Well, it's been a while since I've written anything down on our farmhouse expedition... This can be interpretted one of two different ways. One, we are more than overwhelmingly busy with remodeling a farmhouse, work, and raising four children and I have no time to spare, or two, I managed to break both our home computers and haven't gotten around to replacing them yet. The first reason is really the main one... but the second is also true. You know those people who seem to emit some kind of electro-magnetic pulse and can manage to break any electronic device they touch? I have turned into one of those people. In one week I managed to break my washing machine, our lap top, our desk top, 2 iPhone chargers and the entire fetal monitoring system at work. Watch out... If you make me mad I will just sneak into your house and touch your computer too. Hehehe...
The good news is, Matt and I managed to figure out the problem with the washer, we should be able to replace the lap top in the next couple of weeks (and really, who actually NEEDS 2 home computers) and iPhone chargers are reasonably priced on Amazon (although it is easier to order the charger when you have a charged phone or home computer)... And the really good news is there are very few electronic devices located in our 100 year-old farmhouse. So, the house is still standing and I am hoping to have gotten through my destructive phase.
On to news of the house... We are moved in!!! I say this very casually. We sleep and (usually) eat in the main house these days, but we are still using the kitchen in the mobile for now. We are almost done with the living and dining areas in the new house (we just need to finish it off with a little rope trim) and then we will be starting on remodeling the kitchen and bathroom. We are hoping and praying to add on a master suite at the end of this summer. So every time I feel like our family of 6 is a little cramped into our 2 bedroom, half-way finished farmhouse, I remind myself it is only one winter and smile when I remember that I have 13 acres of land and that is more than enough space for this family to grow.
I will work on taking some pictures and posting what we have done. I was just looking back at the before shots of our little house and it is amazing the changes. Each step has been an adventure and usually more work than I had planned, but it has been a lot of fun.
I have been working on the doors of the house. I started with the front door and to Matt's disbelief, I painted it the brightest blue I could find. I think Matt thought I had lost my mind, but it is growing on him. Then I got to work on our bedroom door. I planned to paint it bright red (really), but in the process of working on it I had to do some sanding. I found it had some beautiful colors under the white top coat, so I began playing with paint stripper and a sander, until I thought I had the most beautiful door around. As I was hanging it, Bella came into the room and asked me, "Are you gonna put that nasty old door in my house?" I'm starting to doubt my taste, or at least the words my 5 year-old is hearing. I'll have to post a picture of my "nasty" door so you can put your 2 cents in.
The Sunday after Christmas my cousins came over with their husbands and I took advantage of the available man-power. I recruited my dad and Matt to help and had them move the piano into the house and hang the tire swing I made for the kids for Christmas. It's the small things that are making this feel more and more like home and less like a long camping expedition. Matt came in the other day and told me our swing looked like a picture out of Sunset Magazine... A tire swing surrounded by green and huge oak trees. We are so blessed to have space for our kids to enjoy God's creation every moment of the day. We wake up every morning and look out the window onto our property and I can't believe how very blessed we are. It is a lot of work, and there are a lot of days when I think we might be crazy for taking this on, but this is home. And we still love it here!
Our Home
We purchased this 1920's-ish farmhouse on March 16th, 2012 and began our DIY makeover
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
The garden is in, the sun is shining, summer is here!
Well, we have been in the mobile home on our "farm" for 2 months... And even in a tiny single-wide with 6 people, we love it! The house is taking longer than we had hoped (as these things always do), but this is definitely home for us. The kids still love all the room to run, and we love being able to send them outside to play when things start feeling a bit cramped. We have had 2 BBQ's... One with our small group from Church for Memorial Day and the other to celebrate Gwenny getting Sparky of the Year for Awana. It is amazing how comfortable our tiny house can be with so many people, but then again, we spent the entire time outdoors! The screened porch turned out to be a perfect place to set out the food and the courtyard in front of the mobile is perfect for setting out chairs and doing an old-fashioned lap meal with the kiddos on a blanket on the lawn. We love it here!
I finally finished painting the master bedroom. The walls went pretty quick, but the trim is a huge challenge. I don't want to do much sanding, as I am fairly certain the paint must have lead in it and everybody I talk to about the house warns me of the evils of lead poisoning, so trying to get a smooth finish starting out with a rough one has been difficult. After a little online research I discovered the wonder of flotrol and lightly sanding between my coats of paint and I am calling it good enough. Matt says it is time to embrace the imperfections. It is a hundred year old home, after all.
So on to the kids room. Matt and I painted for about an hour and a half tonight, until we ran out of paint. The room has a first coat on all but one wall and the second coat should go pretty quickly, then I am back to that whole trim delimma. In addition to that, the windows in the room are very old. I mean VERY, and when I started prepping the room I found that the previous owner had stuffed tissue in all the edges and as I began removing it all, I quickly discovered this was because the windows let in a lot of air. So, Matt and I have decided those need to be the first ones to replace. The kids don't have a heat source in their room, so this winter could be pretty chilly with drafty windows. So, here are the up sides to replacing really old windows... I don't have to paint the trim or wood parts of the windows (insert Spring doing the happy dance) and I will have some beautiful windows to use in decorating (see my mind at work with possiblities here). The down sides... Let's be real... Money! and then there is that little detail that Matt and I have never replaced windows before. But I have to say, as beginning DIYers, we have had some pretty good successes in figuring it out. It is amazing all you can learn online and we have some wonderfully handy and helpful family members and friends when we get stuck in a rut. So, we will be diving in!
Now I have to take a minute to brag on my husband... Bear with me a bit here! I don't know if I have mentioned that while I come from a fairly handy family, Matt's family is less DIY and more visionaries that delegate. I think there have been times where my willingness to dive in and give things a try have kind of intimidated my husband. But he really impressed me when it comes to the swamp cooler in the mobile.
We have quickly discovered that mobile homes are really cold in cold weather and really hot in the summer. The original farmhouse seems to stay cool year-round (major score for the summer months), but the mobile is pretty much unbearable in the afternoons. So, a few weeks ago I decided to try out the swamp cooler.
Now, growing up I had an amazing thing going for me... When I got hot I turned a nob and the swamp cooler turned on. I never really questioned how that happened, it just did. I assumed that's how they worked. When I decided to do that in our little mobile, I basically expected the same thing. I did remember, however, that it needs water and since no one has lived in this mobile for about 5 years, I thought to turn on the water to the cooler. I did, by the way, also think to take the plastic cover off the inside part of the cooler. Having done this I assumed I was very clever and good to go. I might have been a little wrong. After getting blasted with about 5 years worth of dust and cobwebs (but thank the Lord no actual bugs) I started to doubt myself, but decided to give it a few more minutes of blowing before giving up. About 5 minutes later I heard some water running off the side of the house. I went outside to investigate and found exactly what caused the noise... Water running off the side of the house. And we are not talking a little drip. It looked a lot like some one was spraying a skinny house off the roof. It shot out a few feet in a steady stream. Maybe I'm not so brilliant after all. Off the cooler went, off the water went, and I then contemplated whether to put the plastic cover back too, but one of the things that held it up broke when I took it down, so I nixed that idea and decided not to think about the number of bugs necessary to create the amount of cobwebs I was covered in crawling into my house in the middle of the night.
That night I told Matt of my experience. After laughing at the visual of me covered in cobwebs, Matt said he would take a look. Then he did. Apparently, had I actually looked at the swamp cooler on the roof I would have noticed a cover that needs to be removed, and under that filter pads that very obviously need to be replaced. And then a copper house that needs to be hooked up that was just sitting up on the roof (the source of my water fall). Then there is a pump and other stuff I have no idea about, but my new DIY husband had a great idea. He took pictures with his cell phone and went to work to talk to the maintanence crew. He thought he had the basic idea figured out, but thought he would run it by someone who may have actually worked on one of these things before. Apparently he was on the right track, so he headed to Lowe's, bought some parts and after a few more trips similiar to that... I have cool air entering my house with no cobwebs, dust, or so far... bugs! Now if that isn't love of your wife who has to sleep during the day when working nights, I don't know what is!!! My hero, again (sigh).
So life is good, family is good, the house is moving forward again which is good, and everyday we wake up and thank God for what He has given us, which is very good. We pray you are doing the same!
I finally finished painting the master bedroom. The walls went pretty quick, but the trim is a huge challenge. I don't want to do much sanding, as I am fairly certain the paint must have lead in it and everybody I talk to about the house warns me of the evils of lead poisoning, so trying to get a smooth finish starting out with a rough one has been difficult. After a little online research I discovered the wonder of flotrol and lightly sanding between my coats of paint and I am calling it good enough. Matt says it is time to embrace the imperfections. It is a hundred year old home, after all.
So on to the kids room. Matt and I painted for about an hour and a half tonight, until we ran out of paint. The room has a first coat on all but one wall and the second coat should go pretty quickly, then I am back to that whole trim delimma. In addition to that, the windows in the room are very old. I mean VERY, and when I started prepping the room I found that the previous owner had stuffed tissue in all the edges and as I began removing it all, I quickly discovered this was because the windows let in a lot of air. So, Matt and I have decided those need to be the first ones to replace. The kids don't have a heat source in their room, so this winter could be pretty chilly with drafty windows. So, here are the up sides to replacing really old windows... I don't have to paint the trim or wood parts of the windows (insert Spring doing the happy dance) and I will have some beautiful windows to use in decorating (see my mind at work with possiblities here). The down sides... Let's be real... Money! and then there is that little detail that Matt and I have never replaced windows before. But I have to say, as beginning DIYers, we have had some pretty good successes in figuring it out. It is amazing all you can learn online and we have some wonderfully handy and helpful family members and friends when we get stuck in a rut. So, we will be diving in!
Now I have to take a minute to brag on my husband... Bear with me a bit here! I don't know if I have mentioned that while I come from a fairly handy family, Matt's family is less DIY and more visionaries that delegate. I think there have been times where my willingness to dive in and give things a try have kind of intimidated my husband. But he really impressed me when it comes to the swamp cooler in the mobile.
We have quickly discovered that mobile homes are really cold in cold weather and really hot in the summer. The original farmhouse seems to stay cool year-round (major score for the summer months), but the mobile is pretty much unbearable in the afternoons. So, a few weeks ago I decided to try out the swamp cooler.
Now, growing up I had an amazing thing going for me... When I got hot I turned a nob and the swamp cooler turned on. I never really questioned how that happened, it just did. I assumed that's how they worked. When I decided to do that in our little mobile, I basically expected the same thing. I did remember, however, that it needs water and since no one has lived in this mobile for about 5 years, I thought to turn on the water to the cooler. I did, by the way, also think to take the plastic cover off the inside part of the cooler. Having done this I assumed I was very clever and good to go. I might have been a little wrong. After getting blasted with about 5 years worth of dust and cobwebs (but thank the Lord no actual bugs) I started to doubt myself, but decided to give it a few more minutes of blowing before giving up. About 5 minutes later I heard some water running off the side of the house. I went outside to investigate and found exactly what caused the noise... Water running off the side of the house. And we are not talking a little drip. It looked a lot like some one was spraying a skinny house off the roof. It shot out a few feet in a steady stream. Maybe I'm not so brilliant after all. Off the cooler went, off the water went, and I then contemplated whether to put the plastic cover back too, but one of the things that held it up broke when I took it down, so I nixed that idea and decided not to think about the number of bugs necessary to create the amount of cobwebs I was covered in crawling into my house in the middle of the night.
That night I told Matt of my experience. After laughing at the visual of me covered in cobwebs, Matt said he would take a look. Then he did. Apparently, had I actually looked at the swamp cooler on the roof I would have noticed a cover that needs to be removed, and under that filter pads that very obviously need to be replaced. And then a copper house that needs to be hooked up that was just sitting up on the roof (the source of my water fall). Then there is a pump and other stuff I have no idea about, but my new DIY husband had a great idea. He took pictures with his cell phone and went to work to talk to the maintanence crew. He thought he had the basic idea figured out, but thought he would run it by someone who may have actually worked on one of these things before. Apparently he was on the right track, so he headed to Lowe's, bought some parts and after a few more trips similiar to that... I have cool air entering my house with no cobwebs, dust, or so far... bugs! Now if that isn't love of your wife who has to sleep during the day when working nights, I don't know what is!!! My hero, again (sigh).
So life is good, family is good, the house is moving forward again which is good, and everyday we wake up and thank God for what He has given us, which is very good. We pray you are doing the same!
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
So, now that we are moved onto the property, I want to give you a little taste of life at the Maddox house.
The first thing Grant does in the morning is put on his shoes and head outside to play with the dogs. Since we have moved here he has learned to put on his own shoes, which he insists are always on the right feet. If you want to find Grant in the morning, just follow the sounds of a toddler laughing and dogs playfully yipping. Thank goodness he isn't a quite child... I know he is okay as long as I can hear him.
Bella is as sassy and independent as ever. Today she grabbed the box Matt's new high wheel line trimmer (more on that later) came in and anounced it was the "playhouse". She then proceeded to take every last arts and craft item in our home out to her playhouse and decorate it inside and out. (Where was her mother as she made this huge mess, you ask? Good question. And since I'm not positive at what point in our morning she decided this was the activity of the day, I'm not sure. Maybe I'm getting a little too secure in the whole if you can hear them, they are okay theory.) We then spent the rest of the day arguing over who should clean up her mess. Her stance was that it was too big of a mess for a four-year-old to tackle and mine was that if she made the mess, she can clean the mess. Ever the negotiator, she managed to get Gwenny to clean it all up for her when she came home from school. Gwenny mentioned this to me, and now Bella is off crafts for a week. To which she replied, "That's okay mom, I did all the crafts I need to this week today, anyway." Oh Bella... I have my work cut out for me.
George is definitely adjusting to life with room to run. I don't have to tell him not to "battle" in the house. Battling is what George calls his imaginary play. Mostly because it always consists of some type of fighting, whether he is in a jousting tournament at Medieval Times or using his sharp Kung Fu moves on an intruder. It drives me crazy when he does this in the house because he runs everywhere, jumping off of any piece of furniture he can get onto and making all kinds of loud and interesting sound effects. It seems like since he was old enough to walk I have been telling him, "No battling in the house." Well, that ended when we moved here. I don't have to tell him to go outside to battle because he is always outside. And now he can use sticks as weapons without me throwing them away or hiding them from him because there is plenty of room for him to swing sticks without killing any siblings (at least so far).
Sweet Gwenny.... Ever the pleaser, she has adjusted well and taken the mommy role in so many ways. She taught Grant to put on his shoes in the mornings when I was still trying to get my sorry self out of bed. She helps pick up everything, and that really is a short end of the stick for her since she is only with us about 1/3 of the time and with her other mommy the rest. This means she doesn't make nearly as many of the messes her siblings do and she ends up cleaning up lots of them, like today with Bella's little playhouse decorating mess. Since the room the kids are sharing right now is pretty tiny, we have 2 loft beds for George and Bella and a port-a-crib for Grant to sleep in. Gwenny's bed is a mattress that we put on the floor when she is with us and up against a wall when she isn't. I didn't want her to feel like she wasn't a permanent fixture in this house, so when I told her about the mattress bed, I told her she could pick whatever bed she wanted to sleep in and George or Bella could sleep on the mattress. I never would have guessed her reaction. She stated firmly she wanted the mattress on the floor and when George and Bella complained that they wanted to sleep there, she was firm. That was her bed. It would be okay if they borrowed it while she was at her other house, but when she is with us that is where she will be sleeping, period. That was a pretty firm stance for our girl who often can be talked into anything. Who knew the mattress on the floor would be the coolest place to sleep!
Matt and I are... tired? Excited? Happy? Overwhelmed? I think all of the above. We love it here. There is a tremendous amount of work to be done, but we are enjoying every moment. We have never worked so hard, slept so little, collaborated so much, or communicated so clearly as we have in our new home. Work is everywhere, so we are having to be intentional about making sure we spend time doing other things, both just the two of us and with our kids, but we are managing. We have kind of accepted that the work won't ever be done, but that it will sometimes keep until tomorrow. So a date with one of the kids, or a night out for us is worth puting the work off for one more day. It will be there tomorrow.
Matt knows how hard it is for me to relax with everything such a mess in our home, so last weekend when we went to the Black Hat fundraiser for his work, he also rented a room at a Bed and Breakfast in Sonora. The kids had gone overnight with his parents to our nephew's first birthday party, so we had a night away with no kids. He researched every bed and breakfast until he found one with a big jacuzzi bath tub. I love to take baths and that really isn't an option here, so he thought I would enjoy a hot, relaxing, quiet bath. And he was very right. The night away was wonderful, and I wasn't surrounded by clutter or a to-do list a mile long.
Matt has started clearing the weeds on the property... And that is quite a job. They are already about waist high. He started with his weed eater and got quite a bit done, but then decided his birthday present this year needed to be a weedeater on wheels. So he bought one Saturday and has really gone to work. That poor high wheeled line trimmer has no idea what it is in for. Today Matt built our compost container while I got to work prepping the garden for planting. It was pretty over grown, so I started pulling everything up. There were some old herbs, but they had gotten pretty woody, so I pulled them up along with some strangler berry bushes and a whole lot of weeds. It was quite a days work, but it felt so good to begin work on our very own garden.
Matt saved my neck (actually my back) today. Last year when I planted the garden we have shared with my Grandmother at her house for quite a few years I got a very interesting sunburn. Not my face, or shoulders... It was on my back. Don't you wear a shirt in the garden, you ask? Why yes, I do. The shirt however kind of crawls up as I work the ground and my pants kind of crawl down, so it leaves a very tender area of skin exposed that I never think to put sunscreen on because it is covered by clothes when I go outside to begin working. Now this wonderful little sunburn I acquired last year had some very interesting names... Plumber-burn, tramp-sun-stamp, crack-peel... I could go on and it became quite the source of fun for my family as they watched me grimace when I wore jeans and every movement made the waist band rub on my sunburn. It was quite memorable, and very uncomfortable. How I could have forgotten about that in a year, I have no idea, but I was headed there again today. Matt came home from getting a hair cut and kind of grinned at me like he had a big secret as I pulled weeds in the garden. He laughed and asked if I was using protection. I'm thinking, gloves? He pointed to my back and asked if I had used sunscreen on my back. We wouldn't want a repeat of last year's tramp-stamp experience. Will I ever learn? I am happy to report that I made it through the day with no waist band burns, however, and I do plan to use protection tomorrow!
So that's life at the Maddox house these days. Spending time outside, working, figuring out how to fit all of us into a tiny mobile home. It really is wonderful, and we are loving it. But I can tell you one thing... We sure are looking forward to moving into the "big" 1100 square foot farmhouse!
The first thing Grant does in the morning is put on his shoes and head outside to play with the dogs. Since we have moved here he has learned to put on his own shoes, which he insists are always on the right feet. If you want to find Grant in the morning, just follow the sounds of a toddler laughing and dogs playfully yipping. Thank goodness he isn't a quite child... I know he is okay as long as I can hear him.
Bella is as sassy and independent as ever. Today she grabbed the box Matt's new high wheel line trimmer (more on that later) came in and anounced it was the "playhouse". She then proceeded to take every last arts and craft item in our home out to her playhouse and decorate it inside and out. (Where was her mother as she made this huge mess, you ask? Good question. And since I'm not positive at what point in our morning she decided this was the activity of the day, I'm not sure. Maybe I'm getting a little too secure in the whole if you can hear them, they are okay theory.) We then spent the rest of the day arguing over who should clean up her mess. Her stance was that it was too big of a mess for a four-year-old to tackle and mine was that if she made the mess, she can clean the mess. Ever the negotiator, she managed to get Gwenny to clean it all up for her when she came home from school. Gwenny mentioned this to me, and now Bella is off crafts for a week. To which she replied, "That's okay mom, I did all the crafts I need to this week today, anyway." Oh Bella... I have my work cut out for me.
George is definitely adjusting to life with room to run. I don't have to tell him not to "battle" in the house. Battling is what George calls his imaginary play. Mostly because it always consists of some type of fighting, whether he is in a jousting tournament at Medieval Times or using his sharp Kung Fu moves on an intruder. It drives me crazy when he does this in the house because he runs everywhere, jumping off of any piece of furniture he can get onto and making all kinds of loud and interesting sound effects. It seems like since he was old enough to walk I have been telling him, "No battling in the house." Well, that ended when we moved here. I don't have to tell him to go outside to battle because he is always outside. And now he can use sticks as weapons without me throwing them away or hiding them from him because there is plenty of room for him to swing sticks without killing any siblings (at least so far).
Sweet Gwenny.... Ever the pleaser, she has adjusted well and taken the mommy role in so many ways. She taught Grant to put on his shoes in the mornings when I was still trying to get my sorry self out of bed. She helps pick up everything, and that really is a short end of the stick for her since she is only with us about 1/3 of the time and with her other mommy the rest. This means she doesn't make nearly as many of the messes her siblings do and she ends up cleaning up lots of them, like today with Bella's little playhouse decorating mess. Since the room the kids are sharing right now is pretty tiny, we have 2 loft beds for George and Bella and a port-a-crib for Grant to sleep in. Gwenny's bed is a mattress that we put on the floor when she is with us and up against a wall when she isn't. I didn't want her to feel like she wasn't a permanent fixture in this house, so when I told her about the mattress bed, I told her she could pick whatever bed she wanted to sleep in and George or Bella could sleep on the mattress. I never would have guessed her reaction. She stated firmly she wanted the mattress on the floor and when George and Bella complained that they wanted to sleep there, she was firm. That was her bed. It would be okay if they borrowed it while she was at her other house, but when she is with us that is where she will be sleeping, period. That was a pretty firm stance for our girl who often can be talked into anything. Who knew the mattress on the floor would be the coolest place to sleep!
Matt and I are... tired? Excited? Happy? Overwhelmed? I think all of the above. We love it here. There is a tremendous amount of work to be done, but we are enjoying every moment. We have never worked so hard, slept so little, collaborated so much, or communicated so clearly as we have in our new home. Work is everywhere, so we are having to be intentional about making sure we spend time doing other things, both just the two of us and with our kids, but we are managing. We have kind of accepted that the work won't ever be done, but that it will sometimes keep until tomorrow. So a date with one of the kids, or a night out for us is worth puting the work off for one more day. It will be there tomorrow.
Matt knows how hard it is for me to relax with everything such a mess in our home, so last weekend when we went to the Black Hat fundraiser for his work, he also rented a room at a Bed and Breakfast in Sonora. The kids had gone overnight with his parents to our nephew's first birthday party, so we had a night away with no kids. He researched every bed and breakfast until he found one with a big jacuzzi bath tub. I love to take baths and that really isn't an option here, so he thought I would enjoy a hot, relaxing, quiet bath. And he was very right. The night away was wonderful, and I wasn't surrounded by clutter or a to-do list a mile long.
Matt has started clearing the weeds on the property... And that is quite a job. They are already about waist high. He started with his weed eater and got quite a bit done, but then decided his birthday present this year needed to be a weedeater on wheels. So he bought one Saturday and has really gone to work. That poor high wheeled line trimmer has no idea what it is in for. Today Matt built our compost container while I got to work prepping the garden for planting. It was pretty over grown, so I started pulling everything up. There were some old herbs, but they had gotten pretty woody, so I pulled them up along with some strangler berry bushes and a whole lot of weeds. It was quite a days work, but it felt so good to begin work on our very own garden.
Matt saved my neck (actually my back) today. Last year when I planted the garden we have shared with my Grandmother at her house for quite a few years I got a very interesting sunburn. Not my face, or shoulders... It was on my back. Don't you wear a shirt in the garden, you ask? Why yes, I do. The shirt however kind of crawls up as I work the ground and my pants kind of crawl down, so it leaves a very tender area of skin exposed that I never think to put sunscreen on because it is covered by clothes when I go outside to begin working. Now this wonderful little sunburn I acquired last year had some very interesting names... Plumber-burn, tramp-sun-stamp, crack-peel... I could go on and it became quite the source of fun for my family as they watched me grimace when I wore jeans and every movement made the waist band rub on my sunburn. It was quite memorable, and very uncomfortable. How I could have forgotten about that in a year, I have no idea, but I was headed there again today. Matt came home from getting a hair cut and kind of grinned at me like he had a big secret as I pulled weeds in the garden. He laughed and asked if I was using protection. I'm thinking, gloves? He pointed to my back and asked if I had used sunscreen on my back. We wouldn't want a repeat of last year's tramp-stamp experience. Will I ever learn? I am happy to report that I made it through the day with no waist band burns, however, and I do plan to use protection tomorrow!
So that's life at the Maddox house these days. Spending time outside, working, figuring out how to fit all of us into a tiny mobile home. It really is wonderful, and we are loving it. But I can tell you one thing... We sure are looking forward to moving into the "big" 1100 square foot farmhouse!
Monday, May 14, 2012
It has been quite a while since I have posted and our life has been full of changes. First off, we moved into the mobile home on the property. As we got further into redoing the main house we realized that we wanted more time to do the kind of job that the house really needs and paying rent and mortgage for another month or two seemed silly. Also, now that we are on the property we don't have to go home for naptime and bed time and try to keep the kids on some sort of schedule, which makes finding time to work on the house much easier.
Having said all of that... Having six people in about 700 square feet has been quite the adventure. We are definitely learning to be close to one another and how much stuff we have that we really don't need.
We moved in officially on April 21st. We spent the middle part of April prepping the mobile, painting the master in the main house and packing. After we moved in here, we spent the next week getting all our stuff into storage cleaning the house we had rented for the next renters. Then Matt had to leave for a week on business, so the kids and I were on our own getting settled in.
There are two important things that came out of that week: First, I am no longer scarred to be alone out here. Having the buildings full and people around has cured that, thank God! I was a little nervous about being here on our own for the week, but we did great. Now, lets be real... I don't walk around this place after dark without the lights on, but I haven't ever done that anywhere, so while there have been no miraculous changes in my personality, I am really feeling at home here.
The second thing that is important to note is that I have decided this mobile home will never be clean, picked up, or have a place for all of our belongings. I have to get over my compulsive need for everything to be in it's place and just get to work on the main house so we can move in. My children's playroom will be organized when it is a play room and not their bedroom. Our clothes will all be put away when there are places to put them and our home office will be tidy when it is only an office and not the master bedroom. This is an exercise in overcoming OCD and I am going to embrace it and use it as motivation. (Anyone who knows me well is snickering right now. I hate being in a cluttered environment, but the good news is that I am finding myself spending lots of time outdoors!)
So, we are moved in and honestly, we are loving it. Tonight Matt and I were talking after the kids were in bed and Matt said, "Who would have thought a 700 square foot mobile would be my dream home!"
We are so truly blessed.
Having said all of that... Having six people in about 700 square feet has been quite the adventure. We are definitely learning to be close to one another and how much stuff we have that we really don't need.
We moved in officially on April 21st. We spent the middle part of April prepping the mobile, painting the master in the main house and packing. After we moved in here, we spent the next week getting all our stuff into storage cleaning the house we had rented for the next renters. Then Matt had to leave for a week on business, so the kids and I were on our own getting settled in.
There are two important things that came out of that week: First, I am no longer scarred to be alone out here. Having the buildings full and people around has cured that, thank God! I was a little nervous about being here on our own for the week, but we did great. Now, lets be real... I don't walk around this place after dark without the lights on, but I haven't ever done that anywhere, so while there have been no miraculous changes in my personality, I am really feeling at home here.
The second thing that is important to note is that I have decided this mobile home will never be clean, picked up, or have a place for all of our belongings. I have to get over my compulsive need for everything to be in it's place and just get to work on the main house so we can move in. My children's playroom will be organized when it is a play room and not their bedroom. Our clothes will all be put away when there are places to put them and our home office will be tidy when it is only an office and not the master bedroom. This is an exercise in overcoming OCD and I am going to embrace it and use it as motivation. (Anyone who knows me well is snickering right now. I hate being in a cluttered environment, but the good news is that I am finding myself spending lots of time outdoors!)
So, we are moved in and honestly, we are loving it. Tonight Matt and I were talking after the kids were in bed and Matt said, "Who would have thought a 700 square foot mobile would be my dream home!"
We are so truly blessed.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
McGuyver for a Dad
So, you may have noticed that my dad is helping us a ton with our house. He's pretty amazing when it comes to what he can do. He is technically an electrical engineer, he attended the Maritime Academy for college and went to work on tug boats for the Merchant Marines after graduation. But don't let that fool you, he can do a lot more than just electric work. A while back I mentioned that I have quite a story about a trip to Mexico we went on when I was a kid. Well, I thought today was as good a day as any to give you a little insight into the capabilities of my dad...
When I was in 6th grade we went on an awesome family vacation to Mulege, Baja California Sur. You may not be familiar with Mulege... It is a tiny town way south in Baja on the Sea of Cortez. When I say way down south, I mean way down. It is past Ensanada, Rosarito, Guerrero Negro (near the 28th parellel), and even past Santa Rosalia (about 38 miles south), so when I say it is a long way down south, I really mean it. And we drove there. We had this old 3/4 ton dodge truck with bench seat up front and a 5th wheel trailer. We had a CB Radio between the cab and trailer, so my brother and I rode in the back almost always while we drove the long trek to Mulege and back. I have to admit, it was pretty cool seeing all of Baja from the back of a trailer. And it was an incredible trip. We met family who flew into Mulege and spent a week snorkeling, fishing and just living the small town Baja life. AMAZING! And then we headed home...
The roads in Baja are all 2 lane highways up on levies, and they aren't really kept up like in the states. We had traveled down to Mulege about 10 days before our trip back home and there really hadn't been many issues with the road conditions. Unfortunately that wasn't the case on our way home. While we had been in Mulege there was a huge storm with Hurricane winds and incredible rain. Apparently that had caused a wash out on the highway between Mulege and Guerrero Negro that we were driving to get back home. Because of the mirage of the heat on the pavement, my dad didn't see the washout ahead, and we hit it going about 60 miles an hour. The truck kind of jumped the washout and the trailer hit it hard. I was sitting on the bed over the hitch looking down at my brother laying on the couch of the trailer in the back... Okay, let's be real... We were fighting over what tape we should listen to next. But that gave me a pretty awesome view of my brother literally hitting the roof when the truck jumped the washout. And I pretty much gaurantee I was plastered to the ceiling up on the bed, but that wasn't nearly as far to jump as my poor brother who ended up on the ground between the couch and table. Next thing we knew we were stopped on the levy with no where to pull off the road. There really isn't a shoulder to speak of on these levies and they are about 5 or so feet higher than the desert they are surrounded by.
So there we were, trapped on the levy in the second largest stretch of desert between Mulege and California. Apparently hitting the wash out had completely broken off the motor mounts and the engine had fallen out of the truck. But never fear, my dad had a plan. While my brother and mom flagged down the big rigs to slow down as they went around our truck and trailer on the 2 laned highway, I found a great resting spot in the shade of a cactus and my dad put the engine back in the truck with a chain and some bailing wire. I know, totally McGuyver style, but it gets better from here.
We somehow managed to limp our way into Guerrero Negro, where we spent the night and my dad shirred up the engine to make it through the longest stretch of desert on our trip home the next day. At one point I remember my dad working under the truck and my mom stuck her head into the trailer and told my brother and I not to move, because the engine would literally fall out on our father. I don't think we more than breathed for the next 2 hours until Mom told us he was past the worst of it. Well, he got things together enough that he thought we would be able to make it to Ensenada, where there was a chance we might be able to purchase new motor mounts.
The next morning it was time to head out, and I found my mom standing outside the passenger door to the truck. I asked her what she was doing just standing there??? "I'm praying we make it through the desert today." Well, that kind of put a damper on the vacation feel of our return trip...
So, into the truck and trailer we loaded and started into the desert, day 2. While the chains did manage to keep the motor in the truck this time and we didn't find any more wash outs in our path, apparently chains don't hold things quite as steady as actual motor mounts and not too far into the drive we found ourselves stalled on the levy again. This time, when Jeff (my brother) and I piled out of the trailer we were met by instructions from our father to walk down the road and pick up every peice of metal we could find. Now, it seemed weird at the time, but you have to understand that when my dad says to do something, you just do it. No questions. So, we did. The problem was that all the metal we found was too hot to carry, so we pushed an old tire up onto the road from the desert and stuck all the metal in it and rolled it all back to my dad. Around then I got the nerve to ask my mom what was wrong. Apparently the movement allowed by the chained in place motor had knocked the driveline out of the truck. And that is what Jeff and I had been picking up off the road in the middle of the desert. Our only way out of the desert and back to California was lying in a discarded tire in small pieces. This was 1990. There were no cell phones, our CB radio wasn't that high powered (and who exactly were we going to call anyway) and we weren't in the states where they have really nice things like rental cars...
So back under the truck my dad went, back to flagging down big rigs for my mom and brother, and me? Well, I found another giant cactus to take refuge in the shade of. Definitely not our original plan for a vacation end. Remember, we are stuck on a 2-laned highway on a levy in the largest stretch of desert in Baja. I don't know how, but using some bailing wire and duct tape, my dad managed to get that driveline back together enough for us to limp our way to Ensanada (where we had planned to buy new motor mounts). Now our only issue was a language barrier.
So we proceded to stop at every auto parts store we could find, and it was slim pickens. And then using their handy English to Spanish dictionary, my parents attempted to translate motor mounts any way they could. They were met with one blank stare after another. Just about at the end of their ropes, they found a very nice Hispanic man willing to walk out to the truck and see if he could help. My dad crawled under the truck and pointed to the engine held in place by a chain and bailing wire and said, "Como se dice?" (Translates to "how do you say?") The very nice man smiled and said, "Oh! La motor monte!"
So when I tell you my dad is totally capable of helping us crazy, over-eager DIYers to fix up an old farmhouse, it's nothing to him! He can save his family of four in an old pick up and 5th wheel from the treachery of the Baja deserts and wash-out caused truck trouble beyond most imaginations... He can do anything!
When I was in 6th grade we went on an awesome family vacation to Mulege, Baja California Sur. You may not be familiar with Mulege... It is a tiny town way south in Baja on the Sea of Cortez. When I say way down south, I mean way down. It is past Ensanada, Rosarito, Guerrero Negro (near the 28th parellel), and even past Santa Rosalia (about 38 miles south), so when I say it is a long way down south, I really mean it. And we drove there. We had this old 3/4 ton dodge truck with bench seat up front and a 5th wheel trailer. We had a CB Radio between the cab and trailer, so my brother and I rode in the back almost always while we drove the long trek to Mulege and back. I have to admit, it was pretty cool seeing all of Baja from the back of a trailer. And it was an incredible trip. We met family who flew into Mulege and spent a week snorkeling, fishing and just living the small town Baja life. AMAZING! And then we headed home...
The roads in Baja are all 2 lane highways up on levies, and they aren't really kept up like in the states. We had traveled down to Mulege about 10 days before our trip back home and there really hadn't been many issues with the road conditions. Unfortunately that wasn't the case on our way home. While we had been in Mulege there was a huge storm with Hurricane winds and incredible rain. Apparently that had caused a wash out on the highway between Mulege and Guerrero Negro that we were driving to get back home. Because of the mirage of the heat on the pavement, my dad didn't see the washout ahead, and we hit it going about 60 miles an hour. The truck kind of jumped the washout and the trailer hit it hard. I was sitting on the bed over the hitch looking down at my brother laying on the couch of the trailer in the back... Okay, let's be real... We were fighting over what tape we should listen to next. But that gave me a pretty awesome view of my brother literally hitting the roof when the truck jumped the washout. And I pretty much gaurantee I was plastered to the ceiling up on the bed, but that wasn't nearly as far to jump as my poor brother who ended up on the ground between the couch and table. Next thing we knew we were stopped on the levy with no where to pull off the road. There really isn't a shoulder to speak of on these levies and they are about 5 or so feet higher than the desert they are surrounded by.
So there we were, trapped on the levy in the second largest stretch of desert between Mulege and California. Apparently hitting the wash out had completely broken off the motor mounts and the engine had fallen out of the truck. But never fear, my dad had a plan. While my brother and mom flagged down the big rigs to slow down as they went around our truck and trailer on the 2 laned highway, I found a great resting spot in the shade of a cactus and my dad put the engine back in the truck with a chain and some bailing wire. I know, totally McGuyver style, but it gets better from here.
We somehow managed to limp our way into Guerrero Negro, where we spent the night and my dad shirred up the engine to make it through the longest stretch of desert on our trip home the next day. At one point I remember my dad working under the truck and my mom stuck her head into the trailer and told my brother and I not to move, because the engine would literally fall out on our father. I don't think we more than breathed for the next 2 hours until Mom told us he was past the worst of it. Well, he got things together enough that he thought we would be able to make it to Ensenada, where there was a chance we might be able to purchase new motor mounts.
The next morning it was time to head out, and I found my mom standing outside the passenger door to the truck. I asked her what she was doing just standing there??? "I'm praying we make it through the desert today." Well, that kind of put a damper on the vacation feel of our return trip...
So, into the truck and trailer we loaded and started into the desert, day 2. While the chains did manage to keep the motor in the truck this time and we didn't find any more wash outs in our path, apparently chains don't hold things quite as steady as actual motor mounts and not too far into the drive we found ourselves stalled on the levy again. This time, when Jeff (my brother) and I piled out of the trailer we were met by instructions from our father to walk down the road and pick up every peice of metal we could find. Now, it seemed weird at the time, but you have to understand that when my dad says to do something, you just do it. No questions. So, we did. The problem was that all the metal we found was too hot to carry, so we pushed an old tire up onto the road from the desert and stuck all the metal in it and rolled it all back to my dad. Around then I got the nerve to ask my mom what was wrong. Apparently the movement allowed by the chained in place motor had knocked the driveline out of the truck. And that is what Jeff and I had been picking up off the road in the middle of the desert. Our only way out of the desert and back to California was lying in a discarded tire in small pieces. This was 1990. There were no cell phones, our CB radio wasn't that high powered (and who exactly were we going to call anyway) and we weren't in the states where they have really nice things like rental cars...
So back under the truck my dad went, back to flagging down big rigs for my mom and brother, and me? Well, I found another giant cactus to take refuge in the shade of. Definitely not our original plan for a vacation end. Remember, we are stuck on a 2-laned highway on a levy in the largest stretch of desert in Baja. I don't know how, but using some bailing wire and duct tape, my dad managed to get that driveline back together enough for us to limp our way to Ensanada (where we had planned to buy new motor mounts). Now our only issue was a language barrier.
So we proceded to stop at every auto parts store we could find, and it was slim pickens. And then using their handy English to Spanish dictionary, my parents attempted to translate motor mounts any way they could. They were met with one blank stare after another. Just about at the end of their ropes, they found a very nice Hispanic man willing to walk out to the truck and see if he could help. My dad crawled under the truck and pointed to the engine held in place by a chain and bailing wire and said, "Como se dice?" (Translates to "how do you say?") The very nice man smiled and said, "Oh! La motor monte!"
So when I tell you my dad is totally capable of helping us crazy, over-eager DIYers to fix up an old farmhouse, it's nothing to him! He can save his family of four in an old pick up and 5th wheel from the treachery of the Baja deserts and wash-out caused truck trouble beyond most imaginations... He can do anything!
Torn Apart
Well, I think we have finally done it... We have officially taken out everything that needs to be out to start building things back up. I have to be honest, things look pretty rough right now. The only things that look good are the pine beams we have put up. Our work crew finished installing the beams where I tore down the wall last Sunday while I tried to sleep off the flu and this weekend, my dad and Matt installed beams on the kitchen side of the living area as well. They look beautiful. I can't wait to see it all put back together.
This week wasn't nearly as productive as I had hoped. I was finally allowed to go back to work on the house on Thursday, but my stamina wasn't all the way back to normal yet, so I didn't get nearly as much done as I had hoped. With having to take a week off of my real job while still contagious, I had high hopes of getting all kinds of stuff done, but not so much. Hopefully this week will go a little better. On the bright side, Matt has been kicking butt out there. He even went back over to the farmhouse after we got the kids in bed on Tuesday. I think he was hoping that if he got extra work done there, it wouldn't be so hard for me to stay home and get better. I have to admit, it did help.
So, on the agenda for this week... I am prepping everything for paint. I have to seal all the window seals, repair holes in walls and texture everything. Matt being 6'4" helps with painting the ceilings, so I will be putting him to work on that and I will be washing down walls and taping everything to prep for wall color. I can't wait to see how it all looks as we get things put back together. In the mean time, here are a few pics to give you an idea of where we are right now...
This week wasn't nearly as productive as I had hoped. I was finally allowed to go back to work on the house on Thursday, but my stamina wasn't all the way back to normal yet, so I didn't get nearly as much done as I had hoped. With having to take a week off of my real job while still contagious, I had high hopes of getting all kinds of stuff done, but not so much. Hopefully this week will go a little better. On the bright side, Matt has been kicking butt out there. He even went back over to the farmhouse after we got the kids in bed on Tuesday. I think he was hoping that if he got extra work done there, it wouldn't be so hard for me to stay home and get better. I have to admit, it did help.
So, on the agenda for this week... I am prepping everything for paint. I have to seal all the window seals, repair holes in walls and texture everything. Matt being 6'4" helps with painting the ceilings, so I will be putting him to work on that and I will be washing down walls and taping everything to prep for wall color. I can't wait to see how it all looks as we get things put back together. In the mean time, here are a few pics to give you an idea of where we are right now...
This is the new pine beam in place of the wall we took down between the living area and the "middle room".
This is the view of the new living area from the front door. It looks great, and much bigger!
This is just a reminder of a before pic in the "middle room" from the door into the living area.
This is a before pic of the wall we took down, and the gas heater we took out. Now the house will just be heated by the gas stove that was in the "middle room" and is now in the larger living area.
Another before pic of the wall and heater we took out.
This is the kids room now that the carpet, curtains and wall paper are gone. You may remember it as the pink room...
The "pink room" before renovations began.
The view of the kitchen from the living area. To the right is the dining area where I removed 4 layers of wall paper... Thank goodness for the steamer!
Dining area and kitchen in renovation process.
This is a little hard to see (it's an iPhone pic), but this is the beam Matt and Dad installed between the kitchen and living area. It's hard to describe, but the ceiling had a bunch of different header heights. We took them out and replaced them with pine beams that "flow" much nicer.
More kitchen pine beams.
This is a before shot of the headers in the kitchen. We took out the cabinets in the center and moved the fridge there from the location on the right. This really opened up the kitchen and makes it seem a lot bigger. (And the wall paper is gone, another improvement!)
I will post more pictures as we get the painting and floors done! I can't wait to see it all come together after all this tearing apart.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Influenza A
I noticed it creeping up on Thursday afternoon. That heavy chest feeling I tried really hard to ignore. While I ignored it, I ripped the wall down between the "middle room" and the livingroom. Friday was worse, but I managed to finish tearing down my wall and I even got some of that wall paper down in the diningroom. My mom stopped by for lunch and decided she should teach me how to use the wall paper steamer. It is probably a good thing she did... I may never have started that very intimidating process without her. And we discovered that there were actually 4 layers of wall paper to peel off. The steamer really did make it a lot easier though.
Friday night I broke down and took some nighttime cold medicine. I slept for about 15 hours and then convinced myself that the way I felt Saturday morning was simply a "cold medicine hangover". Saturday afternoon our work crew came over and helped us install the rough-cut pine beams where the wall had been. It looked beautiful! But it was about all I could do to make it until the work was finished up. I picked up the kids, went home and put us all to bed.
Sunday morning I had to face the music... I was sick. I knew church was out of the question, so I drove my sorry self down to Prompt Care instead. The verdict wasn't pretty. I managed to get Influenza A...The real flu. And that had apparently turned into a sinus infection and bronchitis and I was working toward pneumonia. Yuck. Armed with a prescription for a Z-pack and the doctor's order to go find somewhere to hide for a few days, I came to the realization that I would be enduring a very real type of torture, possibly worse than how I currently felt... I wasn't going to be able to go work on the house to finish up the beams with our work crew today. The only thing worse than feeling this miserable, is feeling this miserable and missing out on fun while attempting to get better.
When I got home Matt headed off to the farmhouse with a reminder that I needed to get better, "this is a marathon, not a sprint" and I tried really hard not to hate him for feeling well enough to work when I couldn't.
It sounds like they got a ton of work done today. The beams are up, the cabinets where we will be moving the refrigerator are gone, the carpet in the kitchen is pulled up and it sounds like they have plans for more beams on the kitchen side of the livingroom. I can't wait to see all the work. I will take pictures to share as soon as I am allowed back out there. I am hoping to drive over tomorrow, but since I can't even climb the stairs at our house without having to stop for air, I won't be holding my breath...
Friday night I broke down and took some nighttime cold medicine. I slept for about 15 hours and then convinced myself that the way I felt Saturday morning was simply a "cold medicine hangover". Saturday afternoon our work crew came over and helped us install the rough-cut pine beams where the wall had been. It looked beautiful! But it was about all I could do to make it until the work was finished up. I picked up the kids, went home and put us all to bed.
Sunday morning I had to face the music... I was sick. I knew church was out of the question, so I drove my sorry self down to Prompt Care instead. The verdict wasn't pretty. I managed to get Influenza A...The real flu. And that had apparently turned into a sinus infection and bronchitis and I was working toward pneumonia. Yuck. Armed with a prescription for a Z-pack and the doctor's order to go find somewhere to hide for a few days, I came to the realization that I would be enduring a very real type of torture, possibly worse than how I currently felt... I wasn't going to be able to go work on the house to finish up the beams with our work crew today. The only thing worse than feeling this miserable, is feeling this miserable and missing out on fun while attempting to get better.
When I got home Matt headed off to the farmhouse with a reminder that I needed to get better, "this is a marathon, not a sprint" and I tried really hard not to hate him for feeling well enough to work when I couldn't.
It sounds like they got a ton of work done today. The beams are up, the cabinets where we will be moving the refrigerator are gone, the carpet in the kitchen is pulled up and it sounds like they have plans for more beams on the kitchen side of the livingroom. I can't wait to see all the work. I will take pictures to share as soon as I am allowed back out there. I am hoping to drive over tomorrow, but since I can't even climb the stairs at our house without having to stop for air, I won't be holding my breath...
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