What My Husband Did on His Summer Vacation

My husband is a workaholic. He knows this about himself. I know it about him. We work with it. Most of the time.

Because of his workaholic ways, the end of the benefits years often comes around with unused vacation time. And at his place of work, it’s use it or lose it. So several times in the last few years, he has taken a week or so off at the end of June to use up some of that time.

This has been incredibly handy as there often is a week at the end of June when the kids need coverage but I’m already tight on vacation time or need to bank the time for an actual planned vacation.

Very often during these “vacations” he resolves to do some hose projects. Such was the case this year. We had two planned projects hanging over our heads – and visitors from Sweden arriving in less than a month.

So here they are….

The brick patio and outdoor shower (click to enlarge):

This area of the house is between a screened porch and a deck. It was a poorly, improperly done stone patio when we moved in (hadn’t been raked in years and the realtor didn’t even know there was anything under the leaves). It was just an icky area, and we avoided using it. Now that we’ve put in a proper brick patio – WOW! We’re hoping to find a firepit and a couple of cool chairs to put there. The grill will go on the right by the chimney. And see that gravelly area? That’s the outdoor shower. The surround isn’t done, but soon, I think Those are the pillars for them.

It will be so nice to have an outdoor shower! No more tracking sand through the house!

Just on the other side of the window back there is a bathroom that we had half-renovated a couple of years ago. Never got around to replacing the nasty old tub and tile in there – until now:

A beautiful new white tub and white tile surround. The band of mosaic pebbles at the top are small rocks, shells and seaglass we picked up at the beach.

Yes, we still have bits to finish in there – patching up the walls and painting the walls and ceiling, but it’s darn close. Heck, I might even start using this bathroom instead of the one upstairs.

I feel lucky to have a husband that is so handy. Sometimes it would be nice to just call someone to do it, but it’s tremendously satisfying to complete a project like this - even when it takes a little longer than initially planned. We really like doing projects together as much as possible (though it’s been less possibly in recent years with the kids and such), and often we can do it nicer than if we hired out.

(What's the "we" in these projects? I helped set bricks, and swept sand over the finished patio several times to lock the bricks in place. I helped set the tub in place, tiled and grouted. I'll be painting, too.)

So yes, another weekend or so of wrap-up and clean-up, a load of debris to the dump, but overall, great progress. A couple more little things inside, but we can do those things evenings. Just in time for our visitors….

Also just in time for visitors – lilies and hydrangea are blooming….

Echinacea, too.



And just for fun - sunset on July 4th.