Here's the Key

Yesterday I completed a project I have long wanted done, having anticipated the rewards of said completed project. Our home is chocked full of unfinished projects. Typically, I am willing to wait on completion if it means I can get it done the way I really want without having to settle for less than the desired end result. I put a lot of thought and planning into projects so that makes the waiting more palatable.

For me, it is genuine pleasure and satisfaction to see something completed. I have not stopped smiling all day because of the joy I feel over the simple task completion. Maybe that's the key...joy in the simple things like a finished project.

The project in question is the drapes in our living room. I planned, shopped to find and purchase the fabrics two years ago to achieve the look I wanted. A nasty hand injury and resulting surgeries impeded my progress for nearly a year spent in casts or braces. Not to be completely shot out of the water, I asked a friend over to help me cut the fabric when I was still in a cast. Slowly over time, I pieced the panels together. Then, all the sewing last month. Yesterday, I recovered the cornice boards and my Honey hung them back up for me when he got home. I could not have been more thrilled.

There is a lot of satisfaction in planning and completing something you created. It would have been a lot easier to buy new curtains and that certainly would not have taken two years either. For me, creating something beautiful for my home and family with my own hands says, "I love you." That's how I really feel when I make things comfortable, beautiful or cook a good healthy meal. I think that is also part of living the simple life. I can look around our home and see things and projects we have done ourselves. They are not perfect, don't claim to be but it is the love and sweat we put into it that makes it uniquely ours. It is surrounding ourselves with tangible, functional products birthed of our love for one another and our home. It is what makes living the simple life on Hacienda Hill worth coming home to. It is definitely worth the effort....and the wait.