Slow and Steady

Well, slow, yes, steady not so much.

My house is a maze of not-quite-finished projects that were interrupted by various surgeries over the years.  They all bother me, but chief among the unfinished projects is the kitchen, which was done years ago except for the backsplash and cabinet filler strips.  The backsplash is something I could do myself, mostly, but the cabinets were not quite square.

So, I pushed my husband into rehanging them correctly.  Not just because they drive me crazy, but also because I know that he is always happier when he is working on something.  Unfortunately, this project is going very, very slowly.  He has taken down 3 and rehung 2 over the space of about a week.

I am trying hard to walk the line between patience and pushing him to do something I know will make him happier.   Part of the problem is that I know he does have real pain, but I also know that he has a tendency to use his pain to avoid doing things that are hard.  It would be easy for me to assume that all his complaints are malingering, and it would be possible that I would be right.  However, it would also be very likely that I would be wrong.

These delays are more than just annoying, though, the cabinets being down have made it difficult to cook, difficult to wash dishes, difficult to feed the dogs even, depending on where the cabinets are.  That means we are eating out, which isn't great for health or wallets.  I'm also really concerned with the damage that could be done while they are out.  We have three dogs that can be rambunctious and knock things over.  There is also water in the kitchen, splashed while doing dishes, splashed from the dogs bowl, or just spilled.

Someday, the cabinets will be rehung, and then I can get to work on that backsplash!