"It" happens

So Daughter-One has finally moved downstairs into her own "studio apartment". You'd think she would be grateful, but no. We had hours of grumbling over how it was too big, too flash, too much of a change, just too, too much.

(Given that it is furnished with all the odds and ends of furniture we had lying around, plus the Big Hairy Mistake in his crate, "flash" is not the word I would chose to descibe it once she had moved in).

However, once she had slept down there one night, and made it messily more like home, she was much happier. Unfortunately on the third morning we got up at 6am to find her lying on the sofa in the living room with a face like thunder. For her to be up at 6am on a school holiday morning the world must be ending/I must have entered a parallel universe/aliens must have taken over her body. But I was relieved to hear it was because her room, quote, "smelt like s**t" . She took off to sleep in our bed instead (staying there till lunchtime thus dispelling the alien body snatching theory) When the builder arrived we went downstairs and sure enough it did have a very distinctive whiff of drains.

At first we blamed the Big Hairy Mistake, but the builder took to sniffing around the unfinished bathroom. When he put his nose to the uncovered pipes waiting for the sink to be attached he took a big breath then recoiled so much he nearly knocked me over. Apparently the lack of water running through them was to blame, and they needed to be taped over until the bathroom fittings were installed.

As far as I was concerned, that was problem solved, but Daughter-One was not so easily satisfied. On and on she went about how the aroma and accompanying germs would have seeped into everything in the room, how she would never feel the same about the room again until finally I had to say "Look, s**t happens. Get over it".

She was looking for sympathy from the wrong person. I spent a whole winter as a 13 year old living in a tiny caravan with a stinking long-drop toilet. The smell of drains is nothing to me.

On a more positive front, Daughter-Two's bedroom is now finished and she is absolutely delighted with it. Which was a relief, as I could barely walk after painting the room, then sewing silk flowers and butterflies onto a mosquito net and moving approx 980 books from her old room to her new room. Photos soon.

While I did her room, The Husband has been painting the basement bathroom. This is by far the safest solution.

You know those ads for home loans that show happy young couples laughing as they paint their new home, playfully chasing each other with paint brushes to lovingly dab paint on each other's noses? Not so much in our home. We are more likely to end up chasing each other with power tools. But at least after a week of non-stop work the place is finally looking reasonably habitable.

In between all this, normal life continues including specialist appointments for Daughter-Two. No surprises there but I did think (as I worked to school for a special morning tea the other day) how utterly amazing she is to do SO well despite having Asperger's and, as we now have confirmed, ADHD as well.

Sadly today she is sick - having come down yesterday with a bad headache, fever and then throwing up. But she remains as sweet and helpful as ever.

I took most of the week off work, but there are a couple of new things in store at Designer Digitals:

Digital scrapbooking Australia and New Zealand

 

Comments

[Furniture Quest]

Funny our son got his own place like that when he was in high school and complained too. Same issues too big, to nice, etc. Parents can't win...

[Elena]

Lynn, You are always entertaining with your recounting of the gritty realities of family life... I needed to laugh after a bad day yesterday. :)

[Raylene]

You keep me in stitches, Lynn! Seriously, you need to compile these into a book about your home renovation and make it available!! What a hoot! Erma Bomback has nothing on you!!!

[Angie Wags]

Dan and I do not do home improvement projects together. That's how we've lasted 22 years. I have a wonderful handyman. ;)

[anke]

Oh you totally cracked me up with the power tool remark, that would be our home if I could ever get husband to do anything around here other than complain about the mess :) Thanks for the giggle!!!

[merrilee Larson]

This is a great entry for your blog, Lynn. You tell it like it is and with so much humor that you've got us hanging on every word and chuckling all the while.

[Beth Holmes]

I love the Beach Huts mini kit -- I just used it to scrap a couple of pages from our beach vacation. I'll post them to the Designer Digitals gallery soon (I'm jimbethmag). Thanks for designing them!