I just realized that I had completely flopped out on my aspirations for starting a blog and encouraging myself to write once again. It has been a year since I checked in…and what a year that has been. Good, bad, very ugly, full of joys and despairs…I suppose just like every one’s life pretty much.

Now I am just feeling the bug to get some of it out. I am in the middle of renovating my 37ish year old ranch home in the suburbs on a shoestring budget, working hard, and proud of some of my accomplishments. I don’t have the money to pay anyone for labor, but I have time. I am still a SAHM, even though my one and only started Kindergarten. Like I could even attempt to find a job now, with the economy in the tanker and 6 years out of the job market. So I have put myself to work. I never imagined I would be doing construction when I was slaving away in college (okay, so I was partying with occasional bouts of studying) but I still was bound to be a white-collar girl. Instead I must get creative, get dirty, and get working. If no one from my previous life could see me as a SAHM in the suburbs, they certainly could never fathom me slinging concrete.

I blame it all on HGTV and DIY Network. They make everything look SO easy. Anyone should be able to build a bookshelf, paint a mural, sew slipcovers, tile a shower. Yeah. No problem. They make you forget you are afraid of saws and don’t own a nail gun. I have discovered that every “easy” project takes at least three times the amount of time you have estimated, a coat of paint is not always the answer, and nothing ever works like the directions say. And I truly believe whoever writes instruction manuals (in six languages no less) has a very warped sense of humor and is completely disassociated from our reality.

I am slowly learning, and making progress. I am not sure if I should star in Design on a Dime or Ten Grand in Your Hand, but I have gotten more accomplished on a $30,000 budget than most people could dream of.

I have seen this on so many people’s blogs, and I know it is nothing new or special, or even anything anyone should care about, but it seems to be a great way to focus at the end of the day on what really counts.

What I’m grateful for today:

1. I have health insurance and am able to take my kiddo for a check-up, and that he is healthy and growing strong.
2. I picked up several new best-sellers at the library. I can engage in my passion and hobby for free–thank you public libraries!
3. Another beautiful day with windows open and no a.c.–no sweating while working and maybe the electric bill will go down.

And now, I hear my glass of vino calling…