How I Spent My Weekend

Before my husband and I got married, we had to attend Pre-Canaa, which is basically a marriage counseling retreat. Ours was fairly straightforward. We were getting married at Notre Dame, so we decided to have our counseling there over a weekend, even though we live in Virginia. It also gave us a chance to finish up some last-minute details like cake, flowers, etc. I liked the way they would have married couples talk about how things change over time–whether you’ve been married 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, etc. Some of the topics they included were money issues, children, beliefs, etc. But there’s one topic they left out. Something that challenges your marriage almost as much as what you’re having for dinner (and food is a big marriage issue). Home improvements.

I’m very proud of my husband’s engineering skills. The man can build almost anything. If he can’t, he’ll figure it out. He has a way of visualizing the finished product and making it happen.

As for me, when God passed out spatial reasoning, let’s just say I got left out. I can’t visualize diddly-squat. If you send me into a room and give me a project, unless it involves something basic like painting, I’m more inclined to stare at it with a confused expression. While some people thrive on taking their homes apart and giving them face lifts, the idea of it scares me.

So if you put a guy who can fix anything paired up with a girl who has no clue what he’s talking about, it equates to trouble on many levels. Bless my husband, he’s a patient soul. But after 8 years of marriage, he’s learning that I have to have it spelled out for me. Step by step, that’s the way to go. And don’t give me instructions like, “Hand me the channel-lock pliers.” Just say, “Give me the blue-handled tool that’s hanging next to the hammer.”

This past weekend, we decided to rip up the vinyl flooring in our children’s bathroom and do ceramic tile. I was looking forward to it like a root canal. My husband asked, “Aren’t you excited? Isn’t this going to be fun?” Uh, no, honey. Because if anything goes wrong, it’ll be my fault. If the room spontaneously combusts and the house burns down, it will somehow come back to me.

I’m almost afraid to say this (because the bathroom could STILL spontaneously combust), but it actually went well. Aside from none of the home improvement stores having white tile (what’s up with that? Yes, I’d like to tile my bathroom in slate stone, thanks.), there were no major catastrophes. I’ve never tiled before, but we did use one technique that helped immensely. We laid out the entire first half of the floor and made all the cuts first. Then we took a digital picture, printed it out, and taped the picture to the bathtub. After we took up all the tile and laid the thinset mortar, I actually had a pattern to follow. Much easier!

Have you done any home improvements lately? Are you an engineer-minded person like my husband or clueless like me?