The Money Pit

My dad is not one for watching movies once, much less twice, but we always knew that if The Money Pit was on, he'd watch it. No matter what kind of mood he was in before the bathtub scene, he was laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes and was slapping his leg by the time it came on.
Now that we are homeowners for the 2nd time, I realize why that movie is so funny. It is a very exaggerated look at home ownership and it is, unfortunately, so true. Our home is not old by any means, but we didn't build it so everything in it has been around a few years. Little by little we are watching as things are breaking and needing replaced. These things tend to happen when Daddy is out of town and Mommy has no clue what to do. We had a toilet break, discovered a window leak and thought we were going to have a continually running bathtub faucet all in the same week that Daddy was gone. There were no major disasters. A good thing because I am always on the brink of insanity when Daddy is gone and a major disaster might put me over the edge.
Last night as I turned on the kitchen faucet to clean up dinner, the faucet fell apart and the kitchen and I became drenched in water. I was completely caught off guard and said some things that are not rated G, but possibly PG by today's standards. (Not to worry, Hannah, is not repeating phrases very clearly yet and Nathan was too enthralled in his billions of matchbox cars to even notice that the faucet was shooting water across the room.)
Being the mature, 30 year old I am, I immediately began whining that I could not possibly live a whole day without a kitchen sink. Not to worry, Super Dad took charge. This had happened to him before and he had "repaired" it temporarily, but was aware that it could need replacing any day now. He was quick to find out if Home Depot was still open (we had been out socializing and enjoying a very beautiful evening so it was after 9 PM) and it was. Now I realize why they stay open until 10, kitchen sinks don't care what time it is.
So Super Dad was on the case. He got his tool box and took apart the old faucet. He was gone for less than 30 minutes and had the whole thing done (even finished rinsing the dishes and ran the dish washer) by 11:30. Thanks, Honey.
So now, $200 plus later, we have a beautiful working kitchen faucet. Home maintenance and lawn maintenance are a pain in the bank account, but I am learning it is just part of home ownership. I am thankful that we do have a home and that we are able to maintain it. I am so thankful my husband knows how to fix just about anything and if he doesn't, he'll find out.
Now I can see why my dad laughed so hard at Tom Hanks. He could relate. It seems like there is some kind of home related crises we must report to one another on a weekly basis. "Honey, we have weak trees". We don't have weak trees, but we do have a grass fungus. Leave it to Super Dad to figure that one out and fix it all on his own after a visit to nursery and two visits to Home Depot. "I think we have a leak in the roof". We were not actually getting wet, but we could hear a drip, drip, drip over our heads. It only cost $150 or something like that to find out it was not a leak and just water dripping in the chimney. So several hundred dollars at a time, we are learning that homes cost more than what your mortgage says. You can't possibly plan for every little thing that will go wrong and you can't avoid it. It often helps to talk to your neighbors and realize they are going through the same things. If you can't find any neighbors or friends dealing with the trials of home ownership, then you can always rent The Money Pit and be glad you didn't buy that house.