What to do in a day

We've lived in here on Haliburton Hill for getting on to three years now. But only recently have we been able to think about doing some improvements. When we first moved here we were busy working on a big renovation project in town--a house with three suites that needed massive upgrades, which Harry and his son Ben and I were working on. Here's a before and after of just one room.


We sold that house in January of 2008 after working on it for nearly four years.

That was our official retirement from renovating houses. Last year we made two trips to Mexico by van. The first (January to April) was with both the dogs in our aging motorhome To Mexico with Mohita and the second was Maggie's Trip to Mazatlan in our little van (November to January). We loved visiting Mexico and are trying to figure out how to get there again next winter.

But now, here we are in our little house with time on our hands. It's a new phase. And it's great to have the time to think about how we want to make this house our own. The front garden redesign is part of it. As well, there are repairs to be done and rooms to be painted. The trick is to balance this renovation work with other activities in the day so that we don't fall back into the gruelling renovation pace. I'm learning to set aside two or three hours for house projects, and then go out with the dogs. I'm also trying to make a plan to meet a friend or go for a swim. If I don't do that it's too easy for the day to slip by in a flurry of work. The other end of the scale is the lure of the computer and blogging and email. That way the day slips away too. I'd like to find a way to get back to the art making that I set aside a few years ago. It's all about finding the balance so we can remake our lives in a meaningful way.

Well I'm off to paint some walls now.