12:30 - rooted to my chair cuddling Hazel.
12:45 - Jody heads to the garage and I surrender to the inevitable and dolefully follow.
1:00 - finding my groove, happy that he's going to have a woodworking setup after all of these years. We are positioning cabinets! This will be done in no time!
1:15 - still chugging
1:30 - kids begging for fishing poles... I give them string.
1:45 - feverishly taking pictures of trash and trying to pawn it off on Craigslist and Facebook to NO avail. Then I put my hand on the ottoman that has been piled out there and tell him I just have to try to reupholster it and take it to the front door. He ignores me.
2:00 - feeling hungry and tired, trying to keep Hazel happy with old wrinkly blueberries. I suggest an excellent idea for the work bench area which he accepts!
2:15 - announce to Jody that we need the desk that he's been barely tolerating in the garage for several months in our office so we haul it in and I announce I'm keeping it. He stares at me impassively but makes no comment.
2:30 - I declare a lunch break and stuff my face with last nights wilted salad and let Hazel feed herself yogurt which causes a disaster.
2:45 - Jody propels me back to the garage which I weakly protest to.
3:00 - kids come back from creek for bucket, yes unsupervised! What do you think I am a modern mother? Seriously!
3:15 - Jody tips over the ladder and dangles from rafters trying to catch the work bench with his toes while I piteously wail his name standing on a small cleared area on the work bench with a trampoline net and mat balled up and dangling between us obstructing my view of what is happening until it falls to the floor. Wishing so desperately I'd thought to carry smelling salts or pinch my nose like people do in books for just such a moment later as I reflect back on it.
3:30 - Jody and I are still balanced on the ladder and workbench precariously stuffing precious broken junk in the rafters for "someday"
3:45 - I turn around to see the tackle box open and Hazel double fisting tackle. (Trying to imagine if she has 5 hooks stuck in her hand and waiting for the delayed reactionary scream which never comes.) thank you Jesus she just has rubber worms!
3:59 - I realize I have not made a dinner I promised to a friend recovering from surgery and feverishly text to see if tomorrow works. Gracious gracious people this world is full of.
4:00 - daydreaming of Jody sweeping me into his arms to tell me he loves the free cabinetry I acquired.
4:01 - electricity goes out while Jody is drilling and he yells anything but poetry. He has hit a wire. Everything stops. Time for Mr. Perfect to berate himself for accidentally doing something I definitely would have done while I silently and gleefully welcome him to my world. He abruptly leaves my sad little world and dons his electrician hat.
4:15 back on track electricity restored and I again make an excellent suggestion for the pegboard installation. I am the perfect side kick.
4:30 - Jody and I are again dangling and wrestling this time our rooftop carrier up to the rafters with various tie downs some of which do work properly -dropping - tipping - falling and finally laughing with our arms over our heads saying this can't go this poorly for this long! I tell him I think Bart would say we are having fun while not having fun.
4:45 - I stare at disarray in all directions and realize this is not over, it's nowhere close.
5:00 - fatigue clouds my vision but I'm quickly snapped back to reality as Jody tips a step stool he's on and catches himself on a rope. His ankle is now tweaked and he asks me how many things can go wrong. I stare at him silently gauging whether I could make a "let's quit" plea but I see no weakness in his green determined eyes. I discard the notion as fast as my thoughts process.
5:15 - vacuuming sawdust for the tenth time. He keeps having to saw one more thing. No job is simple.
5:30 - I start hoping for a phone call from friends who had made tenative plans for a girls night out contingent upon children etc... I know it's a slim hope but it's ALL I HAVE...
5:45 - I hold a shelf over my head for a very very long time trying to act casual and strong.
6:00 - still not seeing any finish line, working desperately to just keep going
6:15 - I reflect on my amazingness. I think of my time in manual labor and I know that not every wife would hang this long. It takes grueling conditioning of hauling hay in 100 degree weather with 100% humidity to achieve this status but my "self awesomeness ponderance" has a hollow ring because I have a lot more work to do and it makes me want to lay on the concrete in silent surrender.
6:30 - I accept that I am probably not having a girls night out to save me and press on.
6:45 - Hazel now looks somewhere between brown and charcoal in color and still has a blueberry yogurt face. I tell her she's the best.
7:00 - I'm flagging. I occasionally sit down to "check for hits" on the trash I'm trying to give away.
7:15 I'm very mechanically returning bicycles to the rack.
7:45 my kids return from the creek professing they caught 13 craw dads and set them free. They tell us the garage looks great. I view their praise as a precursor to havoc because children are emblematic of havoc.
8:00 - I rearrange the donation pile and announce I'm keeping the chairs after all. Jody sighs and tells me that sounds great. After all he has only suffered their presence in the garage for a year and it's only the third giant space hog I've decided to keep.
8:15 - we are done! Thank God! Then... Hazel the neglected aborigine requests a ride around the block in her push car. I comply.
8:30: Hazel and I shower and watch each other change colors like magic while gray water swirls in the floor.
9:45 - I hear Jody praying with the kids and thanking God for me.
10:00 we watch the news and see that the high was 99 today. Oh yeah baby!
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