Rest for the Weary

If you’ve read the previous blogs in my remodeling series, you know we’ve been working on a fixer upper since last October.  We originally planned to spend at least a year or more, getting it to the point it is in today.  Things jumped into the fast lane in January, when our son, Stephen, announced that he and his fiancee, Liz, had decided to have their wedding at the Cullman house.  Not only that, the wedding would take place on May 31st, only 4 months away!  I think everyone panicked except me.  I thought we had plenty of time to get everything done.  I was, of course, wrong!

It was planned as an outdoor wedding so there was quite a bit of pressure to get the yard right.  By “right”, I mean tolerable.  The lawn had been badly neglected so I knew there wouldn’t be lush green grass for everyone to walk on.  I made a valiant effort in sowing a 50 lb. bag of seed over two acres for four weekends in a row, but it just didn’t happen.  The temperatures stayed cooler for longer this spring and there were heavy rains after every seeding.  Seeds float well, so I have some beautiful grass coming up on the lower end of the property.

I ended up lowering my target to removing all the honeysuckle, poison ivy, and tree stumps to avoid trips and rashes.  We accomplished that goal pretty well but it was still a lot of work.  We put up an arbor under a tall sycamore tree which just happened to have a climbing rose-bush that had miraculously survived the overgrowth purge.  I found the arbor to be an amazing “female magnet”.  As the guys worked on the house or yard, you could quite often look down at the arbor and see a group of ladies discussing how to decorate it.  Countless hours seemed to go into that process for a fifteen minute ceremony.  Another thing I noticed as the ladies worked on the arbor, the most minute changes or additions had to “sit” and wait a period of time for approval.   The arbor came together beautifully for the wedding, but was only finished the day before!

  

It was really the first time the house had “guests” so we had list after list of small things to get done.  Things like putting door knobs on bathroom doors, placing light fixtures in multiple rooms, painting walls, putting baseboards down, etc.  We even cleaned and painted the two car garage as a backup just in case of bad weather.  In the end, we pulled it off with only a slight case of exhaustion.  We even coined the time change of “A.W.”  Next May will be year 1 A.W. (After Wedding).  If you would like to see a short video summary of the wedding, click here!

Judy and I have taken these past two weeks trying to rest and recuperate.  It’s difficult to adjust to the “empty nest” lifestyle but I’m quickly getting the hang of it.  I do know we have a spare bedroom that is the cleanest I’ve seen it in years!

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the work and wedding.  The list is long and I’ll not name anyone for fear of forgetting even one.  But from the bottom of our hearts, Judy and I appreciate all the help.  For all you other empty nesters out there, “Let’s party!”

Thanks for stopping by!