Life Balance: a feat we try to achieve while searching to be the best that we can we, while simultaneously raising our children to do the same. This is the equilibrium in our inner life force whereby our heartbeat matches the divine force that exists all around us. When this life balance peaks, our sense of peace, joy, love and wisdom act as one with our very souls.
“Spackle? Who gives someone spackle at a baby shower?”—young friend receiving our “survival” kit at their baby shower.
Most families need to have a little spackle on hand for the little mishaps that appear on walls when you have children. The dent from Wild Child playing tackle with Twin 2’s head, the cracks from the inside football game, the dents from the moving the entertainment center for the 15th time (a little to the left honey). We never even bothered with the 16 ounce economy size. No, we had to buy the 5 gallon bucket. And buy it again. And buy it again. We keep it on hand. We look for sales; we don’t feel complete unless we have it on the shelf.
There hasn’t been a project in our “starter home” (16 years later) that hasn’t involved lots of spackle. I could have owned the company by now. First, during the OJ trial, we decided to redo the living room; it had glued on ceiling tiles, painted over woodwork, linoleum glued on the window seat in the bay window, dark paneling and brown carpeting. Yuck. Next, during my 36th week of pregnancy with twins (think 3 foot extension sticking of my ribs, and you might get the width ratio); I decided to fix the ripped wall paper in the bathroom. We found the light switch dangling in the air, and the floor (5 layers of it) was covering a 3 foot hold in the sub floor. Nice. At 9 months pregnant, I am laying on the new piece of the floor, so my husband can nail it while he’s laying on top of the air-conditioning unit in the crawlspace. I was running up to the 2nd floor bathroom while on bed rest with twins. Fun Wow.
Next, we redid the master bedroom, with the lime green carpet and more glued on ceiling tiles. We put in white carpeting that never saw the light of day again. We ripped that out last year and redid the original hardwood floor. We did the hardwood floor and walls in the living room the year before. On this living room remodel, we finally finished painting the ceiling by the front door and putting up the wood work. Nothing like remodel number 2 to get the job done.
Last month, I decided to paint the dark wood kitchen cabinets again. I did it during the twin’s pre-school year the first time. You can really get a lot of painting done in 2 hours of free time. So I bought paint, and took the doors off. I basically have the 1970’s brown striped linoleum, the country style counter in a U, the cedar ceiling with beams, and to top it all off, Z-Brick, the 1970’s answer to bad drywall. So I was looking at the counter, when I decided I want a new one. I want to get rid of the U, and have a center aisle.
I tell the DH (dear hubby). “But if you take off the U on the counter, I have to take off the cabinets above it.” Yup. “And if I take off those cabinets, I need to rip off that piece of sofet hanging there. “ Yup. “And If I take off the sofet, I have a hole in the cedar ceiling. I don’t think I could fix it. I’d have to take down the whole thing.” Yeah…next thing we know, we’re at the Super Home Improvement Center looking floors and counters. We figure we’d repaint the cabinets, put in a laminate floor, and a new counter.
We call the brother-in-law #1 (BIL#1) to help rip out the stuff…with only 1 days notice. Nice family, aren’t we? He comes, and gleefully destroys and conquers. He even puts holes in the wall while ripping out z-brick, just because he can. And then he says the one thing that will then become everyone’s mantra who visits in the next month. “If I were doing the kitchen, I would….”
BIL#1 mentioned new cabinets (Done!). BIL#2 added more light switches, a larger sink and the microwave above the stove (Done!). Work friend mentions a new window above the sink (Done!). Mom-in-law says to add power to the center island (Done!). Another friend talked me into the larger work space by the oven (Done!).
Now, got any more ideas? You have to anty up to the payment book if you do.
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