# 513 - Country House Clarity

The great thing about waiting so long to build the seventh house we've lived in and hopefully the last house we will live in as our main homestead is that we are taking the time to make sure we do it right. Especially since our last home had a great floor-plan.

Location, location, location is everything --- this has been my major hold-up since I have been flip-flopping on the built site of our home on the acreage, until a few months ago, then I went back to our original site. Another full circle.

However, since that aspect of the build is SETTLED, I have been pouring over different floor-plans and house styles. In fact, this past year, I have reviewed no less than 1,000 floor-plans and home designs.

Recently, I came close to deciding upon a beautiful log cabin, but then I got the onslaught of information regarding the added upkeep with the expectation that the cabin will not be plumb, and I know that the lack of straight lines will eventually get to me.

At one point, going through house plans began to be an unpleasant task, so I avoided it. Then, I reminded myself that these frustrations are part of this wonderful process of moving to the country and that I should also embrace those moments too --- this is an American dream I am living. That attitude adjustment led me to a clear mind and to the floor-plan below that is one of my favorites; however, the upstairs will only have two bedrooms and a small loft with ONE bathroom, strictly for guests.

The great part of waiting all this time to build a house in the country is that I have had time to consider this house, full circle. At first, while living in a stylish home in the Greater Houston area, I had thought that I wanted to build a rustic-style home.

But, after living in an RV for nearly a year, I have come full circle, ALMOST, in that I can see that the rustic appearance would probably wear thin on me, but a CLASSIC farm-house style has stuck on me.

The elements I love are the white clapboard, the grey metal roof and painted grey porch floor decking. Of course, I can picture major landscaping around the house to bring the beauty home!

This is the kind of railing I like with the porch beams I prefer.
Also, this roof is my first choice with the grey accent and dark grey
painted porch decking. Any window shutters will be either black
or that same grey color. The house will be built on concrete
piers and wood beams.

One thing that I have changed lately follows severe storms that have been moving through the area. Now, I know that I don't want as many towering trees around the house. We will keep solid, oldies, but we will be removing more trees around the home-site than I originally intended.

That's because this past week, during a terrible storm, lightening struck a tree nearby and it made a deafening crack. I've been around many close lightening strikes in my life, more than is comfortable for me.

Living here for this past year has indeed been critical to this complicated process of moving from the city to the country, especially to acreage that is so raw and rural.

I cannot believe that in a few days it will be have been a year since the day came for us to leave our home in the city...

...and drive away with our RV...

and drive nearly two hours to literally drive up to our acreage, unload the chickens, set up the RV, and not have water connections and no electricity power connections to the land.

All the chickens made it safely to the acreage by riding in their special
cage alongside their coop in the trailer that I pulled as Sgt. Dave
pulled the RV with his truck.

 

Living with that generator noise for weeks on end was extremely challenging, but I am thankful to have had that generator to provide enough power to give us air-conditioning through the hot weeks of summer.

My dad stopping by to visit, even though he was in the middle
of his chemotherapy treatments, administered through a port in his
chest via a chemo pump attached to him. At this point, he'd lost
all that was left of his hair...along with his mustache. Thank God,
he is doing much better now, under close watch, a difficult battle.

We've come a long way. We have longer to go, but knowing we are narrowing down our home design and floor-plan means we are closer to breaking ground. Since I am figuring out our floor-plan with the perimeter measurements, this means we can go to the actual build site and mark it off, then begin removing the trees that must go. Since that area of our land is densely forested, this is an important and necessary step that we cannot avoid ANY LONGER! Haha.

Oh a hike along a back trail with a boundary marker. You can
see how thick the forest is in the entire area of our construction site.
And there are towering, massive trees there as well, which I am
going to do all I can do to keep. We will also be working carefully
through the area to retain the Oaks, Cypress, Cedars and to
keep the Wild Magnolias.

There are a lot of steps for us to take. I have to get official Floodplain maps and to certify that our build site is not in the 100-year floodplain through the Office of Emergency Management - Flood Planning Management for our area. I have to get a new appraisal of our land with the upgrades. We also have to get a new survey, which stinks because the one we currently have is too old to use, and we have built structures on our land since that survey was completed, which invalidates it.

Our first small barn. I still need to paint the outside of it, Barn Red.

Once all that is completed, then I must have copies of our architectural-construction drawings prepared and ready to submit to various venders for bids. Lots of bids.

This is a view of my favorite design, so far. However, I do prefer
the thinner clapboard that runs horizontal instead of this vertical version.
If the size is available in Hardy Plank, we will use the cement siding
to reduce maintenance on the house. I am hoping it will also
making the building process more affordable.

My head is spinning again. This week, I am simply happy to have gone through hundreds more floor-plans and designs to become more settled upon the direction we are taking. My old love of traditional colonial-time homes and Victorian homes is something that I can't escape. I hope that by honoring the type of home that has most appealed to me throughout my life, that we will indeed find ourselves living in a very beautiful home ready for new memories.

Here is an example of the house we will probably build. It's about
2,500 square feet, with most of the square footage downstairs as is
shown in the above floor-plans. I will be incorporating
pocket-doors into the plan, for sure!

Everything is happening in its right time. It will be worth the wait. Even so, I CANNOT WAIT!

# 471 - A Baby to Love!

On September 1st of the year 2013, I became a grandma! Baby Coraline came into the world as my daughter, Heather, gave birth, completely natural. In fact, she was so relaxed during her labor that she didn't arrive to the hospital until she was dilated to 9cm, which is TOO CLOSE to a baby being born!

Heather actually thought she might deliver in the car on the way to Fort Worth. But, she did it. She delivered her baby natural, just as I delivered both of my daughters, so I have tremendous appreciation and respect for what she endured.

My daughter and my grand-daughter.

Heather was my first baby. To see my first baby with her first baby has been a joy that the world could not prepare me to experience. I liken the experience to having your first baby, you can't really imagine it, until it happens.

Heather kissing her baby and me kissing my baby.

Henry is an awesome dad, as we knew he would be. Still, those who do right often need encouragement to keep doing the same, so I took a moment to thank these kiddos for making us grandparents, but most of all, I thanked them for being mature, good-hearted and responsible so that us grand-parents can thoroughly enjoy our position.

 

We are truly proud of them. More than that, our son-in-law is the kind of man who would protect his wife and daughter with his own life. It feels wonderful that he's well-equipped with ample experience to handle most situations, and he will be impacted by his baby girl to become an even more wonderful man of strength and character. 

 

There's no doubt, Henry is the kind of son-in-law most of us dream of having for our daughters We are blessed to have him as the father of our grand-daughter, Coraline.

 

 

As for us getting meet our grand-daughter...as soon as my husband could get a day off, we drove the four hours to see the new addition to our family. To be honest, the two of us were a nervous wreck. These kinds of things don't happen very often in our family.

 

So, our grand-daughter was two days old when we met her. And she stole our hearts. Seeing our grand-daughter made us experience one of the sweetest moments that two people can share, next to having a child of their own...to become grandparents together has confirmed that our hard work and determination through these years has paid off.

 

 

We held baby Coraline and both of us felt the burdens of the world fall from our shoulders. I'm not kidding. During the months our daughter was pregnant, we held such tension as only worry-warts such as ourselves will do because we held great concern for our daughter's health.

 

We wanted everything to go well for our child, so it felt like standing on pins and needles through her pregnancy, but we didn't want her to know the depth of our never-ending concern. Having too much physical distance between our residences definitely compounded our agony.

 

The Houston area to the Fort Worth area is a hefty distance; it wasn't easy to live so far away that we could not help our daughter on a regular basis, and I think the distance between us brought back the hard side of memories from our own experience with living in Germany for three years, so far from our family, during the birth of our first child. I guess that would be considered legit "separation anxiety."

 

I had to keep reminding myself that Heather lives far away, but she's still in the same country. Breathe.

 

 

When we arrived to meet Coraline, we were delighted to see our youngest daughter mesmerized by her tiny niece. Stefie has fallen in love with Coraline. I think Stefie might be one of the most awesome aunts to grace our planet. No kidding.

 

 

Stefie's boyfriend, Brice, is smitten with baby Cora-Lou. Her daddy calls her "Cora-Lou" and it is a contagious, precious nickname.

 

 

We stayed in a hotel located close to our kids' house. We went on a big grocery shopping trip, then spent the next two days preparing meals for the new parents of our grand-baby.

 

Sgt. Dave and I cooked their first meal at home with their baby, and the next day in town, Sgt. Dave kept on cooking whatever his daughter wanted to eat:

 

Breaded, Seasoned sauteed chicken in creamy mushroom sauce

Rice Pilaf

Broccoli and Cheese

Three-Cheese-Garlic Bruschetta

Tuna Salad

Chicken Salad

 



In addition to getting to cook for my daughter, I went into action to help the new mommy catch a break by dusting the living room from top to bottom, vacuuming nooks and crannies, then I tackled the baseboards, which are my specialty. Also, I was able to work on the nursery a tiny bit and to do the floor of the guest room. Heather's house looked great, but I was happy to help in a small way to hold back the dust-bunnies for another day.

I wanted to keep going to help, but the baby needed a grandma to hold her and to stare at her precious little features for a few hours while the mommy got some much needed sleep and the daddy took care of business.

I can't imagine the pure joy that comes from having multiple grand-children! Yes, I was truly meant to be a grandma.

During our second day with our little jewel, we "mature" grand-parents began our playful, yet serious whining about which one should be holding the baby.

"It's MY turn!"
"Hey, I've only held her for TWO hours straight, back off!"
This is the truth.
"No, you have to go eat your food that's waiting on that plate over there and getting cold."
Food?
"No, I have no need for food any more."

After all those light kisses of blessings we gave Coraline from us, we laughed about what we must look like, from Coraline's perspective. Perhaps in her eyes we appear to look something like this...

Love is a beautiful thing.

# 424 - My FIRST grandchild!

For all my regular readers and for the new people joining in on this roller-coaster ride of big changes in our lives...I have GREAT NEWS!

This weekend, we had a Gender Reveal Party and that meant on Saturday we all found out whether our families were going to have an addition to the "Girl" Team or an addition to the "Boy" Team.

Personally, all I cared about is that my daughter be safe during her pregnancy and delivery and that the growing baby be healthy. I also pray there will be no complications during the birth of this precious child.

That said and clear since I am the Mom of the Pregnant Beauty...I have always felt DEEP IN MY HEART that my daughter was carrying a daughter. Something just spoke to me, as if I'd already been told and had no qualms about that fact.

The moment the happy parents find out
that their baby is a GIRL!

But, it was thrilling beyond measure to find out the baby is INDEED a girl with a big group of people who love Heather and Henry and are eager to meet this baby on the due date!

Henry and Heather had the sonogram technician give a sealed envelope to one friend who was in charge of the party for the Gender Reveal.

So, the parents were extra patient in finding out if their baby-to-be was a boy or girl.

And I think there are always the what-if's with the potential of either gender, so there is a huge level of excitement when you have a better picture of the baby you will meet in a few months, but it is also completely natural to also have a little bit of mourning for the other gender you had long contemplated because you kind of feel like you lost a baby you never got to meet --- just those sweet moments of considering the baby to be a boy will be an adjustment. I know some family members had their heart set on a boy, but I think Heather and Henry will probably be blessed with a good-sized family, so the baby boy might still be around the corner!

Deputy Dave will be a first-time Grandpa and my dad
will be a first-time Great-Grand-PawPaw

However, for us...no adjustment needed since we KNEW IT WAS A GIRL!! However, now I feel as if I have the green-light for BABY-GIRL SHOPPING TRIPS GALORE!

However, since the path is now clear --- it's all BABY GIRL --- there are so many fun, exciting, thrilling and fanciful things to look forward to enjoying!

And for those of those with video-watching capability, turn on the volume and join in the moment we ALL discovered the bun in the oven is super sweet!

http://youtu.be/DOymi_HGl74

# 421 - Mom-to-Be Sharing her Culture

My oldest daughter, Heather, came into town for Easter weekend and she was exhausted. Poor gal, she's about 17 weeks pregnant and living with many of the issues that carrying a baby can bring.

Of course, Heather is my child that can sleep through a bomb blast. She konked-out on the sofa downstairs, in the middle of preparations for a crawfish boil.

But, I love how her faithful companion, Tux, an Australian Shepherd, stayed by her side as she slept and he even kept a protective paw on her to maintain connection as she slept. This is such an Aussie trait.

Most dogs don't do these things because we don't let them get that close, but Heather and Tux are well bonded. I wish we had clones of that dog; he's a true gem. If any dog can be said to have a precious-soul with a Texas-sized ache to please his owners, it is Tux.

Each week throughout my daughter's pregnancy, she and Henry have been posting creative, descriptive photos of each stage of pregnancy, which changes week to week; so it's been such fun each week to see what Heather will put on the chalkboard! But, the best part is to see her stand there with that belly growing because a little one is forming and growing for an eventual celebratory entrance into this world!

And believe me, both Henry's family and our family will definitely be celebrating across Texas! Our family will be especially excited because this baby will be our first grandchild and my dad's first great-grandchild, my grandmother's first great-great-grandchild, and Stefie's first niece or nephew...lots of "Firsts" for our family with this baby!

Heather is going to make a fabulous mother. She has waited for the "perfect" time to become a mother and her husband is going to make an AWESOME father. I can see Henry being more than the ordinary dad; he might be a big man at 6' 5", but he can be extremely lovable and tender...unless he is breaking a fist on someone's face who unfortunately tried to act inappropriate with Heather.

Hahahehe --- true story about that fist.

Anyway, that grandbaby floating around in there is more special to me than words can express. I could write every blog post about this baby. Our main cabin has even been designed around having grandchildren. Who does that?

As for the baby, we find out on April 13th whether it's a girl or boy! A friend of Heather's is throwing a "Reveal Party."

So, we will be finding out, very soon, if I will be SHOPPING for a baby girl or a baby boy!

However, my grandma-instinct tells me...IT'S A GIRL! :-) 

Even so, I just want a healthy baby and a healthy momma! Whether it's a boy or a girl, I will be the one going "Ga-Ga."

2013- Heather and Henry, Easter Day at
his parent's house.

This past week, we gave Heather some little treasures in the house that will go in the baby's room, which is themed with "antique" ocean decorations. Essentially, the ocean was Heather's second backyard while growing up.

Heather is Sweet Six and Stefie is Trouble-Three

Heather was raised in Bayside communities that included boating, fishing, kayaking, yachting on her Paw-Paws BIG BOAT, eating Seafood waterside, going to Kemah Boardwalk and enjoying Galveston's beaches.

Heather playing with Howdy on Galveston's
beach about three years ago. That dog could
be an Olympic medalist!

So, we gave Heather an authentic old wood boat paddle, sea-worn with faded blue paint. It is one of my favorite items in the world because my husband actually found it in the ocean while kayaking. It's the real deal. I'm so happy it will be used in the baby's room.

Heather and I enjoying a moment together at the beach.

Then, Heather got to have first choice out of two conch shells we had purchased YEARS AGO during a tour of the Bahamas with Heather and Stefie. We took a limo tour of the island, which was hysterical, and we also took several walking tours. During one of the walking tours, we came across an islander on the beach pulling conch shells out of the water. They were GORGEOUS.

I decided to buy two conch shells from the smiling man, one for each of my daughters. Thankfully, the Bahama-Beach-Man had removed the conch meat from the unpolished shells that were huge and gorgeous. Once we got back on the cruise-ship, we discovered that some of the passengers had purchased conch shells with rotting meat inside the shell. Lovely.

Shortly after our trip, it became illegal to take these shells off the island, so I suppose we were environmental pirates or whatever you want to call the horrible, terrible act we committed with such vast ignorance. The bottom line is, at that time, conch shells were still allowed to be purchased and leave the island, so that's what we did.

Heather and Stefie - fishing together.
Heather is our child that is known for
catching the most odd creatures...blow-fish,
pencil fish, squid, sting-ray...she catches them
on the end of her fishing pole!

As for those conch shells, they are becoming more and more rare, so we treasure the ones we have that were purchased right there on the beach in the Bahamas.

My grandbaby might grow up far inland, away from quick access to the beach and farther away from a life of being water-side on a regular basis, but the little one is blessed to have a mommy who is trying to bring a bit of ocean life to the baby. It is great for this little one to have more exposure beyond interior-countryside living because the baby's mother has Bayside culture weaved in her spirit.

As a mom, she is learning what it means to want to share beautiful experiences with your child. It's wonderful that the best parts of Heather's life will be included in her baby's world.

I'm sure Heather looks forward to the day when she can take her child to the beach. They will enjoy sitting together in the sand as a gentle surf washes up to bring happy smiles...and her child will finally understand what it is like to savor incoming waves, as if they are the steady heart-beat of another mother...mother earth.

# 409 - Moving? Buyer Making Offer!

Well folks, looks like we've experienced a scenario similar to Goldilocks and The Three Bears. A family came to see our house late Wednesday evening, around 7:00pm, so Deputy Dave and I headed to Chick-fil-a to order a keep-the-kitchen-clean kind of dinner so the potential buyers could enjoy looking at our house. We took the dogs, made an errand, then headed through the drive-through and then headed back home.

However, before we left the house, we'd dashed around doing house preparations...turning on all the lights, putting great music on the built-in sound system and we were hoping the buyers would not come back with the same old line, "the house is much too big for us."

After getting our food and making another quick errand, we pulled up the block, about two houses down and we sat in the truck waiting for the crew in our house to finish looking around. We didn't want to eat in the truck with the dogs in the backseat, so we sat and waited for the people to leave our house. And we waited, and waited and waited some more, then Deputy Dave says, "I've really got to go to the restroom about right now, and I'd sure like it if they'd wrap this up...it is a work-night."

We waited some more. Then, I finally became irritated and said, "Damn, are they moving in already?"

By now, it's 8:00pm. They've been there for an hour. I knew from my professional real estate days that this was actually a good sign, so I tried to take a deep breath. The group had two cars, one in our driveway and one parked in front of the house. Deputy Dave and I were waiting, or stalking our own house from about two houses down the block.

Finally, the Realtor came out with her clipboard and the family followed suit. A big family. Lots of kids. Well, that's a great sign! Yeah for big families!

We watched them all drive away and so we dragged our tired butts inside to eat our dinner that had almost grown cold and to dash around the house, upstairs and down, to turn off every light.

Well, I guess the family had their Goldilocks moment because they have decided that our house is "just right" and they appear to be very motivated to buy our house. I hear that the family is sending us an offer within the next 24 hours. We will look it over this weekend and make up our mind by Sunday as to whether we can accept it or make a counter-offer.

Even so, we have another showing scheduled for Saturday afternoon and those buyers are anxious because their agent knows we will be considering an incoming offer this weekend, so she politely asked me to just remember to consider the highest and best offer.

This is how it works folks...when you are having multiple offers submitted within the same time-frame, it is not about first-come-first-serve, it's about the best offer being the one to win out. A seller has all the power in this area to choose which offer is best and you have 48 hours to respond to a submitted offer. Up until the paperwork is actually signed by all parties to become more than mere paperwork...to become an actual contract, your house is still open for any incoming offers. Even once a contract is in place, you can continue to show your house and take back-up contracts...just in case.

Working in real estate, I found that a lot of first-time buyers were under the illusion that if they just submitted their paperwork first, then the sellers were obligated to accept that offer, even if a second and third offer followed and had better terms. It doesn't quite work like that. But, if these potential buyers make a solid offer or are receptive to a reasonable counter-offer, they will likely have a contract to buy our house by Monday.

So, we've gone from lack of offers to a possible bidding war. I guess we'll see how it goes; I'm confident the right family will end up filling this house with new memories.

 

For us, we are kind of NERVOUS. I think every seller goes through nervous remorse as they prepare to leave a house they've loved. Conversely, "Buyer's Remorse" is the worst phase to get through, especially for a first-time home-buyer.

The main goal is to move and to be out from under a home that is much too large for us and it being a two-story makes it more difficult to maintain. Have I mentioned that in 2009 I had a broken neck that caused spinal cord damage and required major double-sided cervical-spine reconstruction? That made having a two-story more challenging, but I manage. I think I take after my dad with his Superman genetics. I like to fondly refer to myself as the REAL "Bionic Woman." I have many spare parts, so many that it might gross you out or make you say, "COOL!" For me, I'm of the position that it is "COOL" because those spare parts keep me together, literally. But, our many steps to get to the second floor is not so cool. I can walk rather easily, but climbing is difficult and a step upward is a climb for me.

Back on track...all of you Blog-Buddies who have journeyed through this process with us --- I'm sure you can imagine the level of anxiety we are feeling about this move. Up to this point, I think it's great that neither Deputy Dave nor I have buried one or the other in the backyard as added compost.

Deputy Dave and I, in South Padre, over 20 years ago.

Us twenty years later, he has less hair and I have more weight.

This move has added stress, especially because, for the first time, we have no house to go directly to. And that's because we're building a custom home on our acreage. Normally, we are selling a house and buying a house, simultaneously. This time, our acreage is so far away that we cannot begin building until we get this house sold.

My stomach rumbles as I think about all of these big changes. But, I've been through bigger changes...several times in my life. So, this one is a positive change and very exciting for us.

I think Deputy Dave is getting too happy over being able to raise pigs and maybe a couple of cows. Originally, I pictured myself out there with all these goats and now that mental picture is being re-thought. My chickens will be a huge part of my life out there and my dogs, but I know the other animals will have to be introduced slowly. We'll have a lot of adjustments to make.

 

And a lot of fencing to install. I think it will be time for us to buy a small tractor with the right attachments, such as a post digger thingy.

However, I do believe that the two of us are living an American Dream Come True. We've held onto this land since our daughters were young girls and we've waited for this day. We've earned it. We've fretted about it. We can't believe it's really happening.

We are about to be living in FOREST. The Piney Woods of East Texas! The Big Thicket is our area.

 

So, I guess we'll know by Monday if our house will be under contract. If so, I will be thrown back into the world of packing, panicking, and preparing for the big moving day.

I can honestly say, I'm going to miss this house.

We lived through a hurricane in this house; we lived through two years of rebuilding; we continued to help put our daughters through college in this house;

we buried our favorite little 16 year old Chihuahua "Cinnamon" at this house; I began to raise my first flock of chickens at this house...and we still have them, well, except for the roosters; my dad lived in this house for a year after his house flooded and he was diagnosed with bladder cancer --- I helped him in this house --- not a good year for him; both my children officially left home to be more involved with their own budding lives from this house; since living here, my oldest daughter graduated from college, got married and is now expecting her first baby; and in this house that I moved to six months after my mom died, I've had the most awesome dreams of her.

This house has a few moments that I'd rather forget, but isn't that how all houses end up? The walls contain both the worst and the best of us. None of us are different from each other in that we all have a bit of both good and bad, sometimes one more than the other, depending on where we are in life and our circumstances.

And I can't even think about the increased distance between me and my sister and my youngest niece since we're all such a HUGE part of each other's lives. Right now, we live just a few miles apart. My sister and I are already desperately making plans to be able to see each other frequently and for Shaye to remain an integral part of our lives. My sister is wise enough to know that family relationships are very important for Shaye and for us, but my sister and I have always been connected in that way. For my sister, she doesn't have too many family members directly involved with her daughter, so she really treasures that her sister is so close to her daughter.

I love my sister. I will have to take extra steps to reassure Robin that I will still be a major part of her life. I adore my Sissy; she's my best-friend in the world.

Then again, I'm blessed to have multiple best-friends, but only ONE Sissy.

I'll save my boo-hoo session for when the papers are signed, we're in contract, and the buyer's Option Period (back-out clause) has passed. And I won't celebrate until we've closed the deal and the buyer's money is wired to pay for our home, making it theirs. THEN Deputy Dave and I will celebrate, in style, with hopefully an intimate ground-breaking ceremony for construction to begin on our acreage.

We might wear overalls for the occasion.

For now, I'm kind of trying to get accustomed to the idea of leaving this house that we've lived in for over seven years of pivotal life changes along with personal shrinkage and growth.

However, as the eternal optimist, I know that the future holds the BEST that is to come and the lifestyle we're about to start living, in the woods, on our acreage, will be a magical time for us.

Magical with blood, sweat and tears and an obsession to check for ticks.