The wind came sweeping down the plain

The ceaseless wind is an unalterable part of life in Oklahoma. It's taken me a long time to adapt. A few years ago, I realized I'd finally adjusted to living with it: I was outside and the weather was pleasant enough, but something felt wrong. Off. Different. It took me a few minutes of quietly standing in one place before I noticed the...

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Is this thing still on?

Wow, we managed to not post at all in 2015! Honestly, it wasn't the most exciting year. We got married in a lovely Kentucky Derby themed affair; for a wedding that included two live Thoroughbreds, a short guest lecture on the history of the Derby, and live streaming of the event itself, everything went very smoothly. No real house...

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Five stages of dealing with a contractor

1. Denial: "We met with her in March. It's June. Why hasn't she contacted us? She must have something personal going on. Maybe she's sick. Maybe her dog died. Something has to be going on, because reasonable business owners like making money." 2. Anger: "What a terrible contractor! What's wrong with her? Doesn't she want our money? If anyone else would come to Claremore, I'd fire her immediately! I'm going to email her...

Paint Colors

Our insurance claim repairs finally finished up last week. Two of the bedrooms were painted (the pink room and the master bedroom) and we're really pleased with how they came out. The pink room is painted a lovely shade of gray. It's the same color as the other small bedroom.  The color is 'Gentle Rain' by Behr. It's a...

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We Looked At A House

Somehow, we've become obsessed with the idea of buying a fixer-upper in a neighborhood we really like. Now, you're probably all thinking this is a terrible idea. After all, we're the people who took months to replace a toilet (hey, it was grouted to the floor!), still haven't filled in our pool (we're waiting to hear back from a contractor!),...

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