Nine years have elapsed since I purchased the Cross House.

I have yet to spend a night in it.

Had some tarot reader predicted this I would have laughed. Impossible!

Yet, here I am in year #10 with nary a sleep-over.

The house was not livable when I purchased it: no heat and no plumbing. So…no.

The two Heritage grants were a ton ton ton of work, but all this work had nothing to do with getting me IN the house.Thus, more years passed.

I was certain I would move in at the end of 2021 but then I hired Cody, who would live in the Carriage House. Which…was unlivable at the time. I thus abandoned the Cross House and spent the last half of 2021 (and the first two months of 2022) furiously working on the Carriage House. It was a heady experience.

Through all this though I have remained constant in doing what needed to be done to get IN the house. Baby steps, man. Baby steps.

I resumed work on the Cross House in March, 2022, with the focus mostly on projects which would get me IN the house. Then I got very sick and everything slowed way down.

For months I then focused on decorating the library. I began this while very sick as everything else was too overwhelming. In short, I chose fun work rather than hard work.

With the library soon done (squee!!!!!!!!) I have been developing a plan of how to get IN by the end of the year:

• The house needs to be cat-proofed. This means making sure all the holes in the walls and ceiling are de-holed. In the four-story servants stair I need to make sure the cats can’t get to the basement and third-floor. If they do, I will not likely ever see them again.
• My bedroom closet needs to be done. I do not want to move all my clothes in, only to have to take everything out later to do the closet. The bedroom itself can be done later.
• My bathroom needs its floor refinished, the vanity installed, and a bidet purchased and installed. I can decorate after moving in.
• My office (the Round Bedroom) needs to be finished and decorated. The floor needs to be refinished, the plaster walls/ceiling repaired, and the room painted. I have zero desire to have this work done while the office is in use.
• The kitchen floor needs to be refinished.
• The cat fence needs to be finished. This will be my spring project. I will not, at this time, build out the north ‘room’.
• A winter cat house needs to be built in the basement.
• On top of all this I need to begin the laborious process of moving my business and ALL the lights to the Cross and Carriage houses. I will only start this when the list above is like 95% done.

NOTE: I refuse to panic over a year-end deadline. If I am able to move in by year’s end, great. If not, that will be OK, too, as long as progress has been made.