I’ve now spent more than a month doing work I don’t like, for results I won’t get to enjoy, on a house that’s not going to make us any money.
Wanna buy it? It’s going to look gorgeous when we’re done!
Today’s post is just a small collection of motivational photos and sayings that have kept me from plunging my head into a full paint bucket, aiming the nail gun at my own thigh, tossing a lit match over my shoulder as I walk away, or otherwise losing my mind during these past five weeks of DIY home fix-it hell.
Quite a few of them contain R-rated language. Sorry. It’s how I cope. Scroll at your own risk.


What’s on tomorrow’s work list?
Do we have the materials we need?
Don’t forget to pack lunch.
Don’t forget the house key.
My arm hurts. I probably hit it with a hammer, but is elbow leprosy a thing?

(Artwork is on a notecard from Lenox&Lucy, by our talented niece, Maddie, who died from complications of Lupus in 2015.)


The quote is from The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, in describing Ma Joad’s ability to keep the family together despite abject poverty. “It was her habit to build up laughter out of inadequate materials.” It’s my habit too. Need someone to make you giggle uncontrollably at a funeral? I’m your girl.



I should have said yes when Tim offered me the day off, but I thought it wouldn’t matter, but then it did, and then on top of that? I got upset that I let it matter.
So this was my mantra on Monday, May 9. Also? Sorry, Honey.

Even when you’re on the near side of 50.
Even when your hair is gray.
Life is short. Give no shits.

We cannot possibly thank those people enough.
Two(-ish) more weeks to go…
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