More Than Meets The Eye

It's 9:30, I'm tired, and it's a trying week at work and with our new house. So, I'll make this a quick one.

We've been taking the boys with us as we work on the house. And, man, there's a lot to do – far more than Michelle and I imagined. A lot of it is stuff that we did with our house in Rhode Island: tearing up carpets, removing clutter, painting trim, painting rooms, landscaping, etc. On top of that, some of the things we did in our house in Rhode Island, such as redoing walls and refinishing hardwood floors, we're not attempting to do here.

So, why is it taking so long? There are two quick answers here, neither of which we took fully into account: Bigger house and children.

Our house in Rhode Island is about 1300 square feet. Our house in Mt. Vernon is 2200, or 69 percent larger than the Rhode Island home. I guess that's supersizing, although I'd submit our home (with one bathroom, mind you) was more of a mini than a regular. Anyway, painting trim, walls, cabinets – you name it – in the new house is taking that much longer due to the fact that it is larger. Duh. Should've thought of that one.

When we bought our home in Rhody more than 8 years ago, we had no children. So, we could work anytime we needed, for as long as we needed, until the job was done. And when we worked, it was both of us (for the most part), so we covered more ground, workwise, than one person. Now, we have the two boys, and that means that usually only one of us is able to do work. Typical example: This evening. I drove to our home in Mt. Vernon all hepped up to do some work. When I got there, Michelle was knee deep in cabinet painting, so it really made no sense for her to stop and take the children to her mother's and sister's. So, I did. Of course, by the time I wrangled the children through bathtime, dinner, brushing, book reading, singing and sleep, it was 8:30 p.m., and I still had dinner to eat, shower and shave and a work email check to do. It would be pushing 10 if I had returned to the house. No sense in that.

Tomorrow will be another game of pass-the-children baton. Who takes the handoff this time?

Tune in!