Sometimes I feel like Walter Fielding (Tom Hanks) from The Money Pit, “Here lies Walter Fielding. He bought a house, and it killed him. Okay, so I am not dead, but home ownership, while a great blessing is a never ending list of “STD!” No, STD does not stand for sexually transmitted diseases, it’s what wives call a “honey do list,” I call it a “shit to do” list. Okay, that was borrowed from my buddy in SoCal, whose list stretches down a door damn near the floor!

Wouldn’t you know it, there is always one item that is the proverbial, “monkey on your back.” That project has lasted, well almost two years now. What started out as a, “Oh, let’s just paint the master bathroom, turned into my (okay, our) personal money pit. The paint was selected by my wife and I sanded and prepped the walls. I believe I finished the entire bathroom and she thought it was too dark. In all honesty I was not too excited about the color either. This is when she tried her hand at faux painting. Let’s just say it failed miserably.

That is when I took a wrecking ball to the bathroom and tore everything down to the studs. You know how good that made me feel? My hands! The power of destruction! Sorta felt like the Tool Man, Tim Allen, “MORE POWER!” Unfortunately, now the bathroom was completely unusable and stayed that way, door closed for some months. After clearing out the bathroom of all unwanted pieces, the rebuild slowly began. I rewired the outlets, added a light, updated the plumbing and hung new drywall, all in anticipation of a new look to the master bathroom.

Now, the journey is nearly complete. We laughed at the sales rep at an overpriced, home store when we told him of our project and he priced it between $10,0000-$15,000. Nice stuff, but WAY out of our price range. We look at the time and everything we have bought, including many new tools (I think I now hold stock in Sears) and you realize the grand total grows ever higher.While I am excited the master bathroom is nearing completion, minus the shower door and the mirrors we need, I will get to cross this off my STD list and look down the page for the next step in the money pit. Landscaping!…to be continued.