Sheetrockers we are not!

Steve and I had a BRILLIANT idea...  

Together we have accomplished some pretty amazing things.  Things that I looked at after we did them, and thought, "WOW, we are pretty cool!"  We have built things, fixed things, we even redid the electrical work on an entire house.  IT SUCKED!  Fishing wires is not for me.  And now I know that sheet rocking is not either.

Here is how it played out.  We walked down into our 2,000 square foot basement with 9 foot ceilings a few weeks ago.  There was sheetrock stacked everywhere.  It was a totally hopeless feeling for me.  BUT, I had faith in us and our abilities.

We choose a corner and decided that we would start there.  It was a bathroom, so the sheets would be smaller on the ceiling which would make it easier to hold.  Steve set up a ladder for me and went a picked up one of the sheets that was measured and cut to size.  He handed my end to me.  Instantly, I crapped my pants.  It was SO heavy.  Seriously, so heavy.  But I managed to lift it above my head.  My arms started to burn just trying to get it into place, which I didn't do very well.  Finally we got it kind of where it needed to be and Steve started to try to screw it in and hold his end.  

While he was trying to hold his end and screw up the stuff I was screaming loudly! "It hurts!  Hurry... OH MY GOSH, I can't hold it.  Hurry!  I might die!" And when I wasn't screaming I was moaning and groaning.  Finally the first piece was up.  My arms felt like butter.  I felt like I had just been in a weight lifting competition, and lifted so much that I probably won, but nearly died.  You know that feeling?

Steve gave me a little speech on being tough and holding it with my HEAD!  Yes, my head!  "Ummm, OK, I will try that.  Hopefully I will not get brain damage!"  I said still acting pretty tough.  Then he started to cut out the light hole the way that he had seen the pro's do it.  I don't mean to be rude... but it didn't work out very well for him.  I took one look at it and said, "WOW, what happened there?"  I guess that wasn't what he wanted to hear.  He mumbled something and gave me a look.  Not a nice look.

Then came the second piece.  He handed it to me and instant pain hit my weak little arms.  But I got it up there and tried to hold it with my head.  That hurt too, so I then tried to hold it with my back.  IT WORKED!  However, once the piece was up, we stepped back to admire our work, and decided that it had too big of a gap (thanks to me, woops)!  Steve had a look of despair and sat down.  That was not like him, so I just sat there and didn't speak.  That was almost as hard as holding the sheetrock.  I always have something to say!

He said, "I am going to call someone, OK?  This will take us a year at this rate!"  He felt like a failure, I felt TONS of relief, but sad for my bank account.  I handed him the phone.

A few days later Oscar and his pal arrived.  They grabbed their first sheet and each held it with one hand and had it up in maybe 30 seconds.  The whole place was done in two days.  They acted like it weighed one pound.  It was amazing.  I turned to Steve like any good wife would and said, "You are kind of a loser.  I mean, I know what is wrong with me, but what is your excuse???"  

He laughed. 

 I am proud of Oscar and his guys.  They have done a great job, way better than we could have done.  I could have been buff at the end of all that, but I am OK with my weakness.  My house is now sheetrocked and mudded and super dusty.  I wonder if Steve will call a cleaning lady next?  After all my arms still hurt!