Did you know that?
No matter if you ask them to please leak a month before or after December, they just don't listen. They don't know you'll stand there, looking at your husband, knowing damn well you have to pull money out of savings or empty the mason jar of kayak money to buy a new one. Or in our case a little of both. And if you yell at a water heater, in your driveway, after you've purchased three different types of pipes to connect it, your neighbors will most certainly think you are NUTS. For reals.
It's moments like this: my husband is accidently dropping tools from the attic where he is precariously perched…. and I have one foot on the wall and two hands on the vent pipe to hold in place as he anchors it above….. all the while yelling at one of my big kids to please stir dinner so it doesn't burn. I think Luke may have been running through the house half clothed and Sophia was surely somewhere singing Christmas music….. and whichever big kid was not stirring dinner was most certainly lost in a book. I wish someone had a camera, that someone would snap a photo of this hilarious moment. There have been heaps and piles of these moments in this home of ours. Remodeling an old home is expensive chaos. Things happen at the least convenient times and you've no other choice than to roll with it.
And if, like me, after a day of grumbling about money you choose to surf frugal blogs and books, hoping to find some money saving secret, you'll eventually come to the conclusion that some things are just totally worth shelling out hard earned cash for…. like hot water heaters and organic milk.
And while you might not live as cheaply as you wish, you live well. And that's good too.
{Plus, I am constantly in awe of a man that can pull a 16 hour day and still end it by reading his 4 year old a story and tucking him into bed, before he goes back to finishing and cleaning up water heater installment chaos. Yup.}
And in the rare moment of clarity when someone does grab a camera in one of these moments, for example when I am driving the 1976 VW bus while my husband stands on top of it with a chainsaw to trim trees, because the city said the branches are too long, and a tree trimmer charges $300 per tree to trim, and we don't have a tall enough ladder…… when all this happens and our laughing 12 year old daughter snaps a photo, I will share it with all of you.
Because when life gets bumpy, laughter is always the best medicine.
Sweetbrier Farms Journal 
Great sense of humor, and adventure…..
LikeLike
LOL…..I’ve been on a forced hyatus due to my computer breaking. I’ve been reading your blogposts from my phone without photos or a way to respond back. So when I arrive today and see you in a VW bus with this very funny story it just reminds me why I love you. I’m so glad the water heater got fixed and the trees are trimmed, the dinner stirred, songs being sung,books being read and the man who works a 16 hour day,repairs broken items and still read his son a book is a demi-god and nothing less. Be well friend and hang in there.
LikeLike
Great blog!! Miss you so much. Thanks for the mail for my little guy! He reads it over and over!!!
LikeLike
great post and great photo!! i have a man like that, too, who works all day and has so much on his plate but always puts his family first. love that. thanks for the wonderful read this morning…
LikeLike
Great job Miss-12 for taking that picture. Miss you guys!
LikeLike
This photo could have been taken at my house…. Congrats on your new water heater. Oh, I think we have yelled at parts in the driveway, too. Difference is, our neighbors know we are nuts.
LikeLike
I just gotta say that I LOVE your van! My first car was a 73 yellow beetle. I have a slight affinity for air cooled engines and their cute little rumbles.
LikeLike
oh. my. goddess. being warm is so worthwhile though, huh?
LikeLike
Wow great post! I can feel your laughter coming through and and it make me grin :).
LikeLike
Excellent post, so well written! Love the humour and optimism…Christmas is a hard time financially, no matter how simple you do it (just baking ingredients, gifts for teachers and various exchanges…even if you’re doing handmade…)…then the cars need snow tires…argh! Thanks for the reminder to smile about it, because what else can you do??
LikeLike
What a great photo!
LikeLike
Ahhh, thanks 🙂
LikeLike
Oh thank you Valarie. You are too sweet. I think we all have these moments of chaos, right? And the older I get the more likely I am to laugh about it IN the moment it is happening.
LikeLike
I am so glad to hear he loved the letter! Sophia has been writing letters like crazy as of late. I love it 😉
LikeLike
Yeah for rockin' hubbies! So fabulous, right? It's funny how these moments are always the ones my friends love reading the most 😉 Nothing like the realization that everyone has THOSE kind of days!
LikeLike
Oh we miss you too! Holidays in the south are just not quite the same.
LikeLike
The things we do to save a few bucks, right? Sooo funny. Remodeling certainly builds character!
LikeLike
Oh goodness we do too! She's been with us for nearly nine years and 4 states and three cross country moves! She used to have a yellow vw bug as her pal…. also a '73! What a sweet little car. But two vintage vehicles is a bit much with our lifestyle…. so we sold her in Sitka, AK where she is still being driven around by a retired Coast Guard friend that looks like Jerry Garcia. How perfect is that?
LikeLike
absolutely!!!
LikeLike
Oh good! It certainly was a laughable moment…. there are lots of them here, actually!
LikeLike
I totally agree. I just spent $40 on candy making supplies for piano teacher & friend gifts. Cha-ching! {lol} And I don't miss the cost & hassle of snow tires in the north. I do however very much miss the snow. Glad to know you're smiling right along with me 😉
LikeLike
Credit goes to our daughter Jade for it. Totally funny moment!
LikeLike
Yes, in the end, my beloved beetle was a bit much for me to handle as well. I sold her during my first year in college. I called my mom venting and looking for consolation, after a string of breakdowns and stranded moments on dark highways. During our conversation, I came to the conclusion that it was either college or the car. I chose college. A wise choice in the end, I’m sure…
LikeLike
oh my, I do suppose it WAS a wise choice…. I am sure she found her way to where she needed to be. LOL
LikeLike
Expensive chaos. Add slow to the start of the that phrase and you have our house nailed, too.
Your descriptions had me giggling. sorry.
Nicola
LikeLike
Laughter, that's it right? It totally saves the day… the marriage… the sanity! In the words of a favorite song… nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile…..
LikeLike