For the past month I (we) have been doing some much-needed house refreshing--hardwood floors in place of 20-year-old carpet, some new carpet--which involves packing & carrying more books and furniture than I even thought I had. This has gone on for weeks, and it involved lots of trips to Goodwill & other charities to donate furniture & books that I should be able to take out of the library if needed, Marie Kondo-style.
It also confirmed my medieval (?) view of the world. I read or heard one time that in medieval times the peasantry observed mass from behind a lattice screen (medievalists, this may not be true, but hear me out) because they had only a primitive set of beliefs in which simple transgressions brought immediate punishment or because (more likely) the nobility didn't want to rub elbows with them. My behind-the-lattice primitive set of beliefs was borne out in this process of home refreshing because for everything I dared to order that might be considered hubristic (new carpet, hardwood in place of worn and stained carpet) something else in the house of equal value broke and had to be replaced or repaired (furnace, water damage). My wanting a decent-looking house was discovered by the Powers Above, and absolution came only in the form of having to literally pay the price for things that broke. Random events joined by post hoc reasoning or sound retribution for the sin of house pride? You decide.
Hours spent in moving, cleaning, and talking to repair people has played havoc with my writing, of course, so more about that anon.
6 comments:
That sounds about right to me (the cause and effect stuff). This is possibly why we still haven't done anything to the kitchen-- fear of expensive retribution from powers that be.
nicoleandmaggie--Right? Why should this be? It makes no sense, and yet here I am waiting for a new furnace to be delivered and a pipe to be fixed.
This has been happening to us for four years in our house and is a significant factor in our desire to sell and move on. It's some comfort to hear that it happens to other people, too. It is SO disruptive, annoying, time- and energy-consuming. Much sympathy.
Dame Eleanor--it really is disruptive! No one who's not going through it seems to understand that it takes as much mental energy to manage all the logistics as it does to do regular work, not to mention the literal hours spent packing, moving, and cleaning.
We're in the process of getting estimates for a kitchen rehab. I'm terrified it's going to halt any and all progress on regular work. For me, that's not the worst. Nothing I do this summer is going to figure into my tenure decision. (Except the portfolio I'm constructing.) For hubby (who works at home all the time), that would mean big trouble. Our Starbucks bill (and eating out!) may become substantial.
OMG the mental energy! Yes. 1000x this.
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