Eco Dreck

I am forcing myself to visit patients who speak Spanish only, and slowly by slowly, I am becoming more fluent. Reading El Tecolote helps. Each story is in both languages. Usually I can understand reasonably well what has been written in Spanish, but if I had to convey the same thing from scratch verbally, I would not be able to. I have started reading the Spanish aloud, being sure of what it means, and then looking away from the paper while I repeat a sentence or a half-sentence aloud. I think that is really helping. Now I can say, “¡No me digas!” (“Don’t say that!”)

I was able to speak fairly easily with the painters this morning. One of them later complimented my Spanish and asked if I’d studied it in school. (Yes, for years and years.) When the time came, I was able to say, “¡Emergencia de baño!” They thought that was funny. As the hours went on, they chatted more and more freely between themselves; I hope they felt relaxed and welcome in my place.

I was pleased to note that, when they had finished painting the hallway, I smelled nothing. Later I observed that they had not patched pinholes in the hallway, where snapshots had formerly been affixed. Some had disappeared, some were quite obscured, and some were still black little holes in the wall. Probably the only person who will notice this is me, and now I can be sure such holes get patched when they do the kitchen and living room. The eggshell paint in the bathroom has a bit more of a kick than the flat paint used in the hallway, but it’s not terrible.
 
What was slightly terrible was discovering that they did not use the paint I requested! I requested ECOS paint and ECOS Air Purifying Primer. They used Benjamin Moore Eco Spec paint and primer. Or at least, Eco Spec paint. I don’t see the primer can. The blog I’ve been consulting gives another Benjamin Moore paint, Natura, high marks, but observes that it does contain mildewcide, which is not ideal. I called Benjamin Moore to see if the Eco Spec contains mildewcide and learned that the primer does not, which is good, though I’m not even sure if that’s the primer that was used here today. The guy said the paint probably didn’t, either, because usually interior paint doesn’t, but it turned out that it does. The most commonly used mildewcide is not good for living bodies.

The living room was sealed off from the work area with plastic, but every last thing in the kitchen got coated with a very fine dust. Good thing I had thought to put plastic over the Squeezebox Boom and my other boombox. Everything else could be dusted, vacuumed, wiped or mopped off, which took an hour or so.

I found a review online where someone said the Benjamin Moore Eco Spec eggshell paint gave off horrible fumes that were still plaguing him three months later, so now of course my head is aching and I feel dizzy, but I’m reminding myself that there may be millions of other people who love this paint. Even my blogger recommends it, if you don’t mind mildewcide.
 
This was a good phase one. I am going to ask the owner of the painting company to get the exact stuff I want for the rest of the apartment, and on painting day, I will examine the cans to make sure it’s the right stuff.