There's No Place Like Home

I unpacked the very last box on Sunday, and as of that day, we'd been in the house six days short of the seven month mark. I never expected it to take me that long to unpack, but there isn't anyone my age that doesn't expect life to throw you some curve balls, and to take them in stride is the best management plan. As I unpacked the box, I was acutely mindful of its contents: Demdaco angels that go on display in my scrapbook room. We knew when we moved in that there was no point in unpacking them, as we were going to have custom cabinets built. So when we came across that box, it and the box holding my crosses were set to the side "for later".

As I unpacked the angels and set them out on the kitchen island, I thought about the years of gifting they spanned. I think the earliest date that I saw inked onto the bottom of one was "May '01"...that would have been the first Mother's Day that we lived in McAllen, Texas. Steve would always take the boys to Quips and Quotes on North 10th Street to let them pick one or two out for me for Mother's Day, or Valentine's Day, or my birthday. And as I looked at all of them {I have 32}, I recalled little blonde-headed boys curling up on my lap, or, later, peering at me through awkward adolescent eyes, as we would sit around our dining room table over our family meal. And when I went to place them on the shelves in my now finished custom cabinets, I did not fret over running out of room. My collection fit perfectly, almost too perfectly, as if planned. But as it happens, it was just a serendipitous, organic moment of perfection. The angels fit perfectly, and I knew I need not worry about the collection growing any, or running out of room. Those little blonde-headed boys have of course grown up and gone away, and Mother's Day came and went this year without anything other than a phone call from New York, and a hug from my son who was with us in Florida.

Life goes on. Our whole exercise in downsizing, or right-sizing, and moving was in fact a testament to that, a full expectation that it would be just the two of us again. Steve and I have embraced the spectacularly mild May and June weather we have been having in north Texas, and he and I have sat out on either our new side patio or our front porch in the evenings as much as possible. As we sat on the side patio Thursday night, I asked him, now that we are basically completely settled in the house, and accustomed to most things around us and our new life, if he was content, or happy, with the choice we made to move. See, we are at the two year anniversary of "THE GREAT RIGHT-SIZING DECISION". ;-) You don't have to peer too far back on my cob-webbed and abandoned blog to see that this whole change began with a conversation on our Murphy front porch on Saturday, June 6, 2015, two years ago from today, the day I am "penning" this post. And as Steve and I talked Thursday night, we both came to the individual and mutual decision that it was the right decision, and we are far happier where we are now. Granted, it's been a long two years, full of lots of temporary situations, hard work, stress, and chaos, but unpacking that last box on Sunday signaled the virtual, and very real, end of it all. 

I've stopped binge watching HGTV. I started reading an actual fiction book Sunday night. The stress is off my shoulders. My level of internal joy is increasing and bubbling up inside me. I smile more. I hope more. I look toward the end of the day, the ensuing days, with possibility and positivity. I have resumed my walking at lunch. My Pottery Barn wish list has dwindled down to only some new bedding, {whenever they finally roll out something I like}. Steve and I have resumed our running. Sometimes I just sit down on the sofa and watch a show or take a nap -- because I can. {In fact, one night not too long ago, I sat on the sofa all night long and just watched TV for 3 hours. Unheard of!} He unloaded the box of a puzzle the other night to piece together. We've chatted with our neighbors. We've invited two couples over for dinner this coming weekend {our inaugural hospitality launch}. We've had our first full week vacation away from our new home. {I missed my home!} We've started our builders' warranty work list. And goodness, it's almost unfathomable to comprehend that we have almost been in the house for seven months, but it's true. I've been working on settling in almost non-stop that entire time, and my body can tell you it's true. ;-) Time does fly.  All these days here have been full, busy, productive, and they have flown by.

And in addition to settling down in the house, I'm settling down now in the scrapbook room. March, April, and May have been a crafty flurry of chaos, mayhem, and organizational rabbit holes. I've lived my life for so many months with a DAILY TO DO LIST, and my lists, for the house and the craft room, are nearing their collective ends. I don't know what I'll do with myself! Wait, yes, I do! I ordered some paper today for a specific set of photos, and I am itching to get to scrapping them! But not just yet, as this week I am seriously focusing on wrapping up the last of the moving in of my scrapbook room. I am down to the final items on my list, and that will mean I can finally live the life I designed! ;-) 

I am, admittedly {and surprisingly to me} suffering a little anxiety at finally being finished with everything, and I am internally adapting to no longer needing to search for ideas, research choices, make decisions, shop for things...but at the same time, I am very eager to re-define and re-shape a new normal! I guess after nearly two years of designing and deciding, it's normal that it has consumed me, and it's normal that it's ending, and it's normal, I hope!, to need to adapt to the change. I have scrapped some basic layouts in my new space during April and May, and I have to say the "test runs", or "soft opening", of the new room's custom configuration have gone very well and leave me longing, finally, to once again and un-abandonedly scrap! I am about to be once again where desire and feasibility collide, and yet in a new way, as I've never before experienced a personal, customized space!

So the last box is unpacked, and the last stack of things to put away sits on my built-in desk, and all the collective lists are nearly done. It finally, finally is about over. The dream we launched 24 months ago, the dream we agonized over for 16 months in an apartment, the dream we have been working on in the house for the last nearly seven months - the dream has now come true! I'm really, really about to live the life I designed. And the house, somewhat like the angels fitting on their shelves, fits us perfectly right now. It's been a serendipitous, organic process, and it feels like perfection. It feels like home. Home Sweet Home. There's just no place like it. 

Home Sweet Home ~ Our New Home ~ November 2016

Sketch Credit: Scrapbook Generation

Paper: Lily Bee, Simple Stories

Title: Silhouette File

You Do Not Find the Happy Life, You Make It

I used that Thomas Monson quote on my February 25, 2016 blog post, and didn't realize at the time that I would blow up my plans 3 days later and start from scratch. I didn't realize or have any way of knowing just how busy I would be in 2016 making, or constructing and building, that happy life.

Today we hit the 10 week mark of being in our new home! Most days I pinch myself, just to see if it's real. I am thrilled with how it turned out, satisfied with the unpacking pace, and eager to embrace 2017 and find our new normal life again. I got my car into the garage on Sunday, so that truly means we are in and just about all done unpacking, right? ;-) 

This time last year, we stood on a slab in full despair of ever seeing "our dream house" begin. Who knew this time last year that we would turn our world upside down by canceling that contract on February 28, 2016, extend the agony of building, and that I would post quarterly on this blog, vs. my ideal (dream) goal of weekly? Like I have said many times since February 2016, sometimes God shatters your dream to give birth to a bigger and better dream. Yes, yes He does.

I haven't photographed our new home much yet, because we still haven't got everything on the walls, and there's one more piece of furniture I want to reupholster, and there's a box in our bedroom, and the study lacks its built-in cabinets, and the list goes on and on. ;-) But, the holidays are behind me, my oldest son came and went in a Thanksgiving and Christmas swirl, and is now back in Nashville in his last semester of college, the Christmas rush is through and the decorations are put away, the unpacking frenzy is for all intents and purposes finished, and I can sit at my worktable in Scrap Central and breathe. And think. And ponder. And itch to create. And print photos. And cut paper. It feels so good to have a spot again, albeit an unfinished spot. And I am excited for all of the story telling I can accomplish in 2017. 

But before I head fully into a new year in our new home, I wanted to share with you all my layouts I created in June and July of 2016 that documented our old home. I only completed 99 layouts in 2016, the lowest amount of scrapbook pages I've ever done since beginning to scrapbook in 1994. Out of those 99, these are my favorites by far. These photos, these memories, these layouts were so instrumental in helping me hold together my sanity in the dog days of summer 2016 in the hot, cramped, dark apartment. And they pay homage to our beautiful old home, they document her splendor, they let me say goodbye properly to her, and ultimately they open the door for me to fully embrace our new home, and all the story telling it will cultivate, and all the memories it will create. 

Yes, you do not find the happy life, you make it. One day at a time, one story at a time, one decision at a time, one moment at a time. And once you make it, hang on to it, and embrace it. Hello beautiful new home, hello crisp new year, goodbye old home, goodbye 2016.

There's No Place Like Home ~ June 2015 ~ Remembering Murphy Manor

Sketch Credit: Scrapbook Generation

Paper: October Afternoon, Simple Stories

Title Fonts: Ballerina Script

I've Been Busy Chasing Dreams

The good news is that I could remember my default settings here for type size, font, and color on my posts. The bad news is that I haven't blogged in so long that the cobwebs and dust here are incredibly dense, and I should have my keyboard rights revoked. Sincerely, since last I saw you.... Truly, though, I feel like I'm a sporadic episode of a bad soap opera from which you just cannot look away.

So at any rate, happy end of summer. Today is officially the first day of fall. It's still hot in Texas. 95 right now as I type this. Teachers everywhere are scurrying to get classroom routines down pat, and parents everywhere are dealing with the reality that school has started, and with it all the ensuing schedule demands. Some are doing the happy dance, some are obsessing about finding the exact class, club or sport supply requirement that everyone wants and no one stocks, and some of melancholy over the house being quiet again. 

Yes, September. It's here. And halfway over. My youngest son is 21 now, and still working hard to build his culinary resume, and finalizing his application to the CIA. He did take a big adventure trip to Peru for 9 days after his August birthday. Football has resumed and the Steelers are 2-0. He's excited. Oldest boy is hunkering down and getting his routine settled as he has entered his last year of college. {Where has the time gone?} Thankfully, he wisely decided this week not to get a dog. Hubster is knee deep in another holiday season prep fest at work. 

See, I seriously feel like we need a "when last we left her" recap. And you should totally read that in your mind in a 1930's creepy, sinister radio narrator voice. :-) So, I shall catch you up to speed, and once again hope that I can keep it together enough to be a little more intentional and frequent out here in the blogosphere. I have always felt that writing comes out of a place of abundance within me, and when I'm not living in an "overflow" mentality, it's hard. But, the exciting thing is that I feel that spirit of abundance returning. Life must be leveling out some.

So, stating the obvious, my last post was, serendipitously, on Friday, February 26. On that next day, Saturday, Steve was off, and we both got up early and drove down to Houston for the day for my second installment of spending a Saturday visiting my parents. {You might also recall we were in month 8 of building a home: contract signed for new home on 6/13/2015, moved out of old home into an apartment on 7/28/2015. Slab on new home wasn't poured until 12/30/15.} Steve and I had a great visit with my folks and got in late Saturday night, February 27. We woke up on Sunday morning, now February 28, folks, and went to check on the progress of our home build, as our project manager had let us know via a Friday email that they "fixed all the items on our list" regarding framing, electrical, and plumbing issues we had noted and had been working with them on for weeks upon weeks. We walked in the house and disgustedly observed they had fixed ONLY ONE of the items. I slowly turned to Steve and said, with all the subtle coyness I could muster, "I found the new David Weekley neighborhood on Friday afternoon. Do you want to go see it?" To his credit, and my complete satisfaction, he didn't bat an eye, or pause a second before determinedly replying, "YES." Now my husband does not get upset very often, but on that day he was incredibly agitated "for him". ;-) {I am all the volume in our marriage.} ;-) 

{Now, the narrator needs to pipe back in and let you know that the heroine of this tale had secretly reconnoitered on Friday afternoon the 26th to find the new David Weekley neighborhood that was supposedly going in near or around the neighborhood she was presently building in. The heroine had also reached out to this same company back in June 2015, and was not answered, and reached out again to them in January 2016, and got the information that it would take 6-8 months to build, and yes, they were patio homes with zero lot lines. The final fact I'll share is that the heroine's last house in Murphy was built by David Weekley and David Weekley originates in Houston, where said heroine had nursed a three decade crush on his homes before being able to build one herself in 2005.}

So, we walked out of that framed shell of a house and drove the 1.8 mile distance in 4 minutes, parked the car, and got out to walk the model. Now, the model was not yet finished, and the neighborhood was not yet finished, but pre-sale was occurring and the sales team was set up in a nearby office space, but on that Sunday, it was just Steve, myself, and survey marked lots full of dirt, and quasi-constructed homes present in the neighborhood. The model itself was dried in, framed and insulated - ready for drywall. Farther along than the home we bought back in June. It was also markedly superior in workmanship and lumber quality. I am so thankful that the two homes were at virtually the same stage, insulation being only the different item in one over the other. I do believe that was a sovereign moment for Steve to so transparently be able to instantly contrast and compare. {I had walked the model home under construction on Friday afternoon and was already 36 hours in love with the concept, neighborhood, and area.} He immediately blurted out, "This home looks WAY BETTER than my home! Look at this lumber! I can see there is a huge difference in how ours is being built! Our home looks like crap!" I can still hear him being so vocal, so emphatic, so disgusted. My inner self was dancing. I had been ready to walk away from the other one since November. We had 15,000 reasons not to. As in dollars paid down as deposits on upgrades, technically non-refundable. 

So, I looked at Steve and said, "Time and money aside, is there any reason we should buy that other house and not buy a home here in this neighborhood? Setting aside the delay in move in, and setting aside the risk of losing $15,000, is there any reason we should buy that house?" He said, "No." And then I said, "Then there is no reason why we should buy that house. Because $15,000 and 6 months are not enough of a reason to be miserable for the next fifteen years." {I think that might have been my most logical, sane, and rational rebuttal I've ever given in my life.} ;-) He agreed. I then called the internet sales number and set up an appointment for 1:00 p.m. that very same day with the Spicewood Sales Consultant. It really just all snowballed from there. We knew we were after something very similar to what we were building around the corner. We were handed the 8 floor plans, and quickly tossed any that had an upstairs study, or no study, or 4 bedrooms. That left 2 viable options, and we both loved the one that had the largest study, The Roseman. Now, I cannot tell you if that is why Steve loved it, but I know that is what I evaluate first and foremost! It is kind of funny, though, that he and I were both able to decide in about 15 minutes which one we liked, and we both picked the same one. We have bought too many houses, for sure.

We picked the plan, looked at the neighborhood plots available, talked through the pros and cons of them, drove over to neighborhood and walked some lots with the Sales Consultant, and then headed back to her office. I asked Steve the second "tough love" question of the day, "What questions do you need answered to make a decision?" {My heart needed to regroup and move forward!!} He said, "None." to which I quickly replied, "Do you have your checkbook, or do you need mine?" Good lordy I love that man. He whipped out his checkbook right then and paid the deposit. I'm sure that Sales gal will tell the tale of us for years to come. We might have been the fastest sale ever on a home that had a model home that wasn't even finished yet, let alone the neighborhood not even being finished. 

Opportunity is what happens when luck and preparation collide. We got lucky that day. We acted on a hunch and scored an amazing lot that had zero premium, and were the second sale in the neighborhood. You can't ever tell me that internet researching on a slow Friday afternoon at work doesn't pay off! We then spiraled into the circuit of cancelling the other contract and going full bore into the beginning processes of an entirely new new home build. We called it the new new house and the old new house. Everything about the new new house confirmed for us that it was meant to be. I told Steve on 2/29, the day we cancelled our contract on the old new house, "Sometimes God lets a dream die to give birth to a new bigger and better dream." I sent him an email that day called, "What a difference a day makes" because the new team was all over us with information, mapping out what needed to happen next, finalizing our paperwork, etc. It was stunning to watch it all unfold! And after a long week of intermittent communiques with the old new house, we found out on Friday, March 4 at 5:00 p.m., as we wrapped up a meeting with our new new house team, that we were getting a full refund on the old new house. Talk about a gift from heaven! It was sweet closure to a long and arduous ordeal. We got that check in the mail two weeks later and never corresponded with them again. 

{We did continue to check on the old new house about every 4 weeks or so. They listed it for $35,000 more than our contract price on it, and it sold in about a month of our cancellation. The buyers moved in around July 21, best I could tell based on some curtains on the window. I will tell you if I had waited 13 months for that house I think I would either be incarcerated or in an asylum. And the last time we walked the house, right before the appliances were installed, we could still see mistakes in it and shoddy workmanship, and we were so glad we bailed when we did. My mom has said to me many times over that house, "You never would have been happy in that house," and I believe she is spot on.}

We moved full speed ahead on the new new house, and never looked back or second guessed. Of course, we went through Design again, and selected, and in some cases re-selected, choices. I am getting the same floor in the new new house, and going with the same color scheme, but the new new house had more options available, and like any good dessert buffet, I helped myself to more than I needed, and maybe more than I should've. ;-) We worked on the design elements and making all of our decisions and selections while the developer worked on finishing up "Phase 2" of the neighborhood, the phase that we will be in. We had our final design appointment on April 19, the neighborhood received city of McKinney sign off on May 17, and our permit was approved on or around June 3. The lot was plowed on June 10. Our new new house was further along after 7 weeks than the old new home was after 7 months. It's all been a whirlwind ride. A very fast, emotional, chaotic, happy dance ride.

We are hanging in there. The apartment is old. We are weary of it. Poor Truman doesn't know what to think. The one year mark in late July of being out of our old home hit me hard. The month of June when we thought we were to have been in our old new home was a challenge. The extended lease expiration date and paying high month to month rent is icky. There have been some dark days, some weepy weekends, some endless evenings. But, we are in the home stretch. The tile crew is installing the kitchen backsplash soon. The countertops are in. The plumbers started installing fixtures yesterday and should finish up today. The electrician shows up today to begin installation of outlets, switches, and light fixtures. HVAC also begins today. My best guess is that there are between 50 and 60 days left of apartment life. {Believe me I have a complex algorithm set up to calculate this that I review and update daily. You don't want to see that deep into my head, trust me.} ;-) And 9 of those 60 days we are, thank the Lord, in Florida.

Walt Disney himself said, "All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them." So, that is why I haven't been here. I've been busy chasing dreams. And actually watching a few of them be captured, followed, come to life. 

Follow Your Dreams ~ Buying The Roseman ~ March 2016

Sketch Credit: Scrapbook Generation

Paper: Simple Stories

Title Fonts: Silhouette Cut File

Settling on Spicewood ~ Starting the Cottage ~ March 2016

Sketch Credit: Scrapbook Generation

Paper: October Afternoon, Simple Stories

Title Fonts: Ballerina Script