Where Were We?

Ah yes. It was late December, and we were squeezing in a quick dining room makeover during that no-man’s-land stretch of time just after Christmas but before the kids were back in school. I was deep into my New Year’s resolutions, working on implementing a new morning routine, when I suddenly found myself on the way to the ER with a particularly uncooperative monthly cycle. This was followed by a substantial period of bedrest where I recovered from my old friend, anemia, once again.

Sigh.

The good news is I’ve already paid my entire $4,000 deductible for the year. The bad news? My body seems to require more troubleshooting than I expected on the path towards feeling healthy again.

That said, we did eventually manage to finish the dining room (see what it looked like before here). And as stressful as DIY home renovations can be, the result was such an improvement that we immediately started scanning the house for other low-budget DIY upgrades.

Thus, the hallway, the downstairs bathroom, the living room, and now the laundry room have all received TLC this winter. Renovating can be addictive, so it’s tempting to do more, but one must be reasonable in this economy. Especially if one is receiving medical services with any degree of regularity.

That said, the daffodils are blooming, and the grass out front is screaming to be mowed. We’re turning our focus outdoors as we start thinking about this year’s garden upgrades and the projects we couldn’t get to last summer.

Last year around this time, I was probably in the worst health of my life. Just barely hanging on. I had no idea I’d been severely anemic for years and I was still two months away from finding out.

Comparatively speaking, things are looking up.