DIY Life Under Construction

I like home improvement or really any DIY type of thing. Projects get me excited because I immediately start imagining all of the things I’d like to do. Note I said, “I’d like to do,” not all the things I can do. That’s because, despite liking to do things myself, I’ve been known, on occasion, to start a project I’ve been ill-prepared to complete, only to find myself in over my head.

Let me explain. A while back, our door broke, and I thought, I know, we can fix it. It’s just a door. So we measured and got the hole drilling tools. We even considered that the house was slightly uneven, so the door would also have to be cut a little unevenly to accommodate the floor’s pitch. That was rather difficult, and we did end up cutting it a wee bit short on top. That wasn’t really the biggest issue, though. Next, we measured the doorknob hole and cut it out using this very cool circular drill attachment specifically designed for door hole cutting. That went brilliantly until I realized that I had used the exact size of the hole I meant to cover with a locking door handle – the knob slipped right through.

Ingenuity Is Key

Disaster! What a waste! The whole door would need to be replaced…or would it. I looked at the hole for a moment and realized that there was, in fact, something I could do. I ran to the kitchen, rummaged around the cabinets, and took out a few cans. Once I found the one I wanted, I began cutting the top off the wrong way, so the entire rim on the top and bottom stayed intact. I washed it and punched a few holes through the center, and Viola! I had a doorknob plate that would not slide through the door hole. All the same – I probably should have sprung for a door guy to come and hang the door for me.

Just Do It Yourself

Another time, I decided that I was tired of the bathroom – it was leaking, the walls were bulging, they had been in bad shape for some time, and I grabbed my son, and we began to demolish the bathroom. All went well until we got to the floor, which had apparently been constructed by some devilish fiend bent on my destruction. There was a wood base floor covered in nailed-down chicken wire, then concrete, then more chicken wire and concrete followed by tile. Perhaps they thought the bathroom could double as a nuclear fallout shelter/faraday cage. I’m not sure why anyone would do that, but the image I had of the bathroom I would create faded quickly with the back-breaking labor of trying to pull up three-inch-thick chicken wire-coated concrete nailed into the tile floor.

It’s OK To Call For Help

Each time – my husband gets annoyed. “Just call a professional!” In my defense, I like doing things myself and have had far more frequent successes than failures. It’s just that most of my failures are spectacular in nature, whereas my successes are great – but since they are successful – they don’t stand out as amazing achievements.

Crisis Averted – DIY Tings

This last time will go down as a crisis averted, almost catastrophic failure. I decided to replace our stove. Not hard, right? Plug out, plug in, screw a few bits and bobs, and POOF! It’s done. Unless, of course, you buy your “new” stove off Facebook Marketplace, and the person you’re buying from tells you it’s been converted for propane, and it hasn’t. You have a kink in the gas line, and then you find another kink below the floorboards, and the stove itself has a leak, and you almost blow up your house.

Not saying that happened, but maybe everything but the blowing up of the house part did. As soon as I found the kink, I stopped. I turned off all the gas connections inside and to our tank and called a professional. Actually, all I did was disconnect the old stove, buy the new stove, find the kink, and stop in my tracks. All the rest was discovered by the professional, and thank God it was. I didn’t know it hadn’t been converted, and if there had not been a kink in the line, things might have gone very south.

DIY Distractions & Everyday Blessings

Instead, I was stuck with two broken stoves – one of which I had just paid to convert, three days before Thanksgiving, and no idea where to get one on such short notice. I returned the stove, got my money back, and went to a big box store to procure a new one. No dice. Backorder, out of stock, we don’t sell floor models, maybe by December 7th... sheesh! There was more than enough annoyance and aggravation to go around.

Out of pure desperation, I drove to a small appliance store and asked. Everything is in the warehouse – nope – not till after the holiday – but let me check anyway. I walked around a bit, not really knowing what to do next, and came back to the stoves again. The least expensive one there was significantly more than I wanted to spend, but there were two of the same floor model on display, and they said I could have it.

Who’s Got Your Back?

On my way home with a stove in my trunk and no idea how I would get it out, I was suddenly struck with appreciation for my husband. He is usually the one to bail me out when I have gotten in over my head. While he does give me grief about it, he always pulls through. Sometimes it’s finding a last-minute contractor to fix my mess or getting the money to pay for whatever extra I have. Other times, he’s the angel on my shoulder quietly whispering… wait, who am I kidding here … yelling that I need to get a professional for some things.

I called to thank him for always having my back – for being my ride or die – for being my foxhole friend, and as I was speaking, the whole situation reminded me that our Lord is called both father and husband in the bible – and I know why.

“For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.” Psalm 27:5 

“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” Hebrews 4:16