What a week it has been. The week before Last we found out that our tenant in our rental house was finally moving out.. they were supposed to be completely moved out by the end of day Saturday. Come Monday evening we were scheduled to do a final inspection with the property manager and get a game plan put together since we have a tenant that wanted to move in as soon as possible. When we showed up for the inspection the tenants were still there. The house was empty but they were still cleaning (not well either). With the inspection we found that there is a lot that needed to be done from paint touch ups, trim replacements due to damage, carpet repairs, yard care, and so on.. Tuesday we had plans were to get a ton done but ended up waiting for someone who was 3 hours late – nothing got done. Wednesday, we felt good about what got done.. we re-wired the sprinkler system (someone else had been messing with it), and we evaluated materials and tools needed to complete the jobs that were required. The more we got done the more we realized we would not be able to do it all. We had to start looking for someone to do certain more time consuming projects, such as roofing and carpet repair, so that we could focus elsewhere. Thursday, we were able to complete the sprinkler system.. it is now working like a dream.  The down side is it was not until then that the new tenant who had already signed the lease decided that they were not going to move it.. well good and bad since it did give us a little more time. We also started working on the drier.. it turns out it was not the heating element that had died so we are going to have to tear into it more.. my next guess is the fan.. after looking at the vent, it became very apparent that the lint was not being cleaned out properly and so the fan is likely jammed full of the stuff. Friday, well obviously this is date night so we did not do anything but.. there was some thought put into the status and we decided to do the roof ourselves so, we stopped and got shingles and a few little things. Saturday morning first thing, we got up and got to it. We removed the old swamp cooler because we knew no renter would use it when they have central air.. that took most of the morning so laying the new shingles did not start until almost noon.. at noon we took a break to avoid the heat of the day and didn’t start again until after 5pm.. we did not get as much done as we had hoped but I felt good about the amount I was able to get done. Oh yea and somewhere in there Mac Flooring came in and did the patching on the carpets to that is done as well!

The point of all this is, at home, we have so much that needs to be done this year to prevent weathering damage this next winter. So much that needs to be done in both location at the same time. Once again our projects are overpowering the amount of time that we have. Our attention is being divided so many ways that you can no longer taste the peanut butter. The more I seek balance, the more it seems to escape me. The more we look at all the things we need to do, the more I realize that I just want/need  to have fun, unwind and recharge, something we do not get to do all that often. Somehow though, it always turns out that to have said fun, requires a large expense or… other projects to be finished so that the resources we have, can be used.. Either way it seems to be a catch22.. I have gotten to the point where everything I do, I do as if it were a business, analyzing opportunity costs.. what projects will free up the most time for other projects to go faster. What projects will free up the most resources or finances to allow for others, always  with the goal of having a little R&R in mind. As I do all these analytics, the one thing I see in front of me is a dynamic labyrinth. A ever changing maze that appears to have no end.

Welcome back! This has been a great week with the Room project moving along quickly and what not. we have finally reached a part of the project that does not require me to be actively involved. They (the girls) started Perfa taping and mudding, and have gotten a lot of it done as of this point,(in the room) as for the hall way well, we hit another snag. The door way from said hall into the bedroom that we are currently staying in is not only the wrong size but has not been framed in correctly at all.. Now we are going to have to tear it out and Frame it in to the correct size, which will mean that we will have no door for a while, while it is being patched in and replaced.

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I would have to admit though, one of the biggest accomplishments this week was BALANCE.. last week end my wife and I talked a lot about our lives being out of balance. It was to the point that every moment of every day was consumed by work, sleep, work on the room, or eating. No time was being left for personal growth, family time, or really anything else. We made the decision last week end to set aside time for other things.. Part of the problem it that I have been working Nights (2PM-11PM) so any of the routine activities that we would do in the evening were canceled. (Family Night, Date Night, Scouting, Everything) So we decided to re-structure our mornings to have Monday as a “Family Morning” and “Date Night” is moved to Saturday evenings. and Thursday and Saturday Mornings are for personal projects (if I don’t work Saturday). Sunday has never been a day of work for our family so that was not a problem. I cannot say I have never “tinkered” on Sunday but just no work..

As for the weather cooperating with projects, the Jury is still out. It has been raining a lot which has caused almost all of the snow to melt (YEA!!!!!!) but in the place of snow is now a tun of MUD…. (DOH!) Saturday I pulled the Zuki out to take it to a friends to be worked on and I felt like I needed to get my Muckin boots on just to get to the garage. Hopefully there will not be any more snow and we will get some sun soon to dry things out.

Oh and since I mentioned it. I did get to hear Zuki run but we have not entirely solved the problem.. it appears that there was a few problems with the carburetor. and the remaining problems appears to be something electrical. The problem is that it is a inconsistent problem so, Diagnostics will be difficult. but we will get there!

Sorry one more… Nah two more good things to note.. it has been decided that we are getting a dog at the end of this month. YIPPEE! ( I have wanted to get another dog for some time)  and as soon as taxes are done my wife said that I can buy and build a good computer for doing vids..  that will come soon enough trust me..

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