I am sitting here in what feels like the 98th hour of a blackhawk helicopter hovering over my head. Ok, that might be a little over dramatized but you get the picture. It has been about 10 hours over two days of a jackhammer running just outside my backdoor.
My husband, his two brothers and his dad are busting out a patio and it's noisy! It's the latest ordeal in our money pit. Our house really isn't a money pit, it's just reached "that age" where everything likes to fall apart.
The year of drought followed by winter and spring of abundant moisture has left us with a basement wall which has a growing crack. The wall itself has begun to buckle and press in toward the basement. Evidently we will have a hefty job to do still, but first the flow of water must be altered. The only way to do keep the abundance of water flowing down into the wall is to tear out our sloping patio and repour it.
I'm not sure what that jumbled mess sounds like to you, but to me it sounds like more money we don't have needing to be spent on the house to prevent a catastrophe from happening. Thankfully my husband's family is full of guys well versed in concrete, so most of them have agreed to help. Still expensive! Is there ever anything that happens to your home that is urgent or emergency that is cheap? NO!
Heavy lifting and dust and jackhammers aren't my thing. Really, that can't be. I'm not physically cut out for that kind of stuff. No joking. So, I have assumed the role of dutiful wife.
That's no joke either. I've prepped and cleaned and cleaned and prepped for the past several days for the deluge of people who will be in and out the next few days. We rarely have guests, so it's a big deal. An even bigger deal is planning for a round up of people who definitely without question do not like me.
It's hard to get pumped for that. It doesn't feel like a labor of love when you know it won't be good enough. The food I cook won't taste right. The house won't be clean enough. I won't be social enough.
I have and always will be a white trash girl from a dumpy little town who stole the heart of their first born son and big brother. I will never, ever fit the bill for what they had hoped for in a daughter-in-law. But, this is one of those times I am supposed to forget about that and pretend as though I'm one of them.
Really, I suppose that doesn't matter. What matters right now is that most of my husband's family is coming together to help him out. They are all working together for a common goal and for that I am thankful.
There is one very twisted up/down side in all of this. My once very opinionated mother-in-law is now much more mellow. It is hard to believe. On her first trip to our house as a married couple, she completely rearranged our kitchen drawers and cabinets because I hadn't been smart enough to do it correctly. Now, she sets on the couch with a blank stare and an occasional question.
It might be the questions that are the hardest. She questions who the guys are working on the patio; all her sons and husband. She asks where the kids are; we don't have any. She asks me how work is going; I haven't worked in three years. She asks how long it's going to take; I don't have a clue. She asks again how long it's going to take; still don't know. She asks if we have moved the bathroom; no we have not. And....repeat....
Again, I'm so thankful that the guys are here to help their brother and son. He needed that. He needed his family and I am glad they are here with him. I am grateful that tomorrow will bring a rare opportunity for me to have his niece and nephew. And well, since I'm a "feeder" I'll have a chance to feed a large group of people.
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