Teamwork.....

Home ownership is a never-ending saga of minor repairs and fix-its.  Hubby has fallen behind after 6 months of Grampa Day Care and some of what needs to be done is becoming more crucial as the cold weather moves in. 

Our contractor for the new bathroom had to change the position of a heat duct and install one extra.  We didn't immediately notice that the replacement duct work was not at all like what was originally there.  Instead of metal pipes, they used insulated plastic - bulky and fragile and unattractive.

Of course, if any of you have seen our basement (and I sincerely hope you have not!) you would immediately note that "unattractive" is a rather relative term.  But hey, it's my basement.  In the process of plumbing for the dishwasher hubby had to take down the "new" ugly ducts, leaving us with no heat in the bath.  This was clearly not a problem until the weather cooled.  Since the bath is under our bedroom it was impacting the comfort of that room as well.

So today, we tackled it.  I've never done this particular repair, so I learned some useful skills.  The whole thing took a couple of hours total and we did a very nice job, thank you very much. 

But the thing I am thankful for is that Hubby and I can work as a team. 

My parents tended to work together by staying away from each other.  Dad would be putting up drywall in one room while my Mom painted in another.  I know they did a lot of remodeling.  I tried to think of a single time when I saw Mom holding something so Dad could work on it.  Aside from spring and fall yard clean-up, which was a team sport (and even then it was more Dad), I don't recall them working together on projects.  Even Christmas decorations were solo acts - Mom would wait until Dad got the lights on the tree. Dad would watch her hang tinsel. 

I like the teamwork.  I like that he can tell me an easier way to do something, and that I can do some creative problem-solving with him.  I like the feeling I get when we build something together, maybe because it feels like we are building "us". 

DeeDee