Daydream Believer…

With our collective brains pretty much inundated with opening-week theater stuff, I was surprised to find that Dave and I are totally willing to talk about, well, anything non-theater related. Just last Monday, we discussed different “must have”s for a future house, projects to tackle when money and time allow, ohhh lots of stuff.

I even gave in to my urge to try prying off a few wall tiles from the bathroom — with a flat-head screwdriver. From it, I’ve learned that it won’t be as challenging of a project to tackle as I feared. I’ll be patching some of the unevenness just to be sure the job’s done right, but it’ll all be covered with bead board, anyway. Now, I can’t wait to just rip up all the carpeting in the house!! (And if it’s rough underneath, it’ll MAKE us go forward with refinishing.)

The exhaustion has since set in and pretty crappy news (from car problems to bumped-up loan payments to the state of our school staff in 2011-2012) is making me feel like the recession is becoming a depression — seriously, at what point does a depression overcome the “recession” title? I looked up the definitions of each and a recession seems reeeaaaaaally tame compared to what the U.S. has been experiencing, and not to get political, but it clearly ain’t over yet. Long story short, things are my school will probably be turned upside down next year — but it’s still a heck of a lot better than what lots of other local (and other-stately) schools are dealing with. At least our doors will be opening.

So, what did the folks of the Great Depression era do (other than give up a hell of a lot more than we do — skipping meals, Hoovervilles, using a paintbrush to scoop up spilled sugar, REALLY doing without…)? Found distractions in the simple things, like time with family, being active in community organizations (the theater continued to put on 3 shows a year throughout — how cool is THAT? Even if they did steal building supplies from folks’ backyards. I think they were badass.), and finding escape at the movies (which didn’t used to cost the same as a down payment on a house).

Here’s one reason that I love my blogs, magazines, theater and family. And dreaming. (Hence the title of this entry – also a shout-out to the new Monkees tour) Dreaming about things we can’t currently have, but that are modest and will keep us hopeful and working towards goals. Goals like…

…getting refinished hardwood floors (not NEW floors, mind you),
…a budget-friendly modernized bathroom, a first-ever-brand-new driveway,
…a flood of sunshine in the front yard after disposing of the dangerously huge oak tree living far too close to the house (which is also giving us concern of structural damage…that sucker’s gotta go, even if we are treehuggers around this joint)
…a home that “matches” our personality better, with a better mix of eclectic and modern while trying to embrace wabi-sabi….

And, then, there’s OTHER goals, non-house-related. Getting a better grasp on our spending (and what’s really important to spend on), determining what career(s) to take us into our future, SIMPLIFICATION-SIMPLIFICATION-SIMPLIFICATION, creating a more organized and fulfilling lifestyle…y’know, all that fun stuff.

But, for now, we’ll focus on the task at hand — pulling off a near-perfect opening night (and subsequent performances) of Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None”. If you’re in the area, come check it out! Once this genuinely awesome, fun, exciting endeavor is over — on with the bathroom “before” shots (and lots o’ chippin’) and carpet-rippin’! Some daydreams are free to achieve.

Any daydreams you’d like to share?