Hello from windy Oklahoma! We are officially in Tornado season, which means every other day, or so it seems, we have a Thunderstorm/Tornado/Hail/Flood warning. Forecasters have predicted Baseball size hail several times, but thankfully we have not seen any, yet. The Clubhouse and addition are completely dried in; during a recent windstorm, we went upstairs in the addition to see if we could hear the wind, nope! Maybe a slight bit if you stood near the window. Our builder errs on the side of sturdy, or as Greg says, “he over-builds”. We would much rather have it that way than the opposite!

Update since I last blogged; today marks exactly One year since we closed on the Clubhouse. When I look back at what we have accomplished, I am surprised at what all has taken place. It has taken longer than expected, very par for the course in construction, and cost more too, but I think it will all be worth it. The stone is finished! And as a bonus, we have leftover sand for a giant sandbox for the grandkids!

We have a deadline by the end of the summer to have all the finishes in place. Plumbing, electrical, insulation, drywall, texturing, painting, and flooring, whew! And because we are nearing our max budget, we (Greg) will be doing most of the finishing work! I will help as much as I can, I am good at clean- up and have a lot of experience painting, especially in this last year. Speaking of help, we had some wonderful helpers show up last week! They may have been in their 80’s, but their work ethic is un-matched! My parents drove from Arizona to Oklahoma to do whatever we needed to help us reach our goal. I made lists for them, I come from a long line of list makers, some may call it a form of procrastination, but there is something very satisfying about crossing those items off or at least rewriting it! My 83-year-old Mother picked up stones, threw them in the wheelbarrow, and hauled them to the side of our driveway to prep it for whatever the next step in driveway construction may be. We took turns with the wheelbarrow and we did take breaks, especially when my Dad saw what we were doing! She is very limber; she is a former dancer, gymnastics instructor, and circus performer, she stretches nightly and can still do the splits! Greg says she defies the law of physics, when she bends over to pick up stone, she bends at the waist with her legs straight. Greg says it hurts his back to watch her. Because of her flexibility and strength, she was able to be a huge help in the clean-up arena! My Dad sprayed all around the property for bugs and weeds, cleaned the windows inside and out, helped Greg with insulation, rolled over the property with our magnetic nail picker upper, pretty sure that’s not the technical term, and made countless trips to the hardware store for Greg. Oh, he also did all the grocery shopping, and paid for it too, thanks Dad!

Even more than the physical help, which was tremendous, the positive emotional support that they demonstrated, both in word and action, gave Greg and I a much-needed boost.

Because we now have the stairway open, a huge step, (pun intended!) and the drywall is not yet up in that area, there may be an opening or two where bugs, specifically wasps, are getting through into our great room! We have shot at least three in the last 24 hours. No need to worry, we aren’t using a 9 mm, we have a Bug A-Salt gun. A little more effective with flies than wasps, but I think Greg enjoys having to shoot them more than once! A little extra insulation into the openings should take care if it for now. It is wonderful having a stairway, when the Grandkids visit, they can safely explore, which they do! They discovered my mini blower and love to hide around the corner as I go up the stairs and blast me. Soon we will have a Grandchildren’s room for them to play in and sleep, although they seem to enjoy sleeping in the big air mattress that we put right next to our bed. Speaking of Grandchildren, one of my favorite subjects, I was giving Brody a bath one evening and he was playing with his police car and airplanes. I asked him, “What do you want to be when you grow up, a police officer, a pilot…?” He said he wanted to fly airplanes. He looked at me and said, “You?” It threw me for a minute. He didn’t see an older person, a Grandma, he saw someone still able to do whatever she wanted! I told him I wanted to be a writer. He nodded and kept playing with his toys. If we have breath and woke up this morning, we have purpose and it is never too late. I have decided to dream a bit bigger, take a few more risks. There will always be people who will not understand, maybe even put you down, but I think the risk is worth it.

Next on the agenda, after the addition is finished and the smaller projects are caught up, are projects ever really caught up? I hope we can remodel the kitchen. It is my favorite room in any house and the clubhouse kitchen really needs some TLC. The cabinets are falling apart and at one time had mold. We were able to get rid of that thankfully, but they will all need to be replaced. The sink leaks, and I may have forgotten to empty the water catcher bowl a time or two, all the appliances will need updating, and the flooring needs replaced. It was more of a snack bar type kitchen when it was in use as a Clubhouse, so it also needs expanding to fit in with the rest of the house. I am so thankful for all we have and almost feel a little guilty for wanting more, but this is where the dreaming and risk taking comes in! I have placed pictures of my dream appliances, lighting, Counters, flooring, etc., all over the area where the new kitchen will be. Not sure how it is going to happen, or where we will get the resources to make it happen, but I am a firm believer in visualizing and speaking the future in advance! So, if you visit one day, and see pages of torn out home magazines all over, it is just my version of a dream board!

Hope you all are staying healthy and safe, until next time. Marcy