The boys are in the kitchen

If you know that I have four daughters, then the logical conclusion to draw from the title of today's blog is that the boys in my kitchen are teenage friends of my daughters. Wrong. It's my husband and his buddies, D1 and D2. Hubby has known D1 since high school. Hubby and D2 lived together in college. And in the intervening 25 years, they see each other two or three times a year, remain friends, but perhaps are not as close as they once were. And yet "boys" is absolutely the right word for them. They are drinking scotch and laughing - dare I say "giggling" - in the other room and driving me nuts while reliving the glory days of their youth, brought together by "The Remodel."

Today is day 29 of "The Remodel." Most people talk and dream and plan for months or years before undertaking a remodeling project. Not us. Nope. Home Depot crazily approved us for a credit card and the next thing I knew, we decided to put a bathroom in the basement and I was shopping for a man-size toilet, shower, and sink. We have assisted almost all of our friends over the years with projects, so when this bright idea entered hubby's head, he called in a couple of markers and I've had D1 and D2 ever since.

Bathroom was complete in 15 days. Started January 31st, a Sunday, with me renting a cement cutter from H.D. so the boys could start the plumbing. "Don't worry, honey. Five days tops." Famous last words from the hubby. Naturally, boys in their 40's can't quite work as many hours as boys in their 20's.... and I know this because I watched these same boys do a bathroom remodel in one weekend back in their younger days. There was a lot more beer drinking then, but there wasn't as much cracking of bones and creaking of joints and ibuprophen....

Anyway, after being admonished to not "girly up" the bathroom, they sent me off to buy floor tile, paint, etc. I went with a brown/olive green theme that looks very nice and isn't remotely "girly." Day 15 approached and it looked like construction was complete... My husbands "Man Cave" had a "Manly Bathroom." And really it does make a lot of sense. He keeps all of his power tools, etc, down there so it would be very nice for him to have a place to clean up before coming upstairs. And also, it would be very convenient for him if he needed to go potty. Now, he wouldn't have to come all the way up the stairs to go.

But then I made my big mistake. I referred to the new bathroom as his "Office." (smack myself in the forehead) "Hey babe, we could build an office down here too." We can't build a bedroom - he informs me - because we would be required by code to add a second egress so it has to be an office. Gawd. Studs up? Check. Drywall hung? Check. Tape and Mud applied? Check. Tonight he bought the wood flooring. Next step is primer and paint, then floor, and then final little electrical things, and then I think it's done.

Did I mention that this is day 29? All day Saturday, All day Sunday, and Every day after work until at least 11 pm. For the last 29 days. That is the schedule for the boys to work. My job is to be nice and polite to the boys. To keep the coffee pot full. And to stay out of the way unless they need me to go to the store. Basically, I've been pretending to be June Freakin' Cleaver for the last 29 days and I may just explode before this is done.

Oh, and I get to pick out the paint color. Hubby said "run on up to H.D. and get some paint for the walls" yesterday. Really? Are you serious? You can't just walk up to that intimidating wall of paint samples at H.D. and "pick out a color." Have you seen it? There have to be over 1,000 color samples - and at least 500 of them are white! Picking the right color for paint requires a plan, a theme. Oh, sure, you can pick a quick color for a bathroom, but an office? A space that may substitute as a guest room? This is not something to be done lightly or without careful consideration. Kera and Miss Christy kept me sane and talked me through that process yesterday. Thanks and love, ladies! I'll write about all that later. But, if you must know, the office will be peach. :)

And now I end my day the way I've ended the past 29 days. Alone in the living room, watching reruns of Law & Order and surfing the internet. Listening to the boys in the kitchen, clinking glasses, comparing aches and pains, telling stories of their jobs, their kids, their lives. Reconnecting after being apart for too long. They've moved on from "remember when" to "guess what my daughter did yesterday." I guess it's kinda cool like that.

Respectfully submitted,

K8