From Perpetual Saturdays to Everyday is Work Day

Coming home after nine months of travel has been a mixed bag of happy and sad events, stress and relief, and hard work. We arrived home to three foot tall weeds in our front yard, a front door covered in cobwebs, and grass in the back as high as an elephant’s eye (Rodgers and Hammerstein fans??)!

We have now been home one week and have knocked out walls and ceilings in the basement to expose the plumbing under the bathroom upstairs. But instead of fixing the leaky shower, we have decided renovating the basement suite was our priority because it will provide a source of income right away. Unfortunately, there is a bit of a housing boom going on here right now so it is hard to get contractors – so what we might have accomplished in the two months we planned on being home, will likely take us the better part of the fall to complete. Needless to say, we have decided to cancel our winter accommodations down south and work hard to get the suite ready for next summer’s vacation rental season.

Renovating is stressful, and stress is hard on relationships. We have come off a nine month high of tropical bliss and no responsibility to working 10 hour days dragging construction materials up and down stairs. The older I get the harder this gets – something to think about moving forward…

It is three o’clock in the morning as I write this. I awoke after an hour of sleep with the horrifying thought that I had screwed something up with my basement reno plan – and the contractor arrives at eight tomorrow. So, out of bed I got and down into the basement to re-measure and sort through another mind-bending problem. I sorted it out, and in fact, came up with a superior plan that will actually save me time and money, however, now two hours later and I cannot sleep.

Sleep has evaded us both since coming home. My mind is on renovation challenges and design details, and Steph’s is on Utila. He misses his beach and the sound of the waves. He is a bit depressed. Real-life has slapped him in the face and it is certainly not as relaxing and fun as “every day is Saturday!” Now, every day is hard work day, and he does not seem too happy about it.

We are also both going through a bit of sticker shock. Things as so expensive here! We went to buy groceries for just two days of meals and the bill was over $100…a week’s worth of groceries in Mexico. Within three days of being home we have had to insure and register the car, get gas, buy groceries, pay utilities, buy a phone plan, hook up the internet, buy garden tools, a clothes rack, etc., etc. We have spent more than in the past two months. Stephane is wishing we could just sell all and go back south, so I had to remind him that our house went up significantly in value while we were snorkeling and gallivanting around Central America so our net worth actually went up – despite having limited income and a few major expenses. Not to mention this house will be a source of income for us, so selling it is probably not the best idea – at least not yet. I still have to complete phase one (the basement suite), phase two (the yard and pool), phase three (the upstairs kitchen and bathrooms), and phase four (the exterior and windows)…

…and while my head swims with the details of it all, Steph is swimming in his head in the warm waters of a not long forgotten tropical paradise listening to the sound of waves on a white noise machine.