“I Could Live In A tent With You”

Two things to avoid during marriage –  remodeling your kitchen and building your own home.  They will try your patience!   We unknowingly tackled both of these in the matter of two years!  I say “unknowingly” because neither of us knew at the time we started remodeling our kitchen, that we would soon be selling that house and be moving to another state to build our own home.

The kitchen remodel occurred in our first home that was built in 1901.  So you can imagine the structural issues we encountered.  The entire kitchen was gutted out from floor to ceiling, not to mention the total removal of one wall in order to enlarge the space.   We had unlevel floors and a sagging ceiling to tend with, along with redirecting the plumbing.  The project that we figured would only take us a couple of months ended up lasting five months.  You see, even though your husband may be in construction, that doesn’t mean your house will get worked on first!

We separated the opening from the kitchen to the rest of the house with heavy plastic in hopes that the unrelenting dust would stay out of the main house.  Didn’t happen.  Our dining room became the kitchen.  We kept the refrigerator in the corner, and the dining room table served as the kitchen counters.  The crock pot became our stove and oven all in one.  The water source was our bathroom sink and the garden hose outside.  We were basically camping!  Which reminded me of what I had told my husband when we first married – “I don’t care where we live, I could live in a tent with you”!  That statement was so true!  I love him and could live in a tent with him!  I had to stop all my sarcasm and complaints.  It was time I became a helpmate to him, in word and deed!  Once I fully acted on this, the entire job went so much smoother.

We only got to enjoy the fruits of our labor for about 3 months before we moved and eventually sold the house.  The kitchen remodel was a huge selling feature and helped us get top dollar.  It also made our marriage stronger.  We got to once again see each other at their worst, and at the end of the day laugh at ourselves for our stupidity!

The building of our own home had many adventures in and of itself!  I should probably write a book. After all the back-breaking labor, from the installation of the many windows and doors to the installation of all the wood flooring (a very large home with more square feet of wood flooring than I care to think about), to the sanding, priming and painting of all the interior walls I can honestly say that it strengthened our marriage once again!  All struggles make us stronger and wiser!  And yes, I could still live in a tent with him!