I'm not a big fan of change. In fact, it's not an exaggeration to say that I flat hate change with a passion. I like things to be the same way every day, with no surprises. Yes, it's a fairly deep rut I live in, but it's comfy and it suits me.
Recently, however, I allowed change into my life. I still haven't fully recovered and I probably never will.
It all started with a simple request from me. All I wanted was to get rid of the horrible carpets in our home's three bedrooms. Now these poor carpets were, once upon a time, very nice looking, white patterned berber carpets (yes, I said WHITE..further proof that sometimes when I travel into the land of change I often leave my common sense at home).
Over the years and due to the unnatural state of things around here - and I'm talking life with three males of various ages and two huge dogs who are shedding drool machines (the dogs, not the males, but it's a close race sometimes)the poor carpet had disintegrated into what closely resembled the aftermath of a crime scene, with several interesting, but definitely disgusting stains. Every time I walked into the room, that carpet begged me to put it out of its' misery and out on the curb.
One day I lost my mind, took a deep breath and asked Roger to please replace all of the carpet with laminate flooring. Roger is a pro at laminate flooring, having installed it in our home twice before with hardly any bloodshed and no emergency services needed (emergency trips to Lowe's don't count. I have it on excellent authority that NO home project can be completed without numerous trips to Lowe's and Home Depot. Really, just ask your husband and he'll tell you).
With Roger's previous experience, I felt safe in just turning this project over to him...which could arguably be an early sign of future dementia on my part. Would he rip out the carpet and install new flooring? Of COURSE he would...but we'd have to paint those rooms first. Walls, ceilings, baseboards - all of it would have to have new paint. What colors did I want and when did I want to go look at paint samples? Lowe's is open until 9:00 p.m., you know.
And so it went that my simple request for new flooring turned into a much bigger home redecorating paint-a-palooza. I tried to stay calm and hope for the best. After all, tons of people redecorate on a fairly regular basis - how bad can it be? Bad enough, I guarantee.
We've been married long enough for me to learn that Roger and I aren't always going to agree on the WAY things should be done. In fact, I've learned to make myself scarce during his projects to avoid conflict and a possible nervous condition. Sometimes that strategy backfires, like on the first painting day when I arrived home and discovered Roger had thought it would be a good idea to clean the paint brushes in the bathtub. (The flecks of paint on the wallpaper and the puddles of paint water were what tipped me off...and ticked me off.)
Things got even better the next day when I looked out the back window in time to see Roger and Joseph in the backyard, sawing boards for the floor, oblivious to the clouds of sawdust blowing directly behind them and into the swimming pool.
And doesn't it always warm your heart when you see traits in your children you KNOW they have inherited from their parents? Or maybe not so much - like when Joseph got distracted and stepped smack in the middle of the paint pan. He felt really bad about that and apologized, but did point out that it was a good thing they had decided to paint first before replacing the floor. That meant the gigantic size 13 green shoe print on the carpet really wasn't that big of a deal, was it?
I'm happy and relieved to say that at long last, all home redecorating has been completed. Roger and Joseph are finished and the bedrooms with their new paint and new floors DO look beautiful.
But the next time I start getting the urge to do another home improvement project, I hope I remember to lay down until the urge passes. A person can only take so much change, you know.
