Another home improvement update

Here it is the middle of May and 4 months into our remodeling projects and we are still not done. Anyone who knows me, knows that this is way too long, and is driving me crazy. Of course, I have had to take into consideration all the "things" I have no control over that has dragged this out.

-Time: I have a lot more time than Dennis since he works 12 hour days and has been so busy officiating track meets. So I do what I can, but there are some things I just can't do, like electrical or plumbing and lifting or moving really heavy objects. I finally finished cleaning the entire upstairs and every nook, cranny, cupboard, drawer, book, dish, etc. That demolition and drywall dust penetrates everything.

-Material: We have at times had to wait for material, or for other people, both of which we have no control.

I am waiting for Dennis to put up the "hardware", shower curtain rod, towel bars, and toilet paper holders. We are waiting on the counter top for the vanity, but part of that is my not having a color sample to show them what I "think" I want. Once that is in, the plumbing should all be done, and the few remaining electrical outlets finished up. We are waiting for the living room set to come so I have an idea of what pictures I want to hang and where exactly they should go. There is just a lot of little things that need to be done that seem to take so long. How many of you have one or more things that are still not completed after you did a job? I think one reason for that might be that we are so glad to have the "major" portion of the project completed that we move on to other things intending to get to the little things, but somehow we never get back to them. Those are the things that drive me crazy.

Some of the things I have accomplished recently (I have to list them for myself, so I don't get frustrated and feel like nothing is getting done, which is what I sometimes tend to do - forget accomplishments and dwell on undone items).
-Cleaned the entire upstairs.
-Measured, cut, installed and painted the chair rail in the sunroom that were removed years ago when we got new windows.
-Take down, wash, iron and rehang all the valances.
-Wash windows
-De junk closets in the cleaning process
-Take down, wash, dry and rehang all the light fixtures
-Wash and dry all the 2" wood blinds
-Hand turn over not one, or two, but three garden beds so far.
-Re route a garden row by moving all the dirt to fill in a walkway and create a new walkway.
-Planted tomatoes, lettuce, peas, potatoes, spinach, radishes, spinach, beets, swiss chard, kale, carrots, green onions, and more tomatoes.
-Dig up sod (this was done with Amanda's amazing help) to extend the front flower bed.
- Clean out the rest of the flower bed, cut back tulips and daffodils
-Plant lots of flowers (it felt like there were a million)
-Prune all of my fruit trees and all of dads peach trees. Helped prune the rest of dad's fruit trees.
-Sprayed dormant oil on all of dads fruit trees
-Clean out part of the garage (I need another strong person to help me move the big things into the truck to take to Habitat for Humanity).
-Repaired 4 broken hoses.
-Moved things around outside to put the small rubbermaid shed in it's new little home.
-Hung some pictures
-Cleaned out behind and under the stove.....eeewww yuck. How does get under there anyway.
-Mowed the lawns at least 3 times already.
-Pruned the roses.
-Cleaned out the strawberry patch.
-Weeded several of the garden beds.
-Weeded several of the back flower beds.
-Cleaned out the car
-Helped Dennis take the trailer to the dump and empty it.
-Write two talks.
-Tend grandkids
-Continue studying and doing homework for the School of Natural Healing
-Sew two baby car seat tents
-Mend one blanket and help with a baby car seat cover "re-do".

I am just so grateful that I have good health and am able to work hard. If I can just remember that "patience" is a trait that is developed over time and something that I need to constantly strive to learn.

Life goes on....sometimes like a tornado and other times just plain slow

But the crazy thing is feeling like you are in the middle of a tornado in some aspects of your life while others, at the same time, are crawling along at a snails pace. That is what my life has felt like so far this year.

I don't think it is the busy-ness so much as our attitude at handling it. Some days I want to pull my hair out and others just go along smoothly. My attitude is what makes the difference. BUT there is one thing that seems to play a huge factor in my attitude and that is SUNSHINE. Something that has been in short supply this year so far. I am definitely ready for summer, sunshine, warm weather, and some lazy days with the family watching the grandkids play.