Libby

December 12, 2023December 12, 2023

Harmonizing Tech and Tradition: Our Coventry Conference Adventure

Hello friends!

I realize it has been a while since we have posted onto Farm and Finery. We continue to make improvements to the property with more pictures coming soon. John has also continued his hunting of native stone tools and his collection has grown to epic proportions (seriously – do we need all these flintknapped rocks?).

Heading to England

I was invited to present at a conference in Coventry, England in October 2023 with the European Union’s Business Incubator Tech Camp. Although I present at conferences often, most are in the US or Canada (with an exception being a keynote address I did in Brazil in August 2019). Since I would be going so far to present, John and I decided to make a trip of it and spent 16 days away from home.

The Ruins of St. Michael’s Cathedral in Coventry, England

We landed at Heathrow and immediately starting making our way northwest to Coventry. Coventry is a city in the West Midlands County in the UK on the River Sherbourne. It became a wealthy city in the Middle Ages and later became an important industrial center, becoming home to a large bicycle industry in the 19th century. In the 20th century, it became a major center of the British motor industry.

Jet-lagged or not, I had to lead a two hour workshop at Coventry University for 36 participants. The attendees came from all over Europe as well as several from the Middle East.

Participants at the training beginning to arrive

Between leading the training and attending events at the conference, John and I had a chance to do a little sightseeing in Coventry. The city has 3 universities: Coventry University in the city center where I did training during this trip, the University of Warwick on the southern outskirts, and a small private school, Arden University. The sessions at the conference were very focused on how entrepreneurs and business incubators could use new technology to improve efficiency.

A little history about Coventry

The home of Lady Godiva, she has a statue in the middle of a pedestrian mall that has a very young and urban vibe mixed in with the medieval buildings that somehow survived the German air blitzes of 1940-1942. Legend has it that Lady Godiva rode naked on horseback through the streets of Coventry to protest unjust taxes levied on the citizens by her husband, the Earl of Mercia.

During the Middle Ages Coventry hosted a national Parliament – in 1404 King Henry IV held Parliament in Coventry to raise money to fight a rebellion, which wealthy cities such as Coventry lent to him. During the War of the Roses, the Royal Court was moved by Margarat of Anjou, the wife of Henry VI. This, however, came to an end in 1461 when Edward IV (the White Rose) won.

St. Michael’s Cathedral

We also spent a lot of time touring St. Michael’s Cathedral. The 14th century church was largely destroyed in December 1940, leaving only the outer walls and spire. At 300 feet high, the spire is claimed to be the 3rd tallest cathedral spire in England (after Salisbury and Norwich).

It was very moving to walk around the remains of the church. The amount of stained glass remaining (above) in the bombed out windows was amazing and beautiful.

We also toured the new Cathedral, which was completed in 1962 and was featured in the 2009 film Nativity! John Lennon and Yoko Ono planted two acorns outside the new cathedral in June 1968. The charred cross inside the new cathedral was found in the rubble of the old cathedral and was taken as a sign of hope.

This baptism font is made from a boulder brought from Bethlehem

St. Mary’s Guildhall

On our last night in Coventry, we attended a final reception and dinner for the conference at St. Mary’s Guildhall. During the Medieval period the Earl of Mercia and his wife Lady Godiva founded a Benedictine monastery in 1043 dedicated to St. Mary. St. Mary’s Guildhall, dating from the 14th century is one of the more notable surviving medieval buildings still in Coventry.

We attended the event along with the conference hosts and some friends we had met along the way. Richard, wearing orange, was a local who taught at Coventry University.

One of the more remarkable things in the St. Mary Guildhall building is its tapestry. According to PBS-based TV show host Rick Steves, it is the oldest tapestry in England to be in situ – that is, it is still hanging where it was designed to be (rather than being taken down and displayed in a museum). The tapestry, woven between 1505 and 1515, has six different scenes on the tapestry, all protected by glass. The scenes line up perfectly with the stained glass above the tapestry.

A Little Night Music

The conference also had a two piece band perform on a small stage in front of the tapestry. The duo was playing standards, a favorite genre for me, so John went up to the musicians and asked if I could sing along. I think I’m a little sharp, but hey, I’m a professional trainer and coach – not a singer…

We enjoyed our last night with friends made over our several days in Coventry and will especially miss our local host, Richard – with whom I obviously had a lot of fun…

Overall, we really enjoyed our time in Coventry. Because of the bombing it sustained, it is not as well preserved a town as many others we saw, and some are critical of Coventry for that. But we felt it was a unique blend of old and new architecture with great and friendly people at every venue we attended.

Next, we head to Stratford-Upon-Avon…

Thanks for stopping by!
Libby

December 13, 2021

Heating up the Hot Tub

I realize it has been a while (OK, months) since I last posted. So it seems like a good time to do some catching up. We had one last pool-related project to complete and that was to run the gas line for the spa.

It obviously wasn’t a priority through the warm summer months, but now that it has gotten “cold” (you know – under 60 degrees), it became much more important.

We’ve really been enjoying the spa in the evenings – usually about twice a week. And it was great to have when friends visited for Thanksgiving week!

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and are enjoying the holiday season! Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Libby

June 30, 2021June 30, 2021

Pool Completion is Here!

Well, complete enough to use it… ☺️

Before the plaster could begin the pool had to be cleaned out, so a team of three came to vacuum and pick up debris out of the recently pumped-out pool.

I realized this was the last chance we had to see our handprints in the concrete shell of the deck. Awww-uh!

The next morning the crew arrived around 6:30 am and made quick work of plastering the pool. In fact, they were cleaned up and out of here by 11 am-ish. It was fascinating to watch them work with their system of ropes tied to our cedar posts and looping hoses over them.

The crew also cut off all the pipes and installed the water return valves.

Ready for the acid wash and to start filling!

The next day the crew came back to do an acid wash on the plaster. The acid wash allows the aggregated pebbles to come out. It gives the pool color some depth and that grippy toe feel we’ve all noticed in swimming pools.

With the acid wash completed, they emptied several containers of a chemical call StartUp Tec, which is used (as you might guess) when they start up the pool for the first time.

And with that it was time to start filling the pool!

It took 43 hours for the pool to fill. Good thing I’m a patient person (that’s a joke)….

Finally it was time for the equipment to start up and for us to attend “pool school”. I have 18 separate videos from our pool school instructor and it lasted from 8:30 am until 1:30 pm. Yikes, that was a lot to learn!

Old faithful is up and running in the pool shelf!

The water is murky, but we were told that it would clear in a few days time. There are also a few things that are missing or not working properly. The ozone filter needs something or other and the two lounge chairs for the shelf pool have not been delivered yet…. But that didn’t stop us from having our first pool party with the Strever family right after pool school ended!

Since then, the pool water has gotten clearer every day. We are responsible for brushing the plaster on a daily basis for 28 days as the plaster continues to cure, and you can really see a difference after brushing.

We’ve also played with the pool options on our app. Yes, there is an app for the pool. We can turn on the spa, turn on the spa bubbler, set the spa temperature, and turn on and change the lights. We’ve had some fun with the lights…

I’m looking forward to using the USA color option for the upcoming Independence Day holiday!

Cycling through the pool light options at night

And with that the pool is officially open. We are hoping to receive the shelf pool loungers soon and get the remaining “punch list” tasks completed. In the meantime, we have our outdoor dining table, couch, and Adirondack chairs all set up. Not to mention the outdoor bar….

Until you come visit, thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Libby

June 21, 2021

Cool Coats on the Patio, Posts, and Chairs

Happy Monday and we hope you all enjoyed a great Fathers Day weekend! Since the patio and pool decking was poured and cured, we opted to have the concrete coated with a product to help reduce slips and keep it cooler underfoot.

First, the house and cedar posts were wrapped up for protection. Next they removed everything and power washed the patios. Then they put the tan base coat over the concrete.

The next day they added a textured coat that was a whiteish grey color. They also began pumping all the rainwater the pool had collected out, in preparation for the plaster to begin the next week. John wanted to save the tadpoles that had been living in the pool, but I think he was only able to save a few. Sorry frogs!

On the third day, the crew returned and put the final top coat on the patio. We like how it looks with the great room chimney and outdoor bar stone. I think this product is called Smart Deck, and we selected Houston Tan as our color. It is supposed to help creat a non-slip surface around the pool and keep the concrete cooler for bare feet.

While the pool decking was getting coated and stained, yours truly did the same for our cedar posts. We had asked our contractor about having the posts stained and I believe the price that came back was $125 a post. Well, we have 19 cedar posts around our house, so we decided that we could complete that chore ourselves. And by we, I mean me…Although John is in charge of the removal and reinstallation of the gutter downspouts.

Honestly, it isn’t that difficult and we really like how much better the posts look with stain. Besides, what else am I going to do on the weekends? Hang around our empty pool? 😜

The other work we completed was to haul our old Adirondack chairs out of the barn so they could be cleaned up. A big thanks to John as they were buried in the barn and he had to pull them out and pick them up overhead. And, as you can see in the picture, they were in rough shape.

Adirondack chairs after a fresh coat of paint

A fresh coat of paint made quite a difference and John will have to replace a few slats in the oldest of the chairs. But in the meantime, they are quite serviceable…

Tomorrow we are scheduled to have the plaster completed and then the pool will be DONE!!! 🤞As always, thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Libby

June 18, 2021

Pool Progress: expanding the patio

The last time I posted, I commented that nothing had been done in the entire month of April. Maybe our contractors saw that, because a team showed up the next day to begin creating the forms for the pool decking. As I write this (technically, began this post), ANOTHER 30 days has gone by with no progress. God give me patience, and give it to me now…

Once again, the importance of being there came up. We expanded the size of the original decking on the far end of the pool and on either side of the porches. Last September when everything was drawn up, I said I wanted a larger patio space around the pool. Our sales guy said, “oh, we can easily expand that when we get to it.” That is code for, sign the contract at this price point now and we can upcharge you for that later…

Before and after of the pool patio/decking plan

Anyway, we opted to expand the patio and even out the patios on either side of the pool. On the great room side, we plan to keep our grill so it’s out from under the covered porch. On the master bedroom side, we wanted more space for loungers and maybe an outdoor pub table. And on the far side of the pool I wanted more space for loungers or Adirondack chairs.

Marking the decking – off the wrong plans

While the sales people got the message that we wanted to expand the pool decking (and quickly amended our contract by $10,000), the contractors didn’t. I brought a set of the new plans out to them so they could redraw the guides for the forms.

They used dirt from the pool excavation to fill in around the pool. They also installed the French drains around the house and porch, and dug the footers around the exterior of the pool.

Not having a pool isn’t stopping us from catching rays…

The next week they began adding all the rebar and tying it into the pool rebar.

Finally, on May 12th the concrete trucks arrived!

When our foundation for our home was poured, we pushed a 2019 penny into the foundation. It was a fun ritual so we decided to repeat it this round with a 2021 penny (wow, time flies!).

Robert was also documenting the penny installs

The newly poured pool decking came at a great time as John’s brother Robert was visiting and we hosted cousins and extended family during his visit.

Many of the cousins hanging with brother Robert

The concrete decking around the pool was a very LARGE improvement for us. We track much less dirt and sand into the house and it’s so much more comfortable to hang around the empty hole that will someday (soon???) be a swimming pool.

So that’s our pool decking update. A new post showing the smart deck coating installation will be coming soon. Until then, thanks for stopping by!
Hugs, Libby

May 2, 2021May 2, 2021

Catching Up on Pool Construction

Hello friends! Earlier this week we had a Zoom chat with our friends Julia and Bob and Julia, being the true friend that she is, gave me a “talking to” about how long it has been since I updated the blog. “Oh, it hasn’t been that long,” I protested. Only more than 2 months since my last post, as it turns out. Ooops.

So my apologies to everyone (although I doubt any of you lost sleep over the lack of updates) and thanks to Julia for the kick in the rear.. 🙂 The photos in this post go back through April and March to February 27th when the plumbing and equipment were all installed.

They made quick work of getting all of the equipment including the pool filter, the heater, and the ozone filter installed. We “hid” the equipment on the south side of the house, off a storage room at the end of the great room. Having grown up with a pool, I know that the heaters and filters can be noisy (I’m guessing these new units are more efficient and silent than I remember), but still. I like that they are tucked away and not in view.

Meanwhile, John “helped” by hovering where they dug so he could hunt for arrowheads…

So all of the above took place on February 27, 2021. Then, on March 3-4, we had a group of 25 people from all over the world descend upon us to “shoot the pool”.

Turns out we had a world expert on shotcrete here in LaGrange, TX to teach various crews how to spray liquid concrete (or shotcrete). Oscar lives on an organic blueberry farm in Sonoma, but his main job is traveling the US doing commercial concrete work. He rarely does residential projects and one of his most recent projects was refurbishing underground tunnels out of the US Capitol.

The other crews were from Northern Texas, Arizona, and as far away as South Africa! They began by wrapping up the house so random spray wouldn’t damage the porches.

Then the spraying began…They started with the spa and went into the rest of the pool.

There were always at least 2 guys holding the hose at any point. The nozzle alone weighed 75 pounds. The pressure through the hose could be regulated and they generally had it spraying at a level 1 or 2. John asked, what would happen if you turned it up to a level 4? Oscar told us that it would lift a man off the ground and he would be flying in the air like a cartoon. 😳

Before the concrete fully cured, John and I put our hand prints into the pool ledge. No one will see it after it gets plastered with the PebbleTech, but it was a fun touch for us at the end of the process.

Next came tile and coping (the top stone around the pool). I had forgotten what we had selected last September when we signed the contract for the pool, so it was fun to see the tiles and stones in person.

First they added the tile at the waterline on March 24-25, 2021.

I’m glad I still like the tile we selected back in September.

Then the travertine stone coping was installed along the top edge of the pool and spa.

The travertine looks good with the stone we have on the outdoor chimney and bar

And finally, they cut some of the blue tiles to be installed along the benches and steps. I thought that was a nice touch and offers some visual interest and helps everyone to see where the steps are located.

So that brings us up to date on the pool progress. Sadly nothing, and I mean nothing, has been done for the entire month of April.☹️ Pool and other construction projects are in such demand that they cannot get crews out to finish the work concrete decking or plaster work. Thankfully, the deck forming is scheduled to begin this next week so we will get back on track soon.

Sorry for the epic post and if you’ve made it this far, thanks for stopping by.

Hugs, Libby

February 23, 2021

Creating Structure and Strength in the Pool

I know I said this last time, but this is crazy. The pic on the left is from Tuesday, February 16, 2021. The pic on the right is from today, Tuesday, February 23, 2021. Exactly one week apart. Wow.

Anywhoo, today a different crew arrived and began and finished the swimming pool’s rebar – in one day. The rebar steel structure is created and tied together to give the concrete some additional tensile strength. At least that’s what I read when I wondered why they needed the steel structure to be part of the pool.

Turns out the rebar is spaced to offer maximum strength to each other – like a buddy system. The steel rebar is tied to itself with strands of wire to hold it in place. There are also spacers below the rebar in the pool floor to allow the gunite/concrete to get below the rebar and to completely enclose it.

After getting lost, trying to find our home this morning, they arrived around 8:30 AM. And they were gone by 3 PM. Seriously – they did all this in 5.5 hours.

It was fun to see the shape of the spa and the now, larger size of the tanning ledge. You can see the spa seats and where the waterfall from the spa into the pool will flow. I even ventured out onto the rebar to make sure the spaces felt right since we had altered it yesterday. Meanwhile, John continues to be the stone whisperer, reaching into the sides of the dirt walls for tooled pieces.

So that was Day 2 of the swimming pool construction. Who knows what fun will begin tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out our journey! Hugs, Libby

February 22, 2021February 23, 2021

Pool Excavation Done in a Day!

Wow, what a difference a day makes. Actually, what a difference a week makes! Last week at this time we were worrying about freezing temperatures, losing power, losing water, and generally staying sane through Snovid-21.

Today we started building a swimming pool! And it was 74 degrees. Crazy…

On Wednesday, February 10th, our contact with the pool company, Sam, and our site supervisor, Fernando, came and sketched out the pool we designed last year with spray paint. It gives the home owner a chance to see the pool in the space. Thank goodness we had that time, albeit covered with snow, to do just that….

The tanning ledge was going to be really tight with the 2 in-pool loungers there. So we expanded the pool so there is more room to walk around those loungers.

…because we realized that the tanning ledge/Baja shelf was going to be way too small. So we called Sam and Fernando and expanded the pool from 15’x37’ to 20’x40’ (including the spa and tanning ledge).

Today they came and staked everything out, measuring multiple times in multiple ways to make sure the layout was square and perfectly centered in the courtyard. Expanding the pool obviously reduces our pool “deck”, but there are still 8’ of space on either long side and 10’ of open decking near the kitchen (not counting the covered porches) – plenty of room for loungers.

Then the digging began. After every pass of the Bobcat, John went out looking for tooled artifacts, arrowheads, and the like. I think he’s the stone whisperer…

The team was gone and cleaned up before 4:45 pm. Boom – day one of the build is done!

I’ll continue to post progress on the pool as we go. Until then, thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Libby

February 19, 2021

Surviving Snowmageddon 2021

First, I want to begin by saying thanks to all those friends who reached out to check on us the week of February 15, 2021. It felt like John or I had a birthday – we received so many texts, calls, and emails. So thanks for checking on us. It’s been a weird week.

The past few weeks we’ve had beautiful, spring-like weather. In fact on January 22, 2021 I worked outside in the sun on the pool porch. I even had to move because I was getting too hot. Ha!

This week…. not so much. In fact, we had planned to go to the Texas coast for a long weekend get away for John’s birthday and Valentine’s Day. It would have been our first trip (albeit by car) since we went to the Cayman Islands last year for John’s birthday and Valentine’s Day. But as the weekend neared and the storm predictions got worse, we cancelled our plans and stayed put. Just as well – we had a number of chores to complete before the storm including covering up our garden beds, wrapping the water pipes down by the water well and pump, and gathering firewood for the weekend.

covering garden beds and harvesting vegetables

Yes, we did lose power, but not for very long – especially compared to others. We also briefly lost hot water, but John climbed into the attic and did his McGruber thing to fix that before the day was out. Our local paper called it a “once in a lifetime storm” and the Texas Governor called it “a once-in-every-120-year cold front”. I think that is fairly accurate considering the following records that were broken this week:

For the first time in recorded history, all 254 counties in Texas were under a winter storm warning.
For the first time in recorded history, the National Weather Service out of Austin/San Antonio issued a wind chill warning.
Austin channels say the area broke the record for the longest period of time with temperatures below freezing (previous record was 140 hours).

Construction was supposed to begin on the swimming pool this week, but obviously with the freezing weather, that was postponed to sometime next week when we get back to “normal” temperatures.

We hope you are all doing well and have been weathering the winter well. Be on the lookout for posts about our pool construction, which will begin soon!
Until then, stay safe and thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Libby

January 11, 2021

Close Encounters of the Hoofed Kind

This weekend we enjoyed a rare event in South Central Texas – snow. It wasn’t much – just enough to make everything a temporary winter wonderland before it all melted away today.

Snow?? Well it was a great excuse to snuggle in, play games and enjoy our first fire in the great room fireplace

The irony is that our friends Bob and Julia were visiting from Illinois – trying to get away from that cold white stuff. We actually had to dig the snow scraper out of our trunk so they could clear off their rental car before driving to the Austin airport. Oops! Sorry guys!

Bob’s cleaning off the car as the snow is melting off the roof today

Our friend Matthew, affectionately nicknamed “Moose”, commented to John that the only post I had up about animals only showed John. True, it was a post about us (ok, mostly John) installing the 17 owl boxes on the property to qualify us for a wildlife tax rate.

But we have had other critters about including an Eastern Coachwhip Snake last spring, various owls, and when we first moved in, a pair of mice (yuck!).

Our neighbors to the North did a lot of work fixing up the fence between our properties because they began running cattle so they could receive the agricultural tax rate (a pre-requisite to receiving the wildlife tax rate we have). Every so often the girls will hang by our side of the property, grazing and laying under the post oak trees.

And then there is Randy, the bull. We named him that because, umm, well, he really wanted to get to our OTHER neighbor’s property and see the girls over there. Apparently his harem is not enough for him… So he started pushing through the fence. Yikes

But we’ve also had some “deer friends” stopping by regularly. There is a momma deer with twins – we’re pretty sure we saw them the day they were born because they were so tiny, they looked like stuffed animals for a child’s bed. Sometimes they are down by the “tank” or pond, but quite often they come up close to the house and eat at the scrub brushes in the yard (I’m not even going to think about landscaping until the pool and other hardscaping is done). Thankfully they have not found my garden yet so my peppers, zucchini, lettuce, rainbow chard, and more are all still untouched by them.

Unfortunately, that is not the extent of our deer encounters. Like many of you, we’ve been staying at home, cooking much more at home with occasional take out. But we decided to go out to one of our favorite places in Smithville, The Blazer Bar, and hang in their speakeasy on a Thursday night. Why a Thursday? Because it’s much less busy than on Friday or Saturday nights (in fact, we were the only patrons in the speakeasy) and it’s only open Thursday-Saturday. We enjoyed a lovely time, had a fantastic lobster bisque, scallops, and drinks. I was the DD, so after dinner I drank 3-4 glasses of water before we headed home at 9:30 at night.

And then this happened…

Yep, at the top of a hill on a Texas state highway (where the speed limit is 75 miles per hour) was a big 10-point buck in the right hand lane. Since no one was around I slowed down and got into the left lane. If the deer had kept moving the direction he was going or even just stayed still, we would have been fine… But at the last minute, he turned and slammed into the passenger front side of the car. Thankfully we were fine and the airbags did not deploy. I pulled over and walked back to where he was on the side of the road and sadly, he tried to get up but then just laid down. I’m not sure if he died then or was able to get up later and move on. 🙁

For those who ask, why didn’t you pick it up and take it with you? OK, a couple of things. A) that’s illegal in Texas (and just because your family wouldn’t care about receiving a misdemeanor (or whatever) doesn’t mean I don’t care). Texas Parks and Wildlife has a zero tolerance policy on this, according to their website. B) Let’s think about the logistics of this. We’re out for date night and I’m wearing a dress and heels. And now John and I are going to pick up a half alive 250+ pound buck and just through it into the back seat of our sedan? Umm, yuck. C) Have you seen the movie Tommy Boy?

What probably would have happened to us if we tried dragging a 10-point buck into the back of our Avalon…

Thankfully we were able to limp home with the car that night and the local collision repair company said it was not totaled. It did take about a month for them to get the parts to fix our Toyota Avalon – but we aren’t ready for a car payment with the pool construction about to begin. And besides, the car only has about 195,000 miles on it – I feel like I’m just starting to break it in…

In the meantime, we have set up the gravity deer feeder down by the lake and even have a game camera attached to it so we can see the wildlife up close and personal. It took about a week for the deer to discover it, but now we have an almost nightly wildlife show right in front of our home.

As we see more and more wild animals, I’ll be sure to take photos. A pair of Crested Caracara, aka, “Mexican Eagle”, have been hanging in one of our oak trees in front of the house. I’ll see if I can get a decent pic of them as they are only located in a few US states and, although they look like big hawks with white heads, they are technically falcons (according to the Cornell website I looked up).
In the meantime, stay safe and warm. And thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Libby

January 6, 2021January 7, 2021

Happy Holidays and Welcome 2021!

Wow – that went by fast! The weeks since Thanksgiving have really been a blur! As many of you experienced, our holidays looked different this year. No trip back to the Midwest, no chance to see our daughter or my mom (who is in assisted living so I wouldn’t be allowed into her facility anyway), or high school friends, but lots of FaceTime and Zoom calls with friends and family.

My favorite cocktail napkin this holiday season

But we still were able to see friends Betsy, Aldy, and Michael (and we are looking forward to Julia and Bob visiting this coming weekend!) and family visits with cousins Bill and Susan, Kristi and Terry, and cousin Gary. All in all not a bad holiday season.

One fun adventure we had was to go out onto our property and cut down what became our very first Christmas tree in our new home. It’s challenging to find a tree that looks good from 360º, and this one did turn out a little Charlie Brown-ish, but it’s our first!

Yes, John was wearing shorts the day we cut down our Christmas tree…

I was bummed that so few of our holiday decorations made the trip out of storage and down to Texas. To tell you the truth, I’m hoping they made it into the storage unit at all, since we hired others to pack up our lake house. What couldn’t make it onto that last truck went into our last storage unit and I hope that includes my bronze reindeer, vintage ornaments, and sentimental decor. But John came to the rescue and purchased many of the ornaments you see on our tree from a local resale shop!

Thanks Harvey for the homemade ornament!

Since we just finished building the house and are awaiting the beginning of pool construction (YAY!!), we decided to forgo purchasing each other Christmas presents. That being said, we did splurge on one gift for ourselves – a new leather couch for the living room.

It’s long. Really long. But thankfully I think it fits. And it is the same leather as our swivel chairs in the library, all of which is from Pottery Barn. Good leather will really last forever (unlike bonded leather, which is made from bits of scrap leather that have been glued or bonded together), and since we had a 20% off coupon code when we ordered it, we decided to make the splurge.

Another holiday (specifically New Year’s Eve) tradition we have is playing pool or billiards. Although we went out for New Year’s Eve last year, I’m generally not a fan of going out on NYE. Last year we lived in Smithville and could walk to the restaurant and back home. Now we live on 43 acres in the country and it’s just a little more dangerous on a busy state highway and with deer running about (more on that in another post). Historically, we have stayed in for NYE with a few friends, listened to fun music, enjoyed a cozy fire in the fireplace and played several rounds of pool. For our first game ever in our new home I had the honor of breaking and was delighted that I pocketed four balls on my first shot!

Our vintage 1957 pool table is set up to require two dimes!

As I mentioned, we love fires for New Year’s Eve, but also for most every other night during the winter. In fact, we love fires so much, we built three fireplaces into our home. Three. In Texas.

It is a bit different having a fire when it’s 60-something degrees outside, but I love it on these dark nights. And not just at night, as we had our first fire in the master bedroom fireplace on an unusually grey Sunday back in December.

First fire in the master bedroom fireplace

A huge thank you and shout out to cousins Callan and Linda for the very generous housewarming gift of three firewood holders (fully loaded with split wood even!). We’ve loved having them near every fireplace and they’ve warmed our hearts and our hearths!

Thanks Callan and Linda for the wood holders and supplies!

John and I hope you enjoyed a healthy and happy holiday season and we wish you all the best in 2021! As always, thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Libby

November 28, 2020November 28, 2020

Happy Thanksgiving 2020

We hope you all are enjoying a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend and are healthy and with family. Our own extended family celebration was much smaller as some family members felt uncomfortable gathering and others had recently fallen ill with COVID-19. We hope anyone who is suffering with this virus makes a speedy recovery!
As a result, Thanksgiving Day 2020 was an intimate and special occasion – thank you Diane and Don for hosting!

Back at the house we continue to make progress with sorting through boxes, placing oriental rugs, hanging art, and more.

In the living room, we hung one of our favorite paintings with a picture light over the mantle. Man, was that thing heavy… We cannot read the signature, but it looks like Josepn is the first name and the last name begins with an L…. Anyway we bought it more than 20 years ago at an antique store in Dayton, OH.

Surrealist oil painting by Colombo Carlo dated 1959

We also hung this oil painting that we purchased years ago at an antique store in Springfield, IL. We’ve searched many times but cannot find other work by a Colombo Carlo… It still needs a picture light.

And we’ve hung this painting by Marguerite Grossenbach, dated 1950. She was born in 1900 in Milwaukee, WI and died in 1996 in Davidson, NC. When she was 30 years old she married Charles Norman Barnum, the man who would go on to design the landing craft used on D-Day called the LCT (for landing craft tank). Isn’t that interesting? We picked up this piece at an auction in LeRoy, IL for $50. Fifty dollars!

More artwork, oil paintings and other media will be coming, but this is just how far we have gotten with this genre so far…

In addition to more traditional art, we’ve also hung some stained glass windows in the great room windows. We actually don’t remember where we purchased this set of four craftsman windows.

A window purchased at our favorite antique store in Bloomington, IL (Asahel Gridley Antiques) hangs in the mud room window at the end of the hall…

And in our master bathroom and bedroom is a set of 3 antique windows purchased in an antique store in Dayton, OH. These used to hang in the entryway of the lodge.

Since this is our first Thanksgiving in our new home we decided to do our own Thanksgiving dinner (round 2) on Friday night. I decorated with the few Thanksgiving holiday decor items I could find in storage and it was very cozy with a lovely fire in the fireplace as well as a bottle (well, not the whole bottle) of 1982 Chateau Gazin. The wine was FANTASTIC, which made me VERY happy because I have been worrying about our old wines’ integrity after the move and being out of proper wine storage for months. Thankfully we have 19 bottles of the 1982 and 1983 era French red wines left as well as 1 (ONE) of my mother-in-law’s favorite, a 1976 Chateau LaRoque. If that isn’t motivation to come visit us, nothing is…

I’ll close this post out by saying how grateful John and I have been for your support through this long journey of building our home. It’s crazy to think that it was mid-November two years ago when we first moved to Texas and began staying in a room in cousin Diane’s home. Thanks again Diane and Don for helping us have a “soft landing”! And thanks to all of you for stopping by!
Hugs, Libby

November 2, 2020June 3, 2021

Little Town, Big Heart

Slowly we are working through the seemingly endless sea of boxes as we get settled into the house. It’s going amazingly slowly – when we moved into our rental house in Smithville, we had the house set up and ready to go in 48 hours. Seriously, art on the walls, everything unpacked and boxes broken down – in 48 hours.

Moving into Smithville, we HAD to get everything set up. Nephew Andrew, his wife Melissa and daughter Kyleigh were coming to spend spring break week with us (which had been planned the previous fall). Necessity really is the mother of invention..

Since we put the lake cottage on the market during the height of Illinois’ lockdown, we hired people to pack and move the contents of the cottage to us here in central Texas. These days I’m unpacking boxes labeled like the one in the pic above. What exactly is “you know” or “n shit”? Or worse, the are labeled like the box below…

So until we get the ranch to a photographable stage, here’s what we learned living in a rental home for 19 months.

You really can make anyplace feel like home. Just pull out your favorite pieces, make a comfortable seating area, and invite some family or friends over. When our friend Matthew visited last fall he saw our living room (with furniture from the lodge) and said, I know this place!

2. Kitchen layouts really, really do matter. Although our rental had a nice looking and spacious eat in kitchen, it drove both John and me crazy. The sink was opposite from the fridge so to wash veggies or take raw poultry to the sink, you had to skirt around the island. When John made coffee in the mornings he had to do-si-do around the island to get to the water dispenser and fridge. Repeat after me – put your sink in the middle of your kitchen work triangle.

Adam and John moving us out of our rental home

3. Neighbors can really enhance your experience. We got SO lucky with Adam and Ginny next door. I’m sad I cannot find a pic of them together on my phone and super surprised that I cannot find a pic of their dogs, Dixie and Gus. One of my daily rituals was to walk out almost every day to pet those dogs and get a few dog licks across my chin.
Ginny and Adam frequently shared goodies from their garden, homemade boudin and sausages, and even chorizo. Adam also helped us move from Smithville and recently brought his brother and another friend over to help usher the pool table in place in the great room. I really miss our chats at the fence.

4. Make the most of your environment. One of the great things about living in Smithville was how we could easily walk to many different restaurants, shops, the library or even the grocery store. I’m really glad we had the opportunity to experience that, especially since we cannot walk to anything from our forever home.

Another fun aspect of Smithville is that it is frequently used for filming movies and television shows. In fact, while we lived there, they were filming the Amazon Prime series, “Panic.” It’s based off a young adult series of books by Lauren Oliver. The funny thing is that we would notice a new store or restaurant only to find that it was a fake front created just for the show. So let’s play a game – are the following photos of real establishments or fake? Answers will be below.

1. The Blazer
2. Richards County Sheriff Department
3. Front Room Wine Bar
4. Lyle and Sons Pharmacy
5. Main Street Convenience
6. Roy’s at the Emporium
7. Dot’s Diner
8. The Grand Movie Theatre
9. Smithville General Store
10. Mane Street Hair
11. PS Theatre
12. Rio Social House

Ok, have you guessed? Here goes:

The Blazer – very real and very fun. There is an intimate speakeasy bar in the back, open on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Otherwise, a great place for lunch or dinner outside or in.
Richards County Sheriff Department – fake. Smithville is in Bastrop County. In fact, there is no Richards County in Texas.
Front Room Wine Bar – real and another great restaurant option in downtown Smithville.
Lyle and Sons Pharmacy- fake
Main Street Convenience – also fake
Roy’s at the Emporium – fake again
Dot’s Diner – a great place for home cooking. Just kidding! It’s fake!
The Grand Movie Theatre – another fake front!
Smithville General Store – real and a cute home goods store with a coffee bar in the back
Mane Street Hair – another fake front
PS Theatre – real, although I don’t know if they are running still since COVID-19 shut down so much this year.
Rio Social House- real and recently opened cafe and bar.

Pics of the house will be forthcoming (I promise!) as we sort through the boxes and find a place for everything and get everything in place. In the meantime, we hope you enjoyed your Halloween.

Me as Fleur Delacour’s older sister – martinis and magic wands

Since I had to travel last year for Halloween and could not attend our neighbor’s party, I decided to wear my costume from last year for a socially distancing party of 2.
Stay safe and thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Libby

October 2, 2020October 2, 2020

It’s been a moving experience!

It’s finally moving ~~day~~ week(s)! There are a few things on the punch list not complete, but the house is ready for us and our furniture. Let’s take a look before we clutter it up with boxes!

I actually began this post on Friday, September 18th, and it’s finally getting posted two weeks later. Moving is hard work!

We are slowly getting settled into the house – pics of the place furnished will be forthcoming. I began this blog one year ago and would like to thank everyone who has been on this journey with us. It took longer than we expected, but it was worth it in the end… Every morning John and I comment that it looks like a postcard when we walk out into the living room.

Our view this morning from the living room

We hope you continue to stay safe and healthy. As always, thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Libby

September 12, 2020

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Whoever came up with Murphy’s Law probably built a house… Last week we went through a punch list with Wesley, our site supervisor. If you aren’t familiar with a punch list, it’s where you list all the things that need to be repaired or fixed. Most are small, some are not.

One thing we noticed were the seams between drywall panels going down the hallway. They were really noticeable and even our site supervisor said he wouldn’t want it in his house. This required that the entire hallway be taped off, re-mudded, textured, primed and painted. Not a small job.

The living room fireplace mantle was installed over the tile. I had a very detailed sketch done, but somehow managed to order two less of the blue 2X4” tiles than we needed. HOW? No idea… (See my sketch below) We also decided to bring the hearth out two more rows so it will be 18” in depth instead of just 12”. Tile has been ordered and it will be completed after we move in.

The master bedroom fireplace has not gone as smoothly. We had the frontispiece repaired and it looked great.

And then the installer dropped it and broke it in a new place… What are the odds??

How many times is this thing going to get broken?

In the master shower they realized we needed a second valve for the hand held shower wand. So out comes the shower tile so the valve on the right can be installed.

Zach, the cabinet guy, came back and installed the cabinet doors on several of the appliances including the under cabinet refrigerators, ice maker, and dishwashers. I like the built in look it creates.

But alas, not all was smooth sailing. The kitchen dishwasher didn’t have the necessary hardware to install the doors. After a phone call Bosch will now send those brackets and screws directly to us.

Similarly, on Friday our new washer and dryer were delivered, but without all the parts ordered. This meant that the installation we paid for could not be completed. More phone calls ended with the appliance retailer saying they would send me the LP (liquid propane) gas conversion kit which is necessary if we want our dryer to actually work…

New washer and dryer to be installed – as soon as we get the parts we ordered…

Finally, we had satellite internet installed and it actually doesn’t suck (praise indeed, right?). But the installation guy put the dish right in front of our laundry room window. What the heck, dude? Thankfully we can have it cut down and lowered, but seriously?

Our timeline to move in has been thwarted again. My too-frequently asked question this week was, “why can’t things just work like they are supposed to?” Momma said there’d be days like this. Weeks too. Who can relate?

But I’m sure it will all work out, right? Right??? We are so close to being done that it’s making me a little crazy. John says it’s the frustration that comes with impediments to goal attainment. I think that’s a fancy way of saying that after more than 11 months of construction, my patience is wearing thin. Anyway, assuming there are no more blunders, our site supervisor now says we *might* be able to stay the night Sunday night. Hmm.

Packing up our rental house Friday night

We hope you all continue to stay safe and sound. Let me know what you think of the house thus far. As always, thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Libby

September 5, 2020September 5, 2020

It’s Been a Labor of Love…

I don’t think I want to play this game anymore…

Hey peeps, if you have been hanging with us this long, you may well know that originally we were supposed to be moved into our house by May 1, 2020 (I’m writing this on September 4, 2020). Then it looked like maybe July…. then definitely by August 31st. Then Labor Day weekend (ahem, that would be this weekend). Now we are scheduled for Friday, September 11, 2020…. While I am hopeful, I have not called the WIFI people to reschedule them… again.

In the meantime, our painters came back for touch up and final clean up – including staining and sealing the new butcher block counter in the laundry room. I’ve always liked the look of butcher block, but was concerned about the upkeep in a kitchen. Here in the laundry, it will see much less wear and tear and adds a nice warmth to the white cabinetry.

Our painters also painted the can lights in the ceiling as well as the A/C grates. This was an extra cost, but I really like how they are much less noticeable on the bead-board ceiling in the great room. Just feels more finished to me.

And the painters power washed all of the cedar posts outside on the deck. It may seem like a small thing, but some of the posts had been strapped together and aged in the sun – and the resulting dark stripes looked dirty to me. Am I being picky? Don’t answer that….

The mirror and glass people also came and installed the master bath shower door (above)… as well as the bar bath shower surround (below).

They also installed glass in the upper cabinets, along with all the glass shelves in the butler’s pantry and bar.

And the mirrors went into the master bathroom…

The butler’s pantry…

And the bar…

Today the plumbers were there, installing the rest of the faucets and dishwashers. I wanted to tell them to forget about the dishwashers and get the craft ice maker installed…. But I held my tongue.

So the game plan is that we will get the cabinet hardware installed Monday, appliance panels will be installed on Tuesday and the painters will finish on Wednesday. And somewhere in there the tilers are supposed to come back and finish some work as well.

So wish us luck this next week that we actually can move in. We hope you are all enjoying a lovely Labor Day weekend and thanks for stopping by.

Hugs, Libby

August 27, 2020August 28, 2020

Finally – We’re Floored!

That’s right. We’re getting close. The wood flooring and the shoe molding are done!

It took a while to get the flooring acclimated to the A/C, and quite a while for them to install the floors. Nine full days of them installing the wood flooring in fact.

The wood flooring we selected is a hand scraped American Hickory with a Chestnut stain. I think it is beautiful and the lifetime structural warranty combined with a 50 year finish warranty is just the icing on the cake. It was one of the first finishes we selected last fall, so it’s nice to finally see it get installed!

While some of the trim will be painted white, other pieces against the cabinets will be stained beginning next week.

The shoe molding around the bar will be stained

So with the flooring in place, the appliances can be moved in and our painters will be back beginning Monday for final touch ups… As gorgeous as the floors are, I am excited to get our oriental rugs out of the barn and into those rooms!

We hope you and your families continue to stay safe and healthy. And, as always, thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Libby

August 14, 2020August 14, 2020

The Lake Cottage 10 Years Later

Today we sold (closed on) our lake house. It’s the end of an era – I was born and raised in Illinois (John was born in Texas) and have never lived outside of the Land of Lincoln until recently. It’s bittersweet as we remove our last foothold in my home state and say so long (for now) to some good friends and family in the area.

At one point in time, John and I seriously discussed keeping the lake cottage and spending the summers at the lake. But 1,000 miles is a long way to drive to get to a weekend house, even when there isn’t a pandemic. And you can’t exactly walk away from your property in Texas for 3 months. Still, we put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into that little cottage as we remodeled it top to bottom and we have a lot of fond memories from our time there.

We had one of the best views on the lake and our lake cottage was full almost every weekend of the summer with various guests. Independence Day was a big holiday at the lake with a boat parade in the afternoon and fireworks in the evening. I missed that this year as COVID-19 cancelled many events around us.

One thing we learned through having a second house is that we are definitely “one house” people. It sounds fun having a lake house – and it is – but it is also a lot of work. This isn’t a condo – we have to mow and rake the yard, sweep and maintain the decks and dock, maintain the boats, fix windows when they get broken (as one did this past winter). Plus all the inside stuff that anyone would have to manage (like food, sheets, towels, etc.) – even in a condo. This would be fine – except that we never lived there full time. It was always “the lake cottage”. No big deal when we lived at The Lodge, a 20 minute drive away; but now we live a 16 hour drive away. Not quite as convenient.

John begins work on the boardwalk
John (and Michael) also built the cocktail and dining decks
Helping out around the lake
John’s February birthday one year

So to those of you who visited us there at the lake over the past decade, thanks for visiting and sharing some of your time with us. We no longer have the lake cottage, but we have many, many happy memories of birthdays, holidays, retirement parties, reunions, and more at that location. And we hope you will visit us in Texas soon as it is safe to do so to create some new memories down here in our soon-to-be-finished forever home.

As always, thanks for stopping by and take care!

Hugs, Libby

August 13, 2020August 13, 2020

Water Works are on the Way!

We’ve had a variety of plumbers in the house, installing sink and tub faucets. It’s been quite a while since we’ve seen our sinks or countertops so that was a fun change!

They also installed the butlers pantry sink and the stopper. Still waiting for them to replace the drywall that was damaged from the “tile and error” style work done here, but I’ll be patient.

The guest bathroom vanities have been plumbed, but not the showers yet.

And it was nice to see the bar countertops and copper sink again.

And finally, they began working on our master bathroom. Again, the shower fixture was not installed, and our site supervisor guessed that they ran out of time.

I was oh so happy to see our tub installed!!

They still have to install the outdoor kitchen faucet and the laundry room faucet, in addition to all 3 showers. But progress is progress these days, especially when we are hoping to move in by the end of August…

The details will all get taken care of, right??

Who’s taking bets on whether we can move in by the end of August (as I write this on Lauren’s birthday – 8/13)? 😅

We hope y’all are doing well and thanks for stopping by to see our progress!!

Hugs, Libby

August 1, 2020August 1, 2020

Let there be Light!

With power installed and hooked up to the house and barn, the electrical crew came back to install outlets, switches, lights, and fans.

We are lucky that we almost always have a breeze across our front porch. But last night we were able to augment that with some man-made breeze thanks to all the fans on our various porches.

We also were able to hang out in various rooms in the house – after dark!!! Here’s our living and dining room…

And the kitchen and butler’s pantry. … We have dimmers on several of the lights, which is why the kitchen island lights look different in the various pictures. We will be installing more dimmers (only 6 were included in our contract) but since they charge $40/dimmer, John will be doing that himself later.

Lights are up in the master bedroom and bathroom too!

And we enjoyed spending time in the great room as well.

Not everything is done, of course, but we are very happy with the recent progress. There are a few light fixtures that we own that they will not install – the electricians say they need to be rewired because they are antique. And there are a few that I cannot find, despite digging through the barn loft multiple times (grrr). But thankfully, John can install those later as we get down the road.

Next week the plumber will arrive to hook up water and install the faucets and shower fixtures. We are getting closer and closer to being done!!!

As always, thanks for stopping by!
Hugs, Libby

July 29, 2020

Utility Installation

Wow, this has been a long time coming.

Finally. We. Have. Power.

The only time this meter will show all zeroes

I won’t go into the harrowing and horrific story of why our journey to get power took so long (almost 8 full months), but I will say that I won’t look at some neighbors the same way again. But in the end, we have power running to the house…

Once the A/C guys arrived, the air conditioning began – a necessary step before hard wood flooring arrives to get acclimated later this week…

We cannot hear these running from the front porch – they are so quiet!

Electricity was also run to the water well pump and to the barn.

In addition to getting electricity, we also had our liquid propane tank installed and buried.

With utilities installed, the rest of the house can be finished and our builder says we will be done and ready to turn our construction loan into a home mortgage in August. Hooray!!

Thanks for stopping by and we hope you are all staying safe and healthy.

Hugs, Libby

July 11, 2020July 11, 2020

Fireplace Focused

This week we began focusing on the fireplace surrounds as the bathroom tile work is wrapping up. Ironic, since it will 100 degrees Fahrenheit today…. Beginning in the living room, the hand glazed tiles for the fireplace surround were ordered in early June, but won’t be shipped until late August. Darn! I ordered the art tiles (below) along with the color glaze samples back in May and received them the next week… so I assumed (mistake #1) that the other tiles would be shipped quickly as well.

Art tile for the living room fireplace surround – the rolling hills mimics our view of the valley

Alas, because of COVID-19, Motawi Tileworks in Ann Arbor, Michigan, was shut down for two months, putting them behind in fulfilling orders placed in March and April. So I must be patient… which is not my best virtue… You can see examples of tile installation of the Pine Landscape tiles at the Motawi website here.

Hand glazed tiles from Motawi Tileworks And our living room fireplace mantle

In the master bedroom, we have the tile. Well, most of it. We are missing one corbel that somehow fell off the frontispiece. The same frontispiece that broke in half when it was being taken down from the cottage fireplace… but I digress. Anyway, at our lake cottage, which was built from 1932-1938, we remodeled and replaced the old living room fireplace that no longer functioned and took down the old carved soapstone from its surround to create a larger firebox.

Master bedroom fireplace surround – carved soapstone circa 1930’s

Now we are trying to put humpty dumpty back together again, but in our new master bedroom. Thankfully, our tile installer, Roel, said he was up for the challenge. Thank goodness someone is… They are going to have the frontispiece (that’s a fancy word for the carved part that is right under the mantle) repaired and I’m hoping to have the gold etchings re-gilded or gold leafed. I’m not sure how the repair will turn out, but I’ve been interested in the Japanese art of kintsugi, otherwise known as golden joinery. The idea is that you highlight the repair with gold leaf, rather than trying to hide it, and it becomes part of the story of the piece. Since these carved soapstone pieces will be in our master bedroom, we may opt for the kintsugi design aesthetic if the repair is too obvious.

To be repaired…. and I’m hoping we find the other carved corbel.

Finally, we come to the fireplace in the great room. Here we have the largest fireplace, with the largest chimney and largest statement – Oklahoma fieldstone. These are real pieces of stone. This ain’t no “lick and stick” stone veneer like we used at our previous home, the lodge.

The “lick and stick” stone veneer at the lodge and our pile of Oklahoma fieldstone

Beginning outside, they installed stone on the outdoor kitchen bar, which we think will look really nice with the counter tops. When I first saw the stone being installed, I wasn’t so sure about the look, but once the grout was cleaned up, I was sold.

They also installed the stone on the outdoor chimney, creating a nice focal point on the pool courtyard.

I like how the two outside stone walls work together on the pool porch.

And finally, the same stone was installed inside on the great room fireplace. This is also the only room where we created a raised hearth.

While visiting the site last night, we decided to see how the great room fireplace mantle looks. There is a crazy story behind this mantle! I won’t go into the details now, but this is a piece of wood out of a century old barn in Ohio. I think Mark, our paint and stain master, wants us to simply seal the mantle, but I think it needs to be stained so there is some contrast from the stone. It also needs to be cut to fit.

What do you think of the three fireplace styles? Which is your favorite? I would love to hear your feedback. In the meantime, stay well and thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Libby

July 5, 2020July 6, 2020

Happy Independence Day!

This is our first Independence Day in Texas and the first time in a decade that we don’t have a houseful of guests. It was so quiet, especially since Smithville, where we are currently living in a rental home, has a zero tolerance policy for fireworks in the city. I found that I was very nostalgic and a bit homesick for fun on the lake.

But, as previously mentioned, it just isn’t worth keeping a lake cottage 1,000 miles away. We wouldn’t get enough use out of it to warrant the costs and we aren’t allowed to rent it out because it is on the city’s water source. Thankfully it is under contract to close on or before August 14, 2020.

Too bad it’s so far away from our home in Texas!

In the meantime, work continues at our forever home, including the installation of our new septic system and heat pumps.

The foundation of the house was also skim coated, which is technically known as parging. It’s not required by code and is essentially decorative, making the foundation of the house and porches nice and smooth.

And with the parging completed, they added dirt and graded around the house, minimizing the big drop offs from the porch.

And tile continues to be installed, thankfully without any further mistakes. I really like how the bar bathroom shower turned out.

I hope you all enjoyed your Independence Day, however you celebrated it. We began packing our rental house – quite different than any holiday we’ve had in the past decade! Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Libby

July 1, 2020

The Importance of Being There Part 276

Progress has continued on the ranch, even if it feels slow at times. And since our lake cottage is under contract (woo hoo!), we need to get back to the Midwest to pack up the cottage’s dishes, books, as well as our furniture, rugs, and art. Unfortunately, we continue to find that we need to have eyes on the build as mistakes continue to be made.

Umm, a mirror is supposed to go in the middle, guys…

I’ve written a couple of other posts on the importance of being at a home build site. One issue was early on, before the concrete was poured and the other occurred during framing. This time, in the butler’s pantry the space over the sink is supposed to have a mirror (not the tile intended for the kitchen).

Tile removed… Oh, much better. (*Sigh*) 🙄

We spent 45 minutes walking around the house with the tile installers and Aracelli, selecting grout for the kitchen backsplash.

And we also selected the direction of the tile for the master bathroom, including the water closet and shower stall.

We also planned out the tile for the bar bathroom….

And the laundry room floor turned out beautifully, even without being grouted.

The orange circle is a floor drain for the laundry room

And tile is underway in the guest bathroom as well.

Unfortunately, even after all the walking around and talking about each room, another mistake was made. The tile installers put the master bathroom floor tile in the guest bathroom, which is supposed to have white and black hexagon tiles.

As a result of the mistakes, it’s challenging to plan when to head back North to pack up and COVID-19 spiking again isn’t helping either. But I’m sure we will figure it out and get ‘er done. In the meantime, what do you think of the tile selections? We would love to hear from y’all! Stay safe, stay healthy, and thanks for stopping by!
Hugs, Libby

June 27, 2020February 23, 2021

Pool Planning

As we get closer to when we can move into our new home we are also beginning to think of other projects we want/need to complete. And that includes a swimming pool. It’s Texas. It’s hot. In fact, as I write this on June 27th and look at the 15 day weather forecast, every day is forecasted to hit 90 degrees or above.

We’ve been waiting to go ahead with the pool until we sold our lake house up in Illinois. At one point in time we thought about keeping it and working from the lake during the hot summers, but cousin Callan pointed out some problems with that. First, you cannot just leave a house with a swimming pool for 3 months in Texas and expect it to be A-OK upon your return. Also, it isn’t like winter up north where everything just stops – the grass, weeds, and yaupon holly bushes keep growing, so we would need a yard guy. Add to that the stressors of maintaining a house 1,000 miles away (which we experienced this winter when a window broke at the lake cottage and we were trying to get it repaired while locked down from COVID-19), and the decision to sell was made.

Yay – we have a cash offer on the cottage!

Now that we have a contract to sell the lake cottage, we can look ahead to completing our forever home with a swimming pool. I think we will wait until the closing to sign the contract for the pool, just in case, but with a cash offer we are feeling pretty confident about the sale of the lake cottage. We’ve now received 3 bids for a swimming pool and have decided on the contractor we want to work with for this next phase of construction. Because of delays, it likely won’t be completed until mid-September, but thankfully we have a long swimming season here. Did I mention it gets hot here?

We had previously met with Sam last fall to look at material options for the pool, so our most recent web meeting was to make sure that none of the house dimensions had changed and that we still liked the pool design we had discussed before. And we do.

Our pool will be 15′ wide by 30′ long with a tanning shelf and a spa on the far end. It’s what is called a sport pool – meaning there is no deep end. It ranges from 4′ deep to 5′ deep in the middle and is designed for shallow water activities and games. So it is perfect for volleyball or badminton or just swimming laps.

The pool will also have a bubbler and umbrella hole in the tanning shelf, as well as lights in the pool and spa. The spa will have benches on 3 sides and 6 jets. The color of the lights, the temperature of the spa, and pretty much anything else you can think of can all be controlled from an app on your phone, tablet or computer. It’s crazy.

So that’s where we are on pool planning. I grew up with a swimming pool and love to swim – this was definitely a non-negotiable for me. What do you think of the pool design? Would love to hear your ideas!

Thanks, as always, for stopping by!
Hugs, Libby

June 17, 2020

Celebrating the Little Things – Like 20 Years

Sometimes in the home building journey you just have to celebrate the little things and remind yourself that, yes, things are progressing, even if slower than molasses. Case in point? I’m actually excited that the pad for the air conditioning units is framed up and ready for concrete.

And the plumbing for the master tub had to be fixed because it was plumbed on the joint wall to the shower – but in fact our tub has a center drain and faucet. So the concrete was jack hammered out and new plumbing has been put in place – ready for the floor tile, which is stacked in the living room.

It is fun to see our tub in the house at least – even if it isn’t in place yet.

But our real celebration for today is that today is John’s and my 20th wedding anniversary. I really don’t know where those 20 years went – just crazy!

Living in rental homes since November 2018 while selling our home(s) up in Illinois has been just part of our journey. I told John that the home building process feels like an initiation hazing. Going through the process/journey will make us value our completed home that much more!

I hope you all have little (or big) things to celebrate this week and thanks as always for stopping by.

Hugs, Libby

June 15, 2020

Ceiling in the Great Room Installed

Over the weekend John and I were pleasantly surprised to see that the pine headboard had been installed on the great room ceiling. I think the wood was stained back in April and we were wondering when it would go up.

John lounging on our ceiling. Photo taken on April 14, 2020.

We had already added wood to the living room trey ceiling and really liked it…

But we felt we should do something a bit more rustic for the great room, which is more masculine in feeling (especially once the stone is installed around the fireplace).

What do you think of the new ceiling? I can tell you that the acoustics are fantastic as John and I tried out the sound with some a cappella singing Sunday night (sorry, no video available). 😜

The backsplash tile is going up in the kitchen, which I’ll be happy to share with y’all as soon as it’s completed. In the meantime, thanks for stopping by.

Hugs, Libby

June 11, 2020June 11, 2020

Countertops Installed (mostly)

Since painting was completed the next step in our journey was for the granite countertops to be fabricated and installed. This required that we go to the granite yard and approve our slabs.

With everything selected, installation could begin. Let’s start in the kitchen and butler’s pantry.

They also installed our kitchen and butler’s pantry sinks as well as the backsplash in the butlers pantry.

The guest bathrooms’ countertops were also installed.

And the outdoor kitchen countertop and sink were installed.

The bar countertops were also installed.

And finally, the master bathroom countertops and sinks.

I like the blue veining in the granite

We really like the bathroom countertops, but as I laid out one of the floor tiles, I realized that they are too busy together.

As John put it, the floor and shower tile are “not the same frequency”

So back we went to Araceli to look at simpler floor tile and brought samples back to look at in situ.

The only room that does not have a countertop is the laundry room, which will be butcher block. So that was some of our progress from the week. More posts to come soon!! We hope you and your family continue to stay healthy and safe.

Hugs, Libby

May 23, 2020

Interior Painting Done!

The interior of the house was primed and painted this week, meaning that our painters (who have been with us for almost a month) are finally moving onto a new home. One last chance to make some gluten free cookies for Lee!

gluten free chocolate chip cookies with pecans

So with the cookies documented 😁, let’s look at the entryway, living room and dining room! The main wall color throughout the house is Sherwin Williams Kilim Beige (SW 6101). I wanted a non-gray neutral color to go with lots of other colors (hello oriental rugs).

Moving on into the kitchen, it’s great to see the cabinets uncovered again!

Looking into the library, you can see that we went much bolder. Originally, we got a quote for the entire room to have wood paneling. After seeing the estimate (ouch), we quickly decided we could make the room feel rich and cozy with paint. Actually, the inspiration for the color was our friends Bob and Libbie’s dining room in Grosse Pointe Farms, MI, which was a rich tobacco-colored brown. This one is Sherwin Williams Coconut Husk (SW 6111).

And looking into the master bedroom, we again went bold. I love chameleon colors that change depending upon the lighting. Almost like you get two paint colors for one. I also wanted to take the bedroom color into the master bath with a more spa-like vibe. This is such a big room with tall ceilings and multiple windows so I thought we should go darker (or risk the color looking like a child’s room pastel). Keep in mind, all the windows in the house have film over both the interior and exterior of the glass so the rooms will all be brighter once all construction is completed and those films have been peeled off. The color here is Sherwin Williams Riverway (SW 6222).

Now let’s move into the master bathroom and the water closet. I like how in this North facing room the wall color looks more blue near the master vanity.

By the way, there are a number of YouTube videos about various paint colors and which ones will work in your home (which depends greatly upon the lighting). Here is one I watched about SW Riverway:

Finishing the master Suite, even the closet (and other closets) were painted our trim color, Sherwin Williams Alabaster (SW 7008).

Ok, now we’ll briefly take a look at the two guest rooms, my office, and the pantry. All were painted the living/dining room and kitchen color, Sherwin Williams Kilim Beige. The closets and pantry (shown first below) were painted the SW Alabaster.

pantry
front guest room
view from the front guest room
on-suite guest room window seat
on suite guest room
my office
my office – corner window!
looking down to the living room
my office closet

At the end of the hall is the mud room and laundry room, again, painted SW Kilim Beige. I think the wall color looks warmer in the laundry room, which is a Southern facing room.

There are videos about Kilim Beige too! Although it makes me crazy that this woman and the guy above (who also has a video about Kilim Beige) both pronounce “Kilim” incorrectly. They pronounce it [KILL-em] when it should be pronounced like [kill-EEM]. Like the flat weave oriental rug. Duh! 🙄

Ok, now down to the great room! Here we warmed up the color a bit and used Sherwin Williams Whole Wheat (SW 6121). It’s a subtle shift in some of these pictures, but this color is much more golden and will go well with the red and orange shades that will be in our rugs and other furniture in this room.

We also have two guest bathrooms. The family bathroom with the white vanity was painted SW Kilim Beige while the bar bathroom, right off the bar and outdoor kitchen was painted the SW Whole Wheat.

And in the storage room off the great room are our doors and fireplace mantels (after the room was painted)

So that’s the interior of the house! I would have liked to paint the guest rooms, and especially my office, differently than the living/dining rooms, kitchen, and hall, but the contractors were going to charge us $500 a paint color switch. Not worth it and I can paint them later after we move in if I want. It was more important to have them paint the great room and master bedroom different colors – especially with their vaulted ceilings.

What do you think of the colors? I know it’s tough without flooring, rugs, furniture, and lighting. And our painter Mark flat out told me that he didn’t like the Riverway color in the bedroom, saying it was too dark – so you won’t offend me if you don’t like it. You aren’t the one who has to live there! 🤣

We hope you and your families continue to stay safe and wish you all a happy Memorial Day weekend.
Hugs, Libby

May 17, 2020

Exterior Doors Done

Last week our painters stained all of our exterior doors. If you’ve been following along, you may remember that when the exterior of the house was painted, that crew mistakenly painted our exterior doors. Not what we wanted.

Guys, don’t paint the doors the house color!!

Our doors are fiberglass, but are designed with a wood grain so they can be stained to look like wood. The look of wood without the maintenance of wood.

In progress
Inside the bar bath

We also finally got our front and mud room doors and side lights stained and installed. They look so much better than the plain temporary doors we had!

Finally, since the painters were on a roll (painting pun there), we had them stain the doors to the barn apartment and John’s work space.

Doors into the apartment and garage
Doors into the master bedroom
Stained and ready!

Now that the exterior doors are done, they have begun priming and painting. In fact, they should be done next week, so it will be fun to post pictures from that step in the progress! We hope you and your families continue to stay safe and healthy as states slowly begin reducing their lockdowns. As always, thanks for stopping by!
Hugs, Libby

May 16, 2020

Prepping for Power

So did y’all miss me?

This is what my work looks like these days. That’s me in the top left…

Sorry I haven’t been posting. With the “new normal” and COVID-19 changing the way we work, I have been busier than ever. In the past month I’ve been training groups of 25-55 via Zoom in 4 hour blocks. The groups have participants from all over the US and Canada, as well as from Jamaica, Brazil, South Africa, Norway, Israel, Malaysia, and New Zealand. It’s quite the wild ride to train such diverse groups in 4 hour increments (with only two ten minute breaks) and it’s been very popular with more than 115 people joining the “Live Online” offering.

In the meantime, we’ve been prepping to get electrical power to the house. Yep, so far the entire house has been built using power from a generator. Of the entire house building process, this part has been the most frustrating, taxing, and downright unpleasant. After 4 months of back and forth, paying a neighbor $500 to sign the flipping paperwork to allow us to tie into a power pole on their property, we can finally move forward.

The power poles are now marked and will stop on the hill on the other side of the large oak in the photo below. From there it will be trenched underground up the hill so that tree can stay.

Hooray – you get to stay, big post oak in the pathway!

Once the power company comes out (which I hope will be very soon), it will still take 3 weeks until everything is done. Unfortunately, this is adding to delays on the project. Some work cannot be done until we have power, including installing the wood floors, which requires that the air conditioning be turned on to acclimate the wood to the environment prior to installation. When we signed our building contract last October, it was estimated that we would be in the house by May 1st. Now in mid-May, we are looking at 2 more months of construction and moving in mid-July. 🙁

But in the grand scheme of things, we are doing OK and are going to start packing up our rental house in anticipation of moving relatively soon. We’ve also had the chance to see our friends Betsy and Aldy on Mother’s Day and they brought us a beautiful “vase” of flowers from their garden, which we are still enjoying. We hope you are all doing well, and thanks again for stopping by!

Hugs, Libby

April 24, 2020April 27, 2020

First Party at the Ranch!

This week I had a birthday and many thanks to those who remembered me and commented (thanks Lorri!) or sent me texts, emails, LinkedIn Messages, and Facebook posts. I appreciated everyone remembering!

Cuz Bill sent me a text last week and suggested that the cousins get together to see progress on our house and have a socially distancing party. I thought it was a great idea, texted the cousins, looked at the weather forecast, and conveniently picked my birthday to host this family event for 8. Thankfully, our porch is 16′ wide and quite long, so it was not difficult to fit camp chairs for everyone on the porch.

We got catering from one of our favorite restaurants, the Front Room Wine Bar, which, like any restaurants still open, is only offering take out. John and I love this place and we have visited here many times before, including when our friend Matthew visited and it’s where we rung in New Year’s Eve!

Earlier in the day Travis, aka, Bestie, arrived with his beast of a machine to clear out our view. As I wrote in a former post, we lost most of our view of the valley as the trees leafed out. We wanted to keep any substantial trees, but those that would look like lollipops if trimmed had to go.

Travis makes quick work and the view was significantly enhanced from before…

To after an afternoon of work….

We also gave our family a tour of the home in small groups and some elected to wear masks inside the house. In addition to changes we shared with you in previous posts, one of the major purchases we made (and my first birthday gift of the day) was this set of antique Egyptian doors. We have decided to do a VERY light sanding, just to get any paint (which is likely lead based) that will potentially flake off and then cover them with a protective coat to keep their character. I love that they have frosted glass that will let light through, but also provide a bit of mystery at the end of the hall as you enter the great room.

The other progress is the new ceiling installed in the living room. It is the same “Texas Honey Brown” pine that is on the ceilings of the porches.

The pine beadboard for the great room is also all stained and sealed, and ready for installation in that room. We opted for the beadboard in the great room because we wanted something a bit more rustic and different to set this large room off from the others.

So that was my quarantine birthday at the ranch! Not too shabby, given the world circumstances. Thanks to sister-in-law Janet for the lovely birthday card and special thanks to my high school friend Miste for the card, awesome gift, AND subscribing to this blog! I hope you all continue to stay safe and thanks, as always, for stopping by.

Hugs, Libby

April 22, 2020

Closets, Closets, Closets!

Last week John and I met with the trim guy to discuss closets. Planning this out thoughtfully is super important. After all, closets aren’t just where you keep your jeans – it’s where you keep your dreams. 😜

Two days later, and the shelves are already going in!

Master closet
Pantry
My office closet
Storage room in progress
Laundry room
More master closet
Storage room almost done

The window sills were also being installed and I’m really glad that we went with the stained window sills!

Interior doors were also installed… and then immediately taken down so they could be stained. Even the pocket doors to the master closet and the family bathroom were installed. Why? No idea! Most of the doors are 3 panel craftsman style, but we also picked up a couple special doors at antique stores (pre-covid) for a couple of special locations including our master bedroom and the laundry room.

And finally, baseboard and door trim was installed this week.

I’ll post more pictures of the doors once they are stained and re-hung. And more fun developments are coming!!! So thanks for stopping by and continue to stay safe and healthy!

Hugs, Libby

April 17, 2020April 18, 2020

April Flowers

I still check on the news in Central Illinois because we have a lot of friends and family still there and it’s nice to know what may be impacting them. And here was a breaking news item from today, Friday, April 17, 2020.

A snow in April is fairly unusual and it will melt quickly and become a slushy mess for a few days before being pleasant outside again… but it made me grateful for the mild weather and beautiful wildflowers we’ve been enjoying in South Central Texas. So here are some of the wildflowers from our property and local area.

And of course, living in Texas, I must give special attention to the state flower, the Bluebonnet!

My garden continues to do well with blooms on my strawberry plant as well as on one of my tomato plants.

tomato and strawberry plant blooms and early fruit

I hope spring blooms soon for you in your backyard! We also hope you are staying safe and sane as we finish a 5th week of social distancing and sheltering at home. Thanks for stopping by and hugs,

Libby

April 12, 2020

Starting our Garden and our NewToy

Saturday, John and I went to the property and spent the afternoon working on the yard. We reflected that it really was the first time we worked on the property together. Partly because we got this new toy, errr, I mean tractor!

It fits perfectly in our new barn and it’s so easy to maneuver! I used it to pick up scrap wood from around the house while John built a 4’ X 4’ frame for a raised garden bed.

We decided it was a good time to start a garden off to the southern side of the house. I wanted it easily accessible and it made sense to put it off the mud and laundry room side of the house. It also needed a space that got at least 6 hours of full sun, which also limited our choices since we have so many trees.

Filling the bed and sectioning off the squares

I’m doing square foot gardening. It’s efficient, low maintenance, and simple for people who don’t want to spend a lot of time weeding and fussing in the garden. Instead of planting in rows, you treat every square as it’s own plot and plant 1, 4, 9, or 16 plants, depending upon its size. Tomato and pepper plants are planted 1 per square, while green onion seeds or carrots are 16 per square.

I also have a little plastic grid, the Seeding Square, which has holes that help make sure everything is planted evenly. Just poke the orange stick down into the soil as deep as directed on the seed packed, and plant the seeds into the hole, then cover up the hole and water. It included a color coded sheet that tells you how many of each plant goes into a square plot.

Seeding Square helps make gardening idiot proof for me

I’m not exactly sure how this garden will go… I’m used to gardening in USDA zone 5b and now we are in 8b – quite a difference! This little 4X4 garden has 4 different tomato plants, 4 types of pepper, 2 types of onions, green onions, Swiss chard, 2 types of lettuce, spinach, and 1 strawberry plant. We may be starting this too late for the spinach and lettuce because it is already regularly in the 70’s and 80’s, but we’ll see. I was surprised that I actually did get a little compost out of the compost pile we started in the fall. But the garden still needs more compost and I couldn’t get vermiculite at the local Ace hardware store, which helps the soil mix retain water. Finally, we need to build a lattice for the tomatoes and fence around the little plot so varmints don’t get our plants…. But overall I’m very pleased with our progress in just a few hours.

View of the garden from the mud room door
Laundry room window in the background

The other exterior progress we made is that the cedar brackets were added to the cedar posts on the front porch.

Before
After

We really like how it gives a more finished look to the cedar posts and beefs them up a bit.

On a more personal note, I spent Saturday thinking often of my oldest brother, Beau. He would have been 65 years old on Saturday, but passed away back in 2016. He loved being outdoors on his farm with his horses and dogs and his sudden passing was part of our inspiration to move to Texas and build this house and lifestyle. And with the current Covid-19 health crisis, I think it is more important than ever to live the life you want with those you love. John and I wish each of you a wonderful and healthy Easter Sunday. As always, thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Libby

Me and my siblings – pic from 2008 (I think)

April 11, 2020April 11, 2020

Staining Cabinets!

Before I jump into this post, John and I hope you are all continuing to do well and stay safe during these challenging times.

Above, pics from March 31st, as cabinets were being prepped.

As mentioned in a previous post, it took us a while and 20 or so stain samples to get the right stain for our knotty alder cabinetry. Color finalized, our painters got to work and we really liked the shade, even before the 3 finishing protective coats were added.

They also finished painting and did the protective coat on the painted pieces.

But when they began doing the first of the three clear coats over the stain, things didn’t go so well. They called it a “blush”.

Because it has been so humid with thunderstorms almost every weekend (annoying when you want to get out of a little rental house and hike around!), the clear coat made these white and oily looking marks on most of the stained wood. They explained that it’s like when you leave a wet glass on wood and it leaves a white watermark – there was just too much moisture in the air. Options to fix included heat or chemicals. But they could fix it, Mark, our painter, assured me. No problem, I said. Do I look worried? I’m not worried….

Me, looking at the cabinets with the “blush”

That was a complete lie….

I realized it had been a while since I had baked anything for the contractors at the property, so I baked peanut butter cookies (not pictured) one week and oatmeal cookies (shown above) the next week. It was also a good excuse to visit the site and check on how the “fixing” was going. I think it was a lot of work, but Mark was true to his word…

They have also begun staining the outdoor kitchen, which is made from cypress wood. As Lee (the other half of our painting team) put it, the stain will disintegrate before anything happens to that cypress wood. Apparently, cypress is difficult to stain because the grain is so tight and water repellent.

Above is the stained cypress cabinetry, with no clear coat over yet. I’m hoping we don’t have the same “blush” problems, but I will do my best not to fret…. Next up will be staining interior doors and painting walls.

So that’s our progress for this week. Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Libby

April 6, 2020April 11, 2020

Selecting Counters and Tiles

Two weeks ago we met with Araceli, who is our contractor’s main source for flooring, tile, and countertops. We have certain “allowances” or budget constraints within our contract that allows us to select from certain flooring, granites, tiles, etc. If we select other options, it will be an “overage” and we’ll pay extra for those options.

This was actually our third trip to see Araceli’s showroom, and we were easily able to agree again on our wood flooring – it’s a handscraped American Hickory Wood with a Chestnut Finish. Because we’re putting this over concrete, we are using engineered hard wood. This will be the third time we’ve installed engineered hardwood in a house – first the Lodge and then the Lake Cottage. So we’re very comfortable with this. And the fact that it has a lifetime structural warranty and a 50 year warranty on the finish doesn’t hurt either.

Moving onto the bar bathroom, we have boxes of left over tile from the Lake Cottage entryway and guest bathroom. When we purchased it, we intended to put it in the downstairs lake room (like a mudroom, but it walks out to the lake), but in the end we did something else for speed and economic reasons. As a result, we brought the excess tile down to Texas with us and took two pieces of tile and a piece of the bullnose to Araceli’s showroom as you see above. I like that this tile looks like slate and it will be in a bathroom that has a door directly to the pool porch.

We also selected flooring for our master bathroom, family bathroom, and laundry room.

And we selected granite countertops for the kitchen, bar, and bathrooms.

Another bonus was that Araceli had our kitchen sink, and I was really happy to actually put my eyes on it!

So we are continuing to move ahead, even if at a slower pace right now. And honestly, it was a tiring 2 and a half hours – John ended up going outside and sitting in the car for the last half hour. We hope you are all doing well with your social distancing and sheltering at home. Thanks for stopping by and stay safe!!!

Color-coded house plans with all of our selections.

Hugs, Libby

March 29, 2020April 10, 2020

Improving the View

Two posts in one weekend? Crazy. And if you are here again – thanks for stopping by! We are super lucky that we can drive out to our property, hike around, and be socially distant while still sharing our journey with all of you. John and I hope you are all well and staying safe during this “Shelter at Home” period.

One of the things we love best about our home site is its view of the valley. From our porch we can see numerous farms (including cousin Cliff’s!), trains going by, and closer, birds flying over the meadow. Now that spring has sprung here in Texas, our view has leafed out such that there isn’t much view at all.

Our view today. It’s March 29th – doesn’t it look like summer already?!

So today we went to the property and marked trees that need to go. Some were already dead, and some are so small/short that trying to trim them will make them look like a lollipop. And two need to go for our (future) circle driveway to go by the front door.

Do not make yourself uneasy, as this will not be a scorched earth approach. Much more of a tactical first strike. Once we get a sense of the impact our first wave had on the view, we will bring in a tree service to trim a few selective branches and keep the big trees healthy.

This tree’s left branch goes straight across the horizon and our view, so the branch may have to go., but not the tree.

And trust me, we have LOTS of big oaks all around our house that we are keeping! Here’s a sample below:

So that’s how we spent our Sunday, along with John hunting for Native American artifacts… We hope you and yours enjoyed your weekend too!

Thank you Bob and Julia for our cool stainless steel martini glasses!

Hugs, Libby

March 28, 2020March 28, 2020

Staining and Painting Begins

For a week of quarantine, quite a lot actually happened, which happily gives me fodder for several posts. Today I’ll focus on our staining and painting crew, Mark, his “Pop” Lee, and Luis.

First, as Mark explained, they remove every cabinet door, drawer, and shelf, label them, and set them up for spraying. Apparently they spray all the cabinetry, add a clear coat, and then reassemble the cabinets. Finally, they cover the cabinetry and paint the walls.

By the way, for those who voted on which door style to choose in this post, we selected A. More simple with a craftsman meets farmhouse feel.

This means that we *have* to finalize our stain for the cabinets. This involved multiple trips to yet another paint store, where they would only allow one customer inside at a time, and on Friday, a trip back to Lockhart, TX for two more sample doors. As I picked up the extra sample doors, I told the employees at Dupert’s Cabinetry that I was being a bridezilla about the stain, to which Zach responded, “You only have one chance to get it right. And you have a LOT of cabinets if you get it wrong.” I found that to be reassuring and frightening in equal measure…

All stains look darker once sealed
Pre sealant – too dark
Pre sealant- definitely too dark
More like this cherry look?

Finally, by 3 pm, John and I agreed on a stain for all the stained wood cabinetry. We also decided to leave the cabinet interiors clear coated only with no stain (this does not apply to upper cabinets with glass fronts). This will provide some relief from the warmer and darker exterior of the cabinets and make it easier to see inside lower cabinets.

Lee was also working on putting a gel stain on our exterior doors. Just to recap from a previous post, our exterior doors are fiberglass, meant to look like wood. And the exterior paint crew accidentally painted them the trim color. This really wasn’t going well at first (as seen above), until they decided to take the door down and spray it.

Top left, before, then after with our custom color.

Now we are getting the warm wood tones we like! And finally, we chose a stain for the yellow pine bead board for the great room ceiling.

Can’t wait to get the pine bead-board stained and on this ceiling!

The same stain on the great room ceiling bead-board will also be used on the wood of the various window sills, as previously mentioned in this post.

Meanwhile, as John and I worked with Mark to decide stains, Lee and Luis were working on all the woodwork that was going to be painted, and not stained.

The cabinets that are painted (technically, lacquered), are the laundry room, family bath vanity, and kitchen island. Mark explained that they prefer to use lacquer and not oil based paint because it’s more durable and dries faster. The “white” color, in case you are interested, is Sherwin-Williams 7008 Alabaster.

SW7008 in Chip and Joanna Gaines’ kitchen

You must understand that John hates white. White kitchens, walls, carpet, etc. I suppose he finds it devoid of the pigments he loves so much in his oriental rug collection? But SW 7008 Alabaster is, according to Sherwin-Williams, categorized as an off-white with subtle undertones of greige/beige, which honestly reads more like a creamy and crisp warm white in both interior and exterior lighting. It is just “off-white enough” to not be super bright white and is ideal for a softer white look. I mean, if Joanna Gaines uses it on her Shiplap walls, it’s got to be good, right??

There should be lots of photo-worthy pics this coming week to share! Until then, thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Libby

March 23, 2020

The New March Madness

As I write this on March 23, 2020 we are in the midst (and I hope not the beginnings) of a worldwide epidemic. Watching the “new normal” unfold with Corona virus has been odd for all of us and John and I hope that you and your families are healthy and safe.

I went grocery shopping two weeks ago, back when they were starting to suggest households have two weeks worth of food stocked up in case you need to quarantine yourself. Two weeks ago we were still talking about people on cruise ships being quarantined, not “shelter at home” for whole states. This was before everything from SXSW in Austin to most flights, all schools, every conference, concert, sporting event or gathering over 10 people was cancelled. At THAT time I went to the store to get supplies for two weeks as directed (but didn’t realize I should have stocked up on TP at the time – hmmm).

Brookshire Brothers grocery store in Smithville, TX

Today I went back and was shocked by how little was available on the shelves. Of course, no toilet paper, paper towels, or kleenex. But no broccoli, spinach, potatoes, zucchini, squash, or lemons. No milk, half and half, eggs, butter, or cheese. But weirdest yet in Texas – no tortillas? And no tortilla chips? Now I’m freaked.

But not to worry, I have my priorities straight and got all supplies we need for another 2-3 weeks. I hope.

In the meantime, not much happened at the house this past week except that we met with the septic guy, Shawn. We are installing an aerobic septic system that will take care of our needs from the house and the barn apartment. The benefits of the aerobic system is that the leach field is much smaller, it doesn’t smell, and the water, after being sanitized, is sprayed from sprinkler heads onto your lawn. From my limited reading, it seems that the aeration and disinfection stages are what makes it different from a traditional septic system. I’m hoping that Shawn will be able to begin work so that part of our home construction can continue. I’d hate for him to get behind in his work (sorry, I really couldn’t resist).

Wesley, our site supervisor, also dropped off (on the front porch) the stained sample door for us to look at and…….. I don’t like it. It’s too dark. Not enough gold? I don’t know. The above pics show the sample door against various pieces of furniture in our rental home, and it just isn’t quite right… Maybe I’m getting slap happy in this little rental house with John. So Wesley is going to try to get the paint/stain guy to see if he can lighten it up or they will take the sample can of stain back to Sherwin Williams (again) to see if they can get some more yellow in it to lighten it up.

As many have (according to what I’ve seen on Instagram, Pinterest, and my few forays back to Facebook), I’ve also begun giving our rental home a good cleaning. I like this book, The Complete of Clean, as it provides good advice not just for cleaning everything in your home, but also how to make your own cleaning solutions. They use natural ingredients like Pure Castile Liquid Soap (almond is my favorite scent), essential oils, vinegar, and rubbing alcohol. It’s actually been fun to create the various potions and the house really does smell great.

As we wait things out, I hope you are all doing well. They began announcing this evening that Austin and Travis County will be under a “shelter in place” order beginning tomorrow. I don’t know what that will mean for our home building project (and of course, we don’t want anyone to get ill because they came to work at our house!), but then we don’t live in and are not building in Travis County.

Pic from Austin – they now allow mixed drinks delivered with food.

John and I are lucky that we can both do our jobs from home – although my work is changing drastically as I’m obviously not traveling like I did before. I traveled over 19,000 miles just in January and February of 2020. Now I’m trying to figure out how I can take a two-day live training program and make it interactive from my desk in a tiny town in Texas for people in British Columbia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio in the next three weeks. But as my grandmother would say, “I’m blessed with work.” Hope you all are as well and stay safe.

Hugs, Libby

March 14, 2020

Cabinetry!!!!

Well I must begin by saying, first, I hope all of you are safe and sound as the Corona Virus cancellations are really picking up speed. From SXSW in Austin and the Spring Antique Show in Round Top, to the St. Patrick’s Day Parades in various cities, to numerous conferences cancelled – this social isolation is impacting many of our friends and family. Personally, all of my travel going forward has been cancelled until further notice and the two international conferences where I was invited to speak this spring have been cancelled or postponed. John and I both hope that the cancellations do have the intended impact of “flattening the curve” – meaning that it may not stop everyone from becoming infected (eventually) with COVID-19, but it will elongate the period of time it takes for everyone to be infected, and thus reduce the strain on our hospitals and healthcare system.

Moving onto happier topics, as mentioned in our last post, our cabinetry arrived and has been installed this week!

No seriously. I think I squealed and did an awkward jump into the air. Even John commented, “You don’t usually look that dorky.” Thanks, honey.

Shall we go through room by room? Yes, let’s… Let’s start with the heart of the home – the kitchen. We are really glad we went with the upcharge for the cabinets up to the ceilings. What are we going to keep in those glass front cabinets up top? No idea, but it sure does look perrty…

Back of the hood
Drawer microwave and fridge space
Sink and dishwasher

Just off the kitchen is the Butler’s Pantry. It’s basically a little bar area as well as a dish storage haven. It’s like a bigger version of the bar at the lake cottage, for those of you who have been there.

OK, maybe a much bigger version… Again, we really like these cabinets up to the ceiling. All the glass will be installed in the doors later, after they have been stained and varnished. All the wood (except for the outside kitchen) is knotty alder.

Moving into the library, John’s desk has been installed, as well as a wall of bookcases (a TV will be mounted in the middle section) and a corner set of bookcases too. These have file drawers on the one side for household documentation storage. I’m weirdly excited by this quirky little library/den. Makes me want to drive up North and get all of our books out of storage now!

The master bathroom and master closet also have cabinetry. In the master bathroom, we included built in medicine cabinets (again, the mirrors will be installed after staining and sealing), and I have a little vanity space as well. In the closet we included one built in (my antique dresser will also go in here).

The two other bathrooms have simple vanities. The vanity in the family bath (with a tub) will be painted, while the little one in the bar bathroom will be stained. The bar bathroom actually was designed to have a podium sink, and while I think they are lovely (we have one in our lower level bathroom at the lake cottage), they provide no storage at all. So we added this little two door vanity in at the last minute.

We also have a couple of built in benches. One is a window seat in the guest bedroom. I think this will be a lovely spot to sit and read a book, or it would be a great place for guests to get their suitcases up off the floor. The other bench is in our mudroom, right outside of our laundry room. It will be a place for us to sit and take off dirty shoes from hiking around the property.

Guest room window seat

Speaking of the laundry room, I’m loving this one. I’ve never had a laundry room with a window (our garden will eventually be on that side of the house – so it will be fun to look out at that). Here we did not opt to pay the extra money for the cabinetry to go to the ceiling, nor did we upgrade the drawers to soft close, but since it will only be John and myself using this room, I think it was a good place to economize.

The great room has two areas of cabinetry – the bar and the built ins around the fireplace. But first, our bar from the Lodge – the first bar we ever designed. It was a fantastic and often used focal point of the great room in our home of 20 years.

This one is a little bigger in length and about a foot bigger in depth. We decided to not be so squished between the front bar and back bar on this round. We also included some bottle drawers for the bar.

The bookcases on either side of the great room fireplace will hold our turntable, records, and maybe some games. There is a gap on either side of the fireplace because they will be installing stone around the fireplace all the way back.

And finally, the cabinetry for the outside kitchen was installed. At the end, we decided to cut out the exterior cooktop – John wants a grill/smoker and that cannot be put right next to the house. So instead, we opted to have a TV wall mounted here and it will be a nice place to put food out for a buffet (we have outlets for crockpots, hot plates, etc.) and it will have an outdoor refrigerator, sink, and garbage/recycling. The wood for the outside cabinetry is cypress. The front of this bar will be stone, matching the stone on the great room fireplace (inside) and chimney (outside).

The only other thing that was not delivered, was the living room mantle. It will look very similar to the bottom of the kitchen range hood.

Having the cabinetry in place has really helped us get a sense of the rooms, how we will functionally use them, and what we can see from various points of view (like the living room fireplace, for example). In short, it has really helped the shell of the house feel much more like a home. We know that trajectory will continue as the painters and stainers will be arriving Monday to begin painting everything (which is estimated to take two weeks).

With all that cabinetry, now you can see why we took so long to find a wood stain, right? There are a few painted pieces of cabinetry (although John is hesitant because, as he says, why would we paint such beautiful wood?), but the majority will be stained.

We’ve also decided to change our window sills from painted to stained. While the baseboards and trim around the doors will all be painted, we wanted to add a bit more of the stained wood look in at the windows. Above are a few examples we found on the internet (sorry – I don’t remember now where I found them so I cannot give photo credit).

So that’s our update for now. Stay safe and healthy and thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Libby

March 7, 2020

New Garage Doors on the Barn!

This week we were excited to see our new garage doors installed on the barn.

They are a little browner than we expected, but we were told that they will fade a smidge (is that the same as a just noticeable difference or jnd? Not sure…), so we are happy with the color we chose.

From the inside, you can see that the middle garage door will go straight up, giving John lots of headroom in his work space.

They also (finally) cleaned up the garbage from in front of our house.

It’s nice to take a photo of the house exterior and not have a mound of trash in the image…

We’ve also been spending lots of time at the local paint store. We’ve decided on the house colors, but finding the right color stain has been more challenging.

As we left the store today, I told the employee who has made us quart after quart of stain that I guessed he was hoping to never see us again. He smiled and replied, “I didn’t say that. You didn’t hear me say that.” My response was, “not out loud.” But it is really important to get the stain right because (drumroll, please) the cabinets arrived and were partially installed this week! And there are a lot of them, so the stain needs to be right from the beginning. But more on that later.
In the meantime, thanks for stopping by!!
Hugs, Libby

March 2, 2020March 2, 2020

Choosing Interior Colors

This weekend John and I began selecting paint colors and stains for the house. So. Many. Choices.

Kitchen looking towards the living room and front door.

Since we have a semi-open concept, we’ve decided to select one color for the living room, dining room, kitchen, butler’s pantry, hallway, laundry room, etc. This means that the color needs to go with a lot of different colors (and oriental rugs).

Colors 1 and 2 are the contenders for this large space. The last photo also shows a cabinet door we like from an antique piece of furniture we own. John wasn’t super pleased to see that antique Lilihan rug laid out in the dust, but trust me, it’s fine…

For the great room and bar bathroom, we wanted to do warmer and richer tones to compliment the stone we’ve selected for the fireplace and the slate-looking tile for the bathroom. Also, I typically like warmer (red and orange-based) accents in a bar rather than cool shades.

Another room we’d like painted differently is the library. There won’t be that much wall space showing with all the bookcases, but for the drywall that does show, we’d like a rich tobacco color that really makes the room feel rich and cozy. There are 4 windows in the small library, so I think the room can take such a saturated color.

And finally, we are trying to select a color for our master bedroom and bathroom. I was thinking of going for a spa-like feel, but to be honest, we are headed back to the drawing board because neither John nor I were terribly excited by these options.

Other than the wood stain consideration, we are trying to think through what colors will look nice with these stained glass windows that will go in our bedroom and bathroom (photos taken from our previous home).

Speaking of stained glass, we have a set of these 4 beauties for our great room windows too.

Pic from our previous home’s living room

Cousins Linda and Melanie stopped by on Sunday (with the men-folk) and gave me their votes, but I would love to hear what you think as well! Or if you have any color suggestions for our master bedroom and bathroom that will compliment those 3 windows above…

By the way, while I was writing this blog post on the porch at the ranch, John was treasure hunting (aka, looking at rocks), and found this near where dozens of workers have been working. Crazy! Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Libby

February 29, 2020

The Beam is Gone, Fireplace is Replaced, & Walls are Ready for Paint

This week the mudding continued on all the drywall in the house. They are cranking through it because the cabinetry will be arriving next week. Hooray!!!!

We had to decide what texture we wanted on the walls and we chose the smoothest option, called orange peel. 🍊 Our builder also does curved corners on the corners of walls and cased openings, which we actually like.

Our wall options
The curved corners

The other big development this week is that the beam was removed. Why did we have to remove it? Well, as we got into the building process, we realized that rather than use this heavy beam, we could do scissor trusses in the ceiling and not have that heavy thing literally hanging over our head.

We also realized that our builder had put the same sized fireplace in the great room as the living room and master bedroom. Ooops – hey, that was supposed to be a larger firebox in the great room than in the other rooms. So, sorry, but we needed them to yank out the old, smaller firebox.

The 36” firebox
Pulling off the drywall
42” firebox
Out with the old and in with the new

Our chimneys also were capped, and finished this week.

Finally, the barn’s exterior is almost done as they worked on the soffit of the barn and cut openings for the light fixtures.

This weekend we will be deciding interior paint colors and stain colors for the cabinetry and exterior doors. Speaking of doors, we also ordered our interior doors, which will take 4 weeks to arrive.

So next we will post some paint samples as we get them on the sample boards. Let’s see what y’all like!

Thanks for stopping by! Hugs, Libby

February 24, 2020

Appliances are Ordered!

I’m not sure who is happier that I’m home from my recent trip to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory – me or John. Sometimes I’m just too far away…

John and I share our locations with each other, and on some of my long trips, it’s comforting to see where he is. So, no, it isn’t stalking… 😜

And it isn’t easy getting to or from the Yukon Territory. Adding to that, my flight from Vancouver to Dallas/Ft Worth was diverted to Denver to so they could remove an unruly passenger in handcuffs. So that was different…

But now that I’m home, it’s time to get focused on the ranch again and today I ordered all of our appliances. All of them.

It’s an exciting and slightly frightening experience to spend that much money at one time. And I double and triple checked the order again and again before finalizing everything. Wondering what’s coming?

Although I went back and forth on a separate cooktop and wall ovens, when I saw the ilve (pronounced ill-vay) range, I was sold. We will be receiving a 48” Italian ilve dual fuel range with double ovens and a full warming drawer. As you can see in the YouTube video above, it has lots of bells and whistles, plus we are getting the midnight blue range with brass accents. Gorgeous!!

And we are getting an LG refrigerator that makes craft ice (as shown in the video above). I wondered about the door in a door feature, but our friends Miste and Dennis say they really enjoy and use that feature in their refrigerator. And did I mention that it makes craft ice?

Other appliances include two panel-ready Bosch dishwashers (one for the kitchen and one for the bar), an ice maker for the bar, a small deep freezer for the pantry, and under counter refrigerators for the bar, butler’s pantry, and outdoor kitchen.

Tomorrow we will meet our site supervisor at the house to discuss the next phases of construction. But in the meantime, thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Libby

February 19, 2020February 19, 2020

Home for 27 Hours

Well, I meant to get a post done Monday, on Presidents Day, but since I was only home for all of 27 hours (during which I slept, did laundry, repacked for a vastly different destination, and visited the home site), I’m now writing this on a plane.

What a difference a day makes. I did training in George Town, Cayman Islands (and tacked a few days on the beach on afterwards) and now am flying to Whitehorse, Yukon Territories, Canada. Above is a time stamp of the weather at the same time in the two locations.

First, Grand Cayman was beautiful and we celebrated John’s birthday and Valentine’s Day, in addition to my work.

At one island restaurant, The Wharf, guests were invited to feed the tarpons.

While 7 mile beach is beautiful and the weather was consistently 82 degrees and sunny everyday, John and I both found the island very expensive. Almost gouging. Especially the restaurants and the cabs (there is no Uber or Lyft). The one really nice meal we had was at Tille’s on St. Valentine’s Day.

Back home, we were anxious to see the progress at the house and barn, and we were not disappointed.

Living room fireplace
Living room
Looking into the dining room
Looking into the kitchen
Entryway looking into the library and bedroom
Library
Looking into the master bedroom
Looking into the master bathroom
Master bathroom
Master bedroom fireplace
Kitchen
Kitchen
Hallway
Behind the bar
Bar
Great room fireplace
Great room

Finally we can REALLY see the size of the rooms, even if we do miss being able to walk through the walls.

We are wondering when they are going to remove the beam from great room… And somewhere our master bathroom tub, tub faucet, and kitchen sink have been delivered, but Wesley must be keeping those items somewhere else for the time being.

The barn has recessed lights installed on the outside porches and they have begun the exterior soffits as well.

So that’s my short update from a quick trip home. Thanks again for stopping by!

Hugs, Libby

February 13, 2020February 13, 2020

Drywall Begins and the Barn Gets Dried In

Before leaving on yet another trip (which will be highlighted in my next post), John and I went by the farm to see the power path and other progress last Saturday.

The path that Travis cut for the power poles looks great and even if that isn’t the way we ultimately get our power, it will be a fun and easy path to get to the far east side of our property.

The barn is really coming along! The windows and doors (except for the big garage doors) are all in and the walls of the apartment are up. I think the living room will be a really nice size and I love the view off the private barn porch.

I also really like how the colors of the barn complement the colors of the house. I freaked a little, worrying that the barn is too close to the house, but John assures me that it will be very convenient for him as he works in his man cave, errr, I mean, barn.

Other progress included the drywall being installed on the ceilings and some of the walls. I didn’t stay in the house very much while they worked (seriously, these people should wear face masks with all that drywall dust), but I did see that the cement board is also installed around all of the shower/tub areas of the house as well.

It will be exciting to get back from this trip (which will cover John’s birthday and Valentine’s Day) and see the progress and other goodies that are getting delivered (I’m lookin’ at you, cast iron tub!).
Until then, thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Libby

February 7, 2020

Progress from Toronto

This week I’ve been on the road (or in the air) to Toronto for work. If you haven’t been, Toronto is a beautiful, clean, and safe city. It is Canada’s largest city – basically their NYC – but without all the crime or rude people. 🙂

In addition to doing two days of training, I also spoke at a conference about economic development and supporting small businesses. The conference included a reception at the Hockey Hall of Fame, which probably would have been more interesting if I actually followed or watched hockey. But I did hold a hockey stick for the first time in my life and play the interactive game – even scoring 3 out of 8 pucks!

Of course, while I’m away, work continues at the farm. One significant development is that the fireplaces were finally delivered and installed. Hooray! The living room and master bedroom fireplaces will be at the floor level, while the great room fireplace will have a raised hearth.

With the fireplaces installed and house truly dried in, now the drywall can begin. Oh man, does that mean I need to start selecting paint colors? Not ready!

While I was away John and Travis (aka, “bestie”) were clearing a path for the electrical cooperative to run their poles. Before I left, John and I hiked the path from our home and barn to the closest electrical pole on the neighbor’s yard. Then, with Travis, John decided whether to veer left or right to avoid the large oaks on the property. I’m really looking forward to getting back and hiking the path!

And of course, John found still more tooled ancient artifacts – this one just in front of the long porch!

So that’s our progress this week! I’m sure we’ll have lots more progress to share in the coming weeks. As always, thanks for stopping by and we’ll see you soon!

Hugs, Libby

February 1, 2020

Heavy Metal Week!

John and I have been visiting the house site most days and were surprised to find the roofers at work last Saturday. It was interesting watching the standing seam being created on the job site.

So what exactly is a standing seam roof and why did we choose to have one? Standing seam metal roofs are different from other metal roofs in that there are no exposed fasteners – they are hidden under the “standing seams” or vertical legs that rise over the panels flat areas. Easily one of the biggest benefits of standing seam metal roofing is the fact that no fasteners are visible on the surface, which means they aren’t exposed to UV, moisture, wind, and other elements that can cause a fastener to wear or fail over time. Also, standing seam systems don’t put holes in the panels that are protecting your home. Plus, some people see fastener heads as unsightly and this roof has a sleeker, smoother look.

Another benefit of this kind of roof is its longevity. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, we are making choices that are intended to make our home as maintenance free for as long as possible. This roof has a 30 year warranty, but others have told us we can expect it to last 40 years or more.

And finally, this roof is energy efficient as it reflects back the sun’s rays and reduces the radiant heat that normal, asphalt shingle homes absorb – something that is important for hot Texas summers. It’s also fire resistant – another important consideration when building in an area of the country that is prone to wildfires.

The downsides to this type of roof are that the roof costs more (maybe 30% more than a regular metal roof with exposed fasteners?) and takes longer to install as it is much more labor intensive. But overall, we are happy that we made this investment and won’t have to be worrying about leaks and replacing all of the fasteners in 7 years time.

The other significant progress this week was the barn construction. The exterior has been wrapped in the metal siding and the interior of the apartment has begun to be framed out. Seeing all the 2X4 framing feels like deja vu all over again.

Once again, mistakes were made, but this time we opted to roll with most of the aberrations and hopefully make those mistakes work for us. This mostly involved moving windows around and creating an entryway for the apartment so the door would fit. I’m not sure why they installed and framed some windows before the siding went up and why they will cut out the walls for others…

The barn is also getting a standing seam roof. I can’t believe they got all of this done in a week! Once the roof is on we will be able to move some items out of storage and into the garage. And it’s good timing too since we just ordered our master bathroom tub and kitchen sink.

Finally, we ordered our garage doors. Holy cow – those were expensive. Thankfully, they went on special, just in time for the big garage door expo, so we saved some money there. We really debated about the doors – do we punt and get something cheaper? But the doors will be visible from the (future) pool area as well as our master bedroom porch and they aren’t the kind of thing you upgrade in 2 years because even cheap garage doors aren’t really all that cheap. We ordered steel insulated doors that will make up to a 14 – 17 degree difference inside John’s work space. This was another “one and done” sort of house choice.

So that was our house progress this week. Drywall should begin next week (as soon as our fireplaces get delivered and installed) and the master bathroom tub will get delivered as well. Since I’ll be on the road (or more accurately, in the air) for work, I’ll have to rely on John to take photos for me. 🙏

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Libby

January 30, 2020

2019 Travel in Review

Today John and I traveled to Houston to renew our passports. As soon as we got back from our cruise last November, we probably should have sent our passports in for renewal, but alas my team was trying to schedule some work travel so I was waiting to see how that all worked out.

PSA: do not renew at the Passport Offices. Ugh – it was a long and tedious day. But it takes 3-4 weeks to get your passport back even when you pay for it to be expedited and my life doesn’t work like that at this point in my life/career.

Within the span of three weeks I’ll travel to Toronto, Grand Caymen Island, and back to Canada in the Yukon province. I haven’t traveled for work since my Halloween trip to Ottawa, Canada, which has been unusual and definitely spoiled me. It was also great timing since it has been important to be at the house site to find and fix those things that were either forgotten or not installed correctly.

Looking back at 2019, I flew 126,760 miles and drove another 10,000 miles as we prepared our home of 20 years for sale and moved into our rental home in Texas. I visited 19 states (plus the District of Columbia), 5 countries outside of the US, and spent 112 nights in hotels (51 of those nights apart from John).

Images from Curitiba, the Brazilian rainforest, and Rio de Janeiro

Looking back over 2019, my favorite trip was definitely our 12 days/nights in Brazil. First – John went with me, and I would not have wanted to go that far away for so long without him. Second, it was a great mix of work and pleasure and my first time delivering a keynote address. Even John gave a last minute keynote after the other international speaker missed a flight and wasn’t going to make it. And I definitely improved my Portuguese language skills.

Speaking at the My Innova (My Innovation) Summit in Curitiba, Brazil

I had been invited to speak at a conference in Cairo, Egypt in June 2019 and am sorry that I couldn’t go (it was a week before the new owners closed on our house so all hands had to be on deck to get us packed and out of there). But I would love to see Cairo someday.

Pics from John’s birthday trip to Washington DC

My favorite domestic trip in 2019 was to Washington DC. I had to travel to DC for work the week of John’s birthday and by happy coincidence, it turned out that Lauren was going to be in Washington at the same time to see her (and John’s) alma mater play basketball. So I convinced John to join me and surprised him with tickets to the same game – but of course the big surprise was seeing Lauren!

Who knows how much I/we will travel in 2020. Where are some of your favorite destinations? Or what was your favorite trip in 2019? I would love to hear your thoughts! And as always, thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Libby