Tuesday, June 2, 2009

What's Behind a Nickname?

If you've ever wondered why my dear hubby is called "The King" (and probably thought I was a big jerk for calling him it), wonder no more. Rather than explain the evolution of this moniker, I'd rather describe a situation which I believe perfectly illustrates why he deserves such a title.

I have toiled for an entire year on our backyard patio. That it has taken that long is entirely my own fault- my plans just seemed to get away from me as I dreamed bigger and bigger. This last weekend I placed the last cobblestone, mortared the final wall caps, and completed a final sweep. 1000+ cobblestone, 100 8X6X16 cement blocks, 100 6X2X16 cement caps, 75+ bags of sand and cement later, and it is complete.

Not to toot my own horn, but it turned out pretty fantastic. The best part is that I did it all on my own. That's also a double edged sword, because if it sinks during the winter or falls apart I have only myself to blame. But still, I have never done a project of this scale and complexity on my own.

I am woman, hear me roar!

The completed patio was not an hour old before The King began lamenting that I hadn't left more flower bed area surrounding the patio so that he could plant shade trees (which ticked me a little, because we had just dropped $400 on a beautiful gazebo for the patio that was supposed to provide the necessary shade). His answer was to just plant the trees anyway, but I was having none of that. The roots would destroy my patio and wall.

Needless to say, it's been an ongoing "discussion" for the last 3 days.

I've held my own, but today I broke. I knew he would never stop until the blasted trees were in the ground. I called him to let him know I surrendered, and he thoughtfully offered to cut out the grass to expand the flower beds when he got home.

The problem is that I am completely mental, and once I know that something needs to be done I can't rest until it is complete. So the Man Child and I pulled out the shovels and for two hours cleared out the 2'X10' area The King needed removed.

I should have left the job for the giant stinker- he's the one who insisted on it. But I always feel guilty knowing that he is at work dealing with a thousand stressful issues and when he gets home he is so burned out, and I'm here and I'd be outside anyway......

I'm such a sucker for this guy!

Long live The King.

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