The homeowners constant dilemma

When you own your own home, the view is almost always the same. From no matter where you sit in the house, you're always facing another project to work on.

The day after Thanksgiving, we had a little plumbing issue...and water was streaming from the upstairs tub down into the basement closet in my daughter's bedroom. Water in the closet walls, door, and carpet. I had planned a day of house cleaning and Christmas decorating anyhow...since I haven't been much for those crazy black Friday shopping days for many years now. And, my husband and I had a date planned that night to meet up with friends at a concert and actually begin a very busy month of traveling and touring with the band that I'm helping out. Something like this could totally derail my month-filled plans for December, or not. My dear husband, with the help of an old friend, totally took care of water clean up, carpet drying out and dry-wall removal over the course of that weekend. We still made the concert that night, and even made the other gigs I had committed to in December. Thank goodness we have a working shower downstairs, and all is well.

The closet in the master bedroom had collapsed some time earlier in the summer, and during the past month we've managed to re-install closet fixtures and stop living out of piles of clothes on the floor. The large amounts of snow we've received this past month have also led us to carefully removing the snow from the roof so to prevent ice dams...and constant melt-off this past week in December has our sump pump working at a frantic spring-like pace and we replaced an old battery for the sump back-up just to insure no wet basement from that.

And today...New Year's Day...we still sit facing a carpet that has been lifted from the floor with mats hanging in the utility room, no use of the upstairs tub or shower since that fateful day-after-Thanksgiving, and Christmas decorations that need to be brought down and tucked into storage.

I think as a working mom, I struggle between feeling like I have so much to do...and just wanting to sit still and write for a bit - and rest - and wait - and see what the next thing will be. I start stuff, but don't have time to finish the job the way I'd like to. Then, I run out of energy before the next urgent priority steps forward and takes its place. I did complete staining the deck this summer...and I was pretty proud of myself for completing the job. I do believe I'll complete a few other things that I should work on, like removing the wallpaper from the downstairs bathroom that I began last February...and finally choosing a color of paint that I'm satisfied with for that room.

Our house will always have something to repair...even after we get all these little things fixed - tub fixtures, carpet & drywall replacement, closet finished, exterior painted and stained, screened in porch cleaned and sealed, etc.

I'm okay with that...but it does leave me feeling like I can never really fully rest in my own home. Not to say I'm not comfortable, or satisfied with my home. Just to say that I know this dilemma will continue to bring me joy. So...do you know anyone who would trim my trees this year for a reasonable price?