My Wonderful New Hobby Room

​~ Posted 4th March 2018 ~

In October last year, due to my middle son and other kind people (a dear friend and her dad), responding to my fundraising plea, I was able to raise enough money to make a most longed for dream come true.  The hole in the wall / door that would turn our garage into an extra room added onto our little house.
 
On the 23rd October, our handyman Peter, came to put ceilings into our garage which had no ceilings at all in before.  Not only was there no ceiling, but our garage had a roll up garage door on both ends which allowed wind and dust to blow through there constantly.  I could not use the garage at all, because it was always full of dust, so a whole lot of my things were still imprisoned in sealed boxes since we moved here in 2012 and the garage space was wasted on storage alone. 
 
Having the ceiling put in with two beautiful lights was so exciting for me… my dream had started to come together at last.
 
On the 11 November, also as a result of the donations, my son-in-law worked on my car and was able to replace the fan belt and breaks… what a blessing!
 
On the 13th November, Peter and Shem, (the man who comes to help me with my garden from time to time when it gets completely out of hand for me), both came to work on cutting the hole through the wall and setting a door frame in place… and on the 14th November, the beautiful new door was attached, and just like that we had a new room added to our home… still at that stage, with a garage door on each end allowing dust and wind to blow through.
 
While I was away at our Logotherapy student’s workshops over a two-week period, Peter came to put in the second-hand glass window and door to fill the opening at one end of the garage.  He had managed to find the glass door somewhere, a lot cheaper than a new one would have cost us.  When I arrived home in the evening, it was such a wonderful surprise to find the glass window and door in place and so beautifully done.  The door has a broken handle which would still need to be replaced for a new one costing around R500 Peter said, but by then there was no money left, so we have left the roll up garage door in place so that at least that can still be locked to give us more security until we can buy a new lock with handle for it.  We keep it rolled down for now for protection, so the room is still dark unless the lights have been turned on.
 
With the ceiling and glass door, we no longer have a dust problem in the room, because there is no more airflow across it.  It’s too wonderful for words.
 
Once the room was ready to move stuff into, it created a mammoth job, but, that was so cathartic.  Our house became so much less cluttered.  The drawer space that our dear friend Annemarie had given us could now be filled as I unpacked boxes into them.  A long shelf we had lying around for ages, was finally put up above the drawers, and onto that the remaining boxes were put until I can find the time to use up what is in them… stuffing for cushions, etc., ostrich eggs longing to be painted, and other arts and crafty items that I have so dreamed, for many, many years now of using and transforming into beautiful creations.
 
The huge fridge that my dear friend had given me also when her and her dear husband moved home, took up a lot of room in our small sitting room, so that also found a new home in what I now call my “Hobby Room” … tables she had given me were also set out with chairs around them, ready for use.  One table for sewing on and the other for painting and crafts.  

My dream vision was coming alive right before my eyes.
 
The only problem has been, no time to finish off the room with so much going on since the workshops, including, to name a few, Christmas, New Year’s, my sister’s visit from Mexico and working hard with the person who has been setting up the new online structure at work, to make the administration side of things so much easier and less stressful for me personally, not to mention the higher than usual intake of new Logotherapy students, which we have experienced as a result of the online registration process that has made things so much easier for them too.  We are still very busy on that, but hopefully soon, things will quieten down a bit and I will have time to work on those rooms.  Even finding time to do some of the blog posts I’m determined to get done today, is interrupting other work I should be doing, but I just could not let this blog post in particular wait another day.
 
Every time I go into my new Hobby Room, my sense of gratitude feels totally overwhelming towards those who helped me with their kind and generous donations and to Peter and Shem who did the building work.  Sometimes, I just stop and stand still in there, just to take it all in yet again.  How can there be words to express such gratitude… how can anyone understand how much this means to me.  For 30 years in my last house, that was totally chaotic and piled high with STUFF, and just over five years here in my new house, I was unable to reach the fullness of my “creativity” dream… and now it is right here, just waiting for me to find time so that I can once more reconnect with my creative side. 
 
When I finally paint a picture or sew something in there, I will share it with you all.  I still need to have my sewing machines fixed.  The fan belt on my Greek mom’s old sewing machine perished and needs replacing, and the other machine that does more than just straight and zigzag stitching is not working.  Once they are done, I will set them up to use… YAY!  I love my Greek mom’s, because it is such a strong old machine… and it’s a precious reminder to me of her.  I would give anything for an over locker too… but one thing at a time.
 
Right now, we require funds for our car to be fixed to run properly, so I will continue to send a plea for assistance wherever possible, never, ever expecting anyone who has helped us before to help us again.  If there is anyone else out there who is in a position to help us financially, my son and I would be so grateful. 

For some reason, the pictures are no longer posting where I need them to post in-between the text in Weebly, so they will just have to go where then end up when I try to post them. 

​Thank you and have a lovely and blessed week ahead.
 
~ Panayiota.