At my cousin’s shower a few weeks ago, someone rendered the bride a wise piece of advice…

“Remember, the more you do… the more you have to do!”

So true.

Oh how I wish someone would have tapped me on the shoulder many moons ago and told me to put down the paint brush and back away from the tool box.  Little did I know my ability to be handy was going to eventually bite me in my old lady ass.  Over the past two decades of marriage I have painted, wallpapered, stripped, refinished, and repaired my way into superstar handy man status.  In my earlier years, I was proud of my mechanical abilities.   I must have been smoking some sort of epoxy-crack as I think I may have thought that I looked cute in a tool belt.

I guess at 26 it was cute.

Problem is…at 44 it sucks.

Odd thing is it’s a bit of two prong problem.  First, Sean thinks I can do anything.  Like that one time after we had a new patio put in (Um…no.  I don’t do poured concrete!) and we needed a retaining wall.  Sean thought it would be stellar if, instead of hiring a masonry person to build the wall which would be uber-expensive, I would build the wall  (because I must look like I can haul retaining wall bricks the size boulders around the yard).

A wall?

Which leads me to the second part of the problem.  After years of doing home improvement projects myself, I’ve grown cocky.  Meaning, there’s a giant part of me that is still like, “Yeah.  I can do that.”  Then about fifteen minutes into the job, after I’ve been to Lowes and spent a few hundred dollars getting all the stuff I need, I realize that I’m a total asshole because I have no business building a retaining wall.   For starters, you’d think by now I’d be well aware of my limitations one of which is measuring.  I suck at measuring.  I’m more of an ‘eyeball it’ type of gal, and when building a wall that has to…you know…retain things…turns out measuring is kind of important.  In addition, I need to consistently remind myself of my age.  I’m 44.  I’m tired, and I have five kids who generate mountains of laundry and require annoying things like three meals a day.  Doing everything they need while building a wall is a bit of juggle and something has to give.  Usually it’s the laundry and that’s never good.

Read the rest at:http://inconceivablebook.com/blog/when-one-thing-leads-to-another-a-chapter-in-home-improvement-hell/