The light at the end of the tunnel...I hope!

The last few weeks have not been my greatest and brightest. In early August, we took a week-long family vacation to Eastern Oregon and Idaho, knowing full well that we had many things to accomplish when we returned. Knowing it and living through it have turned out to be two different things.

First of all, since I am self-employed, I expected to take on a little extra work through late August to make up for the week's income that I had missed while on vacation. No big deal, right?

Second of all, Mike and boys all started football practice when we got back. A few hours in late afternoon/evening several days per week. Manageable, right?

Third, we needed to paint the exterior of our house. Yes.........its large, but not a three-story monstrosity hanging off the side of a cliff, so shouldn't be a problem, right?

Now......my atttitude about all these pending activities during pre-vacation was that we would just "buck up and do it." Make a list of things to do, check them off as we go, and we'd make it through. Onward and upward and all that jazz. It has not gone that smoothly and I'm really wishing we could rewind the past several weeks, but in reality, I'm not sure what we would have done differently.

Yes.....I accepted some extra work. And yes, we started on painting the house and all the boys started football. What we didn't count on was that Jennica was going to deal with massive ear infections through August that refused to respond to antibiotics, and that we would end up with two trips to Mary Bridge, two trips to two different Emergency Rooms, ear surgery for tubes and removal of a blood clot. She is doing very well with recovery, and we are grateful for having the resources that we can provide that level of medical care for our children without financial worries, but its been stressful and time-consuming with so many other half-started things going on.

In the meantime, the extra work that I had accepted has rather built up and I'm desperately now trying to catch up. I already have a ton of work lined up for September and am still trying to dig myself out of August.

And lastly, my personality is such that I can NOT live in this house all winter with half of it painted. Can't do it. A rational person could sit down and admit that they've taken on too much and figure out what needs to be done and prioritize. I'm not rational with some things and this definitely qualifies. I explained to Mike that I knew of a family years ago that people referred to as the Tyveks. They were not Willapa Harbor natives, nobody knew their last name, and they had started a home re-siding project and never finished it. After a lengthy time of having exposed Tyvek with no siding on the exterior of their home, they became known in the neighborhood as "The Tyveks". I have an intense fear of being that family--the ones that people refer to as ".........you know, that house down the road that has been half gray and half green for a while??"

So........point being...........I could use a REALLY good prescription. We busted our fannies this weekend and the house is now all green. Decks still need stained, gutters still need put up, and some other things. I still have several appraisal reports to complete today, as tomorrow is a LONG day in the field with my first big string of September jobs due in the coming days. My appraisal license expires shortly and I still have an on-line class to complete before my license can be renewed, so I've already booked two days for this month to take care of that. Jennica is due back for a re-check on the ears at Mary Bridge in a few weeks, so that will be another day away from home and office. School starts tomorrow. Football speeds up now and will hit full gear with Dane's first game on September 14th and Grant's first game on the 16th (more on Grant's first game in a later post).

So.......I need to get back to work and quit typing this. And I owe Mike a big thank you for not making me sleep in the shed with the dogs this weekend when I got *itchy. Had the situation been reversed, I'm not sure I would have been as understanding. I'm going to try to buck up and do better. And hopefully, that little bright spot in the distance is the light at the end of the tunnel and not just a glare ricocheting around in my brain.