CHAPTER IV: I REMEMBER...

I remember waking up to...
But then again, maybe not.
It felt like I had been asleep for hours but probably only in actuality a few minutes.

I sat, almost dazed by the events of the night and I was no more cognizant of the causes than when I was still asleep in bed. What happened in the kitchen? How did the lights get turned back on? The undercounter ones too. Where was Kiki all that time?

I didn't know. I had NO answers, and most of me was almost afraid to go find out. I felt at ease in here, at least as at ease as one can be under the circumstances.

As I sit here, somewhere between fully awake and alert to...not exactly, I remember thinking back.

Back...

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It was a beautiful warm late spring day, that fateful day that Ryan Lassiter (my dutiful husband and best friend and...) and I came out here to join our realtor and see the house. I had told Billy (the realtor) what I wanted and although Ryan was a bit less sure of the wisdom of what I wanted than I, I was sure...and so it was.

As we approached the mammoth old beauty sitting majestically on her perch at the top of a very steep hill with a commanding view of the river at the rear and below and the gorgeous woodlands and valleys to either side. I was struck by the sheer mass of it. And the splendor. Really, this house DID carry a sense of majesty and I was in love from the first glance. Once through the massive gates, the driveway wound its way up the hill lined with big old trees which I imagined were probably Oak (I was right) and although the front yard was open space the grounds immediately near the house itself were festooned with a menagerie of trees and hedges and flower beds galore. It too struck me as gorgeous, although Ryan was more convinced that what IT REALLY WAS was a LOT of work. (He was right on this one but we have a great gardener and when needed a landscape crew so no biggie).

We drove up in the circle drive to the front portico which was elegant, and the double doors with sidelights beckoned I was convinced.

The house had not been vacant long which was fortunate since these old houses don't fare well if left unoccupied for an extended period. It had been in a single family for 4 generations (or maybe 5 I forget), and not until most had died out and the younguns who didn't live here anymore didn't want the place did it seem destined to change its future history.

The vestibule, nice size, opens into a grande foyer with a gorgeous set of twin spiral staircases leading up to the 2nd floor. Between the two staircases lies the coatroom and a service closet on either side and down the middle is the hallway to the Kitchen which traverses the main floor front to rear, and it is this hallway that I descended to tonight.

To the left side of the foyer through a large archway lies my home office and through another archway on the right lies the living room...and even then (and before I got my itchy fingers restoring and recreating and freshening it)...it always was and just feels really friendly. Only way I know how to describe it. It is and I suspect always has been a welcoming place, which makes sense. The living room or as they used to call it the parlor was where guests went upon arrival. None of this modern day coming in the back door and into the kitchen bullshit. OH HELL NO, not unless you were family or close to it. It was ALWAYS the living room where guests got entertained, catered to, refreshments served etc. It was a gathering room if you will, and it is now the Living (and we do) Room, that sorta serves to do what the old parlors did long ago...but I don't think anywhere nearly as well in most instances. Some yes, but there is a graciousness in these old living rooms that you just don't find anymore in the newer houses.

All in all, the house did NOT disappoint me (and I think even Ryan was won over although with him it is always a bit tough to tell. Is he simply being deferential to me, or does he really think thus and so. I CHOOSE TO BELIEVE, lol...)

Anyway, the further we went in our inspection tour that day, the more in love I felt...hopping and skipping gaily if you will...into our future, kinda dragging my dearly beloved along for the ride...LOL, he is such a putz sometimes but I love him to death.

As it turned out, and maybe a bit dubiously according to Ryan, there were no other offers (or as I called them suitors), and we made a generous (I thought and he thought WAY over budget) offer, but well below the asking price and was not sure if they would go for it, but they did...and I suspect those younguns mostly now in California were relieved to be rid of this old behemoth (my assessment from what Billy had told us) and so we had a new/old house...and took possession that very day (much to Ryan's consternation I still think).

Within a week, I had the place loaded with samples of wallpaper and fabrics and carpet and paint and ohmyGod. I thought hubby-poo was gonna have a STROKE. LOL.

Every night when he got home there I would be with my latest horde of patches and swatches and carriers full of this and that and he would just roll his eyes at me usually sitting on one of the floors SOMEWHERE in the recesses of my latest acquisition (Le HOUSIE) with my STASH all around me. 

I was as always SOOO ADORABLE.

NOT NUTS, as I know he was thinking. HeeHee.

Well, these things with these old houses take time so a tad over 2 years we are a work in progress...and I still have a ways to go but I am proud of the progress so far. That's my story and I am sticking to it, by God. 

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CONTINUE TO CHAPTER V: