Monday, March 14, 2011

Yin and Yang

It was weekend-lite around here once again.
By 'lite' I mean we didn't get a full weekend since hubs had an early morning flight out yesterday.

Ugh.

You shouldn't feel too sorry for him though because
his view will be something like this for the next few days...


You shouldn't feel sorry for me either...


here's my awesome view...


Did I mention, ugh?

The plumber and tile guy (I'm sure he has a more official title) along with tile guy's assistant came to get the master bathroom shower re-do underway at the end of last week.
Things started off with a bang when assistant tile guy dinged my upstairs hall foyer ceiling as he was carrying the old shower doors outside...


Ruh-roh.

I've zoomed in here...the ding itself is small.
Unfortunately, not so small that it doesn't smack you in the face when you walk up the stairs.
And it's an actual gash as opposed to a scrape, which tells us that the entire ceiling will need to be repainted as opposed to patched.
Patching a ceiling is never smooth sailing.

Just to make things sightly more problematic...


that little patch of ceiling is part of a much larger space which includes our downstairs foyer, the family room and the upstairs hallway...


Its a whole lotta ceiling.
Plus (yes, there's more) the ceiling is two stories up on either side of the staircase which spells good times if you're a painter.

I'm thinking they will try for a patch but I'm pretty sure I will not be happy with that.
And I know for certain my hubs won't.

Other than that they were exceptionally neat and tidy.
I'm sure they'll make it all purty once the work is finished, but this sort of thing gives me a knot in my stomach.
Hubs happened to be home when the 'incident' occurred so he was able to talk to the tile guy but now it's up to me to 'discuss' it with the plumber who is the project boss.

I detest this sort of task.
I like for life to always be very pleasant.
Very pleasant with no unpleasant unpleasantness.

Hubs, on the other hand, lives for this stuff...tell me again why he's not the one negotiating repairs with a work crew while I lounge on a beach somewhere warm and lovely?

Okay, so technically he's working and not 'at the beach' in a - sitting in a lounge chair- kind of way but still, you know what I mean.

In other weekend news we finally found a mirror for our dining room wall.


I needed something above my server and am really happy with the way this looks...we still have to decide what's going atop the server itself but having the mirror up helps.

Let me tell you-hanging that mirror was quite the project.
Somehow hubs has thrown his back out (he claims he did it painting upstairs but I think that's his way of getting out of finishing off that last bedroom) and he's been in agony all week.
Did that stop him from hanging the 50+ pound mirror?

No it did not.

I'm sure whatever is wrong with his back is nothing a 12 hour flight can't fix.
Ahem.

So now tell me, is your fuse slightly shorter than normal when you and your significant other attempt a project like this?
A project that involves one of you barking orders while holding something extremely heavy and completely awkward while the other one snaps back that she is not a mind reader?

We used to have a boat and hanging that mirror reminded me of our days docking the boat.
We'd be floating gently towards the dock and hubs would begin telling me to grab ropes and bumpers and blah blah blah and even though we were on our boat everysinglesolitary weekend I would act like it was my first time on the water and would drop ropes and trip over his feet as he tried to keep us from smacking the dock.
I think you get the picture.

Hanging this mirror was a bit like that.

I think its partly because hubs is a perfectionist.
He takes approximately 637 measurements while we awkwardly hold the very heavy mirror up to the wall no less than 42 times, all the while trying hard not to drop it or ding the paint.
Then he measures some more to be sure it is 100% exactly centered because if that mirror is one millimeter too far left-right-up or down he will never be able to eat a meal in there.
He would not disagree.

I guess it could also be partly because I'm sorta clumsy.
And directionally challenged.
'Oh, you meant my left, I thought you meant your left.'

The good news though is that the mirror is up!
Once we got it on the wall we were pretty pleased with ourselves and we smiled and congratulated each other and admired our new purchase.

Disagreement?
What disagreement?

I tease him about his tendency towards perfectionism.
He teases me about my tendency to be clumsy and directionally challenged.
He's yin and I'm yang and together we make a whole.

And life is never ever dull.

25 comments:

  1. That mirror is LOVELY! We have the opposite situation here at our house ... I'm the perfectionist and DH is the clumsy, directionally challenged one. Like you said, together we make a whole. ;-)

    Have a marvelous Monday!

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  2. Joyce, I have to laugh, because that sounds exactly like my husband and me. He is such a perfectionist with things like that too. It drives me crazy! Sorry about your ceiling mishap. That sounds like something that would happen to us. I'm sure you will love the new shower when it is all finished, but it is a hassle in the meantime. And my hubs is never around when things like that have to be done either. I'm like you, I don't like any kind of conflict. I like things to go smoothly. Your mirror is beautiful. Glad your hubby will be able to eat in the dining room now! Enjoy your week. Love & blessings from NC!

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  3. I can't wait to show this to my husband. We are so much like you guys. He, the engineer, is perpetually measuring and remeasuring. Me, I can eyeball it and be perfectly happy with the result. We have never owned a boat, but I have always said that our canoe trips have been a good test of our marriage. Crossing my fingers that all goes well with the reno and that the ding can be easily repaired to satisfy you both.

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  4. Honey and I have had MANY such....issues when doing home improvements. Many arguements, disagreements and discussions about tone of voice.
    All that to say, I really like your mirror!

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  5. I hate when something needs to be hung. Kevin hates how I watch him. Says I am just like my mother....she always watches over Dad when he does something. I am just watching....see no harm in it. The mirror is beautiful by the way.

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  6. The mirror is beautiful and the fact that Hubs took so long to get it hung just right paid off. He can rest his back now knowing that he did a perfect job and he deserves rest by the ocean, in a big chair, with a tall drink, wearing sun glasses! You will have a great looking master bath when it's done! I love those home projects - well I love when they are done, not the living in a construction zone part. Looking forwarded to more photos of the work.

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  7. I just love the mirror frame! Beautiful!

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  8. This is funny...for so many reasons. My Loverbrain gets really twirked when I suggest he is enjoying working in the exotic locations away from the crazies of home. Humph...makes me wish we could switch places...sometimes.

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  9. Wow..what an adventure! Life definitely is not boring!
    Blessings,
    andrea

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  10. Love the mirror...my hubby is the same way lots of numbers go into hanging something. I say just slap a nail up and go!I hope your hubby doesn't work to hard in paradise!

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  11. Oh, but it will look oh so fabulous when it is done. Projects stress me out, I just want them done and over with. I am the perfectionist though, not my husband. He does a great job, but I am the picky one. LOL

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  12. CH handles all of the unpleasantries in our household. I'm like you: I like to live in my pleasant world where there are no worries. Our remodel is going nicely. It's taking a bit longer, but CH will have to deal with that! :)

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  13. Sometimes I get caught thinking hubs must be livin' the life {on white sandy beaches} 'working' in Florida, while I'm scrubbin' toilets. ;)

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  14. Love it! We've got the same thing going on at our house, but I'm the perfectionist and he's the worker. Yep. I should learn to do a little more for myself. :) We did some big moving around of rooms in January and it wasn't very pretty. I thought it would be fun. I need to remember better.

    Nicely written. Enjoyed it! Hope your view gets better soon.

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  15. Oh my, this sounds just like my Hubby too! Hanging a picture involves math and measurements and pencils and markings and the level and standing back and remeasureing and me holding the piece and not doing the marking or measureing because I simply can. not. do. it. right. :) {sigh}
    I'm good with eyeballing it and using a shoe for a hammer. ha.

    Yep, definitely yin and yang here too.

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  16. Sorry everything is not going smoothly for you right now. I hope they get it finished and the damage repaired for you very soon. Hope you share pictures of your new bathroom when it's finished. The new mirror looks great.
    Lindsay
    x

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  17. HAHAH I can hear this conversation in my head so perfectly! I also appreciated the flashback to our boat docking days! good times!

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  18. I love that mirror!!! It was well worth the "discomfort" it took to get it up there!!! It looks wonderful with the server!

    My first husband and I had that same situation whenever we worked on a project together - I tended to try and make myself scarce whenever i saw the tool box come out ;-)

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  19. Uh oh, sorry about the mishap with the ceiling! I'm the perfectionist in this family, so I understand the mirror episode perfectly :)

    You asked how many snakes were caught at the roundup...well, I didn't go over to see, but I read that last year's total was around 100. That's too many snakes for me!!!

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  20. Love your mirror--well worth waiting for. And as for those disagreements? I have no idea what you're talking about. ;-)

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  21. Beautiful mirror and yes we have those same conversations. DH is very much aperfectionist and moves at a slower pace than I do to make absolutely sure whatever it is is 100% correct. I on the other hand and usually full speed ahead and on to the next thing. House projects can get pretty interesting sometimes. ;)

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  22. We hung a mirror four years ago and it was so hard. This is a big mirror and it had two holes for the nails to slide into. It took us a long time and thank God it came out perfect!!
    I pray that they can patch your spot without having to paint everything. I hate, hate, hate things like this. Like you I want things to run smoothly and never have to have people in my house doing things. And DH is always out of town for things like this. Your mirror is very pretty.

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  23. Oh, you had me laughing because I could have written this exact entry on the mirror. Our husbands sound like they are made out of the same mold. Oh, my goodness, we've had some challenging times over these 40 years. :o)

    Your posts are always entertaining and bring a smile to my face! Blessings to you!

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  24. We had a very similar experience cleaning out a car this weekend. When WILL he learn that my way is the right way? Ah well, at least at this point we know we're going to argue so we don't take it as personally as we used to.

    Your mirror looks wonderful!

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  25. My husband and I never, ever bicker during home projects.

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