The art of persistance and misdirection...

[BeanAnimal]

... aided by a strong force and mastery of the Jedi mind trick.

This is a summary of the conversation that has taken place over the last 2 years. I will not bother tagging the quotes, as it should be obvious who is speaking each line.


"I am going to build a pizza oven"

"NO"

"I am going to build a pizza oven"

"No more projects"

"I am going to build a pizza oven"

"We don't need a pizza oven"

"I am going to build a pizza oven and finish the built in cabinet in the bathroom"

"Just finish the cabinet and the baseboards and the shed and the...."

"I am still going to build a pizza oven"

"Whatever you say, just finish the other projects before you start anything else"

"I am going to build a pizza oven and xyz have offered to help"

"Did they offer to help finish the other projects you started? Why aren't XY and Z building pizza ovens at their house's. "

"I am going to build a pizza oven and XY and Z's wives think it is a good idea too!"

"That is because it is not in THEIR yards, it is in ours!"

"I am going to build a pizza oven, I have ordered the wood for the bathroom cabinet. You would love a pizza oven!"

"They are nice, but WE don't need one"

"I am going to build a pizza oven it will add value to the property"

"How much is the pizza oven going to cost?"

"I am going to build a pizza oven, see those nice precast ones at the home show? Ours will be better"

"They are nice, but why can't we just buy one instead of building it"

"I am going to BUILD a pizza oven and it will be cheaper thany BUYING a pizza oven. I am working on the bathroom cabinet now"

"That was a nice size, is the one you are going to build the same size?"

"I am going to build a pizza oven that is 42" the one at the home show was 23 and does not have enough room for fire and pizza"

"Well it can't be too big, I don't want BIG"

"I am going to build a 42" pizza oven, look here at some of the finished photos on the FB site"

"Just let me know how much the whole project is going to cost before you start"

This was a two year "project" just to get some semblance of aproval.

So... it looks like I am breaking ground on a 42" WFO in the coming week!

[lwood]

Re: The art of persistance and misdirection...

lol...I read that to my wife.

[dmun]

Re: The art of persistance and misdirection...

"I want what you want, it's just that sometimes it's not entirely clear what you want."

[HeidiL2011]

Re: The art of persistance and misdirection...

LOL that was so funny. Congrats.

[Lburou]

Re: The art of persistance and misdirection...

Finishing projects is a frequently occuring subject at out house too

Good luck!

[Sharkey]

Re: The art of persistance and misdirection...

Gold!

Yes, get started before there is a change of mind.

[Alter ego]

Re: The art of persistance and misdirection...

Remember! If you finish one project, that means that another one that you don't like will get added to the "list"

[OscarA]

Re: The art of persistance and misdirection...

What a laugh, our wives must be related as we had the same arguments.

- We don't need one
- We can't afford it
- you'll to impulsive
- You haven't finished the paving yet
- Our yard is to small
- We'll never use it
- Where did this bloody idea come from
- Why can't you build a small one like that one

and finally do what you want I'm sick of hearing about it.

Now the oven is almost finished and everyone who sees it says WOW that's nice I wish I had one. My wife is starting to feel that perhaps it's not a bad thing after all although she still thinks a smaller one would have been nicer.

Now to keep her happy i have to make sure it's finished to a nice standard and most importantly it has to be used otherwise she'll be right when she said "you'll never use it".

Thanks for the laugh BeanAnimal I'll show my wife your post....... maybe not.

[azpizzanut]

Re: The art of persistance and misdirection...

Wow, that sure is funny BeanAnimal.

My wife is an angel. She supported me and encouraged me along the way and even helped with the cement and block work, and I don't mean she supervised from the sideline. She actually got into it and was as exhausted from the effort at the end of the day as I was. She's really happy with the finished project and it's become "our" oven. However, oven number two was a little harder idea to sell. "Why do you need another one"? she said.
"It will be closer to the house", I said.
Hmmmm, she thought for a moment, then "OK" "Take down that old smoker you never use and put it there". Golly, I love her.

Cheers,

[BeanAnimal]

Re: The art of persistance and misdirection...

The back story

When we purchased the house (maybe 8 years ago). We moved from an old delapidated apartment. In said apartment, I had a 75 gallon aquarium that stayed EMPTY becuase she was worried (to the point of naming a new phobia describing the complex) that it would fall through the OLD uneven floor. No engineering calculations on the planet would convince her otherwise. I was told when we purchased a house, I could set up my long awaited reef aqurium. I hand built a beautiful oak stank in hopes of swaying her opinion:

NO AQUARIUM

We purchased a house

We moved in

The basement was finished but looked like crap

There was no place the stand and aquarium looked good

I mentioned in passing "Maybe it would look nice built into a wall"

She said "Yeah that would look nice"

She went to work

Acting on her last words "Yeah that would look nice..."

I tore out two closets, cut a hole in the office wall and started building the aquarium "room" in the rear of our TV room.

She came home and cried! (something about just moving into our first home and me already taking a sledge hammer to walls before the ink was dry on the mortage papers).

I said "But you said it would look nice, so I assumed you wanted me to!"

She cried more.

She loves the aquarium and the home theater that the room was transformed into, but has since then been very clear about giving approval (or more often dissaproval) for projects and chooses here words carefully.

Here is a photo gallery that shows the before to after timeline:
75 Gallon in-wall Reef Aquarium Build Gallery

With my ever growing mastery of the jedi mind trick I have gained approval and built a 600sq ft deck, a patio and fire pit, gutted and renovated the master bathroom, designed and built a 160sq ft shed, etc.

The problem is that the master bath is still waiting on a custom built-in cabinet (going on 3 years now). The expensive cast iron vent covers and registers are still not (3 years also) retrofitted to the baseboards around the home and the shed I built (last summer) still needs power and finish trim.

In any case, she took the time last evening to go through the FB residential photo album and point out what she likes and does not like.


"Houston, we are go for launch!"

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: The art of persistance and misdirection...

I'm like Bob (Azpizzanut): Got the greatest wife in the world. I'm not even finished with my 39" Pompeii and the other night I mentioned to my wife that it will be a great multi-purpose oven but not ideal for pizza like a low-dome oven.

So she replies, "Then why don't you build two?"

Golly I love her.

[BeanAnimal]

Re: The art of persistance and misdirection...

"How was your day"

"It was good"

"Look I got part of the baseboard finished"

"Great sweatheart but it is not done!"

"You do know that you are going to come home one afternoon and there is going to be a hole in the yard where the oven foundation goes, right?"

"I guess"

So folks, "I guess" is a far cry from "NO" and somewhat close to "Good Idea", wouldn't you agree?

So far I have most of the oven drawn in Autocad and will soon be breaking ground. Thanks for all of the kind responses. Even the warden got a kick out of the post

[Xene]

Re: The art of persistance and misdirection...

This was terrific. I'm on the other side of this fence. I'm the wife who always saved space in my garden plan for the outdoor kitchen space, but never actually thought I would find time to build it. Then as luck would have it I was able to retire early and my husband is holding me to my braggart promises! If I master this oven build, I'm going to start shooting off about a pool next. . Cheers and best of luck!