It's done at last. As of the last day of our Ocean Springs stay, the errrant contractor is gone! He is out of our lives! Now we just have minor things to attend to from a distance, which would be true even of a brand-new house. Setting all nasty commentary aside, the errant contractor did do good work when he worked. The house is beautiful. It has gone from being an eyesore to the crown jewel of the neighborhood. Seeing the house finished was an emotionally overwhelming experience which left Jennifer in tears much of the day. Part of it was the release of two years of stress and aggravation. Most of it was knowing the house now looks better than my dad ever dreamed it could, and he isn't here to see it. While we know he would have been more fired up about the contractor woes than even we were (and we were pretty darn fired up), we also know the house would make him swell with pride...and it makes us feel his absence in a way we hadn't felt as yet.
Thank you to all who have offered and given moral support during this ridiculous process, not least to Mary who has repeatedly housed and fed us and listened to the griping throughout. Without further emotional ado, here it is:
We hope to settle in for a good hiatus from Ocean Springs now, planning to return by fall next year to visit friends only (and not deal with any house issues, inshallah!). In January, the house will be on the market for renters (no good trying to sell in this market, even if we wanted to), so please keep your fingers crossed we get some good ones. Of course, if you have a hankering for small town life with good community and a family-friendly atmosphere where the weather is lovely this time of year, you know who to call. There could be a brand-new, fully inspected and certified four bedroom house on the bayou with an amazingly huge back porch with your name on it.
4 comments:
WOOO-HOOO!! So happy that it's done, and it IS beautiful! Thanks for sharing the pictures with us. Also, just noticed the list of foodie sites...thank you for that too, from a fellow foodie :)
Karly
Even though I immediately started browsing your foodie site list, I had to post again...Simply Recipes has a peppermint bark chocolate cookie recipe and I am now officially in heaven! Thanks again for sharing the list of sites :)
Karly
That list is all for you, darlin'! I thought you might get into that. I'm happy you found something fabulous right off!
Jennifer, I can't say enough how much I think you made the right decision when it comes to the house. I know it's been a LONG, LONG, LONG, LONG journey, but believe me when I say that the rest of your life is a lot longer, and it always would have haunted you had you not at least tried.
From the looks of it, the house looks amazing. I think your dad would have been stoked about it sans the paint color. (I could hear him saying, "Azure, welcome to my new peach.")
I admire you so much for doing this because it would have been easy to pursue other options. But you hung in there with it. At least now you can move on from it knowing that if you can conquer this with all of the circumstances involved, you can conquer anything. NOT that you would want to again, but at least you know you could. ;)
Also since I'm doling out accolades, Markus, thanks for hanging in there too. I know it wasn't the easiest thing to do.
Good Luck with BK#2, and maybe the next time you visit Ocean Springs, I'll just be visiting too. :) Take care, and have a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful holiday.
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