Daddy Day Care

After a successful 5K finish this past weekend, my father has left our abode and made his way home back North to my mother. After three weeks we’re glad to have our home back (though after spending all that time sawing, sanding and painting the house is now covered in a thick layer of sawdust – and other dust particles – that will likely take me a few more days to completely eradicate) but, believe it or not, there’s still so many projects I need his help with that I do (almost) wish he could have stayed longer.

See now, some of you might not understand. I bet in your house you have fancy things like toilets that flush, and working lights in your kitchen, and you probably have racks to hang your clothing on in your closets. You lucky dogs you. And I bet you even have exhaust fans in your bathrooms and backsplashes in your kitchens. Well aren’t you just living the high life! Because, you see, up until my Dad came to visit, we didn’t have any of those things. So, sure, it’s great to have my tv, and my couch, and my general routine of life back to normal again, but it’s not as great as having a bathroom door to shut for privacy sake (which we also did not have until Dad’s visit). So, obviously, I am very grateful … regardless of how long he stays.

Oh sure, his visit was not without its comically imposing moments … like when he casually informed me that he had invited a guest over to spend the night at my house (now Dad, you have to ask my permission before inviting your little friends over to play). And the words “Your stupid DVR won’t let me record all my shows because it’s already recording your junk. Which one of these programs of yours can I delete to make room for mine?” became a nightly occurrence. Oh, and never mind the fact that we didn’t have a bedroom door, or even curtains on our bedroom window, to provide any semblance of separation between us and him (and Dad, completely oblivious to that fact that we can see everything each other is doing, is prone to strutting around in just his tighty whiteys). But really I didn’t notice too much – not now that (again, thanks to him) we have a wall-mounted tv in our bedroom to help distract us.

So, now that he’s gone for at least the next 6 months, it’s all in my hands to keep the renovations going and on track. And after a few weeks of hard work it’s hard to stay motivated. I did manage to hem the bedroom curtains though. Or, rather, I took them to be hemmed elsewhere (the last time I did it myself it became abundantly clear why I got that C- in Home Economics class). And, considering the curtains came from IKEA, I’m pretty sure I spent more on the alterations than I did on the window coverings themselves. But, hey, at least now we have privacy … and that will really help the next time Dad comes back to town. I’m already making a new list of projects for him.

Stay tuned for photos of our projects. I'll take them as soon as the dust (literally) clears.