Skip to main content

Unscheduled Home Improvements

Talk about a crazy week or so…  Last Saturday, on February 12th, Brenda and I celebrated 6 years of marriage.  Can you believe its been that long?  I am sure most people can relate to the feeling, some days it feels like it was just yesterday.  On other days, it feels like we have been together forever.  And no, I don’t mean that in a “prison sentence that just won’t end” kind of way.  Rather, being married to Brenda has been the greatest ongoing joy of my life.  We live real life together in a way that I just didn’t know was possible 7 years ago.  I would categorize this past week as a testimony to the strength of our marriage.  We are certainly living out some of the “for better or worse” moments right now.

So let’s take a step back here.  Since our anniversary fell on a Saturday, and a Valentine’s Day weekend, my beautiful bride and I decided in all of our practicality, that we would celebrate our anniversary, not on the 12th, but rather on the 19th.  An kid-free overnight trip to San Antonio was planned.  There was a night in a nice resort, a couple’s massage in the spa, dinner reservations at a restaurant with no children’s menu, and even reservations for Sunday Brunch with some friends before we headed home on Sunday.  By all accounts, this was going to be a really nice weekend away!  Both of us were really, really looking forward to it.   Some adult time, some tension relief, some pampering, some attentive service… can’t you just feel the relaxation? 

Well, with this great weekend planned for February 19th, we decided that the beautiful weather on our actual anniversary was not something to be taken for granted.  We debated which outstanding project to tackle.  The garage was in desperate need of re-organizing, the pool needed some attention, and the yard was going to need to be cleaned up in preparation for Spring.  So we spent our anniversary in our backyard doing yard work.  Twelve bags of leaves and debris later, we were sore, tired and feeling pretty good about what we had accomplished.  We were putting up our rakes and tools when I came around the house from the backyard.  As I turned the corner to our driveway, I caught one of those glimpses that makes any homeowner drop their jaw.  Water was pouring down my driveway, from under my garage door.  I entered my code in the keypad as quickly as I could and ran into the garage.  Hot water heater, good; garage refrigerator and freezer, good;  laundry room door… oh no… I opened the door to laundry room and there was about an inch of standing water.  The washer itself was not running and didn’t seem to be the likely source, instead what we found was the adjoining powder room toilet has overflowed (again).  This has happened before in the past, several times actually.  But in the past it has always been quickly caught and resolved.  But on this day, Grace had come into the house to use the bathroom while we were working out back and had not noticed that the toilet did not flush properly.  No telling how long that toilet ran, but water covered the floor in the bathroom, the entryway, and it was flowing out the front door and through the laundry room. It had even started to make it into the living room.  What a mess. 

So Brenda took the shop vac and started working on the water.  I opened the garage door and started pulling things out.  We have a lot of stuff in our garage.  There are Christmas decorations, camping gear and tailgating equipment and lots of just general stuff, some of which sits on the floor in cardboard boxes.   So after an afternoon of yard work, we had the joy of also cleaning out that garage and doing some major clean up in the house.  It was a rough weekend, but maybe was just what we needed to kick us into gear about re-doing that powder bath.  After all, 2 of the cardboard boxes in the garage contained a new vanity and mirror we had bought with this precise intention.  It was a blessing in disguise really.  All we needed to do really was pick out flooring, a new toilet and a new faucet.  A great project to tackle with the tax refund we told ourselves.  With most of the water up, we pulled out the carpet and padding in the powder room and even took the opportunity to remove the tack strips that held the carpet down.

No, not the most romantic anniversary weekend ever, but we live real life in our house, and we took it all in stride.  I was committed to not letting this little episode put a total damper on our weekend, so I muscled through with my plans and at least delivered a nice steak dinner for my bride once we got the damage under control. 

But it had only just begun really… (To Be Continued)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Type 2 Diabetes - An Inconvenient Journey

I wish I wasn't the type of person that needed to get hit in the head with a 2x4 before I take action.  I really do want to be the type of person who heeds the warning signs that appear when someone else is walking through a challenge and is able to apply them to my own life.  I am 44 years old and I have a literal lifetime of warning signs, sounds, flags, banners, smoke signals and alerts that have been going off all around me. It isn't a news flash that obesity causes a variety of health-related issues.  I took health in junior high and high school.  I have been told many times by teachers, trainers, coaches, doctors, and nurses that I cannot outrun or outlive poor choices in diet and exercise.  As an adult, I have read many books on topics of health and self-improvement that encourage healthy habits and stress the importance of using daily exercise to reduce stress, improve cardiovascular health and increase energy.  I have read about the importance of...

Grace goes to see Elmo's Green Thumb

Brenda and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary and Valentine's Day on February 12th with a nice dinner out, just the 2 of us. You couldn't drag me into a restaurant on Valentine's Day night with a pack of wild horses, so we take advantage of having our anniversary so close. Plus, when I send flowers on the 12th, I get a 2 day head start on getting the freshest, most beautiful flowers delivered to Brenda and she gets a couple of days longer to enjoy them in her office. So what did we do today to celebrate Valentine's Day? We took Grace to see Elmo's Green Thumb! We didn't tell Grace until this morning that we were going, so it was a complete surprise. So, was it worth it to spend Valentine's Day at the Erwin Center surrounded by enough toddlers in diapers to make anyone nervous? Take a look at the grin in the first picture. It was definitely worth it. I don't how to say this without making us sound incredibly pretentious, but Brenda and I decided...

C'mon Mom, it's just PB and J!

When Mommy makes Grace a sandwich, she takes lots of time to cut the sandwich in small, manageable pieces for Grace. Mommy also has a thing for clean fingers, clean hair and hopefully clean ears. There is certainly nothing wrong with this approach. I applaud her enthusiasm for Grace's manners. However, sometimes... well, come on... really. It is just peanut butter and jelly. At this point, I should probably take a moment to thank the sponsors of this particular blog entry, Peter Pan Peanut Butter and Gramma's Strawberry Preserves. Gramma's Strawberry Preserves and Peach Butter is only available at a small pantry in Tyler, TX. She doesn't advertise, she doesn't sell her products online, heck, she doesn't even sell her products period... But those in the know, know where to go to get their jelly fix. Since I am down to my last jar of Strawberry Preserves, and I am completely out of Peach Butter, it must be about time for another journey to East Texas. Since Gramm...