All Thumbs

I am soooooo happy! After a relaxing New Year’s Day that ending with us retrieving Kidlet from Manlet’s abode and having a wonderful dinner together at our favorite Italian restaurant, Steve and I tackled one of my many projects on our Honey-do list yesterday.

Several years ago we replaced our basement carpeting. A few days after it was installed I attempted to exit the basement through the side door that we don’t use much.

I couldn’t open the door! The carpet installers put the pad and new carpeting right up to the door’s threshold and it was high enough that the bottom of the door wouldn’t clear it. So the door was carpeted shut.

I called the carpet place who told me to call a carpenter to replace the threshold, or the door itself. Right. Of course the carpenter wanted almost as much to fix the door as we paid for all the new carpeting. We chose to stop using the door.

After studying the situation for the last several years, I was convinced that I could fix it myself. Meanwhile, my sweet Hubby had started using the hallway to that door for storage.

Hmmm.

Yesterday morning I asked Steve if he would help me fix the door. After promising to quietly and politely be my helper, he helped me gathered up tools and we marched downstairs to reclaim our egress to the outside world.

Ignoring Steve’s fussing about where to put all the ‘stuff’ he had in the hallway, I emptied it quickly. I then had him remove the hinge pins from the door. Since the doorknob and deadbolt lock haven’t been used in such a long time, and due to the fact that they are now eighteen years old, we had to disassemble them and break them out. I will be off to the hardware store in just a bit to procure new ones. (Hubby wanted to keep all the old pieces “just in case”, but they are now safely in the bottom of the trash can by the road.)

Once the door was movable, I was able to see that simply peeling back the carpet and pad would make enough room for the door to swing freely again. I still had linoleum from our basement washroom and laundry remodel, so I had Steve cut the carpet/pad back and remove extra tack strip. I cut and glued the linoleum in place; we retacked the carpeting and finished the edge off with metal carpet trim.

It turned out fabulously! Steve also helped me fasten a miniblind over the door’s window, though he had already put the tools away. His irritation at having to get them out again was mild, as I kept praising him for his help. Once the blind was finished, and I had made sure that I communicated that I was completely finished with the tools, we cleaned up and had a lovely supper.

Considering that Steve always says that he is ‘all thumbs’ when it comes to fixit chores around the house, I was able to convince him that I am able to accomplish a lot when he lends me his thumbs. He definitely has dyslexia, though not severe.

I ran across a great forum thread on dyslexia, Aspergers and dyspraxia. http://www.beingdyslexic.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=3398 I often forget how frustrating it must be for Steve to deal with all of these issues; mind scrambling and clumsiness do not mix well with dyi projects. Since I have fairly severe arthritis in both of my thumbs, I am very, very glad that he has more than two.

And that is no laughing matter, lol!