Wishing You a Restful Christmas

As you can see, even the pets are exhausted. (Pictured here - Harley still loves his Mama.)

After several weeks without internet access, I am finally back online. Somehow, a simple rewiring of telephone lines turned into a "why don't we give this old house some high-tech data lines" project, and it was clearly a lower priority than the complete rewiring of our electric service.

The move was very difficult. Since we didn't yet have running water on the day of the trip, I stayed behind in an empty house for a few days while Dan came ahead with all our belongings.

We've learned many, many lessons about buying a 100+ year-old house as-is. I won't go into the details at this time, but will say that this has been a very expensive process. In spite of the expense, the tremendous stress, the tears, and the frustration, I still love this old place. It feels good here -- the house has character.

Although we still don't know much about the history of this house, we've learned a few interesting things. When you discover pantyhose and empty wine bottles in the attic, you soon start hearing stories from the neighbors about the former occupants (how did those guys manage to keep the lawn chairs on the roof after that much beer?). Apparently, this was Animal House. Our neighbors are greatly relieved that an attorney and an artist are now living here, and don't even seem to mind that the attorney plays his trumpet every night.

Unfortunately, the space that I'll be using for a studio is currently being used as a staging area for the remaining construction, so my supplies are still packed. I hope to get that area set up shortly after the New Year, so I can get busy doing creative things. I'm looking forward to an amazingly creative year!