stress

In early April, a bit of an income tax return in hand, we decided to finally renovate one room of our small house. It was a real throwback to the 70's - green vinyl floor, dark heavy wood paneling, one-pane small wooden windows. We contracted to have three, slightly bigger, vinyl replacement windows installed and, as part of the contract, agreed to have the walls down to studs. We wanted to drywall the room and put in new insulation - a new floor - we couldn't wait! We had ideas for expanding the renovation to completely finish the first floor - luckily, we hadn't torn it all apart.

When this 'attack' hit me and knocked me out of work, this room, which is technically almost half the square footage of our entire home, was studs. I'm writing this from a room in studs, with some new insulation, a 70's green vinyl floor, three beautiful new windows, and drywall on part of the ceiling.

My sweetheart has suffered from scleroderma for over 20 years.  I have been the one with the job, the benefits - now I can't work and can't do much to help on the house. The going is very slow. The last several weeks, he is suffering generalized weakness more than usual - and I'm really afraid.

We live on a small homestead we spent 12 years building. We grow much of our own food: vegetables, fruits, nuts, eggs. I am vegetarian, eating vegan much of the time. Hubby eats mostly vegetarian, and some meat.

We have three German Shepherd dogs who keep us pretty busy - we adore them :)

All of this is what we loved. It is now a sincere struggle to keep it going.