Saturday, July 12, 2008 - Mud Room ReAssembly

AH... our insane, unexpected home remodeling project is done!  The floor looks amazing, and everything is back where it belongs.  Here's a couple of pics...

Oooohhhh... Don't ya just love it????   This shows the floor with finished grout (Earth is the color we ended up with)  And this is the charming little chest of drawers we salvaged out of Mom's shed when we first moved in here.  We just turned a hose on it, and wiped it down, and it looks beautiful!  Al thinks it looks so good she may want it back!   It now holds all of our veterinary supplies in the top two drawers, and will have hats/ gloves/ mittens in the middle drawer, and all of my gift wrapping supplies in the bottom drawer, so I gained a laundry folding/ gift wrapping center to boot!  I also added a chair for Al to have a spot to take off his work shoes, and we have the option of substituting a bench in front of the chest for winter when the ladies seem to always have wet, muddy clothes to take off before I'll let them inside.  I'm very happy with how the entire project turned out.

This is a shot of my pantry all re-organized and back in it's spot.  I'm very happy with it.  No more appliances on the porch, no more dog crates in the yard.  Whew.  Now I can finish putting the rest of the house to right, and get ready to go away only one week from Monday.  I'm taking my laptop, so should be able to blog our way across the country and back.  Probably over at my blogger blog, since we'll be on our way Home, to Gilead from the time we leave.  I can't wait to go, but I love our new house so much, I'm a bit sad to leave home too.  After all, my roosters have really started crowing, and our garden is taking off again now that it's getting a better sun/ water ratio.  Oh well.  Sherrie will just have to eat my 'maters for me, and I can plan big for next year once we get home. 

Anyway, that's what we've been up to.  I'm off to read a bit and enjoy another cuppa joe.

Peace~

Shari

Tuesday, July 8, 2008 - 2 weeks and counting...

If you've wondered where I've been lately, but perhaps you haven't, we've been crazy busy trying to get the tile done, and the house re-assembled... and I've been recovering (slowly) from being sick... and we're working on being ready to leave home for 3 weeks to go visit Al's family.  (you know who you are...) SOOOOOOOOOO....  My "homesteading" right now looks like this:  Laundry on the porch, bread from the store, trip over laundry baskets full of canned goods from the pantry that had to be moved, kittens every where (including reports from the girls of a NEW one under our porch last night, but no sighting yet, a chicken who is an escape artist, evidently the grass IS greener on our side of the fence... and dogs who smell, shall I say... FOUL!!!  Too many ealry trips to the lake for them, I think!  Our garden is suffering from lack of H2O as the hose that was watering it is now running the washer (gotta pick your battles) but I did get to eat a few small carrots from the garden yesterday that were great!!

We're also talking big about our plans for AFTER the vacation... Paint colors for one.  All neutral.  It's like a decorating version of let's make a deal... or poker, I'm not sure which... I'll see you your white ceilings, if you raise me olive green walls in the loft, and paprika stair treads.  Wide trim, or stick with what we've got (stickin' by the way...) today we chose a cabinet finish (my super handy hubby is going to re-finish the functional, but ugly cabinets we have to give me the awesome but far too pricey look I love at Lowes...)  Countertops, backsplashes, floors, freezers, dishwashers, lighting.  I guess 6 months was as long as we could live somewhere without a re-modeling project.  BUT so far we're way keeping the cost down, so I feel pretty good about it.  Also we're discussing homeschool plans for the girls, and possible college plans for me.  There's talk of garden re-working, and adding more space for next year.  Rain barrels, and building Al's shop.  Terracing the hillside under the powerline, and creating an orchard...  A BILLION and ONE things.  If you want to check out how the floor is coming hit my Home to Gilead blog, I posted a Pic or two over there today...  Things are crazy as usual, and I really wouldn't have it any other way.  Gotta Run!  Peace~

Shari

Friday, July 4, 2008 - Happy 4th of July! (or...what it looks like when you house throws up...)

Happy July 4th From our house!!!

While most of you will be having a bbq or a dip in the pool...

(Well, some people here are too...)

Some of us have a house not fit for company...

...or the internet, quite possibly...

(Sorry, Jared & Sherrie, I guess you don't count as company)

This is what my front porch looks like this morning...  Yes.  That's my dryer.  Wait it gets better...

Here's my washer.  Yes.  It's hooked up to a garden hose. On the front porch.  Now my in-laws (with the help of several out of town friends...) are probably scrambling to host a "help they moved to TN and have lost their minds" intervention!!!  I think this may have been on my "100 things we must not do lest we look like rednecks" list.  But the view of the lake from the washer is great, and it's only 3 steps to the clothesline (quite literally...)

Inside isn't much better.  Here's my kitchen from a few days ago...

But wait... here's WHY it all looks like this...

This is the new slate tile floor in my mudroom...

Isn't it GORGEOUS????????????

Mr. Incredible, and his faithful sidekick, Jared (of alpine fencing blog fame) have been tiling the mudroom for me this week.  And let me say, they are doing a GREAT job!  Soon, the mudroom with be the fanciest room in the house!  Maybe I should thank Grizabella (the cat) for ruining the carpet.  On second thought, maybe I should just thank Al & Jared for my awesome floor!  And Sherrie for letting me steal her hubby (not REALLY, but you know what I mean...) for the week, and for her keeping me company here in the land of Chaos.

So... for the weekend, I'll be doing house re-assembly, I think... and well...  Tomorrow is the 1st Sat. of the month.  50% off at Goodwill.  Maybe I'll go early to see what I can find.  Miss E has already read the 3 H. Potter books I got last month, and we bought # 4.  Maybe I'll find a couple more, if I'm lucky.  And I have a whole crisper drawer full of cukes.  Once I can get to the kitchen, I'll be making pickles.  Just another day here in Paradise! 

~Peace~

Shari

Tuesday, July 1, 2008 - Road Trip!

Hi! 

We almost didn't go to Nashville today, as Miss M seems to have shared her bug with her mom & dad, but we did and I'm glad we toughed it out, because it was a great day!  We went to the zoo (for free!), and saw the other 1/2 we skipped last time (and renewed our family pass for another year, as we got it 1/2 price today) Some of Al's friends were there, and we had a great time.  I personally loved tramping through the historic farm's gardens to see what varieties of veggies they had planted, and checked out that their chicken enclosure was smaller than mine!  HA! 

Then we tracked down the new World Market in Murfreesboro and got a few things we like that we don't normally find, but unfortunately, they were out of Vanilla Beans.  So my bottle of Vodka is still lonely.  I'm about to have to ration extract if I can't get beans soon.  Maybe my sister will take pity on me!!  Al got a new ping pong paddle (very important, I guess )  Then we went to dinner at the Outback, (more on this later) and then off to the bookstore (see what I got on my Home to Gilead Blog)  A great cup of coffee, and a great chat on the way home!  What a great day!!

I must go and give attention to a dorky little cat now.  She's driving me nuts, evidently we were missed!!

Peace~

Shari

Monday, June 30, 2008 - Testing... Is this thing on???

Where has the weekend gone?  Our internet has been "unplugged" but is back on now, and freshly relocated to the basement to get it out of the war zone upstairs.  What, you ask???  Well... we ripped the carpet out in the mudroom unexpectedly, thanks to my crabby old cat.  (who has been shown AGAIN where the litter box is, though we know she knows and is just spiteful...NO REALLY.  If you've met her, I'm sure you understand.) this involved emptying the pantry into our tiny kitchen, (and putting a hutch in our tiny hallway, a hazard at night) and living with our dry goods in laundry baskets while I tried my hand at painting subfloor for a temp. fix.  HOWEVER,  with 2 dogs, 6 cats and 5 people white Kiltz is not up for the job of mudroom floor, so it looks like we're tiling this week.  ugh.  (yeah for the tile floor I wanted, ugh for the timing...) Then yesterday afternoon, miss M turned up sick, (boy do I mean sick!!!) and I've not felt quite up to par myself today, so I  think she shared.  Poor Baby. 

 If we all feel totally human tomorrow, we're off to the zoo for family day (1/2 price annual memberships thanks to hubby's work) I hope we can go, as it would be fun, and frugal, and I plan to stop by World Market for vanilla beans on the way home, as I'm nearly out of vanilla, and it takes a month to make.  EEK!  I'd also like to hit a farmer's market at some point on Tues or Wed, and I still need to make pickles, which should be interesting now that my house blew up, but I have a peck  and a 1/2 of cukes waiting to be sacrificed.  Sigh.  Add to that planning for our vacation, and I'm tired already.

HOWEVER.  Trying to be positive here.  At least where we live now, no one will complain that the contents of my home are leaking onto the front porch.  (and slowly being carried off by the dogs... bit by bit)  We have the money to tile (even though we weren't planning on doing this till later) and the ability to do it ourselves (and friends with a tile saw ready to help...)  The tile I LOVE is only $1.77 ea.  Which could be a lot more...  Meg is getting better, and me feeling run down is forcing me to slow down.., (and giving me time to read Thoreau) A good thing for sure...  My pantry is getting cleaned out and re-organized.  AND I had 2 amazing cherry tomatoes out of my garden today, with more to come.  YEAH!!

I'm off to try to rest, to maybe be ready to face life again tomorrow.  Peace~

Shari

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 - Busy Wednesday

Mornin' All...

It's been a busy one.  It started at 6:30 when my "alarm clock" woke me up.  AKA the roosters.  I love that kind of wake up call.  So, I gave treats to the old lady cat, put the dogs out, and went and let the chickens out & gave them breakfast.  Then, I started the washer with a rug &  blanket I've been meaning to get to, then hopped in the shower.

See, I realized it really had begun to look like a vacation house around here.  Clutter wherever it landed, and authentic lake house paraphenalia, like life jackets on the kitchen table.  I'm not TOO ashamed to admit the girls had cereal for dinner last night around said life jackets.   Only problem, we don't leave at the end of the week, and housekeeping never shows up.  SOOOOO since I'm grounded without my wheels this morning, I'm getting the house back under control. (as much as possible around here that is)

The ladies helped sort laundry, and cook breakfast, then M & J each did a few chores for me while E helped me do the dishes.  I think they ALL were dirty.  Someone ate said cereal with a sugar spoon last night.    I got the kitchen floor swept & mopped (no longer sticky) and I'm on load 3 in the wash right now.  We've chased kittens back into the house through the screen they fell through in the basement (thank goodness it wasn't a higher floor...) and MUCH of the clutter has been put away (including life jackets...) Now the ladies are playing scrabble Jr as a warm up for schoolwork, and I wanted to check my e-mail and such.  SOOOOOO.  Have a great day.

Peace~

Shari

Tuesday, June 24, 2008 - Tuesday Tidbits...

On my Blogs:  See the new blog section in my sidebar for easy to use links...

Home to Gilead: our tale of Tuesday Farmer's Market shopping

Simple GIfts: How reading Thoreau is stretching my mind...

Here: A little bit of this and that...

Today we: homeschooled: the new schedule is working GREAT

Swam: a friend recommended a clean, quiet place to swim in the lake (we only got nibbled by a FEW fish)

Scheduled a check-up for my Yukon tomorrow: we suspect the head gasket is going... ugh...

Went to 2 libraries: got a bunch of great cookbooks... I highly recommend Simply in Season.  GREAT book! 

I plan to make dilly beans, bread & butter pickles, and peach shortcake (tomorrow)... we ate the blackberries... (and make bread too...)

Mr. Incredible cleaned and organized the tool shed... HUGE improvement.

Well, I'm off to read more Thoreau... Peace~

Shari