Home Improvement?

Back to work after my four day weekend. And I have discovered that my job is not the worst thing I could do. Of course, I basically knew that. My job is just mind-numbing.
The worst things? The things I never want to have to do again? Well, they involve plumbing - and having to crawl under the house.

You know I call my neighborhood Meth Lab Estates, a little mobile home community outside of Guthrie. I live on almost 2 acres, wooded, a dry creek in the back. I live in a 14' x 80' single-wide mobile home - 3 bed, 2 bath. My husband had decided that it had been in a flood, as the floors are rotting. I've kind of decided the flood may have been man-made - the floors rotting away in the kitchen by the sink (the counter of which is also rotted away), by the washing machine, in the two bathrooms, and by the front door.

Yesterday we (meaning my husband), decided to reseat the toilet in the kid's bathroom and put new plywood on the floor. Piece of cake, right?! Wrong! Got everything done - was reconnecting the water line (which for some bizarre reason doesn't have a turnoff knob-thing), and the line leaked - bad. Tried putting a new o-ring in the connector - didn't work. And all the while, because the person we purchased the land from did such a slap-dash job, to turn off our water, you turn off our next door neighbor's (who was, luckily, out) as well. I ran to Lowe's to get parts - but got there after they had closed. In the mean time, the Hubby had found some parts from a previous plumbing adventure, and bypassed the toilet.

Yes, the toilet is connected to the sewer pipe (another hideous job I hope I never have to do again), but since there is no water to the toilet - you have to have a bucket of water handy. Oh and there is an even bigger, gaping hole still in the floor (which Bubba, the basset hound, loves - it being his escape route of choice), since we didn't get finished.

Bubba escaped twice during our home-nonimprovement frenzy. The first time, I slipped on gravel in our dirt driveway, running to get him and fell down forward (today, my knees are killing me). The second time, I was quite harsh to poor Bubba, and he decided to sleep instead of escaping.

I cannot help my husband as much as I would like to. I can't lift as much as he can, or tighten nuts as tightly as he can. And since he had to put himself into, what is for him, unnatural positions - he's in quite a bit of pain and unwilling to finish just yet. I don't blame him. He pushes himself way too hard anyway.

God, I want a new house. I just can't afford one.