Home Improvement

Andy and I are not home-project kind of people. I think this can be boiled down to 3 main reasons.

1. Neither of us have the skill set needed for even minor repairs. We can’t fix a leaky faucet and we will stare at a hole in our wall until we pay someone else to come patch it. We’re doing good just to change a lightbulb around here, People. Andy tells me, “I am not your Handy-Man. I am your Andy-Man.” Noted.
2. Home improvements require money. When we moved into our house a year and a half ago, there were several things that we needed to spend money on to make it more homey. But we ran out of cash before we ran out of projects. So several things that have needed attention for some time have been left undone as we’ve saved up some more cash.
3. Neither Andy nor I enjoy shopping. We avoid retail stores like the plague and would much rather spend an evening cuddled on the couch watching a TV show than surfing the Internet for rugs. Plus, the “visual design” component of my brain never developed, which makes picking out curtains and hanging pictures a rather daunting task.

But, alas, the time had come to give a little attention to the homefront and I must say that I am right proud of ourselves! We have gotten more accomplished around our home in the last six weeks than (probably) the last 10 years of marriage!

I felt particularly motivated because of some significant deadlines: 

• Homeschool starts August 19
• Andy’s brother is moving in with us for the Fall on September 4
• Baby is due on November 9

I’m pretty sure that I won’t be super productive once homeschool starts back up and ESPECIALLY once our Little One arrives. So we had a small window between family vacation and school starting to get it done!

Here’s a list of some of things we’ve gotten accomplished around these parts the past 6 weeks:

• transformed my school room / office into a bedroom for Andy’s brother
• painted nursery
• bunked boys beds and transformed half of their bedroom into our school room
• painted outdoor patio and bought some patio furniture
• single-handedly put together 10 (TEN!) pieces of furniture!
• purchased a vehicle
• lots of cleaning, organizing, odds & ends type projects

We are in desperate need of a garage sale as our garage is becoming scarier and scarier to go into...like a black hole of STUFF.  But we’ve made a ton of progress and we are closing in on the finish line. Whew! 

And it’s a good thing, because school starts on Monday!