Another Lifetime to go

1st July 2018

I met up with George, my miracle man builder. Not that he is a miracle builder, but that he is still alive. He should have been pushing up daisies many times, experimental drugs, and sheer bloodymindedness have kept him sucking air.

Earlier in the day I had shared my sketches of the house conversion with the family over lunch. They were positively received which was a relief, Dave however reserved his excitement, and wanted to ponder over the drawings for a bit longer. I was pleased at the prospect of taking it to the next stage.

George and I walked around looking at the site with him taking measurements and muttering positive things. We talked about property lines and boundaries all of which will not be violated. I explained that this has to be an exercise of pragmatism, of being creative and to a very tight budget. I learnt from my own cottage experience that materials costs have risen, so we will have to recycle as much as we can, and find materials locally to keep the costs down.

I am determined that this project will provide us with the space to make us smile everyday, it will bring together Kelli’s love of everything old, with mine of modern and minimal. It had been a lifelong ambition of mine to build my own home, and this might be my last chance.

Later Kelli ran out to me, as I was watering the plants, her eyes were glistening, I thought, “oh no, bad news”. ” He said yes we can” she teared and laughed at the same time.

Suddenly there was a flash of reality, we could move another step, and I would have to do more work.

In between all that we drove to Hudsonville to pick up an old dresser to work on. It is in need of some careful love and attention, but that’s what we do. As we carried it to the truck, Kelli said “Why are we doing this in 92 degrees?” I don’t think I had the energy to respond.

30th June 2018

Another pilgrimage to Uncommon Ground for my Latte, a chance to catch my thoughts, and why it is so cold inside? People complain in the winter about the snow and long for the summer , but when it arrives, they complain about the heat, and turn up the cold.

My progress on the furniture front has been slow due to moving furniture out of Tin Roof, but mainly thinking about an even larger project.

This has come quite by accident, but driven by the desire to give Kelli some security after we are married. There was a proposal to buy the house that she rents, and has been living in for the past six years. The landlord decided he didn’t want to sell yet, and we wouldn’t want to pay the current evaluation anyway, so lateral thinking began.

I was kite flying one day, and suggested that we add a floor to Kelli’s parents house. There is a large garage and kitchen area that could have an additional floor to match that of the main house. I left it at that. A few days later, when I was using the saw to trim some panels, Kelli came out all excited. “I’ve just mentioned your idea to mom and dad, and they haven’t said no”. Now that apparently is a big deal. Dave does not make decisions quickly, so not getting a negative response, or “I’ll have to think about it” is a good start.

So my project is to come up with drawings to show what it could look like, Kelli on the other hand has started a Pinterest folder, and chosen the curtains and furniture already. The evenings now consist of scouring the site for food(always popular with me) furniture ideas, and now interior designs. I can see much more wine and chocolate being consumed.

There is a lot to consider, and I have started pacing out the plot to check what is possible.

After doing the cottage refurbishment I said never again, I guess my big mouth has started something.

29th June 2018

A scorcher, 94 deg, fantastic if there is absolutely nothing to do, but it only takes the activity of thinking to bring out the sweat.

Kelli had to work at the bookstore, and I had a lunch appointment with Dave.

Two birthdays to celebrate, one was Kelli’s son Cameron, the other her mother, Georgia.

I have the job of watering the plants, so the evening is the best time. All around the fireflies flash, and it freaked me out. Out of the corner of my eyes I could see the flashes, they were all around, I thought I was having a stroke. It is an amazing sight, and the tree frogs make the soundtrack for the night.

28th June Thursday

We picked up the last of our furniture from Tin Roof, and handed in our exit feedback form. I sat down at breakfast to draft out the answers to the questions, Kelli then re-wrote them in American so they didn’t cause an international incident.

There was a feeling of release, a new chapter, and I think it’s about time we had a bit more control over our pieces.

We had someone turn up to look at a small table we had advertised. It turned out that she was acting for a friend who was looking for a small dining table. The one we had was not the right size, but we offered to modify another table to bring it up to dining height, we are waiting to hear on that.

I finally finished putting together the monolith, it is now much stronger and ready for completion.

In the evening we met up with Steve K and his wife Jackie for a meal at the Saugatuck brewing company. Chris, our musician friend was performing his original music. Chris is going to sing at our wedding, but he hasn’t learned the songs, guess I better buy some new guitar strings.

27th June 2018

Sold another piece direct today. This was a simple bookcase that had been in the Tin Roof. As part of our restructure we removed it, and Kelli advertised it on Facebook, and we met up with the lady in Grand Haven. On the way back we stopped off at Goodwill, the first time this trip for me.

Goodwill has the same effect as a visit to Ikea, in that you will always come out with something. This is Kelli’s heaven, a place of unlimited potential, and somewhere where she knows most of the staff by name. All of the glassware and plates for our wedding have been acquired here. Today it was furniture. First off was a small round table, then a wooden framed mirror. We looked around for plastic containers for our foray into mixing our own chalk paint. By now my arms were full, and my fingers ached from carrying the mirror. Kelli moves up and down the isles like a great white stalking its prey. She stopped. This is never a good sign for me, but this time I was unable to carry any more. She had found three hideous metal plant stand/tables. “Oh my god no” I thought, I saw her smile, I tried to appear interested hoping that she would take a second look, and move on. That didn’t happen, those things were coming with us, and there was nothing I could say to change her mind. In the past we have bought some “dogs” even though they were “cool” and the famous phrase ” This will sell quickly” has been used to death.

We transported our purchases back, and I took some pictures of them. “These will be gone by the weekend” she said confidently as she posted them on Marketplace. Within half an hour someone was interested, and within two hours it was sold and picked up.

As the car drove away there was a smug look on her face, no words were said, but she knew that I knew she was right.

26th June 2018

Kelli is very particular about clothes, her closet is very extensive and precious. Every day she sets out her choices to wear, although the first is not necessarily what she ends up with.

I make fun of her habit of regularly changing throughout the day.

Today we were taking furniture out of the Tin Roof and driving up to Hudsonville. Being fashionable, Kelli wore a loose Kimono that flowed in the light breeze. It looked great, but practical, no. This was tested as we were carrying a bookcase into Painted Farmgirl. The sleeve slipped off her shoulder and hooked around the door handle. The offending garment almost swept items off shelves as she passed by, clearly a danger to her and everyone else. I think we both agreed that a Kimono is not good work clothes.

We reworked the booth completely, adding in the new furniture, I even tried on the Kimono, to which Kelli said I looked gay, I was tempted to keep it on.

Ever since new people have moved in to the house next door, the air conditioner has kept Kelli awake at night. This is not good, and required some drastic action. I suggested filling the fan full of rocks causing it to explode, or encasing it in concrete, but the solution is much less destructive. Now part of the nighttime routine is to cover the window with foam boarding and cushions. This seems to work, but means that it’s bloody dark in the mornings.

25th June Monday

Munching through the pasta salad at the book store, that Kelli had prepared the night before, she said “I expect you’ll be wanting a coffee soon”, “damn it! I’m so transparent ” I thought. I had just finished at a convenient place in my book when I was distracted by the food box opening. Kelli is always prepared for a famine, and brings food with her everywhere.

I was reading a book on the dust bowl disaster, so my throat was decidedly dry. I do feel guilty that I am able to wander about the town, and Kelli has to stay behind to serve the customers. I alway offer to bring something back, even though the last two times I brought back a decaf mocha, it sent her into a light headed frenzy for the rest of the day.

From my vantage point I can watch people walk by, and a lot of them have dogs. All shapes and sizes, colours and breeds. Some are large, many tiny, and of mixed heritage.

Some looked like they have been bred with their owners, and so ugly you don’t know which way they are facing.

Fortunately we finished at 3.00pm then rushed back home as the buyer for the dresser was due to collect. That all went smoothly.

The lady was delighted with her purchase, and with cash in her hand, Kelli was too.

24th June 2018

I continued on with the big cut. I had Supertramp blaring out, so I was in the groove, or on the line. I had cut through the vertical panels, with just the shelves to go. My mind went into “I think I have a better way” mode. I removed the oak frame around the front, this was relatively easy to pull off. Then I proceeded to lever the shelves out of their dowel locations. This worked, so I was able to lift out the subdivisions and set them aside. I was going to pat myself on the back, but first I wanted to reposition the main carcase, I had set it on an stool to make the cutting of the end panel easier. As I lifted it back up to vertical, the whole structure collapsed like a pack of cards.

I was left standing alone amongst a stack of panels. “Mmm,” I thought, ” I didn’t want that to happen”.

We drove over to our friend Bethanne because I had been volunteered to change some light switches out for new ones. Also there was a problem with the bathroom light and fan operating from one switch as opposed to two.

My electrical knowledge is a little limited in the UK but it is zero here, but I could give it a try.

First task was to find which circuit breaker controlled the supply. Twenty trips up and down the basement stairs finally nailed that one. I was happy that Kelli and Bethanne could sit at the bar and munch through a salad as I passed them multiple times. I managed to sort the problem out after some head scratching. The rest of the jobs were simple, so when we left, I was still alive.

23rd June 2018

I made a start on the monolith, the plan was to reduce the depth and turn into a hutch. I had done a similar thing before, and it sold pretty quick. So with my saw in hand I made a start on the long cut. Quite quickly I discovered that cutting through veneered chipboard was not so easy as plywood, it was harder to keep the blade on line. There were also more partitions to negotiate, but I carried on regardless.

We decided to move out of the Holland store and concentrate our effort on selling direct.

What swayed our decision was the comment that the person who had bought our island gave us. We asked her why she bought it direct from us rather than visit a store to buy it. Her answer was, she could see the piece more clearly from the image on-line, if it were in a store there would be more clutter and distractions. That was the point I had made. In the Tin Roof some furniture was lost in a mass of stuff piled on top, especially things like coffee tables which get covered in all sorts of crap, so much so that it become a display support for other items.

We went to Bethanne’s for dinner, and to listen to the problems she has with her daughter, a lot of this is familiar to Kelli who has had issues with Greer, but not to the same extent.

This was definitely a wine drinking time, unfortunately I had to wait until we got home, the a glass of white went right down the throat without touching the sides.

We usually wind down the evening watching Grace and Frankie, a series that had a thousand episodes, or that is how it seems.

22nd June 2018

Larry brought the truck back, the droning sound from the front wheels has been replaced by a groaning sound from my wallet. I feel I am rebuilding the vehicle one piece at a time. In all fairness it’s a small price to pay for what we expect it to do for us.

Kelli put on line a new piece that we had just finished. It was one we called “tobacco road” because it stank of smoke. The end result looked good, and in a short time someone bought it, or at least asked us to hold it until Monday. We had no shortage in people interested, so we could have sold it several times over.

This has made us think about how we sell things in the future. The two places we sell at currently have not been that successful, and as we have rent plus commissions taken out, consistent sales are essential.

Selling direct would be more profitable for us, so it will give us something to think about.

I just settled in for my evening cup of coffee when Kelli announced that she found a free furniture piece on Craigslist. It was 9.15pm, so gulping down a mouthful we rushed off to check it out. This is like a gold rush, the first to get there takes it, and god help anyone who gets in our way.

The address led us up to a place at the top of the world,to a house that was obviously being cleared. The piece stood like a monolith, tall, and effing heavy. It didn’t look heavy, until I tried to move it, it just didn’t budge. We both struggled to get it into the back of the truck, and with the aid of a bungy to hold the rear door down we made our way back.