Projects or should I call this post Distractions?

That's my life...a series of never-ending projects. Or so it seems. Friday morning, we woke to a pleasant day. No pressing engagements for the weekend. Nothing major in the foreseeable future...and then my husband asked me his favorite question: "What do YOU have planned for this weekend?" (which I know really means: "I have something planned, but I want to check and see if it conflicts with anything else, because my plans are usually spontaneous and yours are usually weeks in the works.") I, of course, said, "nothing major" to which he responded with: "I was thinking we should spend some time getting our house back in order." I had to agree with him, as I had been sick earlier in the week and a sick mom equals a messy/disorderly house. Plus, the room we are planning on using for the baby has become the catch all for everything that doesn't have a place and now it's becoming the worst room in the house. The plans became thus: 1) stack the new washer and dryer (which also consisted of going to buy the 'stacking kit' to make that possible, which was down by Ikea, and why drive all that way without stopping at Ikea?) and 2) put together the new cupboard that will stand beside the stacked washer and dryer to keep all the towels and other bathroom items organized. Sounds like a pretty reasonable effort for a weekend, right? (Can you tell this is leading somewhere...?) So we loaded into the van with the kids and a few snacks and headed to south Calgary to get the stacking kit and stop at Ikea for a few organizational items. Shouldn't take too long. Fortunately, while we were down there, we noticed a Kacz' Kidz and decided to check out their loot of baby items. We ended up buying a carseat, even though it was the worst shopping experience ever. I'll save that info for another post.
We made it over to Ikea and picked up a few items (which took WAY longer than anticipated - and the one thing we were actually hoping to get wasn't there...typical). It was home again through rush-hour traffic and dinner at Grandma and Papa's. Although we didn't actually get to stacking the washer and dryer, or building the shelves, we got a lot accomplished and still had a full Saturday to finish the rest.
Kari and Barrett had come up for the weekend for their anniversary as well as a few doctors appointments, so the kids were excited at the prospect at spending time with them, and Tyler was happy to have an extra pair of hands in Barrett to accomplish the things he hoped. Remember our list? Stack the washer and dryer and build the cupboard. Well, the washer always wanders around the bathroom as the floor it is set on is uneven and it ends up causing the whole house to shake on the spin cycle, so Tyler decided to look at the floor underneath and figure out exactly what was there. Of course, once I saw one piece of linoleum tile being pulled, I knew my short list was about to get much, much longer. We spent a bit of time in town picking up some items from Canadian Tire to finish this project (which now also included reworking some plumbing so the washer and dryer could be put in a new spot). Tyler and Barrett ended up ripping out most of the floor in the bathroom, and then had to leave it as the whole family was going out for dinner in NE Calgary for Kari and Barrett's anniversary. We decided to stop at the Home Depot, at Barrett's suggestion, on the way home to look at some new floor tile product he had seen. We ended up buying some to replace the existing linoleum as it was peeling and rotting in a few places and thought a nice new finish would go nicely with our nice new washer and dryer stack and cupboard for the towels. So now Saturday was done, and the projects were not...and laying new floor had just been added to the list.
Sunday is Sunday, so no projects happening then.
Tyler decided he could work from home on Monday in order to get the bathroom done as long as he participated in his 10am conference call. Barrett was around until about 1:30 before they had to leave for one of their doctor's appointments, and both guys figured they could be done the entire bathroom before then, and Tyler might even be able to go and get a few hours in at the office. So 9am rolled around and the saws, hammers and picking of sticky linoleum tiles began. The kids and I went about our day as usual with the except of not having a toilet anymore, as it had to be removed in order to lay the new flooring...but it wasn't that big a deal because we'd been living without a bathroom door for 2 days already. I made special point to use the bathroom at Lucy's school when I dropped her off and picked her up that day. Needless to say, we ended up pulling ALL the flooring out in the bathroom, taking out the toilet, ripping out the paneling behind the washer and dryer to 'see what's back there', ripping a big hole in the floor where the toilet used to be in order to repair the wood sub-floor that was discovered to be rotting, and creating a new sub-floor out of hand-me-down particle board so we didn't have to run to town to buy anything more. All this was completed by about 9pm when it was time to send the kids to bed. From that point, Tyler and I worked until about 12:45am to lay the new flooring. We went to bed completely exhausted and woke up feeling pretty much the same today. We have a toilet again, thank goodness, but guess what? No washer and dryer, no cupboard. Those are the projects for tonight. Now we will be rebuilding the wall behind the washer and dryer, but before that we have to move the plumbing, and electrical to accommodate the washer and dryer in a new spot, then hook up the stacked washer and dryer, and install the cupboard for towels and other bathroom essentials. Today is Tuesday. And I know that reworking plumbing means gluing new pipes, which means not using the water because we need to let the glue set for 12 hours...sigh. Tyler's dad came by at one point and asked me if I felt like I was always in the middle of a bathroom project. Umm...yes!
Now, this all sounds like complaining and cynicism. Actually, it hasn't bothered me too much, it's just so hilarious that this is my life. As always, it makes me truly appreciate my husband who seems to be able to do ANYTHING he sets his mind to...except estimating his time.
I love the new floor and it makes me feel like my bathroom is a little less like a dirty cave and more like a sanitary place where I don't mind my children showering, going to the bathroom or brushing their teeth. My husband is the best. He works so hard at work, and then works so hard at home. I secretly think he just likes having projects (or distractions) and he admits to me and his dad that he comes by it naturally. Home projects to distract from office work and office work to distract from home projects. It works out pretty well for him, and if we're willing to put up with a mess or chaos for a few days, it works out pretty great for us too.