A Fitting End to the Week

Today was a fitting end to a frustrating week.

Phil had gone up to town and had fun with friends last night. After a leisurely morning, he headed to Scottsville to purchase two things he had seen with the boys a few days back. He had mentioned a week or two ago how much he would like to have a child's school desk, where the writing surface slopes down a bit, and the chair is connected. Lo and behold, when he stopped by an antique store on Thursday, they had just such a desk, including ink well. It needed new paint, and the top surface was water-stained, but it was exactly what he wanted.

For some reason, he didn't buy it (and it was only $30! And all the boys loved it!). I think he wanted to check with me about whether we had space for it, or whether I wanted it.

There was also a light armoire, made of cedar.

Anyway, he had intended to stop there last evening to buy those two things, but in the rush to get to a supply store before closing (which he didn't, because he was stopped behind a school bus), he didn't get back to the thrift store.

Today he could, though, so into Scottsville he went. He did buy the armoire (though when loading the van, he realized he probably overpaid for it). But the little desk sold last night.

I felt ill. He took it more philosophically—it wasn't meant to be. Obviously.

Back home, he needed a little more time to plan the next step on paper. Suddenly he realized he was lacking masking tape. We did have the better part of a roll, but he figured he needed multiple rolls, so back to Scottsville he went, arriving just minutes before the hardware store closed for the weekend.

Back home again, he figured he should dig out a drainage pipe under the foundation, as it is currently blocked in and the water is pooling. A quick job with the tractor.

Except the tractor wouldn't start. The battery had been drained. Which isn't a big deal in the long run, but in the moment, it meant that many more hours of standing water not able to drain.

So then we went to lay out tape on the floor, in preparation for drilling for various pipes. Phil is a consummate engineer in laying things out, measuring multiple times in multiple places, including diagonals, to ensure square corners. (I'm more of the persuasion of, "It's just tape; is a half inch that big a deal one way or the other?" But I am not volunteering for this task, and I can imagine that a half inch could be a big deal.) That took some time, but in the end it was all squared. And then Phil realized that we probably should have put down another layer of subfloor first. And when that goes down, it will obscure our absolutely perfect tape job.

About that time, he went to check on neighbor's animals, and he took the boys to their pool for fun.

Not a productive day, nor week.

But the prayers of the saints must be helping, because rather than feeling like today was the end of the world it makes me shake my head and roll my eyes. So what else is new?

We'll carry on.