I woke yesterday morning with high hopes for the day. I had spent hours and hours on Sunday chipping mortar off recycled brick (aren't I just eco-friendly), resulting in mortar dust in my hair, teeth, eyes, pockets, shoes, bra, and panties. I figured I had enough clean brick to do one of the gazillion projects I have planned for this week, and was very much looking forward to laying it out.
I started around 9am with the actual laying of brick. It was slow going, and frustrating, but I kept plugging away. Sweat dripped off my nose as I carefully levelled each brick 4 different ways before moving on to the next. My arms, hands, and especially fingers ached with the strain of handling the heavy bricks over and over....several hundred overs, actually. But I was determined, so I kept on going. Around 3pm I stepped back to look at my work and my heart dropped right into my shoes.
I hated the way it looked. I had this vision in my head of what the finished product would look like, and what I was seeing there in my yard looked nothing like what I wanted.
After hyperventilating and taking a break to breathe into a paper bag for a bit, I called my Mommy to ask what to do. We bounced ideas off each other for a bit, and came up with an alternate plan that seemed to be a great idea. So I took a deep breath and dived right back in. I plugged away at the modified plan for the next 4 hours, all the while feeling the 'fishbowl' effect of having all the neighbors watching me out there grunting and sweating while Little Sprout ran around the yard in her winter boots, a diaper, and t-shirt. Man, my family is klassee like that.
I stepped back once again to look at what I had accomplished, and I still didn't like it. Sorry, Mom, but I didn't. So I called my good friend Sunny, who lives just a few minutes away. Being the awesome friend that she is, she came right over (after putting her many children to bed) to help with the thinking process.
We wandered the yard, looking at my various projects from every angle until almost 11pm. The final verdict? Most of the brick I worked so hard to lay has to come up.
Oh, the agony!
So I am taking it slow today. I woke with body parts tingling and muscles aching. I had a further brainstorm just before sleep took me last night, and I am feeling better about this whole project. All I gotta say is that Mr. Barefoot had better like it when he gets home.
2 comments:
Oh, I just hate it when things happen like that! Of course, I try to limit the amount of actual physical labor I put into the projects that go as planned, let alone the ones that gets screwed up.
Take two cheesecakes and call me in the morning!
We must be related! I can not stand it when a project goes awry. I have to see it through to the end. So, I do understand your agony and pain from your brick project. I have actually chipped the grout off of bricks like you did. I give you an A+ for all the hard work. I can't wait to see the finished product.
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