pt. 1, an unfinished project

Instead of migrating to Florida for Memorial Day weekend like the other half our town did, we decided at the last minute to tackle a home improvement project instead. We’ve been talking about screening in the back porch since we moved in five years ago, and just haven’t yet had the inclination to actually do it. So with three uninterrupted days before us, we started cutting boards and hammering nails. Correction: I operated the saw, he handled the nails. Caleb says it is painful to watch me wield a hammer. Apparently I don’t just throw like a girl. But whatever.

So, I’ll spare you the recounting of our five trips to Home Depot. It was dreadful enough living those in real life. Long story short, we did not get the porch finished by Tuesday when Caleb went back to work. It wasn’t finished on Wednesday when I sprayed myself in the eye with sunscreen. Or Thursday when I fell off the stepladder. (Now you know why I don’t use the hammer). Combine porch work with the twenty million other things that had to be accomplished before Caleb left on Friday, and we ran ourselves into sun-baked burnout and STILL didn’t finish.

In fact, I had already admitted defeat Thursday evening when Caleb got home. I was busy returning the tools to the garage when I met him coming around the side of the house with the circular saw. This was at six o’clock in the evening, mind you. We were to leave at four o’clock the next morning. And he’s all I think I can, I think I can, ITHINKICAN! To which I attempt to wrestle the saw out of his arms, snap out of it!

“But, it’s only lacking the door! I can get it done in a few hours!”

“Think of the bags you haven’t started packing yet! And the gear to track down! The boots to scrub! The FOUR MILLION ELECTRONIC PIECES TO SORT AND LOAD! I want to go to bed before 4:00 AM!”

It didn’t take me long to convince him, but it was very discouraging to leave the porch almost but not quite finished.

The good news is it will still be here when he gets back. The bad news… it’s basically a glorified fly trap right now. And it’s driving me nuts. Anyone know how to hang a screen door?