At Least There's Mozart.

Thank God, I’m an optimist.

There is so much that needs to be done. Seated at the dining table, surveying our domain, it would be easy to become depressed. The house is a very long way from the charming cottage we're longing to see in Sibulan.

Of course, all the improvements we want require money and we’ve spent most of what we've budgeted until the next bank deposit.

In Manila, we ran into a serious snag over our luggage. We were overweight by a considerable amount. The 5600 PHP spent on that crap could have gone a long way toward improving the house. We had the expected expense of getting JP enrolled in school, and I don’t begrudge those expenses in the least. Neither do I begrudge the money spent on the bed and dresser. Still, it does cut into the money that we could've used renovating the house.

There’s no way I’d post photos of the house in its current state. Many of my American friends and would believe that I’d lost my &^%$*# mind if they saw the current state of the house. Maybe I have. I’m tempted,however, to take photos for a future “before and after”. Showing the photos after we worked on the house for six months would probably draw praise from everyone.

First on the list are the windows. With this heat, we need opened windows but we don’t need the assorted critters opened windows bring in.

Unfortunately, there weren’t nearly enough electrical outlets put in when the house was built. Having more outlets put in now isn’t as easy as one might think. The house is concrete and cuts in the concrete will have to be made for the outlets and wiring. The walls can’t be finished and painted until this electrical work is complete.

Throughout the house, cheap linoleum was put down on the concrete floor and it’s peeling everywhere. Every bit of it needs to be replaced with tiles and that can't be done until the work on the walls is finished.

We don’t have enough furniture, but renovating the house comes first. A new dining table and chairs and/or sofa would look completely out of place until the house itself looks better.

Thank God,also, for Mozart, Haydn, the Internet and my Android.Seeing all the work that needs to be done, but,which can't be until next payday, would be unbearable without this wonderful music filling the space between my ears. I'm able to access Mozart and Haydn (and countless others) thanks to the wonders of the Internet and the mobile apps available for the Android-which itself is a blessed miracle.

I am so looking forward to the end of next week when the work can finally begin in earnest.