Man I went through very much the same thing when my dreams of a 40 x 40 workshop / office were pushed out of my life by cold hard reality. I actually settled on a 12x20 metal prefabbed building instead and made lots of improvements to it trying to make it something it could never be. I plan to post pictures and the story of this year long process sometime shortly. You are exactly right the process seems to never end. Thanks for sharing I very much enjoyed the read about your story.
"Just Like Iron Sharpens Iron... So it is that One Man Sharpens Another Man." Proverbs 27:17