Up Close

It is said that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. For us, that is literally true. We live next to the guy who has the nicest yard in the neighborhood. Our own yard doesn't look so bad from the house, but when we walk on top of it, we see all the brown spots and weeds it has.

Similarly, with painting, I see all the little mistakes I've made and areas I've missed. I have been up close and personal with my house, climbing to nooks and crannies that I don't normally care to see. (Back behind the toilet or on top of the fridge, anyone?)

The overall effect of painting my house is a good one. No one will notice the tiny things I see. And the backyard, viewed from the street, looks green and nice, not flawed at all unless it hasn't been mowed in a while.

To see the imperfections in others, we have to get up close. The only person I feel I know that well is my husband. Everyone else, I see from "over the fence". It's hard to remember that sometimes, but I've had a lot of time to think over the past 3 days (not counting today). In numbers:

3 days
49 hours of hard work
16 hours of sleep  - not enough!
4 audiobooks
36 hours of Spotify playlists covering music from the
10's
80's
70's

Today was wonderful. I prepped meals for the next few days so I can grab them quickly. Church was relaxing and peaceful, and I took a nap afterward and talked to my families. 4 more days till I see my babies! I missed them a lot today. I've been too busy to be lonely before today.

I don't know how I had the energy to keep going after not getting lots of sleep and doing such long days (15/16/18 hours), but I'm sure I had help from God. Each morning of work, I have made sure to pray that I will be able to get things done, and I have. Everything is going perfectly. Fears I had beforehand were unfounded, such as worrying about running out of paint (we have extra), getting too high from the fumes (the AC helped circulate air), not being able to finish (I did and will!), and being too bored (the music and books took care of that).

My to-do list gets shorter each day this week, so by Thursday I should be able to have a nice, relaxing, normal, non-home-improvement day. Pictures coming soon!