The wrong side of the tracks

This morning I wandered into the area just north of downtown for a meeting, an area I seldom frequent, and got stopped at a train crossing. A very slow moving choo-choo made its way past us. I can't even remember the last time this happened to me. Upside - I had the chance to send a text or two while waiting for it to clear the tracks.

Happy 22!

The soon-to-be graduate student turned 22 this week. We celebrated a bit early on Sunday after church at a local restaurant, but then I made a brisket meal and got some cupcakes from a local shop on the day of to mark it. She shares the same birthday with her daddy. It seems like eons ago since she was born in Boston. The husband skipped his law school classes that day. We played Trivial Pursuit while the Pitocin dripped and the contractions got progressively worse. No epidurals for me... not that I'm opposed. The caudal spaces in my spine are just really narrow and so all I got was a hit of pain meds in my IV to take the edge off. 

She got a bit of a rough start in life with some medical issues, but she has persevered. We'll move her 1300 miles from home in early July to get settled before grad school kicks in. I look forward to seeing where this path she's on takes her in the coming years. 

The Doors

They're not particularly sexy and hip, but oh so necessary. We have a couple different types of original doors in the remodel, so today I plunked down some cash to order Shaker style single panel replacements that will help pull the design together. Bedroom doors, closet doors, pantry doors. And these contemporary looking Schlage doorknobs I really like in satin nickel. The only door still swinging in the unordered breeze is the barn door. The one our fabricator designed was just plain boring and it's in a very visible spot leading off the open concept living area into the master bedroom suite. So I'm gonna think about it some more. Maybe consider something out of wood and glass. Maybe toss in some stainless steel accents, too.

Fireplace & Fan Friday

Yesterday I was rocking the alliteration on social media posts. Suicidal Squirrels. Fan Friday. I'm a former English teacher - what can I say. I've always loved to play with figurative language.

I've recently hit the remodel wall and am about ready to break out the little kid whine, "Are we there done yet?" The good news is that I'm about finished selecting and shelling out cash for the "hard" selects. All that remains are doors, knobs and the herringbone tile backsplash for the secondary bathrooms. We're waiting for the final estimates to wrap that up and move forward to furnishings/decor. Thankfully a lot of our current furniture will work in the new digs, and we'll only need a few key anchor pieces.

So back to yesterday... I paid for the last of the lights and fans. Then designed custom closets with the organization guru whereupon my inner OCD freak was thrilled beyond belief. Finally, I got to see the front room's new fireplace facade. The split face rock turned vertically is an interesting twist that makes it more contemporary and I'm really digging it.

The Pool Cabana, remastered

It's official... we're over budget on the remodel. Which I figure most fixer-uppers face. But we're WELL over what we initially wanted to allot to the updating. And then even more over what I thought would be the *real* price we'd pay to get everything done. Forget that early retirement at 55, honey. You're gonna be working well beyond that to pay for this 1950s to 1990s to 2017 spruce up on our property.

The cabana, AKA man cave, is just about finished. They still have some final things on the punch list to address, but it's nothing big. Here are some pics from the last couple weeks of how it's morphing into a more modern look to match the main house.

I'm just wondering how long it will take for the teen to step in and claim the cabana as her own personal entertaining space for friends. Sofas, a full kitchen, bathroom, TV and pool table. I figure she'll end up getting lots of friends in there for movie nights, sleepovers and tons of giggling over the next few years. And I'm happy about that, even if the husband has to fight her for cabana time... making memories in this house before she fledges the (now) overpriced house for college.