Before and sweat-of-the-brow AFTER

After searching for 3 months, we finally found a home we could work with. WORK is the opportune word here.We loved the Spanish style home and from a distance it appeared so cute and welcoming. A closer inspection revealed tons of work. We were willing to roll up our sleeves and get to work (Not quite Dan and Sarah style building a home from scratch!)

Steve really impressed me. He has always been a great problem solver/repair guy, but he has truly earned his Handyman Merit Badge. He charged up his drill and put a peep hole for me so I could see who was at the door (paranoia left over from Rome on my part.) He fixed leaky (ok more like gushing) bathtubs and improperly wired circuit breakers. He calmed me down after we found termites had eaten the wood at the base of my kitchen window, put in weather stripping to keep geckoes, grasshoppers and heat out, and put in shelves as I wrung my hands due to lack of storage space inside.

Our hydraulic hinges on the cupboards seized up. He searched all the hardware stores and no one carried these. So he drilled holes and installed new hinges so I didn't smack my head on every half open cupboard door.
The garage had no shelves either, and because he knows I hate a messy garage, he installed heavy duty shelves so I could overload them Katherine style with Christmas bins, camping gear, dive gear, chairs and golf clubs.....you name it.
So now I can get my car in the garage. Happy Day!! (The other side of the garage can be the boys workout room with weights and benches and the elliptical machine that won't fit in the house.)
(It needs tidying but it will have to wait until after Christmas decorations come down)

There were no lights in any of the rooms so he installed ceiling fans. In fact, he was so thorough he made sure they were silent and balanced. The water heater busted, and we have had to take cold showers for the last 2 weeks while we wait for parts (BRRRrrrr but at least it's not like growing up with cold showers when it's 30 below zero). Steve took apart the heater and pilot light and scrubbed off all the debris so we could take lukewarm showers for a few days) .

For the backyard, he bought Trevor and Brendan a little used Ford Ranger so they could quit their city boy ways and haul debris. He wanted them to sweat out in the sun and get callouses from shovels and rakes -- not just from lifting weights at the gym. They have been good sports. While all the neighbors used companies to cut out all the weeds and vines the boys just used their muscles.

They made a 5 ' x 15 'pile of jungle debris over a 3 week period between sports and homework.
They had lots of frogs, centipedes, shrews, lizards and gargantuan spiders to keep them company.
The worst part was the sleeping grass with huge thorns that go right through the gloves.

They hauled off 7 loads of trees, rocks and weeds and vines. (Of course, I had to help-- you can take the girl off the farm but can't take the farm out of the girl. The Micronesian and Filippino workers gawked at us in amazement--along with our Asian neighbors)

It is rewarding to look back at how far you have come in any venture....
BEFORE
And AFTER
Side yard BEFORE
Side yard AFTER.

Steve leveled, seeded the lawn and we have the first buds of grass growing! (Lots of weeds too--that will be a continual work in progress.) Work never ends but it is satisfying on an elemental level to see progress after gallons of sweat. I am proud of my dirty grimly husband and sons. Now I just need them to tackle washing the windows that are 30 feet off the ground and dig holes in the limestone underneath the dirt for me to plant shrubbery and palm trees. I can hear the groans already.