People whose last names begin with H

I have chuckled many times about people whose last names begin with H. Our last name is H and then there is another group of H's. Both families have quite the propensity to take on large projects which many people would consider nutty and some people DO consider nutty and have said that to us. Both have hobby farms and are very talented at creating more work for themselves in the name of 'doing it ourselves'. 'Doing it ourselves' means the family has to do strange things like sleep in the barn or yard to redo our homes. We are getting closer to closing the books on that section of our life but.....I do dream of crazy things like adding onto the back of the house to make room for the guests who can't stay here for lack of room. Dreaming, dreaming....... When I hear the H's talk of their adventures at church they have NO IDEA what kindred spirits we are. I am smiling inside thinking of their pain in their endeavors and truly understanding. I LOVE it when some suburbanite tells me how chaotic their life is right now because they are working on a renovation project in their home and I ask "SO what are you working on" and they reply something about painting the mantel in their living room. The church H's current situation reminds me of the time we removed the floor and the outside wall to our kitchen and basically had no kitchen and my in-laws came to visit. To cook I had to run around the house to the grill in back and was pregnant with someone and......we had non-stop rain to deal with. Can you say 'mashed potatoes on the grill?' Very good! You can say it. I SO feel their pain. Every single room has been ripped out of this house. Every wall and exterior everything has been redone. The roof was off when a tornado passed nearby and lets not forget the year Charley dug our basement out by hand and it was jacked up through the winter with varmits eyeing a possible new home and Charley leaving for Europe every other month two feet of snow falling in a day and then melting the next week.....and I was pregnant with someone.

I need to have Mr. H and Mr. H get together and have their own photo sharing time and laugh about their own insanity. The wives can have their own time of laughing about these crazy tendencies. I have a scrap book full of the 17 years of home destruction and construction which is very eye popping and generally not interesting to the public who has not been crazy enough to do such things. Waiting patiently for trim on the walls is far from stressful in comparison.

So H's, know that I TOTALLY understand what you are going through but I am happy for you at the same time that your home will be further along and you will be able to enjoy it more after the pain is over. I laugh and cry with you and understand why the mom is crashing exhausted on the couch at church. I wish I could help you put it all back together. My Mr. H is more like you than you know. Moving furniture AGAIN for dinner guests????? I love you guys. You crack me up. You make this behavior seem more normal to me too and not alone in our crazy endeavors. Can we grow it, chop it up, burn it to heat, preserve it, pick it, feed it, move it, build it, build onto it, feint in exhaustion over the effort in doing it, find it cheap or cheaper somewhere, make it cheaper ourselves? Ah yes, all of this and more. You are kindred spirits and didn't know it.

A friend just gave me a book all about this craziness and her impression when reading it was she exhausted and she knew we were living it. Need I say more????