The “Joys” of Sweat Equity Projects Exposed

The home renovations started this week and if any reader out there knows someone going through home renovations, you need to check on these people because odds are, these people are not alright. The new kitchen cabinets and countertops have been ordered and the initial focus will be on the kitchen update and installing new flooring on the main floor of the house. Our contractor estimates to have these two tasks accomplished by Thanksgiving, and he will then move on to the two bathrooms upstairs. Now is the perfect time for my husband and I to unleash our unskilled talents on shelves, walls, and anything else we can tear down or change before the new flooring comes in and we (mainly me) ruin it with my “how hard could this be” attitude.

I spent over twenty hours this week peeling wallpaper off the walls of the kitchen, dining room, and two bathrooms. I began to question my life choices about six hours into the project, but by then, there was no going back. Besides, a little sweat equity never hurts anyone, right? Wrong. Sweat equity hurts and I am not as spry as I used to be at 30 years of age. My knee is swollen to the size of a softball from balancing a steamer on a ladder as I worked to peel country pink wallpaper off the walls, only to find that country pink was covering country blue wallpaper. Whatever, the wallpaper is off the walls, and everything looks brighter. It also looks cleaner, and I was mortified by the amount of dirt also steaming off the wallpaper and ceilings. But I deviate, that is a problem for another day.

Aaron was dispatched to work wildfires at the perfect time – last Sunday afternoon as I plugged in the wallpaper steamer for its first go at the dining room and right after my son dropped his two dogs off for the week. Aaron is still out on fire (as of 9/14) and the six dogs, and I are all looking at each other wondering what household task we should tear into next? I considered ripping up the pink carpet in the guest bathroom, but that sounds gross. I could clean out closets, but that sounds stupid. The more I type and think things through, the more convinced I am that the best course of action is to cook chili and wait for the Bobcat and Grizzly games to start today.

All whining aside and as I gazed into the six sets of loving dog eyes watching me teeter on the kitchen counter holding a boiling steamer that was spewing water and steam because the hose was kinked, I thought about how lucky I was to have had Aaron by my side for the past thirty-four years.  This past week has been extra work, but we have always had each other to work as a team and share the load. Shout out to all the single parents out there making it work – it cannot be easy. I then remembered we were in many of the messes we have been in over the past thirty-four years because of the life choices we made (some of which were mutual) and my gratitude turned to rage, and I continued scraping wallpaper and doing my best to avoid third degree burns.

At this point, chili and football are the obvious winners in today’s home renovation saga. I might Google “how to rip out landline phone cords and connection outlets” while I watch football. How hard could that project be? After all, men do it. Cheers and Go Griz and Go Cats Go!