Tom's trial

As you all know, Tom is a wonderful handy man. There really isn't a project that he doesn't know how to do or can't figure out by reading a book or looking on the web or talking with my Dad. He is pretty game to try anything. Wellll, we have a sunroom in our house. It is a wonderful room that is full of windows that we actually use as our dining room. It lets in plenty of morning sun to wake you up while you are eating your cheerios. Unfortunately, it is a south facing window and also lets in plenty of warm afternoon sun and scorching evening sun that blinds you while you are eating dinner. During the summer it will heat up our house to the point that the air conditioner can't keep up and we roast anytime we try to cook. Even on a sunny day in the winter, the main floor will get quite warm from the solar glare. Finally, after having the indoor temperature of the house reach 85 on a cool spring day I decided that I had had enough. I dragged Tom to Lowe's and perused the choices to keep out the sun's heat. After deep discussion that lasted all of about 2 minutes due to a missing 2 year old and a crying baby we decided to put up some heat reflecting film on the windows. We bought the film and all the necessary supplies (razor knife, soapy water solution) and headed home.
The next morning I wanted to get started but Tom had to work. OK, I prepped the windows by washing them with Windex and shining them up. The next day Tom had to work again. Oh well, I guess we will hang them after he gets off. When he came upstairs after a hard day of typing on the computer and perusing radiation websites, he pronounced himself too tired to hang any film. Hmm, I did not want this to turn into a habit so we had another "discussion" where he finally agreed to hang the film on the following morning.
We got up, put on Sesame Street for Isaac and fed Nick. That gave us at least 60 minutes of uninterrupted time to work. We measured and cut, sprayed and placed the film on the window. Only to have it curl on itself and become hopelessly stuck. Oh well, we are learning we will just try again. We watched the video on the website, looks easy enough. We'll use more solution this time. 2 hours later, multiple pieces of film crumpled and in the trash, and we had 2 windows done. It's not so bad I told him. Only 24 more to go. The air in the house was definitely heating up but it was more from Tom's frustration than from the sun this time.
The kids came home from school and immediately went downstairs. Even they could see that they better not rock the boat today. Finally, after having to throw away yet another piece of film, he actually swore. Luckily, Isaac wasn't around to pick up that nasty word.
Is there anything that I could do to calm a husband that has not smiled since he woke up this morning? I had a scented candle, Lavender, isn't that supposed to bring peace and tranquility? Nope, didn't work. Tom just kept getting angrier and angrier. I offered to scrap the project. Tom kept working. I told him to finish it tomorrow. No way he told me. I will NOT prolong this little hell we have created! Why did this seemingly benign project seem to make Tom so berserk? I really wanted to know, but now was not a good time to ask. Finally, I pulled him out of the pit of despair by pushing him into the car and taking him to dinner and a movie. I think he forgot about the window film for a while as we watched Bella and Edward do their vampire tricks.

We revisited the windows this morning. 3 left. I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Tom gnashed his teeth but got to work. All windows were done 30 minute later. I finally got up enough courage to ask my burning question, which would you rather do, hang more window film in the family room or lay tile in the bathroom? We went to buy tile this afternoon...

Here is the completed project:


What a helper!


Tom enjoying working together