Under Pressure

     "You know those stories you've heard about the Jewish immigrants fresh off the boat who lived in tenements, worked their tails off to earn a dime and wouldn't spend a penny of it?  All of those stories are true, and those were my ancestors."  I screamed this at my neighbor the other day, not because I was standing outside in the hot sun on a holiday, covered in mud, frustrated at a tedious task, with a case of the shakes & jitters, but because I had to scream so he would hear me over the incessant drone of the high pressure water pump behind me.  "So no, I do not want to stop working tonight.  I don't want to keep this stupid thing longer than we have to and I don't want to spend the extra $30 to keep it until tomorrow!"  And I did continue working, even as my husband cooked ribs on the barbeque (to be fair, he didn't know the job would take this long and he did just get a new grill) and even as we had company in the backyard.  And I kept on working until 4:00 pm when the water pump was due back at the rental office, at which time I had to concede; the job wasn't getting done until the next day.
     But I was angry.  I was angry about our sidewalk chipping, being refinished in an ugly grey color, repainted to look like the yellow brick road and repainted again to look gray only to start chipping and peeling away within a month or two.  Up until recently we were baffled why we've had such poor luck with our front walkway. Apparently it's a latex-on-latex issue.  You can't put one latex product on top of another. So who could I get angry at?  The mason who is a good friend?  Bill who bought the salt and used it to keep his family safe from falling on an icy walkway?  Me for not being okay with grey cement or not going to the store to help pick it out?  The home improvement store people for recommending paint instead of stain?  Who?  I tell you, I could drive myself crazy over this and after using the high pressure water thingy for well over 4 hours, I looked a bit like this (is it just me, or does this look like a witch- see her buggy white eyes?  Bill claims it's just scribbles but he may have had me in mind here):

     All this was swimming around in my head until Bill said to me, "Why does it have to be someone's fault?"  To be honest, he said that and it took a couple of days.  I was angry and holding a grudge and digging with little comments- mostly directed at him.  And for what?  Why did it have to be someone's fault?  And even if it was his fault, has he ever made a sidewalk before? [No] So why should I hold him accountable for the looks of cement?
     Meanwhile, I well know that there are many slippery slopes that lead directly to me.  Take the ding in my windshield.  Probably could have been patched up until I waited to get it fixed and it's now snaking it's way up about 10 inches.  Oops.  And to tell you the truth Liam, we were probably late to swimming lessons because I had to make my tea, not just because you had trouble finding your shoes. 
     So I kept working like a crazy woman on that sidewalk until I couldn't possibly work anymore and we had already gone past the rental agreement.  And there were still 3 slabs of sidewalk to go.  Covered in mud and debris I headed inside to make myself human again.  The next day (after swimming lessons) I was at it again with the pressure washer.  It's a good thing I had worked so hard the day before too because I finished with no time to spare.  I would have been spraying the sidewalk from the trunk of Bill's car as he drove back to Home Depot if he would have let me.  No, but really, I think it was due back at 12:57 and he got there at about 12:53 or something like that! 
     Now our sidewalk is clean and it's time for the next step.  Regardless of blame and accusations, we'll plug away at it this weekend. Taking turns, arguing over the pattern to apply and the color to tint with.  It really is miserable work, but at least we're in it together.  And I have learned some valuable lessons too:
1) Don't paint cement refinisher with vinyl in it with a vinyl based paint (if that doesn't make sense to you, don't worry, I'm still a little confused too).
2) Never aim a water pressure gun at mud.
3) If you give your kid enough water to play with in the driveway, he might surprise you by doing something educational like making a "beaver dam".
4) Blaming your loved one might get you an apology but it will never make you (or him) happy.
5)When your husband does something terribly romantic, take a picture.