My friends seem to think of me as the Queen of Cool, and I feel the need to set the record straight, so I wanted to share with you what I call “My Lucy Moment.”

When we lived in North Nashville, my DH built the cats a cat tree out of scrap wood and carpet. This thing was pretty ugly, and only about 85% covered with the carpet. He kept talking about fixing it or building another one… well, it never happened.

So, when we had our new house built, I decided I would buy them a cat tree, rather than letting him build another. I bought one that said on the box (my first mistake) it would fit 7-9 foot ceilings. Ours are 8, so no problem, right???? I get it home and put it together without a hitch. I picked where I wanted it to go, and started to slide it into place. And it would not go. I pushed and pushed and pushed. It would get about 75% there and stop (should have been a clue!).

Then I think, maybe it’s the carpet, not letting it slide in the way it should. So I drag this thing over by the FRONT door, where there is hardwood and try to push it into place. Again, it would not go. So I push, and push, and push… and it pops! I look up to find a hole in my brand new ceiling! The spring-loaded rod has shot right through the plaster into the unfinished upper room.

Panic sets in… all I can think is “Oh, @#$#@$, T will kill me!” And I go running upstairs to see if I can find the rod (not having any idea as to how I will fix it, should I find it). I open the door to this sea of pink that is mostly undisturbed. The only spot that is out of place is where that rod had to have shot through, and the lovely hole looking down on my hardwood floor! (Yes, I was walking on rafters with 2 month old G and 3 year old J downstairs napping!) The rod is, to this day, still MIA!

After about 40 minutes of this, I finally gave up and emailed my husband to break the news about the hole. He went to Home Depot and bought a short rod (I guess one has to cut them to the right size) and used a 2×4 over the hole for the rod to rest on.

Now that we no longer have cats (allergies for the kids), there is just a crack showing where the plaster has been laid back into place and never really fixed… maybe someday…

I hope this started your day with a good laugh.