It's A-Hole-in-the-Ceiling Kind of Day

When we had a traumatizing backyard fire that sadly destroyed our shed a few months ago, it was a wake-up call for us to take stock of our electrical wiring and install updates to make sure that we stay safe and lessen our risk of anything like that (or worse) happening to us again. We have a fairly old house and the wiring was designed in a time that technology wasn't a way of life so the house wasn't outlet friendly.  We made due by using extension chords and what-not which are not only hard to manage at times, but could potentially be unsafe for various reasons.  However, re-wiring one's house electrical system is not only very costly but also disruptive to members of the household. We weighed the pros and the cons and decided that we had to make the decision to go ahead with this particular house improvement because it fell under "necessity"--safety and peace of mind.  It was especially difficult for me because I had an unofficial (an internal one I didn't share with other members of my family) goal to make 2021 a "low-buy" year which means that we were going to make an effort to spend as little money as possible and really focus on essentials and necessities. It's actually a movement that many minimalists (I'm not one, but I've been reading up on certain philosophies I would like to incorporate in my life) use to either save money or just make a conscious effort not to acquire more "stuff".  But again, life had other plans for us and that goal will definitely not be accomplished this year. 🤷

So, we begun the whole re-wiring process. The electrician assured us that we didn't need to vacate our property and they would work on segments of the house so that we would never truly be out of power. The drilling began and for the most part we were able to get by.  I'm not going to lie and say it was easy having strangers all up and around my house and space, but I kept telling myself it was all for a purpose and we truly would be better off after it was all over. Despite that self-talk though, I still felt a lot of anxiety. Anyway, to make a long story short, the workers hit a few snags here and there which caused them to take longer than they anticipated and also left us without light sources for a few days (as well as a cooking source since the microwave and oven were without power). Thankfully, they were able to still send power to our refrigerator & freezer because that would have been beyond inconvenient if we had to throw away all that food (goes against my low-waste philosophies and it would just plain suck!). Again, no matter what, there's always something to be thankful for--even when you're living with battery powered light for several evenings and don't have a place to cook meals. We basically ate take-out for two weeks which isn't as fun as one might think especially since I didn't realize that cooking and preparing meals is a big de-stresser for me (it's not just something I do, it's something I need). I'm still learning things about myself, apparently. 🤷 

As we were approaching week three of the whole process, I was in one of the rooms when I heard a loud crash. As these weeks have passed, so much noise has occurred that it was safe to say it was just another thing that was knocked down.  I was curious, but just decided to wait til someone (The Huz and 2 sons were in various parts of our home) informed me what happened. Shortly after the loud noise, the door opens and my First-Born said something like, "You're not gonna wanna come out just yet".  I was like, "Well, that doesn't sound good."   I could hear the vacuum going and some "clean-up" noises just outside the door. The First-Born begins to tell me that there's a giant hole in the ceiling as one of the workers fell through it. 🤯Thankfully, no one was hurt.  But yeah, we have a giant hole in our ceiling. 

The First-Born took a quick snap shot!

After the initial disbelief, I mean, I think I was actually speechless for a few minutes, we actually found a bit of humor in it all. I mean, we were all feeling a bit crazy by this time and it was one of the moments when we all just felt like, "Well, what else could go wrong?"  I think when you have a big hole in your ceiling, being able to find something positive is a helpful coping mechanism. 

Even a big hole in the ceiling is fixable.

A few days later, it was patched up by drywall. It will be sanded and then painted and will never look like anything unusual happened there.  But we all know. And although it definitely didn't feel good when it happened, along with the days of noise, dust and strangers in our house--those moments passed.  They finished and we have safe electrical wiring and more outlets to use. Positive changes. 

Just reminding myself and everyone that needs to hear it, life has its arduous moments. Keep trying, keep moving forward. Sending light & love to everyone. XOXO 😘