Two weeks from today is Thanksgiving…sigh. We didn’t get nearly as much done this year as I had hoped. We’ve been getting things done, but it seems all our projects have been slow-going, long processes. It’s certainly not like we’ve been ‘playing’ along the way.
I’m hoping we can at least get the kitchen totally finished by Christmas. I have to finish refinishing the stairs — oh boy, more brain cell killing with denatured alcohol fumes. I’d also like to get the downstairs bathroom looking better, but there is no way it will be finished by the holidays. That project too has gone from something relatively simple (paint) to quasi-gut and redo.
Our process seems to follow the same tract:
Me: “When do you think we can start on the (place room name of your choosing here) ?”
Dennis: “Any time you want.” I believe at this point he realizes what’s coming, but he just can’t snatch those word out of the air and take them back.
Me: “All I want to do is paint. We can do the other stuff later.”
Dennis: “Okay.”
Pause
Dennis: “What other stuff are you thinking about doing?” He can’t help asking it. It’s like passing an multi-car accident on the expressway, you know you shouldn’t look, but you just have to.
Karen: “Well, I’d like to rip that 1950’s shower stall out and replace it with a newer one. And the floor needs to be done. And you need to replace the floor boards they cut out to make a laundry chute. And, you know that vessel sink you got at Lowe’s on clearance for $25? That would look nice in there. Of course, since the current sink is wall-hung, you’d have to make a counter…I’m thinking a nice maple one, like you made for the kitchen or maybe teak or some exotic wood. We’ll have to find a faucet we like. Do we need to address the plumbing? I think the toilet is okay for now, but at some point I’d like to replace that. And when we pull out the shower, can we modify the broom closet? It really makes the room seem claustrophobic. We need to put those sconces on either side of the mirror and since you’ll be doing electrical work anyway, can you put an outlet by the mirror?”
It is at this point (or maybe before and I just don’t notice it) that poor Dennis starts downstairs to the basement to find duct tape to wrap around his head (to keep it from exploding) and maybe, to grab a beer.
Me: “But we can just start out by painting…..”, I say to the stairs. This is done not because I am trying to be helpful or to alleviate my guilt at giving him 900 more tasks, but because the sales register that my mind has become has spit out the price tag for the project.
Dennis: “It’d be easier to just do it all at once.”
Me: “You sure?”
Dennis: (apprehensively) “Ah, yeah…”
Me: “Can we have it done by Christmas?”
Poor Dennis….
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