I'm scared

I’ve often suspected this, but now I have proof. I’m one of the stupidest men on the planet! What is this proof of which I speak? I’m having a bathroom redone. [Note: I'm pretty sure I'm not THE stupidest man on the planet; I'm not trying to do it myself.]

Yes, you read that right. I am voluntarily agreeing to have a guy come into my house, tear out perfectly serviceable fixtures and such, and then replace it all with pricey new stuff. Plus, I haven’t even mentioned all the hidden disasters that will arise in the course of this undertaking. Actually, I’ve already encountered one of those.

Builder Bob arrived at 7:30 this morning and he was measuring and mumbling as I left for work. That was several hours ago and, so far, he’s only had to call me once. Mind you I trembled when I saw his number pop up on my telephone. I figure there can’t be a good reason he’d be calling me. Sure enough, it wasn’t. Actually, he did start with a good thing – I have great plumbing (copper, in good shape) – but soon he got to the bad. There’s been a pretty severe leak around the toilet in that bathroom. He’d already planned on replacing the wafer board, but he just doesn’t feel right about putting new wafer board on top of that old plywood. Hence, I’m now getting a new subfloor. He claimed that would add almost nothing to the total cost – basically, just the cost of a sheet of plywood. We’ll see.

Actually, that wasn’t the worst part of today’s news. See, Builder Bob had asked me questions about what I wanted done and I’d told him I’d just like to replace the built in tub/shower unit with a corner shower and get new hardware for the shower and the sink. He asked if I wanted to get all that or just let him “shop around” for me. I told him to go right ahead. I HATE shopping. Builder Bob seemed amenable to that, so imagine my surprise this morning when he said he’d like for me to go to Home Depot/Lowe’s tonight to pick out what I wanted. ARGH! That’s exactly what I was hoping to avoid. In Bob’s words, though, he “wants me to be happy.” I guess I can see the wisdom of that, but I do not want to go pick out new bathroom fixtures and stuff. I really ,really, really hope he’s not going to try to get me to pick out the shower unit too!

Regardless, wish me luck. I know it’ll be much funnier for y’all if it turns into the expected disaster, but I’m (foolishly, perhaps) hoping for the best.