Sunday, September 13, 2009

You Can ..... Smile

So we're back in our bedroom, enjoying sooooooo much our bed and our space, but there are still lots of details to complete. I decided to try and install another doorknob last Wednesday morning. Still not dressed for the day, I was just piddling around.

Some of these new doors won't latch, whether because the drilled door holes don't match up exactly with the holes in the hardware, or because I haven't installed them perfectly -- ? That really drives Larry crazy. Me? I figure it will close eventually. That's why Larry is the scientist and I'm am PR.

This Wednesday morning, I decided to install the latch mechanism in the doorknob hole first, and then see how easily the door would close and open. Forgot that I really needed the complete doorknob installed to open the door again.

I also forgot that I needed to be on the hall side of that door -- if I wanted to do other things till Larry got home and showed me how to open it again. SO I forgot to add the doorknobs. I forgot to stand OUTside of the room when I closed the door to test the smoothness of the latch.

I locked myself in the room. In my night clothes. With only a window for escape. No working phone. No ladder. No dark to hide me.

At first I thought I'd surely figure a way to get the latch open. Fooled with the screwdriver on the mechanism parts. Next I decided I needed to watch for someone passing the house, who might hear me call. Finally a neighbor walked out of her house, started to get into her car, and I yelled down to her, "up here, in the window, it's Linda Pusey, and I'm locked in a room."

We verified that I needed Larry (skipping all the whys), and she called 3 numbers before he answered. Yes, I had to wait while they both laughed at the reason I needed him home. Then, while I waited, all the humiliation hit me -- and I almost cried.

He drove into the driveway, called out and came into the house. He opened another doorknob package in another room, and together, we pieced together what we needed to open the door. Did he have a big grin on his face? DEFINITELY!

Larry had to run to a luncheon meeting, so no time to console me. When he arrived home in the evening, I'd been weeding in my back garden beds for about 3 hours. Great distraction. Forget the hardware for today. Again that big grin. "Did everyone at your meeting have a good laugh?" "No, I only told one person, and he told me his wife did something similar one time...."

OK, I guess many of us do "dumb" things time to time. This about tops my list. These things just seem to happen to me.

So for today, I'll try and again remember "it's not what happens to you that counts, but how you react to it."

CHEESE!