It’s no secret that the past six months have been especially wild around here. Darryl took the full-time data scientist role at one of his client’s firms. We had a very hectic Christmas season flying to New Orleans and a hellish trip home. And then, renovations happened for 10 straight weeks. Trying to juggle two people working from home is always hard enough, especially with slow internet. Add in four more people with hammers, saws and drills and let’s just say it was crazy. Then, there was the cleanup from renovations and finally the remainder of the renovations that we are doing ourselves. After a highly productive weekend, we can finally say we’re “getting there.” Candidly, it couldn’t happen too soon. But, by the end of this week, the upstairs bathroom should be painted with the tile going in this weekend. Re-installing the toilet and the new sink shouldn’t be that much work and from there, there are just finishing touches.
Now, that’s not to say that our renos will be as close to done. We need to install the shiplap on the ceilings in our guest bedroom and Darryl’s office – which should be a two-day project – and install the floors upstairs, which should be a two-week project. Finally, the entire house needs baseboards.
Still, after so much money and a chaotic six months, we are finally starting to make real progress in a return to normal and it’s finally sinking in: when we finish a project this time, it is done likely for our lifetime. So, done is done. I couldn’t be more happy about that.
While it still feels like forever until we are actually “done done”, it is fabulous to think about. Already, I can see how our life will be so much different. No more saving excessively to pay for the next renovation. No more working all weekend instead of socializing. No more tools stored in the hall closet instead of coats. No more construction materials littering up the basement and odd corners of the house. More dinners on the back deck in summer, more hikes on beautiful sunny afternoons and more winter getaways to warm locales where we can sun our faces as we sip drinks poolside. My sense is that we are still probably two years away from that reality – there are still some outdoor projects to do – but the big bolus of work has largely been completed, thanks largely to the efforts of Darryl and our contractors.
Already, the transformation has begun. Yesterday, I realized that with the delivery of both the bathroom floor and the rest of the hardwood floors upstairs, we have now spent just about all of the money we need to spend in completing this renovation. There’s possibly a gallon of paint and some paint brushes to buy and that’s it. Additionally, just six weeks out from renovations and the financial recovery from going overbudget has already materialized. One more good month and this little family will be back in my financial comfort zone.
The biggest change we now have to make is more of an emotional one. While we have this last “hard push” over the next 6-8 weeks to finish interior renovations (until we do baseboards in the fall), this little family needs to make some heartspace for other things in life. For six months, our focus has been on working as hard as we could through some disruptive circumstances. Now? It’s time to play a little bit.
The challenge for us with be, well, letting go. Seriously, if you looked around, there is ALWAYS something that could be done around here. With gardens and a massive yard, a house that’s almost renovated, one deck that needs replaced and one deck that still needs railings, it is easy to always have a full plate. On the other hand? Sometimes that full plate is a good way to distract yourself from living life. For us? I fear that it’s a little bit of both. We have the work but we also take the “safe” route of staying home.
When I officially go half-time on July 1st, one of my personal goals is to help this little family transition to a new way of life. It will be one that balances a little more fun into the work equation, respects the things we both love to do and focuses on healthy activities such as hiking, kayaking and being outdoors. The timing should be perfect. All but the baseboards will hopefully be done leaving us with a fully renovated indoors. The deck out back likely will still need to come off to be replaced this year, so that could complicate matters. But if it doesn’t – if we wait one more year – then the timing will be just right for this little family to lighten up a bit. It’s not that we’re not happy: we’re busy. And sometimes, you have to slow down to truly make time for love and laughter.
So, in the never-ending cycle of gearing up to slow down, here we are. While I am wise enough to know that the gear-up-to-slow-down cycle never goes away, I am hopeful that this is one of the last “big pushes.” The back deck may very well be the last push and then, hopefully, we will be done. And even at that, learning and creating balance is a critical life skill that we need to deploy so we can have the things we want and the life we want alongside it.
So, here goes, folks. Seventeen days until I slow down; eight weeks until it’s official and three projects to complete before then. It’s a numbers game. But it’s time for this family to enjoy the fruits of its labors AND the sense of satisfaction of a job well done.
The Yuppie Homesteader 