Turning plans into reality.

 Last week I shared the epiphany I had regarding not purchasing a new house and our decision to make changes to this home in order for it to be better for my parents. We jumped in and got started on things that only need a little financial outlay in order to make them work and the first one was creating a garden for my dad. I got out last week and reworked the stone walls in our garden, removed a stone pathway (a HUGE job), and dug up and replanted the small flowering plants, primarily azaleas, and lantanas. Over the weekend, while Rick was home, we moved the two big plants that we didn't want to end up sacrificing, a bridal wreath and a Rose of Sharon, and Rick dug up grass from the yard area we are converting and used it to fill in areas with dead grass in both the front and backyard. 

While Rick was working in the yard on Sunday he let my dad help a bit with some raking but he was very unsteady on his feet and stumbled a few times. On Monday he felt terrible, complaining of muscle weakness and feeling bad. My hope is that once the actual garden is in and all this heavy work is done my dad will be able to enjoy having a garden but I'm not feeling terribly optimistic right now. He seems to be declining, growing progressively weaker and more fragile all the time. 

Today I took out a long section of an iron border that was buried pretty deep but I couldn't get all of it out today. Later Rick and I will be removing the BIG crepe myrtle tree so his garden gets plenty of sunshine. I've posted a few pics of the work in progress. I wish I had one of them from before I started. I did these part way through.

You can see where I took rocks out of the old border and joined the two gardens. What you cannot see is the big rock path that I completely removed. The crepe myrtle in the foreground is going to come out.

                                            The same day, different angle.

                                            Close-up of the iron border I removed this morning.

                                            The area I have used the roto-tiller on so far.

                                        My bridal wreath hardly shows signs of being transplanted.

                                                   The Rose of Sharon is a bit more droopy.

                                            It is covered with buds, I sure hope they bloom!

These are all the stones I removed. The pathway I took out from the garden looked a bit like the one in the foreground of this photo.

The second thing we did was order blackout shades for the living room. I don't think they will look as nice as the shades we have now but they will make the room significantly darker. The goal is that my parents will spend less time in their bedroom and create a place where they can watch TV and relax. It will unclutter their bedroom and hopefully, they won't be so fall-prone. Once we get these basic things done for their comfort we will start focusing on changes upstairs where Rick, Paul and I spend most of our free time.

Financial Epiphany

This weekend I had a bit of an epiphany. We went to Oklahoma for a wedding (one of the loveliest weddings ever btw) and managed to reconnect with old friends who have moved away from Houston. Becky and Steve are very involved in the financial independence movement and we have known about the work they have done for years, but in a lot of ways what they said just went in one ear and out the other. At least for me. Seeing Becky and Steve again has really been an eye-opener because they do not have the same financial frustrations that we have had. Not because they're so much "richer" than we are, but because they've been focused and managed their money well. Of course, they are richer than we are, but again...because they manage their money well. Anyway, all that to say that spending time with them has allowed us to refocus and reconsider some upcoming decisions we have to make.

Ever since my parents moved in we have been living in our guest room, all our things that were in the very large master closet have been put into upstairs closets with almost no rhyme or reason. Since May 29th my life has just felt incredibly temporary. Would they ever be able to live on their own again? No. Should we sell their house? Yes. Should we sell our house and find something bigger for the now five people who live here? That's been tougher. Our house is 7 years away from being paid off with a loan at less than 3%. The thought of selling my house and buying something BIGGER (when what I really want is something SMALLER) at a loan in the 7-8% range makes me physically ill (and very cranky!!) but we have been planning to do it in order for my parents to be more comfortable. Well....after our weekend away I think we've come to the conclusion that it would be a stupid financial decision and instead we are going to see what changes need to happen here in order for this to be a permanent residence for all five of us. 

My mom and dad spend all their time sitting on recliners in their bedroom, which is overcrowded and that results in fall risks for them. My mom thinks our living area is "too bright". So...curtains are going up in the living room, their big screen TV is going on the wall and we are turning our dining room back into a dining room (a long story about an unsuccessful attempt to create a living space for them) and the living room will be theirs. We are going to convert an upstairs bathtub into a shower and make the needed adjustments to their shower for it to be safer for them. We are going to move a LOT of our things into storage and create an office that functions as my office and a sitting room for us. In the backyard, decorative plants are coming out and we are creating a garden for my dad to enjoy. And the house has to have an alarm system, especially on the windows, but that's a story for a different blog post. 

It sounds like a LOT of stuff but we will use money from the sale of their house to make the changes to our house that are needed for them to be at home here. It feels like it's taken a lot of time for me to reach this point but I do feel like the Lord really used Becky and Steve this weekend to help me. I am so grateful to them and to Him!