Last week did I say something about dedicating this week to all things laundry room? Yes, I believe those words did come out of my mouth.

Is that happening this week? Maybe. Maybe not.

Sometimes life throws us curve balls. Hummm, scratch that. Let’s go ahead and admit that sometimes my life instead is a game of dodgeball. So while my blog posts may appear as if life is all rainbows, teacups and kittens (words from my wise  9 year old), the truth is….it’s far from perfect. When I find myself overwhelmed, stressed, stretched, harried, crazed (and much more), the best way to feel better is to take a step back, breath in deeply, write a lot of notes, and take stock of what is upsetting me…and what makes me happy, too. Like all of the things I *have* accomplished to this house since moving in. And do little things for myself that make me smile.

(I won’t be sharing anything super personal, but believe it when I say I have my own fair share of personal and mothering probs. A-hem…kids fighting, kids not listening, etc. I won’t burden you guys with my personal life issues, but know they are lingering too.)

But before I share my happy ending…why exactly am I feeling the need to keep it real? Because this is real life. And I blog in the moment.

Why am I stressed?

Let’s start with the fact that I own an old home. And when you own a home, you’re responsible for fixing issues and doing / paying for repairs. Lately I’ve had one issue after another and it’s taking a toll on my patience…and checkbook. Sure, there are things I can attempt to repair, but it’s for the best that this novice not mess around with plumbing or electrical. Thank God for my home warranty! I’m definitely getting my money’s worth.

My dishwasher has been broken for nearly a month. The dishwasher was here when we purchased the house. It’s a Bosch … otherwise known as the pain in my you know what. It broke down on Halloween. That time it was the drain pump that needed replacing. This time? It’s a switch of some sort, which was replaced last week. But when I asked the tech to turn it on before he left, to make sure all systems were go, water started pouring out of the front.

Good times, people!

There is another part on order and I continue to wash dishes by hand while I wait for yet another 4-hour repair appointment window. Super fun!

Oh, and did I mention that in order for the tech to get behind the dishwasher I had to pull up the floor tiles in front of it as well as hack away at the wood trim above it? Apparently the previous owners decided adding their kitchen “upgrades” around the appliance was a good idea. Say what?

Nothing more therapeutic than using my hand saw. Get ready for a chuckle here…

Yup, at least while I have lost my patience, my sense of humor is still intact.

Then on Sunday evening I noticed a wet spot near the toilet in the kid’s bathroom. Since the bathroom is shared by the kids I figured someone “missed” the toilet. But as I bent down to clean it up, I realized it was water coming from a leak behind the toilet…

When I ran the garbage disposal in the kitchen sink the following night? Water pouring out from under the sink.

And…more water issues up in the master bathroom, where the tub is leaking.

If you’ve heard California is under drought conditions, clearly it’s because my house is letting it all leak from every possible water opening.

2 weeks ago one of the furnaces had an issue, broke down and I smelled something burning inside the vents. Nothing like meeting your neighborhood fire dept the hard way. They came out with thermal cameras to make sure nothing was burning behind the walls. Thankfully it wasn’t a fire, just my old furnace letting me know the air filters needed replacing because they hadn’t been changed in….oh…..never! The filter was so clogged that air couldn’t get through. And something else needed replacing. Forgive me, my mind is still coughing from inhaling the burning vent fumes and I can’t remember.

Thank you again home warranty!

I also had a broken thermostat replaced. This is a temporary…

…because (oh yes) after attempting 3 thermostats, all with issues keeping them from working, I’m biting the bullet and going with the nest. Heard amazing things about this…and for the price, I really hope it is amazing!…

And that it lasts forever and never needs replacement or repairs.

Beyond home appliance issues, I have a lot of stress building over home improvement projects. I love love loooooove these projects, but they are starting to take their toll. Clearly I need the mental (and financial) break after doing project after project on this house since June. Nothing gives me more satisfaction than completing a home improvement project and seeing the end result, but even I have my limits. It may be time for a break.

Famous last words, right?

Anyway, I am growing weary of seeing this sight outside my front door every day…

 

 

Yep, still no sod. We’ve had rain lately, which has held up the project. Then there’s the paths that need to be planned and purchased and, of course, laid…

I did manage to go to our local stone company to choose a stone. Now it’s just a matter of figuring out how many linear feet I need, creating a pattern, and then buying the correct number of pallet’s. If I overbuy, I can’t return it…I’m trying to plan wisely here because the stones aren’t cheap.

In the meantime, welcome to my house! Don’t trip on my glamourous plywood walking path…

Because many of the outdoor projects bleed into one another, I was at a standstill on the left side yard because in order for the side fences to go up, some newly added sprinkler pipes had to be moved 1 foot. Those were moved on Sunday and now I can go ahead with the side fences / gates. Still have to choose gates though. The options are endless. And so is my patience with myself for obsessing over the options.

This sight is also wearing me down…

 

Along with a lot of other random junk piles around the property, like this stack of bricks that has been here since the pool renovations started. Yes, back in June!…

In the photo above, you can see there isn’t a side fence. I’m ok with that for the short period because I have a pool fence, but when we put up the new wood fence last week, I had to detach the pool fence from the old fence.

Have I said “fence” enough?

Add another call to my list – the pool fence company is returning to reattach and make sure everything is secure /safe once again…

Other random annoyances? This table sitting on the outskirts of the playroom…

When the dishwasher broke, the repair company had to turn off the breaker to the dishwasher. That breaker also controlled the outlets that I used for the coffee maker, the microwave and the wine opener. Yes, 2 very important lifelines for this lady! So, I set up a little staging area over here so that I could still have my am and pm fix. With the tight laundry room space, I was also using the table for additional folding surface. It hasn’t moved in over a week and I’m sick of looking at it.

Want to hear more happiness?

This x 3 kid’s bedrooms….daily…

This stuff in my garage, which is keeping me from having ample work space as well as getting my big garage organization project underway…

The sooner that stuff is gone, the sooner I can play in this work area…

Do we own enough bags?…

But first I need new lighting, which will be going up in the garage this week. You can see propped up on the back wall that some of the lighting is already down…

I also have projects I’m anxious to knock out because they are ready to go…like hanging my pretty curtains from the old house. When I sold the house, I kept them with hope they could be hung in our eventual new home. I’ve had them hemmed and dry cleaned and they lay in waiting…

 

The pink you see is obviously going into Natalie’s room. Can’t wait to get some color on the walls in this house…

Oh, and all of the wall hangings too! Another project on the old master to-do list. And a photo I couldn’t bear to share here on the blog.

And because I can never do any project without over-thinking it into the ground (ha!), the planning for this pre-summer patio project is kicking my rear…

We’ll be spending a lot of time this summer enjoying this screened in patio. Since this will be a big project, I decided to hold off on my garage overhaul and instead focus my energy in here this spring. I’m going to paint and clean up stuff like this…

And possibly mount a tv…

But before anything is mounted or I re-coat / tile the floor…

This green paint needs to go. We need something fresh and bright in here…

All of the above is just scratching my stress-filled surface, friends.

When it all gets to me and becomes too much to bear, I know exactly how to calm myself = Causing more of a mess! Yesterday I tore apart my home office…

 

I got totally lost in cleaning and re-organizing and hanging a new little white board blog organizer (which I’ll share soon)…

 

I purged enough stuff that I was able to take one of these black shelves down to the garage to be used as a temporary mudroom / shoe rack…

And I have plans for this back wall that will incorporate storage and work space…

When I am stressed or feeling overwhelmed, tearing apart a room or working on a project calms me. It brings me clarity too because I’m able to think through exactly what is getting under my skin. In this case, I realized my home office needed a little tweaking now that I own a small business. I’ll share more soon about the little tweaks made in here. But here’s a little sneak peak…

 

I also realized I had too much rolling around in my head. Between home projects, work projects, blog projects, the boys both starting baseball, school stuff, and more….I kick every possible thought out of my head and down onto paper. Then, I purchased a few new binders and can’t wait to get all of my head junk organized into more than just 1 huge, cumbersome home management binder…

Finally, I did something nice for myself today.  A huge 45 minute leg workout with my trainer…

I know, maybe not “nice” for some of you. But the stress relief really helped my mental attitude…and hopefully my butt, too.

Then I bought myself fresh flowers and said “chill out, dude!”…

Now that I’ve left your head spinning…

The reason I shared is because this is real life over here. I’m a real woman. A real mom. I recognize when my mind is telling me to chill out and take a break. I hope to get to those laundry room posts soon, but if you don’t see them for a couple days – you’ll know why!

xoxo