Total Upheaval

Our house is utter chaos right now.  The painting is finished and the floors got started on Tuesday. At the onset of this journey I was excited about the things that would happen in our house, but today it took its toll on me. I am so tired of everything not being where it is supposed to be and everything was at a standstill today.

It seems with every step we take, we find a step that our original builder took a short cut on or didn't give great attention to. This time it was our slab. When they pulled up the carpet and smashed out the tile they found a very uneven foundation.  Needless to say it wasn't going to work with hardwood floors. Twenty-four bags of leveling material later our foundation is smooth.  The workers left yesterday and I anticipated the installation of the floors today and started making plans to get our house back together.

The workers arrived this morning to find that all there work yesterday was not dry enough to install the new floors on. See you tomorrow was all I got today.  I was devastated!  One more day of chaos!

In all of this I am finding that I am somewhat of a control freak.  I really didn't think I was until the remodeling process began. I confirmed that today.  Well this control freak took matters into her own hands.  I am going to make sure the floors are dry enough to install floors tomorrow. I have four fans running in the main part of my house and I am sure my electric meter on the side of the house is going crazy, but I don't care as long as I get what I want tomorrow.

As I think about all the short cuts we have found, I am grateful my God didn't take short cuts.  His plan was perfectly implemented.  I know without a doubt there is a reason for everything we go through.  Even silly things like an uneven floor and material that didn't dry.  It may not be recognizable to me right now, but God will show me.

Remodeling

I love to read blogs!  I feel like I know the people whose blogs I read everyday. I look forward in great anticipation to their post that day. Reading about what they have been doing, seeing pictures of their kids, reading about the latest party they have thrown. I obviously have a blog, but I don't post much. I think at this point in my life I need to change that.  I want to remember all the crazy things I get involved in, the road my husband and I travel and well....my life.  I don't have children to blog about or for. It's just me, my husband and our dog.  So what better day to start than today.

We are currently in a remodeling phase. In our home and in our marriage.  Our home is 20 years old and is in great need of a facelift.  Our relationship is 17 years old and is need of an upgrade.  Honestly, I don't think we should have waited this long on either one of them, but we did.  Both of these tasks are not easy and take a great deal of time and commitment.  We are knee deep in both projects.

First the house.....
Looking for contractors to do the work on your home is not an easy job.  You don't want just anyone working in your house and you want to make sure you get the best job for your money.  Let me say that taking on both of these tasks at the same time is a true test of your marriage, but back to the house.  We knew what we needed to do and what we wanted done.  We started with the front door.  The original builder of the home failed us in this area and our door had begun to rot from the outside in.  It was horrible. I wish I had taken pictures of it, but I was too embarassed.  We found a good contractor and they got to work.



The whole door and entry was ripped out

New door is hung

Our marble choice

Just a few more details to be done

Unfortunately, it still needs a few things to finish it up.  But we are going in the right direction. 

The interior painting has begun, but that is a whole other story.

Our marriage......
We have been married 17 years.  We have had our share of hills, valleys, and potholes, but we have kept it going.  The biggest thing we have going for us is that God is the head of our marriage.  We don't always remember that, but we always come back to that.  We decided we needed to refresh our relationship skills.  Just like our home needs some updating, so does our marriage.  You can't just keep going in the same direction and not expect some wear and tear so we decided to bascially "remodel" our marriage.  Taking the time to look at we treat each other, react to each other, thinking about the words we do say and those we don't.  Remembering to let Christ be the head of our marriage and not trying to take over.  We don't have all the answers and we are still learning.

Remodeling your marriage is a lot like remodeling your home.  You don't just want anyone coming in and doing the work.  You want an expert.  I found our experts for our home remodeling on **angie's* list**.  I know where our marriage expert is and we are greatly dependent on Him.