Here I was, trying to find the "Finish The Sentence Friday" link-up, hoping for a prompt to take my mind off the decision on hand we have to make. Soon. But then I realized that Janine is somewhat taking the weekend off, so I'm here on my own and you all have to bear with yet another house post.
As I have already mentioned, on Wednesday evening, we've been handed over our house. Now it's up to us to organize the interior to be finished. Walls and ceilings must be finished, floors be put in. A walkway to our house as well as our parking spot must be paved.
Right now, our goal is despite two business holidays on Friday and Monday to give out the contract before we fly to the U.S. on Tuesday. We have two offers on hand:
1. Structured wallpaper on walls and ceilings, twice painted over.
2. Base coat and structured top coat on walls and ceilings with another coat of colored paint on the walls.
Option one is considerably more expensive than option two, but then again, we don't want to save money on the wrong corners here. Some people say that the structured paint is the way to go if you don't plan on changing colors every couple of years (which we don't), others say that it could look sloppy if the walls aren't 100% smooth.
The advantage of the wallpaper seems to be that it smoothes out some irregularities on the wall, but on the other hand, since the house is brand-new, tears could appear because of the house settling that is harder to repair than with structured paint. Plus it's easier to repair little ditches in the paint than in the wallpaper, which may be a selling point with the little ones.
I somehow feel as if we have our decision made, but somehow I still feel uncomfortable, especially since we'll have to say no to one contractor. And I hate disappointing people! Another issue I may have to work on in the future! Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!!
Showing posts with label decision. Show all posts
Showing posts with label decision. Show all posts
Friday, April 18, 2014
Monday, February 24, 2014
Questions To Free Your Mind 41 - 50
It's just a few hours until I cross the threshold into a new decade
of my life. Doesn't that sound dramatic? Right now, I'm carefully
anticipating it, somehow knowing that not much is going to change
anyways. To finish something off my list, let's finish the last of the
50 Questions to Free Your Mind. Again, thank you very much for letting
me steal this, Jenni!!
41. If you knew that everyone you know was going to die tomorrow, who would you visit today?
No-one. I'd spend it at home with my family, most likely in bed, getting as much cuddling time in as possible.
42. Would you be willing to reduce your life expectancy by 10 years to become extremely attractive or famous?
No, that sounds very shallow to me, sorry. I would reduce it for good health, for example...
43. What is the difference between being alive and truly living?
Being alive means your heart beats, your breathe, you go through your day (maybe). Truly living is having dreams and goals, to have people you love and who love you, to feel, to laugh, to cry.
44. When is it time to stop calculating risk and rewards, and just go ahead and do what you know is right?
When over-thinking leads to a total block of productivity. Then it's definitely time to let go and things go it's course where your feeling take you. Definitely learned that lesson in the process of getting this house built.
45. If we learn from our mistakes, why are we always so afraid to make a mistake?
Because no-one likes to make mistakes. Because it's disheartening, maybe even embarrassing. Because it's scary.
46. What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?
Probably pick up more, be more at the kids to keep their rooms picked up. It's sometimes chaotic in our house, and you may step on the one or the other toy on the floor, but honestly, most days I'd rather play a game with the girls than whipping them to do chores.
47. When was the last time you noticed the sound of your own breathing?
Probably on Saturday during the run.
48. What do you love? Have any of your recent actions openly expressed this love?
I love to knit, and to make the girls smile. I found some left-over wool today and made a quick headband for Violet's doll. Her smile was priceless, when she put it on her doll. Tomorrow it's going to be a scarf for Lily's bunny!
49. In 5 years from now, will you remember what you did yesterday? What about the day before that? Or the day before that?
To be honest, probably not. The last days were very laid-back, nothing big happened. I may remember the first day Lily and I went for a run (that was the day before yesterday).
50. Decisions are being made right now. The question is: Are you making them for yourself, or are you letting others make them for you?
In the current situation, it's actually both. Tomorrow, we'll have a general meeting with a number of people to discuss how to get water to our house asap. I hope for a good outcome despite some people being really stuck on their position. So they are hopefully giving us some more feasable options from which we make the final decision on how to proceed. Keep your fingers crossed, everyone!
I'll be out tomorrow, hopefully enjoying a good dinner with hubby and the girls. I know what I want for dinner already :-) Oh, and please visit Jenni's blog Flying on a Rainbow to check out her answers to the above questions.
41. If you knew that everyone you know was going to die tomorrow, who would you visit today?
No-one. I'd spend it at home with my family, most likely in bed, getting as much cuddling time in as possible.
42. Would you be willing to reduce your life expectancy by 10 years to become extremely attractive or famous?
No, that sounds very shallow to me, sorry. I would reduce it for good health, for example...
43. What is the difference between being alive and truly living?
Being alive means your heart beats, your breathe, you go through your day (maybe). Truly living is having dreams and goals, to have people you love and who love you, to feel, to laugh, to cry.
44. When is it time to stop calculating risk and rewards, and just go ahead and do what you know is right?
When over-thinking leads to a total block of productivity. Then it's definitely time to let go and things go it's course where your feeling take you. Definitely learned that lesson in the process of getting this house built.
45. If we learn from our mistakes, why are we always so afraid to make a mistake?
Because no-one likes to make mistakes. Because it's disheartening, maybe even embarrassing. Because it's scary.
46. What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?
Probably pick up more, be more at the kids to keep their rooms picked up. It's sometimes chaotic in our house, and you may step on the one or the other toy on the floor, but honestly, most days I'd rather play a game with the girls than whipping them to do chores.
47. When was the last time you noticed the sound of your own breathing?
Probably on Saturday during the run.
48. What do you love? Have any of your recent actions openly expressed this love?
I love to knit, and to make the girls smile. I found some left-over wool today and made a quick headband for Violet's doll. Her smile was priceless, when she put it on her doll. Tomorrow it's going to be a scarf for Lily's bunny!
49. In 5 years from now, will you remember what you did yesterday? What about the day before that? Or the day before that?
To be honest, probably not. The last days were very laid-back, nothing big happened. I may remember the first day Lily and I went for a run (that was the day before yesterday).
50. Decisions are being made right now. The question is: Are you making them for yourself, or are you letting others make them for you?
In the current situation, it's actually both. Tomorrow, we'll have a general meeting with a number of people to discuss how to get water to our house asap. I hope for a good outcome despite some people being really stuck on their position. So they are hopefully giving us some more feasable options from which we make the final decision on how to proceed. Keep your fingers crossed, everyone!
I'll be out tomorrow, hopefully enjoying a good dinner with hubby and the girls. I know what I want for dinner already :-) Oh, and please visit Jenni's blog Flying on a Rainbow to check out her answers to the above questions.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Crossroads
Do you know those moments in life when there are decisions to be made that are just going to change your life? When I look back, there are several of those. There was the decision for Richard to leave the Army and to move to Washington instead of staying and moving to Alabama or the decision to leave the States and move back to Germany just after Violet's birth instead of waiting a couple more years as we had planned before she announced her impending arrival.
Sometimes I revisit these crossroads, wondering what would have happened had we decided another way, didn't make a decision at all. And I have to say, even though at some point I might have wished to have decided differently, I am no happy for the way everything has unfolded. I am a firm believer of the butterfly effect, and without all those decisions and sometimes struggles we wouldn't be where we are now.
The crossroad that I most frequently revisit is one that I faced back in November of 2005. I was in my last year of college and seriously asking myself what to do. Many of my friends were already sending out applications for jobs or university while I was not yet quite sure of what to do with myself except that I wanted to go live abroad, to the US to be exact. It was at that point that I got in contact with a concert agency that operated offices in the US, UK, and Germany. They were looking for a translator/interpreter who would be the liaison between them and the German-speaking artists and agents. I was in heaven when they asked me to come to an all-expenses-paid interview to Liverpool. But just a week before I was supposed to fly out to meet the agents, something happened that I would have never imagined: one night, when the TV program was too bad even for my standards, I surfed Myspace (back then, Myspace was still the site of choice for most) and stumbled over the profile of this guy. He was kind of cute, but actually that wasn't what caught my eye. What really got me was what he said, and I just couldn't help emailing him. A day later I actually had an email back; after exchanging a few more emails I took the plunge and asked him for his phone number. We talked for more than 2 hours that night, and the next, and the one after, and then we agreed on a date for the following Saturday, the day of my interview in Liverpool.
There I stood at this crossroad, contemplating my future. There was the job too good to even dream about; and then there was the guy, who I knew was my soul mate without having ever met him in person. I took a deep breath and stepped on the path that might well decide over the rest of my life. I called the concert agency and canceled the interview. Call me crazy, but I gave up the job of my life for a first date with a guy I haven't even met in person, and I haven't looked back ever since. Five months later we were married and this year we will celebrate our 5th anniversary in one of the places where we've been most happy: with our friends who have become our family in Washington.
When I revisit this crossroad it is not because I regret my decision, because I know that my job would only kept me happy for a little while; what I really wanted was a family. I revisit this point in my life and wonder, whether the other path would have just been a little detour that would have led me back to the other one, or whether it would have meant a completely different life which I don't even want to imagine. I am happy with my life, happier than I would have ever dared to dream. Without all of these crossroads and the decision we made, we would not be where we are today, and at least I can't imagine my life without my soul mate and our wonderful little crazy girls!
Sometimes I revisit these crossroads, wondering what would have happened had we decided another way, didn't make a decision at all. And I have to say, even though at some point I might have wished to have decided differently, I am no happy for the way everything has unfolded. I am a firm believer of the butterfly effect, and without all those decisions and sometimes struggles we wouldn't be where we are now.
The crossroad that I most frequently revisit is one that I faced back in November of 2005. I was in my last year of college and seriously asking myself what to do. Many of my friends were already sending out applications for jobs or university while I was not yet quite sure of what to do with myself except that I wanted to go live abroad, to the US to be exact. It was at that point that I got in contact with a concert agency that operated offices in the US, UK, and Germany. They were looking for a translator/interpreter who would be the liaison between them and the German-speaking artists and agents. I was in heaven when they asked me to come to an all-expenses-paid interview to Liverpool. But just a week before I was supposed to fly out to meet the agents, something happened that I would have never imagined: one night, when the TV program was too bad even for my standards, I surfed Myspace (back then, Myspace was still the site of choice for most) and stumbled over the profile of this guy. He was kind of cute, but actually that wasn't what caught my eye. What really got me was what he said, and I just couldn't help emailing him. A day later I actually had an email back; after exchanging a few more emails I took the plunge and asked him for his phone number. We talked for more than 2 hours that night, and the next, and the one after, and then we agreed on a date for the following Saturday, the day of my interview in Liverpool.
There I stood at this crossroad, contemplating my future. There was the job too good to even dream about; and then there was the guy, who I knew was my soul mate without having ever met him in person. I took a deep breath and stepped on the path that might well decide over the rest of my life. I called the concert agency and canceled the interview. Call me crazy, but I gave up the job of my life for a first date with a guy I haven't even met in person, and I haven't looked back ever since. Five months later we were married and this year we will celebrate our 5th anniversary in one of the places where we've been most happy: with our friends who have become our family in Washington.
When I revisit this crossroad it is not because I regret my decision, because I know that my job would only kept me happy for a little while; what I really wanted was a family. I revisit this point in my life and wonder, whether the other path would have just been a little detour that would have led me back to the other one, or whether it would have meant a completely different life which I don't even want to imagine. I am happy with my life, happier than I would have ever dared to dream. Without all of these crossroads and the decision we made, we would not be where we are today, and at least I can't imagine my life without my soul mate and our wonderful little crazy girls!
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