The "Honey-Do" list

I am sure all of the guys out thre (and many gals, too) have heard of the "Honey-Do list".  That list of tasks and projects that just keeps getting longer & longer no matter how many of the things on the list you get done.   You get the list out on a Saturday morning, and see 3 or 4 things on the list, and start to get them done - and you succeed!  Only to find out that in the meantime 7 other things have been added to the list!

Now my "Honey-Do" list is pretty long - and many oft he projects on the list may take a while to do.  Here are some of the things on my list -
1. Fix/replace radiator in our Suburban
2.  Replace belt tensioner in the Dodge P/U
3.  Remodel/rebuild bathroom
4.  Remodel/rebuild new Laundry room
5.  Remodel Kitchen
6. Remodel Family Room
7.  Build Computer for friend

Now some of these seem to be fairly easy projects, and some seem pretty extensive, but none of them are beyond our realm of experience.  I say "Our" as my wife helps wiith many of these projects - at least as much as she can.  Sometime's it is as simple as holding the end of a tape measure, and sometime's it's helping me sheetrock a wall or tuning up the car while I change oil.  Although it's a little harder for her to do some things now, she still helps as much as she can.

It used to be that our list was a lot smaller than it is now - we lived in a new house, had nice cars, and newer furniture.  But all of that changed about 3 years ago, when my wife got ill - she lost her job, and went on permanent disability.  What a shock to us, as well as to our pocketbook!  The loss of an entire income.   Now we tried to make a go of it, but with the economy doing a downturn, we just couldn't make it.  We were the first "victim" of the adjustable-rate-mortgage, upside-down-financing syndrome that eventually affected the entire country, as well as much of the world!  We lost our house.  But thanks to some quick action on our part, and not a little luck, we were able to move, get into a nice place, and do a short sale on the house, saving some of our credit.

Now I mention this change as part of the "Honey-Do" list thing - as I said, living in that house, we had a new house, nice cars, etc. - and a little bordeom.  There were few repairs to do on the house (I built decks the first year we lived there, so that was the main job).  And our cars were running well, so just basic maintenance on them - and life was good - - - NOT.  It was BORING!   I never realised how complacent it could be.

Now when we started house shopping, we looked at a few rentals, as we didn't think we could afford to buy another house - especially with housing prices still on the rise (The main part of the economic downturn hadn't hit yet).  But we lucked out, and found a little place for sale at a price we could afford, and found financing that we could get.

Now, have you ever walked into a place, and just fell in love with it?  We did, with this place.  A small yard, but LOTS of trees, a nice deck, a carport, and a nice layout.   So we bought and moved in - - and immediatley started remodeling!  We moved walls, built new walls, and otherwise started making this house our home - and it still goes on today!  

Now we never had any desire to do anything like this with our old house - Oh sure, we did knock down a wall, and do a little remodeling here & there - but nothing to the extent we are doing here.  And we LOVE it!  The opportunity to make this place into something that will fit us now, and for years to come.

Will we ever move again?  Possibly, but not in the near future.  We like it here.  Even with that long "honey-do" list.