I Think I Can
We’ve found the perfect renter for our condo. Or she found us, but whatever, she’s still perfect. Problem is that the place is taking forever to get finished. It doesn’t help that we are only finding about 12 to 14 hours a week to work over there. We’ve both got tons of other stuff going on, and we are both working full time on top of it all. And so the condo gets nicer one wall, one surface, one little bit at a time.
The painting is nearly done. The bathroom sink is brand new and is lovely. The 25 year old louvered windows have all had their crank(y) handles replaced and each has a new screen now. We’ve bought new appliances. We’ve installed new mini-blinds. The electrical has been updated, each outlet has proper polarity now (a rare thing in Mexico), and we’ve added another much-needed circuit.
But the kitchen still needs a new counter top and a new sink installed, and we’ve got a couple of closets that still need to be finished. And there’s a list of other small things. We could get it all done in two weeks if we could stop everything else that’s going on. But, I at least, have so much other stuff going on that this idea is just a pipe dream.
Now a normal person would think that hey, this being Mexico, land of cheap labor, that we should just hire some help. But there are two problems with that. One being you get what you pay for, meaning cheap labor often means you just have to look over their shoulder and get them to re-do things anyway. Easier to do it yourself.
And the other issue being that we are both actually very good at this building restoration thing. It’s kind of the perfect hobby for us as a couple because, except for all the bickering we do, we have complimentary skill sets, similar taste and a similar sense of what constitutes a job well done. And so we won’t consider hiring help, even though we are too busy to do the work.
I guess will keep plugging away a bit at a time, and hope to have it all done by Nov. 15, which is when the renter has to be out of her old place.
Wish us luck. And send pizza.
November 2nd, 2007 23:50
I had to giggle. My husband and I (a couple of years ago) obsessively watched all those DIY shows on the tube that inspired us to add color to our home.
We ended up with a rose colored living room, an orange room, a green room and then there’s the safari.
We enjoy doing the work but the designers living inside like to bicker. lol (I understand)