The Path Less Taken

'Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.'

-Robert Frost

 

A path just off one of the parking lots at my local college where I take classes.

After two months of going at break neck speeds, I sat down and evaluated things this weekend. I always feel accomplished when things are done well and done right. However, I seem to lack the ability to slow down. Small things catch me off guard. My son dressed himself in a pair of shorts, he walked in front of me and for the first time they were a few inches above his knee. When did that happen?

I've seen it before, tired parents and children over scheduled to a point of unhappiness. This weekend I decided we are going to downsize for a while. I dont want to be a work horse. I want to be a mom. It's time to find the balance and pick the path I want instead of letting life steer itself. 

Until this class is done my new focus will be on doing less to enjoy more time with my son. We're going to take a break from gymnastics and the gym. This will leave us with more money in our pocket and another night at home during the week. When my class is done and I'm alleviated of hiring a baby sitter I'll be able to more easily manage gymnastics one night a week and the cost. So until December, we're putting things on hold. It's hard to stop the train. I'm not sure if other moms feel this way, but what's worse some people never assess things to see they need a break.

More time at home. This is what we need right now.

Goals so far this year

This past December I wrote down some rather lofty yet obtainable goals for myself ...

Goals for this year:

1. Finish three more classes.

2. Teach my son how to read & write.

3. Re-roof the house. 

4. Finish landscaping the front yard.

My progress is pretty on track. So let's review. 

1. Finish three more classes.

This past Tuesday I finished my second class for the year. I earned an A. This is why you haven't seen many updates from me for a while.     

Have a I mentioned math is difficult for me? I'm proud I persevered and worked hard. What I have learned will be the foundations for success in my next class, Physics, which starts this Thursday. 

2. Teach my son how to read & write. 

Thanks to the wonderful teachers at my son's pre school he is a first phase reader with some awe inspiring hand writing for a five year old. My little man also starts Kindergarten on Monday, I'm already crying about it, but I'm sure his skills will sky rocket from here. 

3. Re-roof the house. 

Done, paid in full, love it, never have to look at the ceiling and wonder what's going to happen when it rains. It feels so good to be done. 

4. Finish landscaping the front yard. 

Here's one for you.....I ripped out everything in the front yard, put down black weed paper, realized I needed to redo the roof, and then due to all the wood repair I needed the underside of the roof repainted, the paint helps to preserve the woods life especially here in Florida with a climate that has such high humidity. 

Now here's the tricky part, open wood underneath the very very large screened in lanai that goes up to the midline of the roof. I'm an semi adventurous DIY girl, but me on a ladder with a paint sprayer....well, I'm going to leave this to the professionals.

I often think of things in sequential order of what makes the most sense. The sequential order to getting my front yard re-landscaped goes like this....have the underside of the exterior showing roof painted, have the house painted - I cant even describe the non color my house is, it's not white, it's not yellow, it's not grey.....it's like mauve/grey/white, It'll be a deep grey with white accents and butter yellow shutters when it's done, lay out and plant plants, lay out low voltage lighting along the front of the house, put down river rock, take long break from all projects on the house for a year, this is getting expensive. 

The most expensive and prohibitive part is painting the underside of the roof, because I like to pay for things in cash I'm waiting.I hope to have the house and roof painted around Christmas, this gives me lots of time to plot and plan out my garden space in the front yard. It may throw goal #4 into next year, but that's ok with me. I'd rather do things right than haphazardly.

School preview day in about 4 hours....time for bed!