It's that time again. Time to sit down and think about past years, and moving forward into a new year. For the last two years, I have had a "word to live by" -- a word of the year. Last year, my word was beauty. I shared a little about it in this post. This rustic sign was created as a reminder.
The last two years have been REALLY hectic. We finished up a home renovation and sold our home in Colorado, after several months of having a long distance marriage. We put our household goods into four storage lockers in two different states and moved across the country.
We planned the wedding of the century for our oldest child.
While living in a postage stamp sized apartment in the city, we purchased, and began renovating a beach house two hours away. This was not your typical renovation -- the house had been mostly gutted, and had lost it's view, due to a growing sand dune. We designed and managed an extensive renovation, that included lifting the beach house nine feet!
We ended up having to temporarily stop the renovations, when our daughter's husband was sent to Afghanistan months earlier than planned. Our daughter was in her last trimester of pregnancy, and her husband did not want her to be alone, so she moved into the beach house (with large dog, cat, and bunny in tow), and we brought the renovations to a stopping point just in time for the arrival of a sweet grandbaby.
It's probably just as well that we took a little break from the beach house reno, because about this time, things got really complicated -- we purchased a pied-a-terre in the city.
We were so thrilled to find a bank-owned, bargain waterfront condo in the middle of our huge city, minutes from downtown, with a boat slip and a parking space and a storage locker, that we were willing to overlook the fact that this condo had no bathroom fixtures, no stove, no fridge, and a barely functional kitchen layout after a DIY flipper had gotten hold of the place, botched his renovations, and been foreclosed on.
Yikes! Our lives were really getting complicated! Life with two households can get crazy. We learned right away, that mail needs to arrive at only one place. Otherwise, things get lost or forgotten -- not good, when you're talking about household bills. Even shopping for two households is complicated.
You think you have cooking oil (or toilet paper, or soap, etc.), because you just bought some, then you realize you bought it for the condo, not the house.... I've tried buying in bulk at Costco, splitting the packages, then leaving half the stuff in the car for the next trip to the other place. That works, unless a spouse or other helpful person sees the stuff in the car, and carries it in for you.... OR, you take a different car the next time you go to the other place.... I was looking for the Worcestershire sauce the other day, getting really frustrated, because I had just seen it in the fridge! I finally realized it was in the other fridge....
Our beach house was supposed to be our refuge, our relief from the hustle and bustle of city life -- a place to go to recharge our batteries, and reconnect with nature. I was so busy the other day on "projects", that I didn't think to look out the banks of windows at our amazing view. When I realized the sun had gone down, and I had not once glanced at all that beauty before me, I felt kind of ashamed....
We bought a condo on the water so we could see the reflections of the city lights at the end of the day, and be able to take our canoe out on the spur of the moment; but if we keep the curtains drawn, and work during every spare moment, we will miss out on those things.
We need to simplify. We need to make simpler choices, so we have time to paddle around our little bay.
We need to simplify. We need to realize that there will be lots of time for house projects -- they are not going anywhere, but our little granddaughter is growing and changing daily, and her Daddy will return and take his beautiful wife and daughter away before we know it.
We need to simplify. We need to hold hands and watch TV. We need to take in the sunsets. We need to snuggle our granddaughter. We need to cherish our time with our daughter. We need to slow down, and breathe.
The last two years have been REALLY hectic. We finished up a home renovation and sold our home in Colorado, after several months of having a long distance marriage. We put our household goods into four storage lockers in two different states and moved across the country.
We planned the wedding of the century for our oldest child.
Crystal Brand Photography
While living in a postage stamp sized apartment in the city, we purchased, and began renovating a beach house two hours away. This was not your typical renovation -- the house had been mostly gutted, and had lost it's view, due to a growing sand dune. We designed and managed an extensive renovation, that included lifting the beach house nine feet!
We ended up having to temporarily stop the renovations, when our daughter's husband was sent to Afghanistan months earlier than planned. Our daughter was in her last trimester of pregnancy, and her husband did not want her to be alone, so she moved into the beach house (with large dog, cat, and bunny in tow), and we brought the renovations to a stopping point just in time for the arrival of a sweet grandbaby.
It's probably just as well that we took a little break from the beach house reno, because about this time, things got really complicated -- we purchased a pied-a-terre in the city.
We were so thrilled to find a bank-owned, bargain waterfront condo in the middle of our huge city, minutes from downtown, with a boat slip and a parking space and a storage locker, that we were willing to overlook the fact that this condo had no bathroom fixtures, no stove, no fridge, and a barely functional kitchen layout after a DIY flipper had gotten hold of the place, botched his renovations, and been foreclosed on.
Yikes! Our lives were really getting complicated! Life with two households can get crazy. We learned right away, that mail needs to arrive at only one place. Otherwise, things get lost or forgotten -- not good, when you're talking about household bills. Even shopping for two households is complicated.
source
Our beach house was supposed to be our refuge, our relief from the hustle and bustle of city life -- a place to go to recharge our batteries, and reconnect with nature. I was so busy the other day on "projects", that I didn't think to look out the banks of windows at our amazing view. When I realized the sun had gone down, and I had not once glanced at all that beauty before me, I felt kind of ashamed....
We bought a condo on the water so we could see the reflections of the city lights at the end of the day, and be able to take our canoe out on the spur of the moment; but if we keep the curtains drawn, and work during every spare moment, we will miss out on those things.
We need to simplify. We need to make simpler choices, so we have time to paddle around our little bay.
We need to simplify. We need to realize that there will be lots of time for house projects -- they are not going anywhere, but our little granddaughter is growing and changing daily, and her Daddy will return and take his beautiful wife and daughter away before we know it.
We need to simplify. We need to hold hands and watch TV. We need to take in the sunsets. We need to snuggle our granddaughter. We need to cherish our time with our daughter. We need to slow down, and breathe.
My word of the year is simplify. Do you have a word of the year?
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