I got on the roof last week in a never ending attempt to fix two leaks that have been present since we added a master bedroom suite to our house many years ago. We’ve had professionals work on it eight different times with no success. With strategically placed buckets sitting throughout my laundry room, I feel like I live in a cartoon. A very unfunny cartoon! Perhaps this is why we have Maeve the Motorhome in our family. With her leaky roof, I feel right at home, even when I’m traveling.

The last time I worked on our roof, we made it a year with no dripping. This time, I put down a sticky tar based tape and then sprayed it all good with a rubberized spray. I had burns on my rear end because my old knees could only squat for so long before they screamed at me. Roof shingles are extremely warm and when said butt came into prolonged contact with them, the butt screamed at me, too. There was a real anti-abuse protest going on up there!

Anyhow, I have found that baby oil is very effective at removing super glue and roof tar from my hands. It may be that I scrubbed long enough to remove a layer of skin, but the end result was that I had smooth, silky hands and only three broken fingernails. Despite the spa like clean up experience, which is a few steps beyond normal, I am grateful I am not a roofer.