When you own a house there is always something to do. You never get bored. We knew this going into buying a house (7 years ago) because if we wanted to get anything bigger than a 1000 sq.ft. house, it would have to be a fixer-upper.Well as most of you know, we bought the ultimate fixer-upper. In the past 7 years we have re-done every floor, wall and ceiling in this house. You would think after 7 years of projects and living with a huge amount of sawdust and dirt IN my house, I would be done, ready to take a break from projects. However every Spring I get the itching to do another major project. I get all excited and start planning it in my head and think OK, let's do it. Unfortunately my husband is not on the same excited page I am. He is the smart one. He can see into the future of what the project will really entail and how much time and work because inevitably I will have to attend to the children while he finishes the latest project. Don't get me wrong, I've done my fair share of work on this fixer-upper. Most of that was done when I have one infant who sat in a swing all day. Now I have three children who all move and scream and fight and whine. They also play sibling rivalry is quite strong in this house.
Part of me does the comparing game. I look at what others have at their house or their yard and think why can't I do that? Why can't we have that? So I jump into planner mode. I'm a GREAT planner. I can plan any project down to every detail. It's the executing that slows me down and discourages me. I want it done RIGHT NOW!! I want to be Samatha on Bewitched and wiggle my nose and have it look perfect.
That is when my husband of 10+ years reins me in and brings me that reality check I need. I can plan all I want but I have to consider such things in my plans as weather (if it's an outside project), financing (yes, it always cost money, I can't seem to want anything that is free) and of course labor (i.e. my husband). I have to consider all those steps instead of skipping over them with the idea that all that will appear out of thin air and will work perfectly.
So as of now, I'm at a place where I have to slow down and be realistic. Thankfully God has given me the most patient husband on earth I believe.
I have those same issues with anything I want to do. Sometimes I kind of forget that with three kids EVERYTHING takes longer than I expect and that inevitable SOMETHING will go wrong (possibly along the lines of people getting sick, or school work having to take precedence). It's about to the point where I just tackle one project per season (and by project I mean things like sewing A blanket, or re-doing ONE flower bed). Maybe when they graduate I'll become more productive again :-)
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