seeing the light

The home my husband and I purchased just over a year ago is what you would call a 'handyman's special'; a major fixer-upper. The first week after settlement was spent with our sleeves rolled up, painting, bleaching, and scrubbing the layers of nicotine off the walls - just getting it to a status where we could live there in a disinfected environment. Since then, we have spent many-a-weekends slaving away at various projects to get it closer to the home we know it has the potential to be.

There are many days when the full potential of this house seems years and years away. The laundry list of 'to-dos' seems exhaustingly overwhelming and the influx of cash is just not there to make things any easier for us. My husband and I cannot help but look at each other in despair and frustration, wondering what in the world we were thinking when we took on this huge venture.

But then there are weekends like we just had when the light at the end of the tunnel doesn't seem so dim. Weekends like this help my husband and I to see that maybe this house can actually become one that we love; one that we can look at with pride and accomplishment. This weekend we completed (or I should say, my husband completed) a project that we have been looking forward to since we moved in - we installed a fence along the perimeter of our backyard. Now Sierra can now run free without restriction and we have the added home security and privacy we've been longing. I just can't wait to throw our first backyard BBQ without having to worry about our pesky neighbors peering in.

This may not sound all that exciting to anyone but us...but it gives my husband and I the hope that we so desperately needed.