Let the Visitors Come!
Mon, Jun 29 2009 06:17
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The friends and family light is up and the bowl o' signing stones is stocked and ready. To heck with trying to get it all perfect first! I am ready to sit and visit!!! Six of my sisters and Karen spent the weekend with me for the Seventh Annual Seven Sisters Summer Solstice. We had a blast. Only Susie didn't make it.
We thoroughly enjoyed the hot tub. We got in at night and watched shooting stars and satellites. We saw 10 on our best night. Then, we had to get up early every morning to watch the big, fat, pink sun rise up over Turtle Mountain. I had great fun at Linda and Karen's land. We walked in the river to a bend and gathered rocks. The water was flowing pretty good there, and several of us body "surfed". Once we hooked up head to feet and four of us floated in like a snake for over a 100 yard. Alas, no videos were available to capture our feat. I am ecstatic to report that I can get PIZZA DELIVERY on Big Hill! We had pizza and salad the last night and celebrated Mary's 50th birthday with homemade peach ice cream (made without electricity!) and birthday cake.
I was so sad to see them go, but took the opportunity to unpack a bit more, vacuum and take a nap! Then Tracy came out and we hung out watching a couple of movies. And lo and behold! watching a rain storm pass over. That was a very welcome sight, as we are in a burn ban- again!! And in fact, we have had a disaster declared due to the threat of more fires- there were twelve last week! Needless to say, my cardboard and stump piles are not getting any smaller.
My queen sized mattress set was delivered today, just too late for sister weekend. I will look forward to sleeping in it after I get help moving it to the master suite.
My first house payment is due Thursday. That signifies a real mark of progress. I am finally paying regular old notes, like everyone else. Now let's have more parties!!
My first house payment is due Thursday. That signifies a real mark of progress. I am finally paying regular old notes, like everyone else. Now let's have more parties!!
Comments
Molly G is...In...The...House!!!
Tue, Jun 23 2009 10:30
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Except when I am in Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi, etc.....I have traveled every week for a few months. I am honestly ready to SIT for a while. Last week I was in beautiful Destin, FL for a conference. The sunset pictured is of the bay view from my room.
I did manage to get the friends and family light completely put together. It is as beautiful as I hoped, and I hope lots of friends and family pass beneath it's welcoming light.
My sisters will be on the hill with me this weekend. Seven Sister Summer Solstice 2009. I look forward to hanging out with them for a couple of leisurely days.
Also, I have to share this, because I think it is so cool. My dad, who will turn 80 in a month, joined a volleyball team at his church. Mom is the score keeper. They are really enjoying themselves, and I am delighted by the whole thing.
I will try to get some updated photos, but until next week....peace from the hill
Where Do I Live?
Thu, Jun 18 2009 05:30
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In anticipation of an imminent move to Big Hill I started moving some of my things out there. Every time I have made a trip there in the last two weeks I have repacked the same four boxes.
I have been on two business trips since I started this process. On both trips I forgot to bring underpants and a swim suit- both trips were on or near a beach. The first time I bought the bare necessities. The second trip I just couldn’t bring myself to buy it all over again, so I got up at dawn and drove back out Big Hill before leaving Glen Rose for my flight.
For some reason I thought I would be in the house by now. It just seems there is always one more thing that really ought to take place before I move in. Like sealing the floors, or having the dryer connected, or the sound system in, or the ladder removed from the kitchen. It has been like running in molasses. The harder I try the harder it seems.
Mike started getting the rock floor sealed this past weekend, and Tracy and I finished it on Monday night. We like it so much we decided we need to put a second coat on the floors in the bathrooms and the sun room. See what I mean? Always one more thing. At some point, hopefully in the next two weeks, I will simply take the plunge and claim residence there. I simply don’t want to fall prey to the human nature supported dilemma of moving in and never finishing those last few things.
Steve, a local rock and grade guy, graded the front “yard” and laid down a caliche and dirt circle drive, which we designed after the one on Glenn’s house plans. We made it smaller than the original plans called for. Ours has a radius of 28 feet from the center of the drive to the inner edge of the walkway, but it seems pretty looming, considering the current complete dearth of landscaping. Eventually I will add xeroscaping, but that falls way behind a dining room table and a bed.
Tracy’s kids came out on Sunday- Ashley, Jerrod and his girlfriend Jeanette. They got in the hot tub, and then we ate pizza on the deck. I am sorry to say I forgot to take a photo of us all together! Tracy’s two sisters with their spouses will be out this coming weekend for Girls Night Out. That should be a hoot.
I am about to get on a plane and head back “home”, and I am hoping that will be quite a bit more definitive very soon.
I have been on two business trips since I started this process. On both trips I forgot to bring underpants and a swim suit- both trips were on or near a beach. The first time I bought the bare necessities. The second trip I just couldn’t bring myself to buy it all over again, so I got up at dawn and drove back out Big Hill before leaving Glen Rose for my flight.
For some reason I thought I would be in the house by now. It just seems there is always one more thing that really ought to take place before I move in. Like sealing the floors, or having the dryer connected, or the sound system in, or the ladder removed from the kitchen. It has been like running in molasses. The harder I try the harder it seems.
Mike started getting the rock floor sealed this past weekend, and Tracy and I finished it on Monday night. We like it so much we decided we need to put a second coat on the floors in the bathrooms and the sun room. See what I mean? Always one more thing. At some point, hopefully in the next two weeks, I will simply take the plunge and claim residence there. I simply don’t want to fall prey to the human nature supported dilemma of moving in and never finishing those last few things.
Steve, a local rock and grade guy, graded the front “yard” and laid down a caliche and dirt circle drive, which we designed after the one on Glenn’s house plans. We made it smaller than the original plans called for. Ours has a radius of 28 feet from the center of the drive to the inner edge of the walkway, but it seems pretty looming, considering the current complete dearth of landscaping. Eventually I will add xeroscaping, but that falls way behind a dining room table and a bed.
Tracy’s kids came out on Sunday- Ashley, Jerrod and his girlfriend Jeanette. They got in the hot tub, and then we ate pizza on the deck. I am sorry to say I forgot to take a photo of us all together! Tracy’s two sisters with their spouses will be out this coming weekend for Girls Night Out. That should be a hoot.
I am about to get on a plane and head back “home”, and I am hoping that will be quite a bit more definitive very soon.
Comments (1)
I Want to Go Home
Tue, Jun 9 2009 10:28
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Due to more travels, I only had Saturday to spend on Big Hill. Tracy came down with the last mesquite door and a DR brush cutter to clean up the undergrowth under the oak groves. I had thought about getting one before I met him, but had decided I was a bit scared of running one, since they are pretty powerful machines. I am thrilled that Tracy decided to contribute one to the outdoor arsenal. We didn't have time to sue it though, since we only had one day before I left Texas. Again.
I am writing this blog entry from Florida. Since I closed on the house four weeks ago I haven't been in Glen Rose more than two nights in a row. Not home long enough to buy groceries or eat leftovers. Or move furniture, or finish the last few interior chores on Big Hill, and start making it a home.
Throughout this blog I have admitted that patience is not one of my strong suits, and that certainly has not changed. But after five years of concerted planning and sweating, I am really, really ready to settle in. right now I have stuff in both houses and don't feel quite at home in either place. The Bonaparte of houses!
There are glimmers of progress- the seven sister lights are up! Not finished out, but hanging in their rightful place. One of the garage door openers is up. Now I just need to get the rock floors sealed so I can take the paper off the bamboo floors and give the whole interior a massive cleaning. Then start bringing in furniture and books and dishes and, as Ava Grace says, "all my stuff, everything I need."
And turn this house into a home.
Ode to the Punch LIst
Wed, Jun 3 2009 02:34
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Well, I DID buy a house. I just can’t seem to get in it. I got back from the two week trip to Florida on Saturday and left again Monday for a work trip to Atlanta, where I am sitting in my work booth right now. I get back from this trip on Thursday night and leave again for a four-day trip to Miami on Sunday.
I did stay overnight there, with G-Man and Sweet Pea, last Saturday and Sunday. We slept on the hanging bed in the sun room. The stars were brilliant through the windows, and the morning light woke me gently. But I was surprised that I, like my two cats, didn’t feel like I had finally come “home”. I thought about it all weekend and came to several conclusions.
I don’t think I will feel at home until the house is actually completed. And I don’t want to move in until it is completed. The seven sister lights aren’t up (althought there has been a ladder in my kitchen for a few weeks...), the washer and dryer aren’t hooked up, the garage door openers aren’t installed, the front door entry set is temporary. In order to lock the house up I have to leave from one of the back doors and walk around. The rock floors still need sealing. The master bath shower needs to be reset so that I don’t get water spraying from both the hand held and the fixed spout spray at the same time. There are so many other things.
It is constantly overwhelming, and my job and my adult responsibilities didn’t disappear just so I can get this house completed and furnished.
I do have a front walk, but Mike built it as a ramp and not as a step down like I asked for. We even went out there and measured for the depth of steps. He just had a brain fart. It will make Glenn happy that the front entry will be ADA compliant. Perhaps it will make me happy one day too.
Anyway, I thought about my little house on Grace Street, and how much heart and soul I have poured into that place over the last five years to make it my home. I can’t expect to instantly feel connected and at home on Big Hill. There is virtually no furniture out there, no decoration, no fingerprint of myself, if you will.
Having said all this, on Sunday afternoon, Tracy and I went “swimming” in the hot tub, with the water just warm enough to keep us from getting chilled. I bought a cheap float and we just hung out for a couple of hours, watching the buzzards fly and enjoying a perfect June afternoon. There was a moment, when leaning on my float with my eyes closed, listening to the wind and the birds and the water and feeling the sun on my shoulders, that I felt a palpable contentment and peace.
So I will keep my hand to the grinding stone, and little by little make Big Hill a home, ready to welcome friends and family and share in many happy moments.
