Maybe I should title this, “What goes up must come down?”  Since my last update, we have finished all the trim, molding, and baseboards on the stairway walls, and the upstairs long hallway, along with a small built in linen closet.

For this project, Greg must have gone up and down the stairs and ladder hundreds of times ~ he had to measure each piece of molding to the wall area, sometimes climbing the ladder all the way to the top, 16 feet, back down, walk out to the garage to cut, back in the house to glue, up the ladder, then carefully place the trim piece. Repeat many, many times! There were multiple tricky angles and even a mathematically inclined guy like Greg was occasionally stumped, he eventually figured it all out, caulked it in, touched up the paint, and it looks fabulous!

In the upstairs hallway, I sanded and stained a 16 foot trim piece (I stained it in the garage, not the hallway!) that we had saved from the initial Clubhouse remodel. We secured it to the angled wall, near the first dormer. The only problem, maybe not the only, is the trim board was 16 feet and the wall is 19 feet. Greg found another leftover piece that matched and joined the pieces together. It looked great, until it didn’t… on closer inspection, where the pieces came together, the weight of the wood, and just the sheer length, made it rise up about ½ an inch. We tried ignoring it but once you saw it that’s all you could see,’ and Greg being a perfectionist, had to fix it. We tried screwing it together, and it cracked! We took it back down, glued and nailed it, he then placed a 45 degree wedge, attached the two ends, drove the wedge in to straighten it out then glued and nailed with finishing nails. It is now straight and almost perfect!

I’m finally learning that my “this will only take a couple hours and should be an easy project” are usually the opposite. I’m thankful for a husband that rarely says no to all my ideas.

Under the above mentioned trim piece and across from the guest bath is a built in linen closet, it does have towels and bath items but it mostly houses fun and pretty accessories.

While spending so much time upstairs, I noticed the Grandkids room needed a little refreshing, new bedspreads, pillows, and accessories. It’s ready for the Grands to visit!

We finished all the trim and molding just in time for company; my brother and his lovely wife flew in from AZ for a long weekend. It was wonderful. We spent ‘lots of time visiting, eating, going for walks, and showing them some of Oklahoma’s remote areas. We also enjoyed sitting around the fire pit, the weather was finally cool enough to fire it up.

Speaking of family, I also took a solo trip to AZ to see my folks and had a great time, mostly laughing and reminiscing.

Greg and I flew to California to celebrate our youngest daughter’s birthday and enjoy her family and the beautiful Southern California Coast! We had fun spoiling our youngest grandbaby, Sadie.

Then we flew up to Oregon for our middle daughter Ashleigh’s 30 something and the twin’s 12^th birthdays! It was awesome to celebrate with everyone, I think we had a party every day we were there!

Back at home, Greg decided to do a little tree trimming before the colder stormy weather hit, sounds pretty standard, but the branches were up about 40 feet and were brushing against the roof, up the ladder once again! Our roof has a 12/12 pitch, very steep, the roof was a little slippery, and even with his Cougar Boots, he slipped into the gutter. Did I mention he was holding a chain saw? No injuries thankfully but he was extremely cautious after that. He declined my offer to call a tree trimming service. Maybe someday!

Next up and still on the List:

~ Astragals installed on front and back doors

~Painting Primary bathroom cabinets

~Sheetrock and Paint Garage (My brother has volunteered to fly up to help!)

~Paint large fireplace wall

~0verall prep the house to possibly sell this Spring or Summer

We are also debating replacement windows; the clubhouse is almost 25 years old and the majority of windows downstairs have never been replaced. It’s a big expense but would save on energy costs. Would it be a plus for whoever buys the house or just a lot of money that we wouldn’t get back?!

I think that is pretty much the update for now; we are very thankful to be heading to Palm Springs to spend Thanksgiving with family. Even with challenges that everyone seems to face at one time or another, there is always something to be thankful for! Someone once wrote; I’m thankful for my struggle because without it I wouldn’t have stumbled across my strength. One more; Thankfulness is the quickest path to joy.

Have a joyful Thanksgiving!

Marcy and Greg

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