This year has had lots of ups and downs, with the first two-thirds of the year going at what seemed a turtle's pace, then the last third seemingly running a marathon at top speed. To stay on top of everything, I started keeping a weekly to-do list, just like I do at work. The biggest difference between the two is that my personal list helps me organize my thoughts and ideas, along with all the things I need to do, while my work list is simply the things I need to do for my W-2 job, but I digress.
For years, the hubby and I have dreamed of buying a place in North Georgia to have for vacations and future retirement. At the beginning of the year, the hubby and I thought we had identified a home to purchase for that purpose and we knew it would need a lot of work, but we looked forward to it. It even had daffodils growing in the yard and we waited months to be able to make an offer on it. Once that happened, the price nearly doubled, and we quickly realized that we wouldn't be able to do the renovations needed and keep up two houses.
That situation drug along from late January all the way into July before it fell through. During that time, we had decided to take advantage of the low interest rates available and re-financed our current house, but that also drug out for a lot longer than it should have due to some paperwork issues with the bank, but finally closed a little over 3 weeks after our first closing date. All that dragging gave us the opportunity to take stock of our current living situation.
While our situation isn't the ideal for what we want in the future, I do love our house. It's my first house with my name on the deed. It has a large yard with plenty of room for gardening. And while it's not perfect and has needed some extra TLC, it definitely has provided us a good place to raise our girls. Besides, the house has "good bones" - something I've heard mentioned on some of those home remodeling shows.
With all that in mind and our current employers being local, we decided to do more than just put a roof on the house. We decided it was time to do something we had dreamed of for years - we removed a wall. Well, that's not all and we're not really done, so there will be more on that later, but that one thing has made a huge difference.
As I mentioned before, the first two-thirds of the year seemed to go by slowly, but once we started the remodeling at the end of September, the pace of life really picked up. Well, not so much with the remodeling, but with everything else.
With our youngest getting married just before Thanksgiving and our middle daughter expecting in December, life went into overdrive. Then the roof, soffits, fascia board and gutters about the same time our grandson was born. Then the hubby breaking his ankle. Then surgery for the grandson. Then the new windows for the living room that we ordered at the end of August finally arrived but aren't the right ones so will be replaced (by the window company for messing up the order). Then Christmas.
Phewwwww!
And we're not really done. There's more stuff coming but at least we're getting a break. (Maybe I should say short respite. Break isn't a good word to use in our household at the moment.)
As I look back on the past year, I know that so much more happened. I've purged. I've written. I've reminisced and relived memories. Our oldest daughter moved to Florida, while our youngest moved to California and our middle one became a mother. It's been a heck of a year, but overall, a good one and I'm appreciating it all.
How busy was your year? Did it fly by or drag along at a snail's pace?
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