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The Ugliest Wallpaper in the world is gone
and a 14 year promise is fulfilled!
We had worked hard to complete the work on
that first house we had bought. It was
1995. We had never done any work on
something that we could call our own. Up
to that time we were always working on someone else’s place… the Church
Manse/Parsonage.
The Church Manse was always a mess after the
last fellow left it. It seems that the men that had served in the church prior
to our coming were not very good with a hammer or screw driver – or any tool for
that matter.
The other problem which was more likely the
truth – they were all too busy with the work they were called to do at the
church.
There was always a promise that someday we
can make the changes here or there in the old houses. But it never happened.
That someday only came when we moved in to
the old houses and started making them livable.
In one previous house the pastor and his
family loved curry… and the place reeked of the smell that is attached to this
favorite dish. That particular pastor also never cleaned up the messes the kids
tended to make around their dining room table. The carpeted floor was literally
caked with old dry foods from ages past. It makes me shudder to think of how
ugly and dirty it was in that house.
The church was small and he should have had
time – but he did nothing – or at least it seemed that way.
In that particular house the oven door would
no longer stay closed – so a chair had to be propped up against it. Think of
cooking on the stove top and leaning forward with one knee on the chair’s
sitting part! The refrigerator’s door
was held together with black electrical tape.
The place was an ugly mess! But when we moved in the wonderful
congregation had all the work done before we arrived.
That had been our pattern to doing things for
many years. We were asked to come to a church and then either had the church
house cleaned up and made ready for us to move in – or in some cases it needed to
be completely renovated as was the case in the “curry house”.
Now having that pattern established in your
mind made it hard to shift gears when you finally bought your own home.
As I mentioned in the first paragraph – that first
home that we owned(with the Bank) was completed before we moved in. We lived in a “friends” house until I was able
to complete most of the work.
That church was very gracious and also not
that large – so free time was more possible.
Our second home… 925 Western Ave., Peterborough, Ontario…
In the month of June, 14 years ago right now,
a call came to me while I was in northern Canada fishing. My wife was relaying it from a Minister in
Peterborough, Ontario. They were asking me to call back and to possibly
consider letting my name stand as a candidate for the position of Pastor at
Northview Church.
(I loved that part – they – the congregation
came looking for me! I never went after
them… ahem. Sorry that is another story!)
14 years ago this next month we were voted in
as the Pastor of the Northview Church.
Whoa! What a rush – a 98.5% vote in favour to come to the church, moving
from western Canada to southern Ontario!!!
That meant selling the house that we had
renovated and finding another place in Peterborough.
On September 9, 1998 we moved in to our new
place… without any renovations done and with super ugly everything!
Unlike the church houses of past we had no
one to do the work ahead of time. There was no budget to get it cleaned up and
renovated. That money would come in time after we moved in.
September 9th, 1998 – our 31st Anniversary day…
We got the key the keys the day before and
opened doors to the “stink” of the shut up house. The moving truck was coming
on the 9th. People in the church were coming to help unload their
new minister’s stuff (and look it over carefully to see what kind of people
they were:-)
One the 8th at night we slept on
the floor of the master bedroom.
Alida looked up and said flatly, “This is the
ugliest wallpaper I have ever seen! It
has to go!”
I looked at her and laughed, “We will get
that done very soon for you! I promise!!!”
The front room floor was covered with a very
ugly brown shag carpet that was so dirty that it was stuck down to the underlay
and the plywood below. The sticking down was because the previous owner’s Boxer
Dogs (2) had peed on the carpet a number of times – then the subsequent carpet
cleaning had made it even worse! Gag me!
The carpet had to go!
Room after room we worked on the house until
it was livable! It took 14 years to do that.
But one part had not changed in 14 years… the
ugliest wallpaper in the world was still on the Master Bedroom walls!!!
Last week the wallpaper was stripped and the
new coat of undercoat paint was applied. This past few days the first coat of
the new paint and paintable wallpaper(one wall) was applied. In the next few
days the last coat of paint will go on! Whew.
Yesterday when Alida woke up she stated, “That
was the best sleep I have ever had… under my new room’s decorations!”
Why tell this story today?
In this Blog I try to celebrate Big and
Little things for my readers.
Paint and Wallpaper – a celebration?
You better believe it!
A few days ago I married a young couple that made
some huge promises to each other at that special place in time.
45 years ago I did the same for and to my
young wife. I promised that “I would take care of it.” – whatever “it” was!
Now the Ugliest Wallpaper in the world is
gone and a 14 year promise is fulfilled!
Yippee! Double Wahoo! It is done! Does that ever feel good!!!!
~ Murray Lincoln ~
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