Ross Makes A Decision
So, y’all know that the Cross House received two Heritage Trust grants, one in 2015, and one in 2017. The latter, sigh, is still ongoing. After almost giving myself an ulcer worrying about the December, 2019 deadline, I was given an extension until May, 2020. Then, whew, this was graciously extended until December, 2020!
The delay with the second grant was caused by the wholly unexpected and overwhelming amount of work to reshingle the south facade.
While all this has been going on, in the back of my mind I was thinking to boldly apply for a third grant! This would be to restore the exterior of the poor carriage house. Then…a few months ago, I thought: No, I should apply for a grant to restore the interior of the Cross House. This would finish the rewiring and plumbing, replaster the damaged walls and ceilings in every room (save the completed parlor and library), prime the walls and ceilings, restore the Lincrusta, replicate the missing parts to the main staircase, etc.
How fabulous would this be? (All this assumes that I actually get a third grant, which is incredibly competitive.)
But…but…since buying the house in 2014, my schedule has been largely dictated by the two back-to-back grants. In short, my time has not really been my own and I often feel like a hamster in one of those round spinning wheels, always racing to finish a grant line item.
The other day two questions popped into my head: Do you really want a third grant at this time? Or, would you like to take a year off, and do whatever you want?
And just like that, I knew the answer.
I am gonna skip applying for a grant in 2020. This means that 2021 (assuming life still exists on Earth) will be all mine. Then, in 2022 (ditto assumption) I will apply for another grant. And cross my fingers. And toes.
Thus, 2021 will be unique in my six years in the house: twelve months of projects entirely dictated by me. I will be able to do what I want, when I want. This thrills my Aquarian self, as Aquarians love freedom.
My focus will be to get my ass into the house. So, the cat fence will resume, a shower needs to be installed, and the Round Bedroom wholly restored so I can move my office into it. None of this is a huge amount of work, so I can still work on finishing the south facade and other projects.
Ross pleased.
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Well deserved!
Good decision!
I would so love to see you move into the house! Good idea to take some time off for yourself. You will return to your projects with fresh eyes and hopefully a rested body! I still need to get you that third floor kitchen window and I plan to bring my drone to get some shots of the house. Perhaps I can get to Emporia in the next few weeks. All the best to you!
Wonderful glorious news!
I am so happy you have made a decision to follow your heart and plan the flow of the work left to do!
Excellent news.
This sounds like a sound idea. You won’t have the stress of, I have to do this because I’m obligated to. You may just accomplish more!!
I love that you’re giving yourself a breather in 2021. With luck, you’ll have a list for 2022 that you’ll want to work on — and that 2020 and 2021 will get you closer to living in the house.
An excellent plan! Hopefully this will take some pressure off and allow you to enjoy setting your own pace and own goals for a year.
That sounds like a great idea! Good thinking. The outside work has been pretty crazy, it would probably feel really good to set your own agenda for a while.
YES! Excellent idea. Tara pleased for Ross!
Glad you have made it this far. Take time to refresh your batteries. Hope to see you in your house next year.
That is a great idea. Of course you won’t be sitting around doing nothing, the luxury of working on any project you choose and feel like doing at the moment will be less stressful than pushing yourself constantly to get the grant project done on time. What a wonderful feeling to be closer to moving into the Cross House. You might even take some time to sit on the front porch with a cup of coffee or glass of wine. Enjoy!
Hooray! Hooray! Wine! De-stressing! Woot!!
An excellent decision.😻😻
You do whatcha gotta do, my fine man! I felt relief for you just reading about your choice. Although, I must admit that I can’t wait for more interior work to start on the Cross House before the carriage house continues. Just think. A nice hot shower, then crawling in between crisp, clean sheets in the Long bedroom, and a cup of coffee in your (kinda maybe) cleaned up kitchen in the morning, pet a cat or two (or 3 or 4) on your way out the door in the morning to THEN get to leisurely saunter over to the carriage house to putz around. THAT would be a GOOD day!!!
Sanity break. Great idea. Everyone needs one once in a while, and it’s been a very long while for you.
Living in your project can be a blessing; when you decided to end your 14 hour workday, your bed is just down the hall, or maybe in your case, just inside the window, LOL… Won’t it be nice, the first night that you can sit on the porch in the twilight with a beverage of your choice, thank people passing for the kind remarks and compliments on your house, then go inside, look around, and think “I am finally home!” You deserve that. You’ve earned that.
Question. The shower situation. Would you put one in the old housekeepers room that will be your future master bath or just put a temporary quick fix elsewhere in the house? ( Like the basement bath? …is that the only functional toilet in the house at present too?). And what else needs to be worked on in the round bedroom for your office? Plaster and floor refinishing? AND how labor and time intensive will the chimney work be when you move back over to the north side? Gosh, I wish I had skills in any of those areas to help you move up your move-in date!
Also, besides the enormity of moving your business to cross house, does your present home present a challenge with loads to move ? i.e. Basement, attic…( In other words, are you a hoarder? Lo!) The last time I moved after living in “the Big house” ( my Queen Anne) for 25 years, I was able to slowly move things over to my new residence a little at a time over the course of three months , and it was so much easier. Do you need to sell your present home? Was unsure if you rented.
Boy! That was a nosey bunch of inquiries. I stopped just short of asking you for your social security number and weight! Lol.
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👍👍!!
Nuff said! Lol..
Brilliant decision. I am so thrilled about the great and long awaited move in. Yea!!!!!!!!
I think this is a good idea. Work on your priorities on your schedule. Also, as you move forward with these priorities it’s OK to remind folks about how we can donate funds to the cause! I get a lot of pleasure reading your blog, I think there are a lot of us who wouldn’t mind a prompt to support the Cross House restoration.
Seconded! Please can you remind us how to donate to the kitty fence, Ross?
Hi, Katie!
Just above the comments is a green GoFundMe square, to the left. Just click on it.
And thank you!!!!!!!
I am thrilled about these timelines because I myself drive 40-55 minutes each way to work and can think of a million things I’d rather be doing.