A New Fireplace

I'm kicking myself for not taking a before picture of this, but previously, my fireplace was that seventies white lava rock, you know the stuff that people used to put in their parking strip as zeroscaping, just bigger rocks.  I have hated it from the moment I set foot in this house for the first time.  It was one of those things that I really had to convince myself to overlook when we bought the house.  I'm sure it was fine when the house was built, but I cannot for the life of me figure out why it was ever the style.  It was so uneven that there was no possibility for a mantle, which is the only thing I really want for a fireplace and everytime we tried to use the fire itself, it would shoot black soot all over the rock.  Unfortunately, the fact that we bought an old house has meant that there are a million projects that need to get done, so this one has been on the back burner for awhile.

I have to say, at the moment I am completely convinced that my husband is "Superman".  I am still hobbling around on crutches and essentially useless when it comes to pretty much anything!  I can't carry anything, I can't chase after the 18 month old (she outruns me in a second...stinkin' crutches), I can't even get her out of bed if she wakes up during the night.  I can empty the dishwasher or do the dishes, but it takes so long it makes everyone crazy to watch.  Laundry is another task that I can do, but it requires large amounts of help with carrying and moving.  Even getting the kids bathed and showered is a problem because the steam from the bathroom makes the tile floor so slippery that my crutches are completely treacherous.  Needless to say, my husband is picking up massive amounts of slack for me.  He has always amazed me with the fact that he is not a complainer, but with this situation it has completely blown me away.  Never once has he complained that he comes home from work and has to do all the stuff that I normally do.  He walks in the door and is kind of like a machine.  He knows once we have eaten dinner he has to get dinner cleaned up and kids bathed and then we divide up reading out loud to the kids and he gets everyone tucked in.  He usually manages to get some laundry started and fetch and carry all the stuff I need, like ice or phones or my ipad. 

Why am I telling you this, well you have to know how surprised I was this weekend when he said he was still planning on tearing out the rock on the fireplace.  We had planned this project before I had my accident and had found a carpenter to help us with the finish work, but honestly, I figured it would all have to be put on hold until I could help or at least until I was more help with keeping the kids out of the way.  Not so, my husband and his dad knocked out all the rocks today and cleaned up all the mess.  I am completely amazed!  All there is now is a cinderblock wall and I am so excited I can't see straight.  It is going to make such a difference to the look of my front room!