Tired, But Satisfied: Getting Back in the Thick of It

window before

I rarely feel like a "real Houseblogger," those renovation enthusiasts at Houseblogs.net who tackle major project after major DIY project, without pause. You know, the people who totally renovate their entire house, room by room, in a year or so. While I love reading those blogs, sometimes they make me feel extremely inadequate, not to mention jealous.

It's not just bloggers either, my stepdad has been spending almost every free moment he has for OVER A YEAR renovating a house. They took that place to the studs and brought it back. Yeah, that's not me.

I'll go all out on larger projects until they are done, because unfinished project chaos drives me NUTS (though there are some things I manage to ignore for weeks or years), but after they're done I need a nice, long break before I can even contemplate another project. I'm just one of those people who needs major doses of R&R every week. Min hus is on the "never going to be totally finished and will look its best before I sell it" plan.

Case in point, the reason I felt so satisfied this weekend, despite my aching body, is that I finally got back to restoring the windows after a two year break. This summer my goal is to restore four windows, though that may be optimistic. Last Saturday, I finally got started, and managed to scrape (using a heat gun) the paint off the trim of one window, and repaint it. It took about four hours and the project is only half done, if that, as I still need to reglaze the window, paint the window, and repaint the storms.

window during

While the caulk and wood filler was drying, I managed to clean the back stormdoor, light and deck; and do some gardening. Meanwhile, the Boy spent the day working on his own projects in manland. By the end of the day I was exhausted, and even though I had to pop some ibuprophen the next day, I felt great, almost like a real houseblogger.

window after

Our faithful companions were as helpful as usual during the day's work. Here's Piggy, being his usual supportive self. (check out that belly. His fur never grew back after he was neutered, it cracks me up.)