Things are actually happening!

Last Friday, Larry and I signed the renovation contract with our GC (General Contractor), and gave the 15% deposit. We did add a kitchen to the final renovation, but I agreed to let Larry do the master bathroom himself. We'll see how all this goes. Maybe once he sees how efficiently and quickly the renovation happens, hopefully, he'll let the GC's subcontractors do that too. Fingers crossed.

The next day I left for RI. Larry spent the day attending our nephew's baseball games in SC and when he returned home in the late afternoon, the gate was closed, the driveway entry was widened and a dump truck and backhoe were left in the yard. We never expected things to begin the very next day, even though I told Bill, our GC, that it could. Sunday brought more levelling work and the excavation of a large garden area where a sunroom will be and the cutting of several trees hanging over the roof. Monday brought a new drain pipe at the driveway entrance that was cemented to the old one, and more excavation., Larry told me one worker and his father lay "broken-tile mosaic" flooring. The worker chiseled out a sample of the existing tile so he can match the color along with a couple of bricks to match those too. This is all so exciting.

Today, as I sit with my coffee in RI, I can watch my husband and at least five workers on the security cameras. I called Larry, because now I feel like I'm there with him. A brown paper path was taped to the kitchen floor, and I watched men come and go with strips of faux panelling as they pealed it off the back bedroom walls. As Larry and I talked, I could hear a sledge hammer banging. A worker began breaking up the concrete entryway outside the old-fashioned way: pure muscle power. Larry told me the driveway will be covered in "sitepak" today to level it because it will rain towards the end of the week. Rain will help compact the material and harden it naturally.

It is so exciting to have the renovation begin so quickly, and see the differences already. Money moves processes. There you have it, folks.

And so it begins...

Garden to be removed and room added.

This is the first time we've renovated a house we live in. The dynamics of planning such a project are daunting at best. Everything has to be packed up and moved out to prepare for ripping off the entire roof, but when we are still using the house until that day comes, what does one leave in tact: a dish, a glass, a pot; one spoon, knife, fork; a sofa, a twin bed, a TV and cable. Larry will be doing some glorified camping at the lake house until the demolition guys show up, and I have to hope he doesn't get too lonely or hurt himself in this remote area while I'm gone with the pups. We leave on Saturday to return to RI, so I can continue with chorus. I am so conflicted about leaving him, but he is encouraging me to go and continue with an activity that brings me such joy. My husband is the best!

Packing has begun and has to be finished in two days. Last minute items will be left for Larry to take care of, but I am having such trouble letting go of wanting to control the entire process. I'll do it, but not without some pain. Larry's brother, Billy, is taking half a day off from work today to help him break beds down and pack mattresses in sleeves. Yes, they make mattress sleeves for storage. This was news to us, but welcomed. We've packed mattresses in plastic with duct tape, and it is much harder. I'll be packing lamps and linens, while finishing up the kitchen and the utility closet. I have to pack all our clothes, and the dilemma is: wash them now or later? I've decided later will do. Maybe I can actually use my new laundry room to do it when it's all done and we move back in, rather than spend a day at the laundromat.

Before

After

 

Our first big project has been completed and has made this entire renovation real to us for the first time. We have been talking about renovating this lake house for so many years, we were convinced it would never happen. Granted, we are renovating it to sell when the market comes back, but we will get to enjoy a new house until it does sell. We realized in February, that we lost about four feet of shoreline from erosion. We've been losing land slowly over time, but this past year was the worst. So, we hired a company and this week they brought in little machines that moved and planted sixty tons of fill, cloth to keep it in place, and covered it with eighty tons of rock. The area to which we added rip rap was never covered, and it is way past time. It looks beautiful, and in the process we gained about eight feet of land back. That doesn't sound like much, but it is. Rip Rap: check! Our list has begun.

Dance of the Machines

Finished

 

Yellow and Black Garden Spider

The renovation truly became real yesterday when Bill, our General Contractor, came buy with the window/door guy. Bill chipped out a brick from under one of the bedroom windows outside, and we saw the flimsy construction inside. No wonder that back bedroom gets musty and the most critter invasion of any other room in the house. There's nothing behind the faux-panelling but cinder blocks with holes! This house will be so much different when new windows are installed with real framing surrounding them, and insulation. Once Bill chipped out that brick, we knew this project was real and going to happen. And so it begins.

Hurry Up and Wait!

Once we got a builder here in SC, and Larry completed his designs, we applied to the bank for a refinance to get a cash-out amount of money for our lake house renovations. The bank process dragged on way longer than we liked, and was much more painful than we expected. But, finally, we got our check, and now we are raring to go.

We contacted our builder that we had the money and were ready to sign a contract and schedule the build. We are still waiting for him to complete "the numbers". We have a tentative start of early to mid-November, and an appointment next Wednesday morning to meet with a window guy. We cannot afford the kind of renovations we wanted, so the builder is working hard to save us money. We really appreciate him.

We came down here now to pack up the house, so I can continue with chorus rehearsals in RI. I don't want to wait until November because the closer we get to the concerts, the more I need rehearsals. So, we came down to "get 'er done", but I contracted a bad cold and have been laid up with zero energy to pack. I have to just remain calm and know that I'll get it all done. I have to get well, and my energy back, so I can do what I need to do. Just breathe. It'll all be fine.

This is the stress that is beginning to build. We will be tearing the roof of the house, so it has to be emptied. Larry will remain here after I leave with the pups to be present for much of this project. He will come to RI as often as he can, and I will come back to SC as often as I can. We will fly when we have to and drive the rest of the time. It's going to be a stressful year, but one well worth it once the house is complete.

But, right now, we are getting the impression that this process will drag on longer than we like. Life is a little slow in the South, I know. And, the Yankee in me is chomping at the bit to get a move on. But, I have to take a step back, and realize I cannot control everything. Again. I can nudge it along, but I cannot make it happen. I just hate that!

In the meantime, I have to get better and get packing! I have to let go of the anticipation of chaos that will be the lake house and our yard until it's all done. We can replant later if need be. I worry if I should cut back our beautiful, huge Oak Leaf Hydrangea beforehand or wait to see how it has been damaged and cut off that part later. What Dogwood trees do I have to let go of emotionally? What Azaleas will get run over by huge truck tires? I have to let it all go and realize that in the end, it will be a little different than it was, but just as beautiful. Change is hard, but a good thing all the same.

The changes we make to this house will also make it more attractive to prospective buyers in the future. We will get to enjoy living in a newer house with all the amenities, like laundry facilities and clear water (instead of orange from iron-ore bacteria), and later we will have a greater chance of selling it. Selling it is our ultimate goal. Our life needs to downsize and simplify, but this "hurry up and wait" stuff is driving me nuts!

Moving Forward

Front Facing the Lake

Plans continue for renovating The Lakehouse. We just need the bank to give us the money! We cannot seem to quench their thirst for personal, financial data. We keep waiting for a banker to show up with a phlebotomist. They better approve our loan soon because a dumpster is being dropped off next week.

Sunday is our twelfth wedding anniversary. We've decided to do an afternoon movie, Elysium, and have a very nice Italian meal at Roberto's in Bristol, RI. We have been wanting to eat there for years, but they are never open when we meander across the bridge. This time we have a reservation. It will be a lovely day, then on Monday, Larry will head south for three weeks. This will be the longest we've ever been apart!

Our eighteen-year-old friend, Darren, insists he wants to go with Larry and help him clean out our garage at the lake to get ready for the build. We have to make room in there to empty the house. So, the two of them will leave early Monday morning and drive down in one fell swoop. They should make it to the lake by midnight. Darren will fly out of Columbia the following Saturday to get ready for the start of his freshman year of junior college. It'll be a big help to Larry and a "last hurrah" for Darren before school starts. He's been working hard all summer, so this little vacation will be well deserved.

Entry

 

The pups and I will remain in Tiverton, lonely for our man, but we'll head back to the lake in October to start packing up the house. Things are beginning to move forward with this project at last.

Here is Larry's design: for the new and improved lake house.

Onward and Upward

The buyers who threw us for a loop by visiting a total of four times, letting us believe they were interested in making an offer to buy The Lakehouse said they are not interested after I prodded them in an email. I just can't continue to say, "Why did they waste our time then?" They all needed to see it to decide that, so now we know the path we will take. We will make it new again and keep it for a few years until the market comes back. Until that time, we will enjoy a newer version of it's charming self. And, I will trust that we will have all the money we need to live the life we choose. Amen.

Now, it's "onward and upward". I called the "rip rap" guy this morning and arranged another meeting with Larry for some time during September 9-11 to finalize details of reclaiming the shoreline we lost this past year from erosion. Larry will head down there alone next week and stay until September 12th. A huge dumpster will be delivered, and he can begin to clear out the garage to make room for our furniture. Because the roof will be torn off and replaced, we have to completely move out. My sister-in-law is collecting boxes for us, and in October, we'll head back to pack up the house.

It looks like, realistically, the demolition of the roof will not begin until later in October. Until then, the driveway entrance will be widened and the driveway itself will be resurfaced and leveled with "sitepak" or "crusher run" (a mixture of small rocks and bluestone, which when compressed will provide a firmer-than-dirt surface to prepare for big trucks to drive over it). A garden will be torn out where a new porch will be added and the concrete pad and "knee walls" for that porch can be built. Also, the laundry room addition can be built in preparation for a roof to cover the entire house, eliminating the flat roofs that cause us problems now.

There will be lots of chaos coming our way this fall. Stay tuned for our next big adventure. Thanks for reading.

What the... What???

Will the Universe please stop playing with us? What is this test? To see how flexible we are? To see if we are really willing to sell our lake house? My head hurts.

A week went by and the prospective buyers never called back. So, yesterday, we're at my brother-in-law's house and at 2:13pm, I get a call. "Hello?"

"Hey, Ms. Gardner, this is Oakley." "Oakley? How are you?" "I'm fine. I just called to see if we can come see your lake house this afternoon. My parents came to church and have some time." In my head, I'm telling him to go f*&!k himself, but instead I say, "I'm surprised to hear from you. When we didn't get a call this week, we thought your dad wasn't interested." "He just couldn't get time until today," he tells me very matter-of-factly. In my head I'm saying, "You inconsiderate pr*&K!" Instead I say, "Hold on a minute while I talk to Larry. I'm in Chapin right now." After a minute of consulting with my husband, I get back on the phone. "OK, Oakley, I can be at the house at 3:00." "Great. My dad said that works for him too. See you then." Really? I think to myself. It works for him, huh? Just because he's a judge doesn't mean he can waste our time or leave us hanging. But, I got in the truck and drove home.

All the way home, my stomach was filled with butterflies. What does this mean? Are these people really serious? Will we end up selling just when I turned the key in my head to keep the lake house? I just let myself get excited about redecorating and thinking about what new things to buy: lighting fixtures and cabinet hardware. Just this morning I allowed excitement to enter my heart. Now what? What kind of sick joke is God playing on us? To the extreme, I'm thinking, "Is this like: Oh Abraham, kill your only son to prove you love me...Just kidding!" God. I know this is blasphemous, but that's where my head is going with this stuff.

Anyway, I arrive at the house and there are two trucks already in the yard. Holy crap I'm thinking. Well, I have time to get the key and open the house. I waved to the young wife sitting in her truck (the one I was sure wasn't interested in living here). She waved and smiled back. What kind of double agent is she? I unlock the house to two screaming, barking, crazy dawgs and smell this god-awful smell. I didn't want to seem presumptuous by hurrying up and lighting candles to mask the smell because I couldn't find dog pee or anything in a quick scan. So, I just said, "F*&!k it", and walked out to meet them.

Oakley's oldest son and daughter were running around and his parents were just lovely people. They were normal, country folk: very open, happy-seeming, friendly people. The judge even showed me a picture of a little bunny he caught for his grandkids when he was bush-whacking in his yard. Very sweet. The oldest little girl said, "I just love this space." Really? I'm thinking. What a grown up, cute little thing. So I offered, "Really? Well let me show you something." I led Grandma and the two kids to my hideaway under the Camilia trees. I told them I created it for our kids, but they weren't interested. In the end, I fessed up that I really created it for the child in me. They loved it. The boy's imagination just shot off like a jet creating games they could play under there. Grandma said it was just like the places they played as children. She was about my age. They touched my heart!

In the end, we still don't know if they will offer to buy it. We had a wonderful conversation, and the judge said the place had great potential. I told them it was a place filled with Love, and that Love lived here. It will take a very special person to recognize it's potential and to live in that Love to buy it. And, I told the judge that if he was really interested, to make us an offer to give us something to think about. I stressed that time is off the essence because we have a refinance package in the works and we don't want to get caught up in that and not be able to get out of it. If his gut told him he should buy it, he should make us an offer fast.

They left, and I sat reeling. I called Larry and relayed what happened. We're both scratching our heads, but I told him, "I can't go here. Let's just forget this ever happened and move ahead with our plans. I can't stand this see-saw anymore. I have to let this go and move on. If they come back, great. If not, then "no harm, no foul." What else can we do? We're leaving for Rhode Island tomorrow. He said, "If they make an offer after we're in deep with this refinance, then the price just went up." I said, "OK."

I'm calling the builder for a meet this morning.

It's Official!

The prospective buyers we met last week disappeared after coming to see the Lakehouse. I kept trying to give him an out, because the body language on his wife told me there is no way in hell she'd live here (it's a cottage that needs work), but he wouldn't take the out. I have to say here (because my friend, Mary Pat, convinced me that [spiritually] it doesn't help anyone to send a nasty email trying to force him to admit what an asshole he is) that we are very disappointed he didn't contact us in any form to let us know our property was not for them. I, personally, had much higher expectations of a Baptist preacher and his criminal court judge of a father to exhibit more consideration to people who have been up front and straight with them from day one of their insisting they wanted to come see the place. I asked him to let me know one way or another, but he didn't. Shame on him/them. Ok. That's enough venting. Thanks for listening. On to the plan.

I contacted our builder and left a message with his daughter that our project is "a go". We hope to talk with him or preferably meet with him on Monday to formulate a timeline. Our refinance package is in processing, but may take another month to complete. We've decided on a budget with contingencies factored, so here we go. Another build. Craziness is coming.

First, the entrance to our driveway has to be widened for big trucks and a dumpster to come in. The driveway itself needs stone and "sitepak" to support it for when the trucks come. We will have to cut back the Forsythia and other shrubs that have grown into the driveway and find/protect the sprinker heads that have since disappeared under those Forsythia before the stone gets layed. Opening the entrance means losing our chainlink, usually locked, gate. For now at least.

We hired a guy to lay "rip rap" on the shoreline for two hundred feet. We've lost a lot of shoreline this past year from storm-wave action. That should probably also be done before the build begins. And, we need to move the pontoon boat and trailer. Leave it moored against the dock while all this is going on? Haul it out of the water and pull it further into the yard? Have Larry's brother bring it back home until the work is done?

We will now need David and Mary Pat's pop-up camper to be parked next to the garage for electricity and to live in while we do the build. It gratefully has heat and air conditioning. That means moving a small log pile out of the way to make room and maybe cut some trees up and out of the way.

We think we should move out before the build starts. How much room can we make in the garage and will it all fit in there? We think so if we get rid of stuff in the soon-to-be-delivered dumpster. This will be a good time to weed stuff out from the past, and make room for new stuff once the build is done, like area rugs and ceiling fans.

This is becoming real very quickly. I am filled with just a little dread because of the increased debt and the huge inconvenience of getting ready. But, excitement is building in my heart too. It will be very nice to have a new-looking-and-feeling house here at the lake to live in for our five-to-seven-year plan. And, I will love having good water that won't stain everything orange, and not have to go to a laundromat or haul laundry to a friend's house.

I will express my greatest fear here, and this will be the last time I give it any energy. After this, I will let it go once and for all. Really. Here is my prayer:

Dear God,

     Since you have seen fit to let us keep the Lake House and make it new again, I trust that you will give us all the money we need to complete this project. Further, I pray that you will also continue to grant us all the money we will ever need to live the life we choose in the manner to which we have become accustomed. I will further trust that abundance will continue to fill our lives, and we will be given everything we need to live our lives well until our death. I know that giving means receiving, and we will continue to share our blessings to keep the energy of abundance healthy in our lives and in the Universe. I trust that I need never fear having to eat dog food to survive when I'm eighty or older, and will never have to become a greeter at WalMart to make ends meet.  Thank you, God. Amen.

Play ball!!!!