The Delicate Balance of Everything

When you have EVERYTHING to do, what do you do first?

There are doors that need to be put in, clean up needing to be done in the attic, cleaning throughout the house, the laundry room needs to be demolished, and the bathroom is falling apart.  It seemed silly, then, that we took 3 days to put my plants in around the yard, but nothing else in the house was literally going to die if it waited another day or two.  It is so hard to set priorities, and to not get distracted by everything around you that needs to be done.  There are also those times when you start one simple, relatively quick job that leads to 6 others and ends up taking all day.  Those are the times that drive people insane because you look back on your day and ask yourself: "What have I accomplished today?"  It is important to look at the little victories, and to take things one job at a time, and if you did something, but it wasn't on your list for the day, then you put it on the list just so you can cross it off and be able to see all that you did. 

So, you would think that putting in a new door would be one of those fairly quick jobs.  But what do you do when the pre-drilled wholes don't match up with the handles and locks that you have bought.  Maybe that's why they sell those doors with the handles and locks already picked to go with them.  It is just one of the many things that an inexperienced home buyer doesn't know.  Now a quick job has turned into a two day affair, with the possibility of actually ruining the door or the frame.  On the other hand, we need to get on to the demo work.  The day is ticking by and I still haven't done any of the yard work that I wanted to do today either.  I guess it doesn't matter that much as the dump isn't open for another two days, so I have time on that.  Trimming is also a nice activity to end the day with.  It's peaceful and relaxing, a great way to wind down.

We are only on day 10 of this work, but here is what I've learned so far:

1.) Warm up.  Start the day with some easy moving activities.  Everything will hurt and will be swollen.  Every joint in your body.  With every day being a full body, hours long work out it is vital to start with a warm up.



2.)  Make sure you are being aware of the time of the day passing to ensure that you are eating throughout the day.  It is surprising how quickly time will go by and the next thing you know everyone is grumpy, and you are getting dizzy.  That's when you look at the clock and realize it's been 6+ hours since you've last eaten.  Not good.

3.) Keep lists.  Having lists has saved me on multiple fronts.  I have lists of long-term projects, lists of mid-range projects, lists of daily tasks, lists of people that I need to contact, lists of fun things that I want to do before summer is over and life gets REALLY complicated.  I do a little from each of the lists every day, and make sure that the things that I am putting on my list of daily things to do always lead to the mid-range goals and the mid-range goals lead to the long-term goals.  If this is something that you have struggled with whether it is with remodeling a home, or just in life in general, I would highly recommend looking into David Covey.  He wrote some wonderful things on time management.  I would most recommend The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. 


4.) Be Patient.  This means with yourself as well as your spouse or any/all family members.  Everything will take longer than you plan, plan for it, and be patient with yourself.  That doesn't mean that it's not okay to push yourself or others, especially if they are dragging their feet or taking advantage, but it is important to give yourself the chance to be successful, and that includes factoring in time for a learning curve for new skills. 

5.) Take Breaks to Have Fun.  It is amazing what a difference it makes to take a day to have some fun and relax makes on levels of motivation to keep going.  It didn't take me very long before I felt like I was ready for all of this to be over and to be able to return to how life was before, but that just wasn't an option.  An evening going to the movies and splurging getting popcorn and soda made the next day back at work on the house that much easier to stomach.  It will be even more difficult once I go back to work.  I've been on a break up until now, so after this if will be even more crazy.  My spouse demands that I stop working at 7pm.  Giving me a chance to wind down and relax my mind and body.  It seems like if you work longer into the night, but I know from previous experiences that pushing through is not always a good thing, that sometimes you actually get more done if you stop when you are tired, take care of yourself and get a good night's sleep, and start fresh the next morning. 

All this being said, I am off to get some sleep and get as much rest as possible to be ready to work more tomorrow. 

What about all our stuff?

We knew when we decided to buy this house that it would be an enormous amount of work.  There would be demolishing, plumbing, wiring, and most of all cleaning, but we always planned to have the main part of the cleaning done before we moved in.  Here we are about to move the final things out of our old home and into this disgusting pit!  Nothing is clean, and we have to figure out what to do with our things. 

We thought the easiest and fastest thing to do would be to clean the garage, and it was.  The plan is to station most things in the garage until we are able to have the place cleaned where that particular thing will go.  For some things this will take days, for others hours.  Either way it has really slowed down our packing process.  We had to really consider what we would have most immediate need of such as clothes, shoes, medications, tools etc.  and what other things we could have packed, but have access to.  The result is that we find ourselves more than a day behind, and the moving truck has to be returned tomorrow!  This was not time we had planned for.

Off to work!

Choosing a new home and life

Hearing about the drama of a sheriff knocking on the door and telling you that you have to leave is quite something, but it seems like none of what is to come will mean anything without understanding the past eight years and the choices that we have made to form a life and lifestyle. 

When I moved my job to where we have been for the past 7 years, we found this little place to rent.  It wasn't much to look at from the outside, but it was solid, had enough space for us, and was very rurally located.  We wanted a simple lifestyle with no intrusions.  We have lived without internet or television for most of that time.  It has only been in the past year or so that we have had internet, what a luxury.  We have enjoyed stunning mountain views from the front yard, access to hiking trails immediately around us that most people drive hours to access, for me the opportunity to garden and bring in the birds and butterflies I enjoy most by cultivating the plants they prefer, and constant access to wildlife.  Only this past winter a bobcat walked though our vegetable garden as a wet snow was falling.  I would have gotten out my camera to take a picture, but I just couldn't bring myself to move or look away for fear of missing it.  We have had so many interactions with bear, some amazing and inspiring, others frightening, and even seen a mountain lion on one of our hikes.  Also, our neighbors have been wonderful friends. 

Giving this up to live in a town where there is traffic, neighbors immediately around us instead of the closest one being 1/4 of a mile away will be an enormous change.  On one hand it is really exciting, on the other it is heart breaking.  How will we exercise the dogs?  They are used to being able to hike in the mountains for several miles, off lead, without fear of being hit.  We are used to a busy day on the road having 4 cars drive by and several groups of people riding by on horseback.  That is not what we are heading into.  It really took quite a bit of my husband and I sitting down and talking about what we value most and what cost we are willing to pay to have it.  That is what we all have to decide, its just that most people don't actively reflect on it or discuss it.  I wonder how many people there are out there who don't even know what their spouse's values really are, they might just be assuming.  Especially after some years have past.  It somehow surprises us that the man or woman we met in college may have changed over the past 15 years and may not want the same things anymore.  And what do you do when you have achieved those things you yearned for when you were young? 

We have had the chance to live the way many would envy, and have done it at a minimal cost, but the question is what do we want now, and is this life getting it for us?  Believe it or not there are some pretty big financial costs that come in when trying to live simply.   Usually it means spending quite a bit more on gas money to get somewhere, and putting more miles on the car causing more where and tear and more money spent in more frequent repairs.  In addition to the dirt, dust, and bumpiness of living on a gravel and dirt road.  So, there have been some downfalls to this life.  "Running out" for a quart of milk forgotten from the grocery store would mean a minimum of 40 minutes round trip.  But imagine being able to sit out at a campfire in the hammock every night staring at the mountains.  Something people pay so much money to do and we have gotten to do it anytime we wanted for the past seven years.  We have been very lucky.

So now that I am seeing the house we are moving from being packed, the furniture is leaving, and the final items are being packed away, it is finally getting real.  Something we have said so many times along the way: "It just got real".  I don't feel tons of excitement at the thought that we just bought our first house.  I feel hopeful that we can do this well, as well as fearful that I'll screw it up, and terribly sad that we are leaving this home that we have loved for so long, so the point I have had to stop typing as I am writing this to cry along the way.  I feel I have left something of myself in every place I have lived, whether it is a tree or a bush, or a beloved pet's remains that has been buried in the yard.  And each place has left its imprint on me.  I think this house we are leaving has left more impression than any place since moving out of my parent's house, someplace I still return to to recharge myself.  A place that will always be home to me.  We begin this adventure with heavy hearts, wishing for it to lead us to good things, and grateful to be together. Something all "flippers" should keep in mind.  If they are trying to sell a house to a family or couple, they are coming in with some baggage, and need to find a place for all of their memories and emotions.  Make sure there is plenty of storage for the essentials that need to be kept.

Life takes a turn

Have you ever had one of those days where your life suddenly took a massive turn you were not planning?  I had one of those that started a series of dominoes falling.

One Friday in January we received a knock on the door and found a deputy standing outside the house we have happily rented for 6+ years with a notice that we had five days to vacate.  We were completely shocked.  It turned out that the owner of the property we had been renting had been foreclosed on and the property we were living was one of those that the bank had taken possession of, back in AUGUST!  Our "former" landlord had been pocketing our rent since August and the foreclosure bank had no idea.  When they learned of these circumstances, they were surprisingly understanding, yet they still wanted us to move out, but they were giving us until April.  I changed jobs during this year, so that meant we could look at a wider geographical range.  Needless to say, we didn't want to look at all, but again this wasn't something we really had a choice with as buying the property on which we had been living was not an option.  They were still trying to get pre-bubble bursting prices!?

So we had to do house hunting in a hurry.  It felt like we had to go through a year's worth of reflection, evaluation, prioritizing, legwork, and research in just a few months.  It was insanity at its finest, but we found a house that we were interested in.  For us, what it came down to was the question of if we wanted to pay more for a house that was truly move-in ready, but had little room for improvement and equity, or if we wanted more of a fixer upper, that cost less up front, needed work up front, and had lots of head room for equity.  We chose the later.  The house we picked was a pit, I mean an absolute dump.  It is filthy dirty with nicotine and tar stains dripping down the walls, a tiny bathroom that is just disgusting and barely has a trickle of water running through it due to the original 1947 plumbing, original fuse box and wiring, and soaking wet insulation in the attic.  The shrubs haven't been trimmed for two years, so what were cute 3 foot tall manicured shrubs are now 7 foot tall monstrosities. 

We closed on this house one week ago after quite a few hiccups and delays.  This was a house that was under a reverse mortgage, so it was rather complicated to get everything in line, and no one was in as much of a hurry as we were.  But in the end, is is done so now the question has been where do we go from here.

We began by demolishing the attic with the wet insulation.  What an unbelievably hot, dirty, and itchy job.  I am so glad that it is done at this point.  It was kind of fun, though, truth be told.  I got to burn loads of calories, and my husband and I had a great time working together.  From here we begin cleaning the walls.  I had tried several things: baking soda, vinegar nothing was touching it.  A lady working in the paint department of our local Lowe's recommended something called Greased Lightning to us.  Her husband used to smoke, and she used it herself after he stopped smoking in the house.  We tried it last night after we had finished the insulation.  It worked like magic!  Hardly any nicotine staining was left on the walls and it smelled nice and fresh, not a heavy chemically smell, though it will drip down the walls so it was suggested to us that we start at the bottom and work our way to the top.  We will try it out tomorrow or the next day.  I can't wait to see how it goes. 

On to the next step in the adventure.