About two hours into our first full day of home ownership, we realized that our vision of family-style home repairs was just that - a dream. My first two hours went something like this:
spackle one hole
change a diaper (because mama forgot to pack the potty)
make lunch
spackle another hole
remove hammer from toddler's hands (before it reached his sisters head)
wonder where I put the spackle
find spackle in a paint tray (that clearly the dog has already been through)
distract children (and dog) with a walk and return with settled children
wonder why the spackle is dry
pile all into the car for more spackle
repeat....
Family-style home repairs, of course, are a whole other pace of work. Ahem. It's tempting to fall into a whole spiral of discouragement. But, oh, the excitement of painting one's own room! And playing with sledgehammers and such things as this! It's fun and important, oh so educational (you never know when that knowledge of accordion lath might come in handy!)...not to mention exactly what we've been hoping and planning for all along.
And so...we are doing our best to move forward at a steady pace; adjust our time-line as needed (what we originally estimated to be one week of before-moving-work has now turned into a much more realistic month); take lots of breaks as required by those smaller than us; rely (so gratefully) upon the helping hands of friends and family; crank out the work when littles are sleeping (yawn!); and otherwise and mostly.....find ways for everyone to be a part of the process (with all the necessary and appropriate safety precautions, of course). I can't imagine doing it any other way.
Did I mention embracing the mess that comes with all of that? Yeah, that too - Embrace The Mess. For certainly it is a sign that good things are happening...family-style.
