So here are some “after” photos…approximately one month late, because as usual I let myself become busy, busy busy =), realizing that this may actually never change about me, BUT hopefully as I continue to “grow up” I will be able to continue growing more and more balanced and healthy and productive (and happy) in my busy-ness.
While I am still waiting to see if we can replace the counter-top where the piece had broken off (everything is glued and secured in place, so it is functional and looks “okay” for now, but I think it will still be better to have it replaced), and having to deal with a couple issues here and there, the renovations more or less finished on time, and the tenants were very pleased with the new floors, the paint colors and their new appliances, and their move into the house went smoothly. On the day of their move, we had the house ready just in time for professional cleaners to come first thing in the morning, and the owner of the cleaning company actually asked if we would want to sell the house in a year or so, to please let him know. We explained that likely this would not happen because we are really hoping our tenants love it there and stay long term, but this was an encouraging sign to me that the house was a good investment and the renovations went well overall. Another big blessing is that a couple of weeks after the move, I found out that our tenants are actually quite close to two friends of mine from seminary (my friends are their pastors!). It’s a small world =).
The Living Room:
The Dining Room:
The Family Room:
The Kitchen:
The Laundry/Utility Room:
I am happy to report that in this past month, while I have still had many moments of exhaustion (which is why I gave myself permission to hold off on writing), I really have been learning to enjoy myself, learning to enjoy life, and forcing time into my schedule for some play. Below, I will quickly run you through an overview of my month of recovering from the reno’s so you have an idea of what’s been going on with me =)
First of all, I finally discovered Candy Crush! Not that I would say this is a great thing…but in a way it was like giving myself permission to join the rest of the human race in a popular past time, albeit a bit late in the game. Basically the day after handing the Investment House keys over to our tenants, I let myself play this cute game on my iPhone, Bakery Story, because it allows me to run a virtual cafe, which used to be one of my dreams in my student years long ago (I had a good friend who planned one day on owning a private jet when she had “made it,” and she would make a point of flying from wherever she was in the world to my little coffee shop for a cup of coffee and to enjoy whatever I had set up for inspiring my customers’ spiritual, emotional and social well-beings). This game then asked me to install and play a game called Candy Mania in order to unlock some special treats, and Candy Mania reminded me a lot of what I remember hearing and seeing about Candy Crush, the game everyone used to spend hours upon hours playing. When I reached a level where I lost all my lives and had to wait an hour or so for more lives, but I was still feeling brain-dead (or perhaps even a bit more brain-dead) and also highly addicted as can happen with these things, I remembered I had always wanted to try Candy Crush but just lacked the motivation to begin exploring this world of iPhone games.
All this to say, a LOT of my time for a week or so went to playing games on my iPhone, often into the wee hours of the night when I should have been sleeping, but my body and brain were uncooperative from what had felt like a bit of a shock to my body and brain that last week of renovations. Lucky for me, while my husband was sensible enough to remind me not to get over-absorbed in these games with friendly threats to delete them off my phone, he was also very understanding and patient during that time. He himself is a fan of video games and computer games and I think one smartphone/tablet game of choice called Bejeweled Blitz, after all, so I’m pretty sure this contributed to his ability to be understanding and supportive.
Anyhow, I started finding my eyes were feeling strained, and that when I didn’t succeed on certain levels with my allotted number of lives, my mood would be a bit less positive than ideal for when taking care of and influencing three young children. So after a week or so, I realized I needed to find something else to help me relax and feel more normal again.
This is when I remembered that a picture I had of what it looks like to me to really feel like there is enough time for myself is the ability to work on one of my big puzzles from this box of 8 art puzzles I bought back in university. Not sure why this is the picture I got, but I realized that yes, at this moment in my life, this was important to me. And this would be a much better option than my iPhone games, because (1) my eyes won’t be so tired and strained, (2) I could listen to music or sermons or my learn-Chinese tapes in the background, or talk to someone on the phone with my headset, or just have a moment of peace and quiet, at the same time I worked on the puzzles, (3) there is actually a clear “end” to each “project” that would provide a sense of accomplishment that I personally find more satisfying than the 3 second “you did it!” or “level completed!” on my iPhone games, even if not everyone else (like my husband in this case) can understand and appreciate it, and (4) I just really, really, really like puzzles for so many reasons, the whole process of putting a puzzle together feels like a spa treatment and resort vacation for my brain (one of these days I’ll put together a Top 10 reasons I love and recommend puzzles or something like that).
In order to do my puzzle in peace, out of the reach of 3 kids, however, this required that I finally tackle the room designated as my “office,” but which had been serving as a storage room with piles of paper on every surface, basically since Trevor was born almost two years ago. So…somehow I mustered up the motivation to finally work on clearing space in my office, until there was at least table space cleared to work on my puzzle =). It’s amazing how having a simple goal like that made the whole process that much more bearable, and do-able, versus trying to make myself clean just because I really “should,” or putting myself down for not being more organized and on top of things and not being a better steward of my space. Doing a chore because it helps make it possible for me to do something I want to do and that I really want to do now (even if only for something as simple as a puzzle) is so much easier and more rewarding than trying to force myself out of shame or nagging or a “should” etc, because then it feels like I’m cleaning for myself.
Anyhow, clearing out my space (it is still a work in progress, but it actually is a space where I can work on all of my own things now, including typing on my laptop), has proved to be a highly rewarding, happy thing for me, that I am so glad I finally made the time to do it. Whereas before I always felt like I needed to retreat to Starbucks for a few hours a day to feel at peace and like my mind could actually think again, I now find myself just wanting to sit in my office and drink my own coffee (thank goodness for the convenience of my Tassimo!) or tea or water, or whatever I happen to fancy at the moment. This, I think, is quite a big milestone for me, to actually feel at peace and want to be at home for my alone time, even over Starbucks… Honestly, this is a first =).
So, now, after completing renovations on an Investment Home, here is a summary of what I “accomplished” with my free “non-renovation” time in this past month:
(1) Reached level 23 on Bakery Story
(2) Reached level 52 on Candy Mania,
(3) Reached (and am currently stuck) on level 50 of Candy Crush (Oh wait, as I opened the app to check my level, apparently some fairy in the game has allowed me to continue on to the next level…)
(4) Cleaned out and set up my Home Office so it is usable and on its way to being organized (after which I’ll proceed to try and make it more beautiful…)
(5) Completed a 500 piece puzzle, followed by a 1000 piece puzzle.
(6) Finally am able to really feel at home, at home =)