You know your project is out of control when…

This was supposed to be a post about my latest craigslist find and an introduction to the Mirror Troll’s sister – the Bed Troll… But I got a new computer over the weekend and I am still muddling through transferring files and photos and reinstalling applications and trying to figure out why stuff is not syncing.

It is a total novelty that I can do ALL of those things simultaneously without the computer saying–you ask too much of me, I need to lie down.

Further making this a good week: Paul and I were interviewed for a story in The Philadelphia Inquirer about the relationship-stress associated with house projects, big renovations, and everything that goes along with them.

The reporter was great;  she had been through a whole-house overhaul herself, so the conversation was more like an opportunity to commiserate, rather than trying to explain the way stress and dirt and endless decisions magnify all your worst qualities.

At some point, she asked us if there was any specific example we could think of that best illustrated relationship-stress? Paul said–I am so glad you asked. Let me get out my list.

And it made me think of the thread on my Facebook page where you all shared your version of that question: how do you know when your DIY/ construction/ genius-project-later-revealed-to-be-a-terrible-idea has gotten out of hand?

If you missed it, the responses are priceless.

We unanimously voted Meredith the winner for assembling an engine hoist in her basement to move a giant soapstone sink.

p.s.- I loved all the links you left in the comments last week. Of course my favorites were the old-house stories and photos… there were so many I had never seen! But the variety of other stuff was also really interesting and made me feel like I had some insight into your personalities.

FYI–Paul’s favorite was the dinosaur illusion.  Mine is hard to narrow down, but maybe the photography site of abandoned and crumbling castles. I would happily live in any of those houses in exactly the condition they are in. (I would vacuum, just so Elvis’s feet did not get dirty.) The bed alone in that first photo gave me some kind of fit.

p.p.s- If you know Miss Mustard Seed, you know I was thrilled when she featured my glitter writing on The Kingdom Mirror in her Furniture Friday post… (Don’t miss all the links at the bottom to other bloggers sharing their furniture-related projects and ideas.) If you are new to her site, I think her half-bath renovation is lovely.

p.p.p.s- My little brother Matthew is going to get my old computer once it is tuned up, and I am sad I will not be there the first time he turns it on because I am going to set his desktop photo as a pink, sparkly unicorn.