o. my. gosh.

I do believe it is official: my husband is certifiable.  Dear, often charming, a hard worker, but certifiably insane, nonetheless.  But before I get to the whole story about why I think this I will tell you what has been going on around here.

There has been no recent work on the bathroom/laundryroom/mudroom, which is fine.  David has been pondering and pondering and PONdering how to do it so it will all work.  It’s a pretty tight fit to do everything and I think he has finally decided the one wall that is between the bathroom and family room will actually have to move 2 feet.  He was trying to think of a way to do it without doing that, but there just isn’t room for everything.  He went to Lowe’s (good old; we have spent so much time there in the past 8 years that it has become our official “date” and we know many of the workers) and spent over an hour talking to “the guy” who explained everything about life, love and plumbing.  And now David knows it all.  He has decided to use the “new” Pex plumbing because it looks easier to install and lasts longer and requires fewer joints and fiddly work and is more efficient.  So we have loads of pipe sitting here.  In case I have not explained, the Pex is for moving all the plumbing because both the supply and the sewer drain for everything upstairs goes right through the wall he has to move.   ( The air return for the upstairs does too, but that’s not as big an issue).  Plus, of course, there has to be plumbing for the washer, dryer, laundry sink, toilet, and bathroom sink.  So more or less, he is ready for the big day of plumbing.  Now, to find the time.

I have been working.  It’s all fine.  Nothing special.

Jan has been growing and being a kid.  Here is a photo of him where he is sooooo tired he is trying to play and sleep at the same time.  The other possibility is that he is trying to pick up his pacifier without using his hands also because he is so tired.  It’s a lot of work to use your hands, you know, when you could just grab it with your teeth, oh wait, he doesn’t have any of those.  Maybe that’s why he was completely unsuccessful.

Okay, so on to what we have been doing and the charge of insanity.  Last night I felt like a complete loser because I went grocery shopping on a Friday night so that we could work at home today.  Anyway, it is raining here harder than we have seen in years; it started at about 4.30 this morning and has just poured for the majority of the day.  However, there was a “dry” spell when it at least wasn’t actually raining although all the trees were drip drip dripping.  And speaking of trees:

This is a tree that we wanted gone for 2 reasons:  the front yard was just dirt because it was so shady and we needed a tree to be the Tree of Life at church.  So why not just cut one down?  This is the cause of the charge of insanity.  I don’t necessarily think he is insane for going up about 26 feet on a ladder with a chainsaw.  No, that part I understand.  To get trees removed professionally around here costs about 2000$.  Now that really is insane.   Clearly we are not going to cough up that kind of coin.  Nor do I think he is insane for yanking the biggest part of the tree down with a rope tied to the car (photo 3); that was somewhat ingenious, in fact. No, the insanity comes in between photos 4 and 5 where I was to flabbergasted and busy to take a photo. Did I mention we needed it for church?  So part of the tree that he cut down we loaded onto the trailer behind the car where it stuck off the back of the trailer about 15 feet and dragged on the road.  And he drove it to church like that.  He even drove past a cop who waved at him.  It was during a home game so no one was on the streets, but still…That part is insane.  However, I hand it to him, we now have a sunnier yard, or at least we will if it ever stops raining.  It started pouring again almost the minute he finished.  God was watching and waiting.  Plus, church will now have a spiffy Tree of Life, as if Jesus weren’t enough.

This is what I did today:

There were 4 pallets of laminate flooring in the garage which all needs to get moved so we can park in there when the cold weather comes.  A lot of it has to go upstairs.  So I moved 1288 pounds of flooring to the upstairs today.  I kept myself going with motivational thoughts of how much weight I was supposedly losing, what percentage of my body weight each box was (each box was 46 pounds), how my biceps will be made of steel what with moving this stuff in addition to carrying Jan around in that 20jillion pound car seat all the time.  Oh and I also helped a bit with the tree, took care of Jan, cleaned the house, did some laundry, worked on lesson plans, wrote this blog and glimpsed the ND football game (we won against U of Michigan 35-17.)  And that was just today.  Tomorrow we have our first Sunday of the season with two services and we will only be home for about 2 hours between them.  You see why we did so much at home today?

And now I must go because the lure of the Ohio state v USC game is so strong.  We want both teams to lose; do you think it’s possible?  Maybe a pterodactyl will come down and chomp off everyone’s heads (spot the kids in the hall reference, fam).  Oh and also, I’m exhausted.

ps.  Yes, it is leaking in the basement.  Good thing there’s nothing really down there.