Yes We Can!

We are now thick in the midst of flipping a house. I really don't like that term, I guess it just seems sort of shallow and profit driven and in reality we aren't doing it for money at all. But we are updating a house for Brooks' friend and it is 1) a ton of work; and 2) exciting and entertaining; and 3) totally teaching us something about ourselves.

When Nas first asked Brooks if he'd handle this, I mentioned we could try to do some of it ourselves. Brooks immediately became concerned we couldn't do it as well as a professional and we decided to hire someone to handle the re-model. We went with a friend, which was a big mistake and a huge learning experience. It wasn't a close friend, but close enough we didn't think we'd be taken advantage of. However the past 3 weeks have been way more stress than they were worth trying to rely on someone else. In the meantime since no work was getting done on his end, we decided we needed to get some work started in order to meet the time frame Nas was originally promised, and we have totally realized that we can do anything! I've wrestled with vertical blinds, picked out some sick fixtures and the perfect paint color. Brooks has become a pro with the drill and today we removed one of those big, heavy mirrors from the bathroom  without hurting ourselves, breaking the mirror, or damaging the wall.

The house is in pretty good shape, we really don't have too much left to do and since we've fired the contractor the only stressor left is trying to get our deposit back. But we've laughed a lot and really have had a good time doing this. It has totally taught us we are handy and it makes me smile to see my husband who is good at so many things already, realize he is better at so many more. We've given the kids brushes and let them paint away (and then gone back and re-painted) and now that's it's just us we are relying on, everything has gone surprisingly well.

Just before working on the house, I had started saying  that when we work together, we work well. This experience has totally proven that.