We survived ripping the band aid off home repairs in a single week. As I literally am the landscaper, the cook, the cleaner, the laundress, the primary child care provider, the organizer, the planner it is no surprise to know that the only way this house is going to be ready by June 1st is because I have made it happen.
Not to brag but I have pulled off some amazing feats in the past 2 weeks. In addition to ongoing cleaning out every closet,drawer, container of toys with Ben's help, my stuff (which is mainly baby/kid related stuff) in the walk out attic I’ve also been farming out the work I literally not physically able to do.
Yes, I agree I *could* have rented ladders and painted our vaulted ceilings, yes I could have borrowed a powerwasher and cleaned grime off the house and roof, yes I could have dug out ginormous bushes and chopped them up. But there is a physical and time limit to what can happen in 24 hours each day.
Given I have 60 students in the final weeks of class to finish or they do not graduate I’m a little busy with daily (or nightly) mounds of grading and school contacts even before the recent decision to push getting the house market ready.
May '11 is going down as a Cluster**** of insanity not seen since our summer of IVF and Bill's simultaneous surgery. I'm really trying to keep it together and just hunkerdown with a daily to do list and keeping my eyes on the prize of just getting to the end of May. Needless to say that the only way I am handling stress is sleeping as a priority and trying to get to the gym or outside to run with the dog. I literally use every single minute from the time I wake up to I finally collapse to get something done.
Yeah, yeah quit complaining, but allow me to detail what has gone down in the last week. Part of me loves this type of (temporary)stress from the high of productivity. Kinda sick, right? The other part is reeling from exhaustion when I stop at the end of the day. Telling you, amazing feats in the past 15 days.
Contractors here the entire week. They were AWESOME and I highly recommend them if local. I got them to beat a bid to re screen my porch as well as powerwash my driveway and outdoor swing for free by bundling jobs. Super Score for some negotiating.
So what happened during the week of home hell renovations:
Stripped my icky 90210 era wallpaper
Repainted the kitchen, dining room, and living room, stairs, hallway
Took down my gaudy brass light fixtures and ginormous mirror in my master bath and replaced with portrait mirrors and new lighting
Rescreened the porch including the damage from the tornado
Fixed siding that I had hit with the weed eater
Reattached the downspout
Replaced boards in the hardwoods
Fixed some cosmetic issues (aka 5 year old fun)in Ben's bedroom and then repainted the wall
Yes it was crazy not having use of most of the downstairs for most of the week, Yes Ian's napping with airguns and powerwashers going off was less than stellar with several days of NO nap at all or an abbreviated version of his already short one nap a day schedule. Yes I got behind with my class and worked late into the night almost the entire week to catch up.
Sunday while Bill was at a birthday party with Ben I took advantage of Ian's crazy long 3 hour nap (all the time he didn't sleep during the week I'm guessing) and mowed the grass, scrubbed down all the porch furniture, and stained the porch.
I had started Sunday by running 3 miles at the gym thinking it was going to rain and I would punt on the outside work so needless to say I am crazy tired and sore today.
On the punch list is ONE item still to complete before month end:
Final contractor to jackhammer out and re pour the front porch.
On my list: buy and plant 3 bushes, annuals and flower pots for the porch. 2nd coat of stain on the porch and also stain the deck that I skipped yesterday due to time. Weed the hosta bed as well at the mailbox planting (note site of the nasty poison ivy), put out mulch, paint the master bathroom, attach new master bath fixtures (Bill's job I hope while we are in Florida, if not I'm calling the contractor again as I have no idea how to do plumbing). In the meantime I am sorting, cleaning, tossing, donating, and in general doing everything I can to move with the least amount of stuff.
Yeah, I'm tired. Crazy, insane tired hence why I've been very MIA to most everyone not named Vinson and under 5 or one my students. Even students I am keeping office hours to manage my time during the day. Things will definitely slow down after the end of my classes on June 1st and hopefully once we get the house listed. Did I mention that I am driving the boys to Florida on June 2nd with absolutly nothing to do but side by the pool, enjoy the extra help from grandma, and if I'm lucky read Rob Lowe's new trashy tell-all book.
All hopes that all this hard work is going to pay off with a house that sells over the summer and in the meantime make it 15 more days.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Wow, I am pretty high energy... but, you... YOU are even more high energy then me! Kudos to all of the hard work! Heheh!
You are making me so freakin' happy that we didn't have to sell a house and look for a house at the same time. Still, if anyone can do it all, you can! And I assume that BV is equally as busy as you. :-) Take care of yourself!
Post a Comment