Burn Out

We have started year four of our house building project, and I think Chris and I are starting to suffer from burn-out.

Several months ago, I had decided that I would like to hire out the drywall work. After having seen Chris's drywall work (I have picture proof of the excessive sanding he has to do for his way of mudding the walls), it seemed this would be a wise thing to do. Besides, if we were close enough to finishing the house to be putting up drywall, it would be extra painful to have the drywall take forever. "It would cost a lot of money," Chris argued, "and I can do it myself." "I don't care," I argued back. "I am done with the goal of building debt-free, and think a small loan would be a small price to pay for the benefit of finally getting to move out of our trailer into the house. Let's at least get an estimate." He agreed.

A few weeks ago, I noticed a shift. Chris wanted to figure out the cost of everything from insulation to HVAC to carpet to see just how much of a loan we would need to finish the house. I asked him about it one afternoon. He said one Saturday morning , he was making yet another Home Depot run when he drove past a group of people in a park. It hit him that, if it wasn't for the house, he could be spending some real time with the family. If we got to the point of moving in, he didn't want a half-dozen major projects still hanging over his head. He wanted to be done and have the freedom of getting to shoot BB guns with the kids all day or something if he wanted.

So we have gotten estimates for insulation and drywall, still trying to be mindful of the financial cost while weighing in the cost of time and effort.

Some days, it seems like a move-in date could be near, and other days, such as the day and a half spent wrestling with the pipes leading into the septic tank, the road seems unbearably long.