are you kidding me?

While I have no intentions of this becoming Dawn's Home Improvement Blog, I certainly feel like that is the focus of our life right now, as this gazillionth project barrels on. My incredible husband is one helluva handy man, and he's been working so freaking hard on this never-ending list. I rewrote the master list yesterday, making entries room by room, in what I could see as the most sensible chronological order. Our evenings this week have been occupied by other things-- actually paying attention to our children, some general clean-up and school work (in addition to work-work and home-project-work, lovely hubby is also pursuing a second graduate degree in all his spare time!), so our penchant for sanding and painting into the wee hours has not been fulfilled for several days. I imagined that we could get back on track tonight by crossing off at least a few little steps, but my hopes were severely dashed when I noticed something this afternoon.

Oh yes, there is a curse upon this house. In the last few hours, I believe that hubby and I have called this dwelling every foul name in the book. Remember how I said that we were touching up the kitchen a bit as part of this latest project? Yeah, new paint on the walls, a freshly painted ceiling and baseboards-- those parts were finished, and I actually have been enjoying sitting in my calm little kitchen. Until... hmmm...

What's that little puddle on the counter? Oh, I must have forgotten to wipe the counter after doing the breakfast dishes...

Fast forward a few hours.

Another puddle? I didn't use the sink, oh crap! (That, my friends, is the PG rated dub-over.)

As I look up, I can clearly see four thin lines of water dripping out from under the crown molding. Seriously. I wipe them away and feel that the drywall there is damp and just a bit squishy along the line of the molding. C'mon!!!

I actually held the telephone in my hand for a full minute, pondering what to say to hubby as I knew that I was going to simply crush his day with this news. Short story: he came home early, cut a hole in the drywall, discovered that he can't access the pipes through that hole because of a vent-thingy, cut a second hole in the ceiling and found that the entire length of crap-copper piping had green leaky spots, thus needing to be replaced.

So, guess what? Looks like I'll be living with some more ceiling holes for a while, because apparently it's freaking impossible to have fully intact ceilings around here for more than a few days. The supposed plan is to have a plumber/former co-worker of hubby's come over on Monday to replace the pipes, which we'll access by ripping up the floor above the pipe (which happens to be Pudge's bedroom-- he doesn't need a floor!). At least there won't be a third, or larger, hole cut in my kitchen ceiling...

I originally thought the title to this post was going to be the discrepancy between who I am and who I want to be. I figured that while it hit to the core of what I'm feeling, it was simply too wordy. But here's the thing-- I want to be the person who acknowledges the problem and puts on a game face about the whole ordeal. Instead, I sat at my table and cried for a few minutes, because all I feel is overwhelmed, frustrated, and pissed off. We have lived with nonstop construction for years in this little house, and just as it seems like we're getting a leg up on the list of to-do's, another wrench is thrown at us. (We can dodge a ball, but those wrenches sure do smart a bit!) While I wish for stoicism, I'm met with despair. I want to be the see the bright side- the tools are all still out! kind of person, but I end up feeling beat down instead.

Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful. I'm thankful that we even have this little roof over our heads, although I fear even mentioning the dang roof. I'm grateful for my DIY-gene-enabled hubby who has an eye for projects and the talented hands to pull them off. I'm filled with gratitude that it's just the house stuff that I have to worry about now, and not my children's health or job losses or home foreclosures. I get all that. At the same time, though, I'm feeling pretty discouraged and self-pitying. Hopefully this weekend will indeed find us making some headway, because crossing off items on the to do list is always comforting, especially at a time when new entries are being added by the minute.

Curious for pics? You know where to go!

Hoping to someday live in a construction-free-zone,