Man! This summer has been jam packed with projects! For most of the summer Justin went back to work so we could pay off Azul. This meant we would see him in the morning as he was headed out the door to work, he would come home usually in time for dinner, scarf his food to then rush outside to work on projects until dark. Weekends were different only in that he wasn’t going to work at his office. Instead he worked from a respectable hour in the AM, as we have our Airbnb guests to consider, until dark.
At the beginning it wasn’t so bad. We didn’t see him much but we knew these exciting projects were in the making and we sometimes helped out on the weekends. This is, after all, how we had planned out our summer.
However, by the end of the summer Justin was feeling the wear and tear of the never ending project list, the girls were getting resentful for not seeing their Daddy much. The girls were going stir crazy with me at home trying to finish my project list and I was burnt out as a teacher, wife and Mom. It reminded me of the old days when Justin was working full time.
Stress is such an interesting little culprit. It manifests itself in so many physical ways within a human body. By the last week of Justin’s work my body was screaming at me full tilt that things had to change. I was out of creative ideas, out of momentum, out of patience and my body had had enough! I think if it were a summer where Justin decided to go back to work and we didn’t have all the many MANY projects to do, it would have been challenging but not so unbearable. You just need a break every once in a while!
When Justin finished work we rearranged our schedule a little to allow me to have at least a half hour per day when I could be alone to think clearly. When I was doing sewing projects with the girls and they were at each other’s throats I probably ripped out just as many stitches as I did sew correct ones. Concentration is hard to come by. I have found that when we are away camping is the only time I can get some of my sanity back because there isn’t the constant pressure to be doing projects. I have no sewing machine on the road, nor does Justin have his welding or wood working equipment which makes both of us more available for each other and for our girls. It feels nice to be part of a family team.
We do not yet have tenants for our home for when we are away which is a bit nerve racking but we have some back-up plans that may pan out. All will soon be known in a little over a week when we leave. This time around we tried to resist the urge to pack up the house early. We did that last time and were unpacking and packing up boxes numerous times a day because we packed something we we weren’t actually finished with. The last week of August will be a mad packing rush but it can’t be avoided. It will be a good excuse to go through our things once again and ask ourselves if we do indeed want to keep everything or if we can pass it on to others. Kind of like fall cleaning instead of spring cleaning I guess you could say. 🙂
These are some of the things we have accomplished this summer, project wise:
- Disassembling Wobbles’ dinette and designing and welding/woodworking a bunk bed for the girls
- An aluminum firewood basket for Wobbles
- Putting USB outlets all over creation in Azul and Wobbles
- Adding light dimmers to Azul and Wobbles
- Solar panels on Azul
- Flip up table with wings in Azul
- Bedside cubby and flip-up table for Wobbles
- Black-out curtains for Azul’s many windows
- “Night stand” basket for Azul
- Banner decorations
- Wool pillows
- Wool blankets for the girls and Justin and I
- “Bedroom” divider curtain for Azul
- Bumpers for the girls bunks
- Blackout and insulating curtains for the girls’ windows in bunks