1,000 Projects Started - 0 Finished

Thirteen years from last August, Tony (hubby) and I purchased our home. It was a great time to do it. The real estate market was low enough for us to make the investment. Back then, we could hardly afford such an expense.

We lived in a small one bedroom apartment with my son Andrew. Our rent was $525 per month; it was just manageable enough for our meager budget. Tony and I had numerous discussions over our future: where to plant our roots, when to buy a house, how to grow our family. After the discovery of our newly expectant family member and a year into our apartment, our plans were jettisoned.

My mother graciously gave us the best gift anyone could possible give our expanding family; she opened her doors to us rent free. For one year we made drastic financial sacrifices to collect enough money for our down payment. During that time my mother-in-law's health was steadily declining. My poor hubby had endured so much stress that he could no longer keep up with his studies to further his career. I struggled to keep a full-time job since we could not afford a baby sitter nor did we qualify for the great Californian benefits [child care cost aide] offered to the impoverished. We tragically fell into the unforgiving classic catch 22.

Towards the end of our year long stay with my kind mother we had saved enough to make the plunge. We eagerly searched high and low for a decent home in a clean neighborhood. Unfortunately we did not know a smidgen about zoning and schools. LOL, it would have made a big difference in our selection, but I'll leave that story for a future blog! {aiyyy, dios mio} *rolls eyes*

Our hunt lead us to a "cute" fixer upper. Okay, it was actually a money pit challenge we stupidly could not pass up. !Ohhh, si la hubieses visto en ese tiempo! Hubby and I can laugh about it now, but then **eyes glittering** it waaasss a gem, hidden behind a crumpled mess. ROLOL!!! How young we were, (25 to be exact!) We agreed that we loved this house and we would tend to it with all our hearts. Seriously, our house was in shambles.

Escrow was long and illusive; well it took a month to process but it seemed like an eternity to us. Eventually our real estate agent began to hide from our pressing phone calls for updates. Sadly at this high in our life we simultaneously suffered a low with my mother-in-law. Her health seemed to parallel awkwardly with the purchase of our ugly duckling. Our marriage was strenuously emotionally challenged. Just when we thought our marriage could no longer survive the storm that we were in, we received the keys to our new home. The doctors gave us good reports regarding hubby's mother; she would recover soon enough to return home. Our joy was met with reserve following our exhausted low. It was hard to celebrate this big step in our lives.

You must be wondering about the 1,000 projects.....yup they are still lingering around waiting patiently for us {painting and endless repairs} LOL!!



Just two weeks ago we started yet another project - planter boxes for my herb garden. Are they done??? NO! For thirteen years we have started numerous projects, completing none. Earlier this year we hired a contractor for the first time to help with our largest endeavor- the garage and storage room. The roof was caving-in on the garage. We could not park our car in it for fear of of the roof crumbling on top of our sole source of transportation. Our storage room adjacent to the detached garage had so many holes on the roof that everything we stored there was eventually destroyed by rains pouring into the little space. It was awful and we needed professional help.

Needless to say, I was thrilled when we hired our contractor because it meant we would actually have ONE project completed. WOO HOOO!!! Por fín!! Four months later our contractor moved on to bigger and better jobs. Aiyyyy!! He was so unprofessional, leaving us with the shingling of the roof and other "little" things to finish up that was in our contract. All our checks were good, plus he left some of his equipment on our property along with his beer cans. Geeze!...how in the world can someone grow a company when they seriously lack good business sense?!? He is certainly not getting any referrals from me!! Another project undone. :((

So there we have it my friends, 1,000 projects started - 0 finished. Despite hiring "professional help" we managed to keep our long standing record. From the time we purchased our fellita to now, we can stand back and see some great accomplishments. Yes, nothing is completed but it certainly does not look anything like the way it did those many odd years. Our humble abode is adorable, warm, and inviting. We LOVE our casita mas o menos fellita. ; ) Some day others too will see the gem that it is.