You know the old saying, “The cobbler’s children have no shoes.”
Sometimes I joke, “The contractor’s house is in need of repair.” I remember about three years ago, my husband installed beautiful hardwood floors in our living room and dining room. They were gorgeous! These same hardwood floors were to be carried into our tiny 2 ft by 4 ft hallway. But, the day had grown long and the boys had run out of steam. “I’ll get to it next weekend,” he said.
Fast forward one year later. I had purposefully said ABSOLUTELY nothing up to this point, about the floors needing to be finished in the hallway. One, I didn’t want to nag him. Honestly, I’m not the nagging type. But, I am a girl who likes to prove a point. So, a year later I said, “Honey, do you think you could lay the hallway floors down this weekend?”
He said, “Yeah, I’ll try and get to it.”
To which I gently said, “You know, it’s been a year.”
He started to disagree with that, but I could see his mind doing the calculations. “Oh my goodness! It has been a year. I’m so sorry,” he replied.
The floors got finished (in like 2 hours) that weekend.
I get it. He works on other people’s homes all week long. The last thing he wants to do on the weekend is do more work. I want him to rest and relax, BUT, I also want the honey-do list to get tackled. Well, the weekend before St. Patrick’s Day, he came home with left over hard wood flooring from a job. It was beautiful and he promised to install it in my office. I couldn’t wait!
But, to my chagrin, Saturday and Sunday passed us by in a flurry of kid activity and there sat the boxes of flooring in the middle of my dining room along with the stacks of books we had cleared out of the office.
St. Patrick’s Day morning I said, “Babe, we have company coming over tonight for dinner. Do you want me to put the books back and have the boys move the boxes of flooring into the garage?”
His eyes widened when he realized what day it was. He cleared his work calendar, brought in his tools, prepared the area and set to work. As his hammer was going and the compressor groaning, I got the corn beef started and the Irish soda bread a baking.
He wrapped up the floors with a couple of hours to spare. We put the office back in order. He changed his clothes, popped open a Guinness and whipped up the rest of our dinner. He added sautéed whiskey glazed cabbage, roasted potatoes and parsley sprinkled carrots.
This wife wasn’t complaining. Things might not always get done in the most timely fashion, but I feel pretty blessed to have a man who can help make my home beautiful and functional as well as whip up a delicious meal. I’m just glad I don’t have to wait a year for dinner to be finished.
*He alternated 3 in and 5 in Mulligan hardwood flooring. to create more interest. The finish is called graphite.
