Maybe Mark felt a little pressure from me to quickly finish the flooring project given how soon we'd be welcoming our first child into our home. My pregnancy-induced nesting instincts and hormones could have made me a little emotional about needing to have things finished before the baby arrived. Also, my predisposition toward planning.
But, imagine yourself in my shoes. While others in our prenatal classes were discussing nursery colors and washing onesies, I was moving all our belongings to our unfinished basement, keeping shower gifts protected from dust in plastic bins, and packing a bag. Not for the hospital, but for a week's stay with friends so our floor could be sanded and sealed. Would you be completely rational and unemotional in this situation? I didn't think so.
So, Mark and I agreed to divide up tasks, enlist the help of friends, and try to have our floor finished and livable within a week. Ambitious? Yes. Achievable? Well. . .
I was in charge of ensuring that all the necessary tools and materials were ready and waiting when needed. Once again, I relied on my favorite hardware store for advice and a referral for a business that rented out sanding machines. They haven't let me down yet. All was ready and waiting for Mark and a few buddies to get to work.
I realize that it was January and we live in Minnesota, but did we really have to have a snowstorm during this critical week? No, not flurries or a few inches of fluffy, snowman-friendly snow. A real storm with high winds, limited visibility and weather-related travel advisories. Yes, a snowstorm.
Just how did that affect us? Well, for one, our friend Nick, who had graciously agreed to give up most of his weekend to push a sanding machine around our living room and kitchen, lives about 45 minutes away from us. That's on a good day, with no snow-related travel advisories.
Nick's wife, understandably, didn't want him traveling alone in the dark with the bad weather. So he stayed later than he planned, and Mark drove him home and came back to our house to do more work. He spent the night on the couch in the basement one of the nights, after having worked until 3 AM to finish some sanding. Thankfully, our neighbors didn't hear the loud machine (Mark asked later and was relieved at their answers).
The long and the short of it is that the work got done, though a lot of sweat, tears and stress went into this project. I am not sure Mike and Deb saw me in the same light after that week. I hope I'm forgiven.
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