Construction Zone

Entertaining your children comes with a price, and this just happens to be a very large one.

After living here for over four years, we finally decided to complete our partially finished basement and add a bathroom. Actually, the decision was made long ago; the finances just had to catch up. They did, a friend-with-a-construction-business gave us a good price, and the crews were ready to start.

Jay: Well, this is fate! She's divorced, we don't want to redo the cabinets, and you need a wife. What do they call it when everything intersects?

Sam Baldwin: The Bermuda Triangle.

Quote on Tuesday. Contract on Wednesday. Start on Thursday. Pack on Friday & Saturday & Sunday.

The boys were sure there would be heavy equipment like bulldozers and excavators; they had to settle for a dumpster and port-a-potty. We watched as the latter was unloaded and the delivery man checked inside. Stephen commented, "And if the worker feels like he is going to pee in his pants he can go inside and use the potty." Always a good choice.

I've learned a lot.

1. I could never build a house. I could definitely never physically build a house but I couldn't even oversee the construction of my "dream home" - too many decisions to make.

2. Things never go as planned.
I made "Plan A" a couple of years ago which involved moving a door. The contractor proposed "Plan B" and I immediately fell in love with it (the plan, not the contractor). Upon implementation, "Plan B" hit the main supporting wall of the house and we were forced back to "Plan A."

3. Shortcuts can be more expensive in the long run.
I was approached one afternoon by a delivery driver asking to drive his knuckle-boom loader through the yard to deliver sheetrock. I said, "Sure. Let me get the boys. They'll be so excited."

They were asleep so I took pictures. The driver looked so manly operating his massive machine to unload a small stack of boards.

An hour later, he was still parked in the same spot. Stephen and Andrew awoke and we went to look. The plumber explained that the truck was stuck and a tow truck was on the way. You can imagine the excitement (at least on the part of two small boys).

The aforementioned driver/operator looked a little deflated as he was pulled up the hill.

The contractor was irate because he had specifically told the driver to unload in the driveway ("but using a hand truck is so uncool when you have a loader") which allowed me to share a very important lesson with the boys: "Do exactly what you are told!"

4. Make friends with your plumber. Our head plumber is not particularly warm and friendly, but it doesn't really matter as long as he knows a thing or two about plumbing. (Well, maybe more than that. I know a thing or two about plumbing, taught by my oh-so-wise-father: "Hot's on the left, cold's on the right; and poop don't run uphill" - but I don't think you'll call me to fix a broken pipe). His rough-mountain-man-looking sons, however, were a little more personable and hard-working to boot. They cut cement, dug holes, and worked in the bitter cold last week.

We returned home from church to find that a joint in the water line to our washer had come loose. Thankfully the guys were, in their words, "looking for something to do." They restored water to the house (we didn't have the port-a-potty yet) and stopped the cascade from our porch.

There will probably be many more lessons to glean before its over.