Sewing Days

Several of Gillian's friends are going to be coming to the retreat for a couple of sewing days. I'm going to offer them a choice of 2 of these terrific patterns to work on, and I'll be supplying 3-4 of the sewing machines. It should be a fun couple of days. We were originally supposed to have it this week, but, as you can see by the previous post...we're moving this week. We have a small window of opportunity to get everything moved on Alex's (son-in-law) day off. Spring Break was perfect timing, but now it looks like it's going to have to be Memorial Day weekend. At any rate, these are the cutest patterns by Valori Wells and I think think the girls will have a good time.

We're Moving!

After almost a year of trying to obtain a construction loan to build on our 8 acres, we've finally thrown in the towel. We've had permanent financing in place for the past 8 months, but no one is giving interim loans on naked real estate. Not even short term. I will say that the builder mentioned he knew a guy, who knew a guy, who was a "hard money lender" and he'd be happy to give us a short term loan at 15% interest. His name was Nick "Knuckles" Something-or-other. I'm not kidding. Except maybe for the 'knuckles' part.

Anyway. Our neighbors of 25 years put their house and land on the market 18 months ago, but haven't been able to sell it. The house has been empty for all that time, even though they lowered the price several times. I've been promoting it to the various retreaters that I've had at the retreat, but no takers.

During the night last Wednesday, it occurred to me that maybe we weren't supposed to build. Maybe we were supposed to buy. But we don't want to leave our little 1/2 mile stretch of dirt road in the woods. BUT there are two houses on our road that are for sale. One is on less than 3 acres, with a gorgeous 4 yr old Italianesque house on it, (for almost a mil!) and the other is our friends' 25 year old Texas farmhouse on 8 acres. It abuts the far end of our 8 acres, so the location is perfect. We went to look at it as buyers instead of neighbors and who'da thunk it - it's perfect for us! And they'll finance it at a very competitive rate, and to top it off - we can start moving in now - even before we close!

3200 sq.ft., 2 story, front and back wrap-around porches, a screen porch, an almost 800 sq ft living room (plenty of room for my grand piano), a huge game/media room, an extra bedroom (we've NEVER had that), and I'll have 2 sewing spaces: a small studio in the house along the back porch, with French doors, as well as a longarm studio in the garage.

This is the view from Gillian's window towards the pond and Spring Creek.Anyway - from the time the thought popped into my head til we close at the title company will be a grand total of five (5) days. It was meant to be! So now, we'll have 16 acres with 3 houses, including the retreat. My oldest daughter and her family will be living in the log cabin for the next couple of years, and after that...who knows? Off to the hardware store to buy paint, and then to start moving!