it’s a funny thing, time
cleared view through the future kitchen
It’s funny how time can get away from you. Sometimes it feels like it’s just inching along and other times like you could swear it was only a week ago since you last wrote a blog post when it’s actually been over a month! I had a little peek into when exactly I’d written last and can’t believe the entire month has gone by. I guess that is a testament to how much has been happening and how little extra time I’ve had to stop and evaluate. Several times in October I’d said that it was the busiest I’d been probably all year and there were week spurts where I felt that we never really stopped.
Between continuing with my wine certification course which has become quite a serious study, a little trip to Sicily at the beginning of the month, hosting a few retreat guests of J’s here, working on a couple other side projects (it’s all about the hustling these days), grape harvest, olive harvest, fitting in some visits with friends, and also keeping up with my company, this month has been so busy that I actually had to look through my photos to see how to sum up what’s happened since I couldn’t keep it all straight.
It’s to that point in the project where I’ve heard many people say before who’ve been in a build, that it becomes your “other” full-time job. I can certainly say that if it’s not my full-time, it’s definitely a solid part-time job as I can easily clock about 4-6 solid hours a day to something to do with the house. From meticulous researching and on-site visits to emails and texts to vendors and pouring over the finances and preventivi (quotes), I look at my days and wonder how I would have handled it all if this year had been normal with my usual travel and work schedule.
Of course, I would have loved for it to have been normal, loved to have been able to work and earn some finances to put towards this project - but as I try to see the positive, as least I’ve had the time to devote to the process. Now it’s getting to the end of the initial contract with the builders which covered the structural part of the build, and I’m already having to get creative with coming up with the finances of the other half that I now don’t have the income to cover. I’m plugging onward and so very grateful for the support behind the scenes as we are all hopeful that one day work will start again.
But onto more tangible updates…the majority of the structural phase is complete. The 8 layers of roof, all the walls, most of the unique levels of the main bedroom are complete (including one of the 2 loft areas and the balcony…the final ‘soppalco’ goes up soon), and the site was cleared and readied for the next phase to begin. Because of the extra precautions of covid recommending that only one agency/vendor to be on-site at once, at the beginning of this past week the building crew temporarily cleared out and the plumbing and electricians set up camp. They’ve been working meticulously room by room, going over everything with me from switch locations, lighting circuits, etc as they’ve done the main drainage lines and first fix of about half of the house so far.
Anytime I step on-site it’s usually a couple of hours of questions, decisions, phone calls with the lighting reps, and deciding what type lights go with which dimming protocol, and also can match up to the light switch specifications - oh and making sure those that are coming from the UK can be compatible to those other parts coming from Italy, and not to mention the 3 types of plug sockets that are found here, and which one/s do I want to have and where.
But don’t get me wrong. This to me is exactly what I’ve wanted to happen. I want to be involved in the smallest of decisions. And I’m so happy that the crews are so lovely and accommodating and are patient with my super detail-oriented ways. And although my brain (sometimes I really think physically) is sore after each day, I really do enjoy the process, and am trying to soak it all in in the meantime before that one day in the future when it’s all complete.