It has been three years since we packed up all our possessions and moved into our little cabin in the woods.

With each load, our pick up truck and the flatbed trailer in tow were heaped so high with our junk, we looked more like the Clampets than empty nesters with a dream.

The dream was one we shared, discussed and visualized all our lives.  We had sketched and researched, scrimped and saved.

Finally, it was happening.  We had sold our home and were headed for the Hills!

Better than Beverly Hills, our own little piece of isolated paradise tucked in the Green Hills of Missouri.

Our budget warned us that it was not going to be easy, these were some big dreams.

We would be doing a lot of work, very hard work.

Many nights we would go to bed soooo exhausted and with soreness in places that we didn’t know existed.

Only to greet the next morning with mysterious bruises ready to hit it again.

We were lucky to finally get some help…  We recruited these 2 helpers who agreed to work in exchange for popsicles.  One day they will share bragging rights!

During the week Sir-Lots-a-Wit would seek asylum at his desk job as a reprieve from the evenings and weekends.

From the front door of our crooked little cabin, we watched for 8 months as our future home became weather tight.  When the dry wall was complete, the crews all went home and our work was just beginning.

That was just two and a half years ago.

Last weekend we finished the final fireplace.  The only big thing left is the basement flooring.

From here on out what’s left seems minor, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel and that light gets brighter with each day!

My part of this fireplace was the design.

Sir Lots-a-Wit did all the framing, ran and connected the flues, made the mantle and supports.

Then he closed it in with the cement board, used a gazillion screws on the lath.

Covered the lath with mortar, then began with the rock.

It was a long and dusty process.

That mantle and the supports under it?  Last fall we were walking through the woods and found an oak tree that had fallen near the back of our property.

Blink if you know the rest of the story….

We used a downed tree for the fireplace mantle in the living room too –

but this one is a little longer,

a little rougher,

with a little more WOW effect.

For now, he can stand back and admire his work with one hand on that mantle and the other holding a Bud, just in time for football season.

As for me?  This will be my new happy place.

When you hear the north wind start to howl and the leaves turn to a crimson red – you can find me right there – to the left of the fire on the gorgeous dark gray seat – sipping my hot chocolate and dreaming of basement flooring.

When you are working at fulfilling your dreams, you never think of quitting – not even once.

Thank you Sir Lots-a-Wit for another job well done!

*****

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