Update

We're back in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and I couldn't imagine that our varied activities up here had any relevance to this blog. But, I was wrong. Thanks to my cousin in Maine, I realize all our activities up here do have a direct effect on our lakehouse renovation project. Selling our current primary residence in Lexington will bring us the funding we need to continue upgrading The Lakehouse. So, here's what we've been up to since I last wrote to you.

We have almost completely emptied the Lexington house to ready it for sale. I say "almost" because there are still a few pieces of furniture upstairs in the house we were using, that can now be moved out. And, we have storage under a staircase that has not been accessible until this week because we had all the floors downstairs covered in prefinished bamboo hardwood. Painters, carpenters and landscapers were also hired to put a shiny, clean face on the entire property, inside and out, so we can feel proud to show it to our prospective buyers.

The one neighbor we befriended approached us a few weeks ago to tell us she has a friend who may be interested in buying the property. She and her husband love our house, and "thought it was already perfect", then we told her about the renovations and upgrades. She got even more excited, and emailed contact information for her friend. I have since been in email contact with him and am waiting for a reply to arrange a viewing appointment. We really hope this buyer works out because saving money on real estate commissions will be huge!

Also, we have an October 15, 2010 deadline for planting our "coastal buffer" in Tiverton, RI. We browsed around and found really good end-of-season sales on bayberry, winterberry, beach roses, and summersweet plants. We planted most of them to date, but thirteen plants remain in pots as I write this. Our wonderful neighbor there is watering them for us because rain has been elusive. Let's hope they stay healthy until we can get them in the ground.

The rest of this week will be in Lexington, cleaning the construction dust, and washing windows to ready the place for our special, private viewing. So, keep your fingers crossed for us that our first shot will be the only one.