Almost All Consuming Projects

For the last couple of months, we have been working on projects. It all started in January with the exterior painting of some of the buildings. That was going fine and dandy, until because of budget cut-backs, our maintenance fellow had to be let go.

So Carl morphed into maintenance man.

We like projects. We did lots of work on our house in Canada and even in our little apartment in California. It's amazing what a coat of paint or a new hinge can do. It's fun to do things here and there.

But what we were looking at was the daunting task of getting the buildings in decent shape for the anniversary in July. It was February....we have LOTS of time, we told ourselves.

Well, the things that needed to get done immediately, kept the larger projects at bay. Week after week, Centro Menno was only getting a smattering of paint. Our eavestroughs still needed to be painted. Some days it felt like it we were running against those really fast moving sidewalks.

Then it was April. I started varnishing all the doors and the window frames. I quickly realized that working with oil paint day after day isn't very healthy, and there is a whole lot of wood on this property!

I took a break and started to sew curtains.

It was May. Centro Menno wasn't finished. The computer room looked awful still. The unit house rooms had HUGE cracks that need to be fixed.

I finished the curtains, did a few bedspreads. Then realized that the painting needed our full attention.

It was June now. And Centro Menno still wasn't finished. Sigh.

On a particular Monday, I started to remove the paint from the computer room wall. The paint came off, then some of the plaster. Then the concrete stucco came loose. First it was a patch the size of my hand, then of my body, then half the wall. Oops. A few people came in, glanced at the disaster and asked if me if Carl knew how to stucco. I replied with an uneasy laugh, "I hope so". So much for a quick project.

Well, the wall got re-stuccoed and painted and everything by Friday. But nothing else got painted.

It was the end of June and Centro Menno wasn't done and the rooms in the unit house needed another coat of paint, and the kitchen needed some sprucing up.

Projects are like Pandora's box, I think. Once you start, you can't stop. Or maybe I should say, once I start I can't stop. Carl on the other hand, has healthy self-limiting skills.

If anything, all these projects did have some benefits. Carl and I spent many a late night painting. Talk about romantic, eh? Covered in paint and plaster dust as we share a tray of paint, only the sound of the rollers as we gaze at each other.

Those "romantic" evenings sure paid off though. It was July 2nd and the rooms and hallway in the unit house were done. The back house walls were painted. The computer room was finished and had a lovely yellow hue. The office windows were all varnished. The fence around the cancha was done. The eavestroughs on our house were done too! The only thing left was to do something in the kitchen.

I decided at 10:30 at night on that Saturday to paint the cupboards. There weren't many of them and no one was around, hence making the job easier. It only took me two hours, but boy it made a difference. Maybe some people thought I was crazy...okay, maybe I am, but it felt good to check that last thing off my list.

Nothing more. No more painting. It's July, the anniversary is tomorrow and the place looks great. And except for a high corner where no one can see, Centro Menno is done!

I think if we weren't having a big anniversary, we could have given ourselves more time with these projects. And it wasn't like anyone was breathing down our throat, wanting everything top-notch. It's been a while since some of these buildings have seen paint, and we can't very well do it all in 5 months. It was our own drive, our own desire to make this place look nice. Because when things look nice, people may or may not notice, but when things are falling apart, people notice. We wanted everyone here to feel proud to be a part of this place as we celebrate the anniversary.

We don't plan to pick up a paint brush or do any major repairs for quite some time. We've over-spent our maintenance budget, and we've over-spent our energy budget. I'm excited though, the 50th anniversary is tomorrow and Saturday; stay tuned for pictures and stories.