Bathroom and kitchen renovations - I'm outta here

WHEN WE WERE in snowy New York state last weekend, Sheryl's nephews came over and destroyed our kitchen ceiling.

We have some leaking in the kitchen during bad weather, so we are redoing the plumbing and ceiling. Evan and Brant tore out the ceiling and now we can see the original shingles from the original roof - the kitchen was added to the back of the house many years ago.

Hopefully no skeletons in our walls.

Then we had our friend Nick come over and look at the plumbing, and we discovered we need a new upstairs shower. Sheryl has now decided to redo the shower and floors up there, and there will be a lot of banging and clattering as we smash walls and take apart fixtures in the next few weeks.

I say "we" with reservation. She'll do all the work. I'm allergic to home renovation projects. I'll help  her carry stuff and clean up. Maybe. I can work the shop vac and burn wood.

There's a fine line to walk when your spouse is working hard and you are really useless. It's not that I don't want to help. It's just that there's a genetic code in my brain that goes off when home repair is mentioned. Something like, "Ohhhhh nooooo."

Sheryl just asked me to go upstairs in our historic building downtown and measure a room (she says an opening). I simply can't follow what she wants and how she wants it done. My brain just doesn't seem to process the instructions. So, she went up and did it herself. It took her longer to explain it to me than it did for her to just do it herself.... See, she's learning.

In other words, I'm a musician. And kinda dumb. At least I admit my weaknesses.

So. We'll see how it goes, and how long it takes, and how much I help/get in the way. Always an adventure. Always.