The Hard Way

Lately life makes me think of that Mary Chapen Carpenter song, “The Hard Way”, given the fact that it seems everything hubby and I do is achieved by taking the most difficult route possible. We can’t just up and move…we have to get ourselves into circumstances that draw it out into a long, excruciating, stressful, never-ending process repeated way too soon after the initial long, drawn-out move and house re-do. Worst of all, it’s causing me to miss my very favorite time of the year. While I was busy loading a trailer and getting it to our new abode, picking out paint, and cleaning sludge, spring happened. And I missed it. Turkeys are going un-hunted. Morel mushrooms are going un-gathered. Flowers are going un-smelled. Birds are going un-watched. Save for a few galvanized tubs of tomatoes, the garden is going un-planted.

Stress has reached new levels – you haven’t lived life on the edge until you’ve driven an overloaded truck and enclosed trailer complete with two dogs down scenic Hwy 14, where the curves are so sharp a person has been known to see their own tail lights.

This week at Chateau Pee-Pee, we were able to retrieve a load of flooring and paint a room. At this rate we’ll be settled in about three years, but with hubby’s way-too-demanding job and still caring for a home three hours away, we’re doing the best we can. We should be paying someone to do the work, but you can’t get blood from a turnip, so the work falls to us to try to complete in our spare time.  At least the pee smell is mostly gone. We should now change the name to Chateau Paint Fumes, which is much preferable. While paint fumes aren’t high on my list of favorite smells, the scent does say “Progress.” However, it’s hard to get the image out of my head of Tom Hanks in, “The Money Pit.”

Now, aside from being stressed out, we’re caught in limbo. Our Mountain Home house no longer feels like home, nor does our new house feel like home just yet. If there’s one good thing to be said for the way we seem to do things, it’s that if we ever DO get settled and relaxed and into a routine, we’ll greatly appreciate what everyone else seems to take for granted. Right now that seems a long way away, but I know it’ll eventually get here…one step at a time. I hope for your sake I can do it without too much whining.