I was not comfortable with that notion. So after we settled on carpeting, we really got down to business with planning our to-do list... or rather, Greg's to do list.

It turned out to be a really long list. Which included re-doing the whole hallway, because we're installing carpet up all of our stairs and in the second floor hall as well as the bedroom.

June 12th was my birthday. We were supposed to drive to Greg's Parent's house and then have a weekend of cherry picking, craft stores, and nephew tickling. Instead, we postponed the trip till June 19th. Greg spent the weekend furiously working. Sunday, Greg's parents surprised us by driving four hours out to Pittsburgh to help out for the day.

Yesterday, Monday, was when my work really started. You see - I don't spackle, sand, cut baseboard, hammer nails, etc. I paint trim. I'm a trim painting master.

Unfortunately this trim job is extensive enough to make me cry with frustration and anxiety. I have to paint the banister from the first floor up to the attic, the baseboard all the way up the same stair case, the baseboard in the 2nd floor hallway, and the baseboard in the bedroom. That all MUST be done by this evening or the paint will still be tacky when they install the carpet on Thursday. The walls and ceiling must also be painted because, while Greg is a great roller painter, everyone knows that rollers drip. I don't want to have to put extra hours into covering all of the new carpet with plastic to prevent paint stains only to inevitably have a paint stain anyway - It would just happen.

The problem is there's no way I can do it. Greg still has to scrape door trim, caulk the edges, and sand around the ceiling fan in our bedroom before he can start painting ceilings, let alone rooms. I'll buckle down even more tonight, but there's no way I even finish with the banister, let alone get to all the ivory baseboard.

We need help.

Last night I asked a friend if she was available, but she wasn't and I'd feel awkward asking again. Greg's going to call a few co-workers who are friends to see if they'd be available - but seriously. How awkward is that?

"Hey.... You're a friend... How would you like to spend your night painting MY house? Eh? Sounds great right? Eh?"

The thing is, several of those friends have helped before... but for me, that makes it even more awkward now.

"Hey... You've already put man hours and sweat into OUR house, but how about you do some more?"

But we will not be able to do it alone.

What do I do?

I'm offering cosmos, wine, and chips and hummus to anyone willing to come to my house tonight and paint trim. I'll tell you you're pretty, and I'll try not to cry on you.