.jpg)
Hmmm….do I follow directions?
I follow recipes closely until I am comfortable with adding something here or there.
But directions?
No.
And I don’t know why.
Maybe I think I’m smart enough to do anything without help? If that’s the reason, then I’m really stupid. I know some things, but I don’t know everything.
Maybe it’s because I spend my life in a hurry, rushing from this to that back to this then over to there and don’t want to stop to take the time. If that’s the reason, then it’s stupid because I’m sure it takes longer going into something without a plan.
Maybe it’s because I have this overwhelming desire to be Wonder Woman, capable of doing it all?
Maybe it's the rebel in me? I’m not doing it the way you say! I'm a grown woman. I can make my own decisions.
Whatever the reason, my life would be much easier if I would simply follow directions.
Case in point: earlier this summer, there was a leak in a pipe in my bathroom. A 2’x2’ section of the tub's tile surround had to be removed for the repair. While it was out, I could see a huge gap where the outside wall meets the porch. HUGE! Like a small dog could crawl through. Okay, maybe not a dog, but certainly other creatures, the kind of which I do not speak with my feet on the floor.
I decided to make the repairs myself over Labor Day weekend. Being stubborn as I am, I didn’t research the best way to do this. The solution seemed simple enough: fill in the spaces. I didn’t even bother with YouTube, second only to Google with the answers to everything. Instead, I turned to my friend Amazon and ordered steel wool (to put in the cracks) and “Loctite Tite Foam Big Gaps White Insulating Foam Sealant”, which promised to expand to fill, seal, and insulate effectively around gaps and cracks up to 3 inches in size. It also had strong adhesion to most building materials like wood.
Expand and adhere, just what I needed.
The steel wool came with a pair of plastic gloves, but being the know-it-all-can-do-everything Wonder Woman I am, I tossed them aside. Mistake. Big mistake.
Once I’d filled in all the cracks and crevices, I reached for the insulating foam. That stuff will get away from you if you’re not careful.
I wasn’t.
It did.
When they said expands to fill, they weren’t joking! A very little bit went a very long way, even to places not meant to be insulated.
And strong adhesion? It stuck to more than wood! I had it on my hands, in my hair, and it wasn’t coming out! I used everything I could find, even paint thinner, to get it off my hands and even then it took scraping my hands until they were raw before it was all gone. I thought I had it all out of my hair until I went to the hairdresser a week later and she asked if I had been painting!
The good news is that everything is sealed tightly.
The bad news is that it appears snow is drifting against the side of the house.
Next step is to either try to scrape it away or decorate early for Christmas. I’ve yet to decide the better option. I'm leaning towards the holly-jolly.
Moral of the story? I'm giving up my stubborn ways, at least when it comes to directions. No need to be a rebel without a clue.
