Week 8 – A Full Plate

I didn’t write a blog post last week and I struggled with inspiration for what to write this week. There has been so much progress on the Farmhouse and that’s so exciting, but to be honest our plates are full right now and my creativity and passion for writing wasn’t there because I’m mentally exhausted. The thing is though, I want this blog and everything I write to have a very real factor, not this “just living in a dreamworld, doing this beautiful farmhouse remodel” like I’m some pretend perfect person. I am loving every piece of this journey, but it has us stretched thin. Anyone who has every remodeled knows it’s a labor of love not for the faint of heart! Building takes patience, but remodeling is a whole different deal! You’ve got to take something old and messed up, and fix it. It’s sort of like buying a new car, verses fixing a classic. You have to believe it through to the end!

So lets get real on a Thursday… I’m a teacher by day and a designer for flip homes and our current remodel by night, and weekend, and wherever I can fit it in. We have two kids. We are a blended family: his daughter, my son, but OUR kids!! So even though we only have one child all the time that’s still a hurdle in itself because you have other pieces to parenting that complicate the journey. We have 20 goats, a donkey, and two dogs. My husband runs a contracting company and deals with everything under the sun with customers, and subcontractors, and a phone that is constantly ringing. We currently have two flip homes we’re working on, and 100’s of other jobs going for the business. Our son plays baseball, and my husband is assistant coaching his team while I’m “moming the dugout”. SO, not that our lives are any busier than the next, BUT we’re pretty darn busy. On top of all of that, this time change has thrown off our routine. Why does the time change always do that? It’s only an hour I don’t know why every evil in every child seems to come out after the time change. So, we’ve been juggling this remodel on top of full time jobs that actually “pay” us, and kids, and animals. This week I’ve just felt worn down, on edge, tired, and full!

Don’t get me wrong we choose this full plate, and we do so willingly. We are always busy and I’ve found we operate better that way. We like having projects, and feeling the success. The before and after brings us joy, but this week the only time I feel calm is when I look across that pond and see the calm of the water, and the barn, and the sunset. We don’t live in this house yet, and I don’t enjoy that front porch view every evening like I look forward to doing, but I have learned to find calm wherever you can when your plate is full. Sometimes I read a book, sometimes I watch a Netflix docu series, sometimes I go to bed early, sometimes I veg out on Instagram or Facebook scrolling, sometimes I don’t handle it healthy at all and I unleash my frustration on the people I love, BUT I always come back to something that calms me. That picture above is exactly that for me right now, and I hope forever. I snapped this picture the other evening as the sun was setting. Maybe one day I’ll have someone paint a copy of it for our house. Sitting on the front porch looking out across that water and seeing nothing, no street, no neighbors, no busyness… I cannot wait for this to be home! I even said to my husband as we walked around the house together yesterday, “don’t you come here and just think this is so pretty and you can’t wait to be out here everyday?”

Life lesson on week 8… I know I’m blessed! I’m living a life I’ve always dreamed of, literally! So, when you’re plate is full… count every blessing on it, and remember to keep calm however you can find that!

Okay so enough about my crazy life, lets do an update on the Farmhouse week 8. The roof is on! We went with Landmark Pro shingles in Weatherwood and a metal roof for the porches and barn. The front doors finally came, and I am so in love with them!! You will walk down the hall or down the stairs, and see right out to that beautiful view. It won’t matter that there are these huge windows because there isn’t a soul around to see in. We have the tile floors picked out, and the electricians are in the house making the changes needed to have lights and outlets everywhere we need them, and make this a “smart home” that is representative of the year 2019. The siding is being wrapped up this week, and we will move on to doing some landscaping and then painting! We are making progress daily and we are enjoying the journey even if our plates are full.

P.S. We did a large scale lakehouse remodel while planning a wedding, maintaining full time careers, and taking care of kids. We will survive this, but it is doubtful we will ever take on a remodel of this magnitude again. I think it’s safe to say this is the largest one to date, and will likely stay that way. This house was striped down to the bones! There is a whole lot of time and love going into this.