Stilly River still hasn't beaten a path through the piled up boxes and furniture in that room to do anything--yet. My sweat equity in the house is to paint (finished most of that) and do the floor tiles myself. Slow, hard, messy work, and I have two rooms down so far. When I finish the cut tiles around the edge and the grout in the next day or two I can begin moving some furniture into my office (I still have to seal the floor in a week, so won't move so much furniture that I have trouble reaching all of the grout lines).

I've calculated that I'll save about $10,000 by doing the tile myself. It's expensive to have others come do it, and this is a big house. Perhaps some of that savings can be applied to the piano, once I reach it. It was still remarkably in tune when we moved it in mid-March.

I have to say that this house is going to be even better than we thought. It's a wonderful space, and the yard, neglected for years, is full of small mammals, birds, lizards, frogs, toads, and non-venomous snakes. I'm sure we'll find some of the other sort also, but my kids are learning about all of these things. A creek at the bottom of the yard is the property line. I'll be landscaping with native and adapted xeriscape plants (and have my eye out for the "early-bird specials" in the Saturday newspaper garden section!). I've remodeled, adding an office and a sunny workspace for all of our sewing and crafts. Perhaps when I get enough space clear of boxes of tile and bags of thinset and grout I'll have to meet a few of the local Mudcatters and have them test the acoutics of the space.

Spare time? What's that?

Maggie