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!
Our Home
We purchased this 1920's-ish farmhouse on March 16th, 2012 and began our DIY makeover
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
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...
Thursday, March 22, 2012
My Treasure Hunt Finds
Remember the treasure hunt I went on Friday while I waited for official word our purchase had recorded? Well, yesterday I took a friend around to show her a few of my finds and took some pictures along the way to share with you. I know it is all dirty and in need of some TLC, but I have big plans for each of these items. I'll have to share pics as I finish each little project, but for now they will remain as they are... I have bigger fish to fry first!
Old tin wash basin.
Old door with glass panes and crystal knob still intact.
Sorry for the blurry photo... I took these with my iPhone...
Dresser needs to be refinished, but in great condition structurally.
Nice cabinet found in mobile home bathroom.
There ar probably 20 of these old oil cans that have been cut to create storage bins. What a cool idea...and I am sure I can use them somewhere...
Shelves in garage filled with hardware, junk and treasures.
This old woodstove is hooked up and complete with chimney to heat garage. It just needs a little TLC and some backing to protect the wall and my new shop has a heat source!
This old stove is in desperate need of TLC as well, but image it cleaned up. To sell or use somewhere???
I don't know exact terms for this find, but it is an old tin (I think) pot with a porcelin (I think) coating.
No, I'm not planning on adding birds to our list of pets (pretty short so far, just 2 dogs), but imagine this with a plant inside...
Close up of the birdcage.
Wall of old tools. It has been a long family tradition to find old tools and bring them to my Grandfather when we couldn't figure out what they were used for. I don't think any of us ever actually found one he didn't have an answer for.... So wish he was still with us today to solve a few mystery finds from this location!
This is an old stereo cabinet with the record turn table still in it. I'm not sure what exactly to do with it yet, but it is pretty cool.
I have no idea what this was originally, but I am relatively confident that I can make a nice candle lantern out of it.
Ignore the junk on top...Check out this awesome metal wagon!
On the right is a hand planer and on the left is what I am thinking was one of the first rotary (skill saw type) saw designs. There is a spot to attach a drill which will then spin the blade. How cool is that!
A not-quite-finished or slightly broken birdhouse.
Okay, on top may be the world's oldest air conditioner, but you can see the old wooden wagon it is sitting on.... Oh the possiblities with that beauty!
I know it is hard to see, but up in the rafters is some type of seat. I think it may have been a wagon seat at some point. So, will it become a shelf, or a porch swing??? I'll keep you posted...
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Outside Pics
Matt says I need to post some pictures of the land, for people to really get the feel of our new home. I have to agree, it's just that I get so caught up in the project at hand, I forget. So here they are... And since we got snow over the weekend you get to see a few with snow still on the ground. One of the wonderful things about where we live, let's call it "God's Country" is that it snows, and then it melts. You see, I love snow... For a couple days. And then I love for it to go. A few inches to a couple of feet and gone in a few days before the world turns into a brown slush. It doesn't get any better than that!
Monday afternoon
View from the back porch.
Our back yard.
Literally the next day...Tuesday afternoon. House looking from the garden.
The garden.
More garden.
Property west of the house and garden. (Had to check the direction with my hubby. I'm directionally challenged.)
East side of the house.
Back yard from the porch.
More back yard.
I hope these pictures give a better feel for the beautiful home the Lord has provided for us. Can you believe the beautiful blue sky and all that grass just 2 days after the biggest snowstorm we have had yet this year!
Moving Forward
Well, I finally got to get back to working on the house. I went there Saturday and my cousin even offered to watch the kids for me, so I was ready to get some serious work done on the place. With the help of my sweet husband we got all the carpet out of the livingroom and all the top layer of wall paper off the walls... Yes, only the top layer. It looks like the diningroom had been papered over paper about 3 times (at least that is all I found so far), so I will be using a steamer to get the next layer(s) off. Top layer was pretty easy, but I am afraid the next ones will be much more difficult...
As we finished up the living area, Matt headed off to work in our only 4 wheel drive vehicle and then it started to snow...really hard. Although it was tempting to risk getting snowed into the house with no kids around and get tons of work done, leaving my wonderful cousin with extra kids to look after and the thought of a night in an old farmhouse with no heat drove me home. Then it snowed even more Sunday (and one of those sweet babies was throwing up), so we stayed home again. I worked Monday at my real job, but I mananged to get half of Tuesday off, so I was out to the farm as fast as my mini van would take me. (Yes, I actually drive a mini van...How else can I cart around 4 kids with reasonable gas mileage?)
I got all the carpet in the pink room up and prepped the walls for paper removal... More of the difficult to remove stuff. Thank God for steamers! That's 2 rooms carpet free! Then I made some calls... This is going to shed a little light into my personality, so be prepared... It might get ugly...
My first call was to the propane companies. We decided to go with a different company than L, mostly because we got a better rate, but also because her company was a pain to deal with. First I called the new company to find out when they could set the new tanks. Monday! That means next time I have the opportunity to get snowed in, guilt over my kids will be my only motivation to leave, because I will have heat! Then I called the company with the current tanks on our property and asked them to come pull the tanks. I also asked when it could be done. I was informed that it would be done when their truck was somewhere near my location which may take up to 3 weeks. This didn't really work for me since I wanted the new tanks in the exact same location as the current ones. I told the attendant this and she said the new company would just put their tanks beside the current ones until they could be picked up. I informed her this wouldn't work for me as I wanted the tanks in the EXACT same location, not next to the current ones. She basically told me that it wasn't her problem, and that was the deal they had with the new company. ***WARNING*** This is where it gets a little ugly... My response was something along the lines of: "Let me tell you my deal. Either you get the tanks out by Monday, or I get the tanks out by Monday. Your tanks are now on my property without my consent. I'm just letting you know because my guess is, it would work out better for you guys if you did that process and not me." (I told you this would shed some light on my personality.) I then hung up the phone and called my dad. Let's be real, there is no way I can move 2 huge propane tanks over the weekend without help. I confessed that I lost my temper and threatened something I couldn't really carry out without help. He immediately said, "They will be gone by Monday." Sigh...My hero!
Then I made some more calls to find out where to get some old looking pine beams. We have decided to take out the wall between the living area and the "middle room" and since this is an old house, when we (let's be real, my dad) checked out what the structure of the house looked like in the attic we (he) discovered that the trusses were site built and it looks like some type of support comes down at that wall. This means we need to come up with a support system to replace the wall. We thought it would look beautiful and completely appropriate to use rough hewn pine beams. 4x6 for the vertical beams and 4x8 for the header. I got a number of a local mill and when I called the gentleman said I could come up right then. So, off I went.
Now, I know I am a complete dork, and I am pretty sure it is because my dad worked at a timber mill most of my early life, but I love wood. I can remember seeing my first blue pine and thinking it was just about the most beautiful thing God ever created. Then I found out it happens from beetle kill, and I figured there was a purpose to bark beetles after all. (I told you I am a dork.) Well, the mill had about a hundred samples of wood and in about 2 minutes I knew exactly what I wanted. The gentelman asked me if I wanted to take samples home to think about it or show someone (I am pretty sure that was code for check with my husband, but I had already asked and he told me I could do the choosing). I assurred him that I didn't need time, I knew what I wanted and by the way, when could he get it done? This weekend!!!! And as much as I love wood, I have no concept of it's cost so I was thrilled when he quoted the price. No thinking required...I had a wall to tear down!
While he printed up the bid, I admired all the samples in the shop and dreamed of how else I could use wood to make our farmhouse home. I think he was pretty sure I had lost my mind as I picked up and touched nearly every piece of wood, but I was busy dreaming, so it didn't really bother me.
After I left, I called my dad. You may be noticing a trend here... Everything I know about handy work I learned from my dad. He can fix just about anything (sometime I'll have to tell you the story of our trip to Mexico when I was a kid and how he saved us with his McGuyver-esk skills.) We planned a work party for Saturday and I promised to get all the prep work (like pulling off the drywall and paneling to expose the frame and wiring) done ahead of times so it would only take my crew a few hours to complete the task. Next I texted my contractor cousin and then begged a friend to borrow her contractor husband for a few hours. With Matt and I there, we had a crew of 5... I thought that should do it for the job and the muscle required to heft up the header. I'll let you know how that goes. In the mean time I am trying to decide what type of support hardware to use and how I will finish the wood. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated...
Did I mention that after we decided to do the pine beams, Matt and I also decided to use low grade pine for the floors? I know it dings, but that will add to the "old farmhouse" look we are going for. Matt spent Monday driving 5 hours to pick up the pine. We found it at 99 cents a square foot, so it was worth the price of gas. And let me tell you, it is beautiful. I love the look of pine and I know I am in the minority, but I could spend hours looking at the knots and grain. I can't wait to see it in layed down... But that will be a while. I have a lot of work ahead of me before installing floors. I snapped a pic of the wood to share while it patiently waits in the garage...
Isn't it beautiful?!? And it was pretty awesome of my husband to go pick it up on his day off. Not exactly how someone wants to spend one of their 2 days off, but he's a trooper and he has the vision.
So, now the plan is back to work on the house tomorrow. I had to go to my real job again today (and I honestly can't complain, that job helps fund our project and I really love what I do), but tomorrow I'm planning to start tearing down a wall!
As we finished up the living area, Matt headed off to work in our only 4 wheel drive vehicle and then it started to snow...really hard. Although it was tempting to risk getting snowed into the house with no kids around and get tons of work done, leaving my wonderful cousin with extra kids to look after and the thought of a night in an old farmhouse with no heat drove me home. Then it snowed even more Sunday (and one of those sweet babies was throwing up), so we stayed home again. I worked Monday at my real job, but I mananged to get half of Tuesday off, so I was out to the farm as fast as my mini van would take me. (Yes, I actually drive a mini van...How else can I cart around 4 kids with reasonable gas mileage?)
I got all the carpet in the pink room up and prepped the walls for paper removal... More of the difficult to remove stuff. Thank God for steamers! That's 2 rooms carpet free! Then I made some calls... This is going to shed a little light into my personality, so be prepared... It might get ugly...
My first call was to the propane companies. We decided to go with a different company than L, mostly because we got a better rate, but also because her company was a pain to deal with. First I called the new company to find out when they could set the new tanks. Monday! That means next time I have the opportunity to get snowed in, guilt over my kids will be my only motivation to leave, because I will have heat! Then I called the company with the current tanks on our property and asked them to come pull the tanks. I also asked when it could be done. I was informed that it would be done when their truck was somewhere near my location which may take up to 3 weeks. This didn't really work for me since I wanted the new tanks in the exact same location as the current ones. I told the attendant this and she said the new company would just put their tanks beside the current ones until they could be picked up. I informed her this wouldn't work for me as I wanted the tanks in the EXACT same location, not next to the current ones. She basically told me that it wasn't her problem, and that was the deal they had with the new company. ***WARNING*** This is where it gets a little ugly... My response was something along the lines of: "Let me tell you my deal. Either you get the tanks out by Monday, or I get the tanks out by Monday. Your tanks are now on my property without my consent. I'm just letting you know because my guess is, it would work out better for you guys if you did that process and not me." (I told you this would shed some light on my personality.) I then hung up the phone and called my dad. Let's be real, there is no way I can move 2 huge propane tanks over the weekend without help. I confessed that I lost my temper and threatened something I couldn't really carry out without help. He immediately said, "They will be gone by Monday." Sigh...My hero!
Then I made some more calls to find out where to get some old looking pine beams. We have decided to take out the wall between the living area and the "middle room" and since this is an old house, when we (let's be real, my dad) checked out what the structure of the house looked like in the attic we (he) discovered that the trusses were site built and it looks like some type of support comes down at that wall. This means we need to come up with a support system to replace the wall. We thought it would look beautiful and completely appropriate to use rough hewn pine beams. 4x6 for the vertical beams and 4x8 for the header. I got a number of a local mill and when I called the gentleman said I could come up right then. So, off I went.
Now, I know I am a complete dork, and I am pretty sure it is because my dad worked at a timber mill most of my early life, but I love wood. I can remember seeing my first blue pine and thinking it was just about the most beautiful thing God ever created. Then I found out it happens from beetle kill, and I figured there was a purpose to bark beetles after all. (I told you I am a dork.) Well, the mill had about a hundred samples of wood and in about 2 minutes I knew exactly what I wanted. The gentelman asked me if I wanted to take samples home to think about it or show someone (I am pretty sure that was code for check with my husband, but I had already asked and he told me I could do the choosing). I assurred him that I didn't need time, I knew what I wanted and by the way, when could he get it done? This weekend!!!! And as much as I love wood, I have no concept of it's cost so I was thrilled when he quoted the price. No thinking required...I had a wall to tear down!
While he printed up the bid, I admired all the samples in the shop and dreamed of how else I could use wood to make our farmhouse home. I think he was pretty sure I had lost my mind as I picked up and touched nearly every piece of wood, but I was busy dreaming, so it didn't really bother me.
After I left, I called my dad. You may be noticing a trend here... Everything I know about handy work I learned from my dad. He can fix just about anything (sometime I'll have to tell you the story of our trip to Mexico when I was a kid and how he saved us with his McGuyver-esk skills.) We planned a work party for Saturday and I promised to get all the prep work (like pulling off the drywall and paneling to expose the frame and wiring) done ahead of times so it would only take my crew a few hours to complete the task. Next I texted my contractor cousin and then begged a friend to borrow her contractor husband for a few hours. With Matt and I there, we had a crew of 5... I thought that should do it for the job and the muscle required to heft up the header. I'll let you know how that goes. In the mean time I am trying to decide what type of support hardware to use and how I will finish the wood. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated...
Did I mention that after we decided to do the pine beams, Matt and I also decided to use low grade pine for the floors? I know it dings, but that will add to the "old farmhouse" look we are going for. Matt spent Monday driving 5 hours to pick up the pine. We found it at 99 cents a square foot, so it was worth the price of gas. And let me tell you, it is beautiful. I love the look of pine and I know I am in the minority, but I could spend hours looking at the knots and grain. I can't wait to see it in layed down... But that will be a while. I have a lot of work ahead of me before installing floors. I snapped a pic of the wood to share while it patiently waits in the garage...
So, now the plan is back to work on the house tomorrow. I had to go to my real job again today (and I honestly can't complain, that job helps fund our project and I really love what I do), but tomorrow I'm planning to start tearing down a wall!
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Our home-owning story
A year ago I never would have dreamt that we would own a home right now. We had a very rough few years starting in about March of 2009. Humor me with this. In church right now we are learning how God always has an "upper story". It's the story that you can't see when you are in the middle of your earthly experiences. We get caught up in the "lower story" that we are living. I think the last few years of our life have been exactly that...
Three years ago we found ourselves in a position we never thought we would be in... We were stuck in an awful home loan on a house that wasn't worth half of what we paid for it. We tried everything we could to work something out... A modification, a short sale, a deed in lieu of foreclosure, but the bank would have none of it. We ended up foreclosing on our home in June of 2011. It was unbelievable. My husband and I both have good jobs and we make good money, but one agonizing turn after another lead us to the only option we still had. We moved out of our home and watched as the bank sold it for less than half of what we bought it for.
None of it made sense. We had done everything right. We had jumped through every hoop, filled out every form and made hundreds of phone calls. How could this have happened? We were baffled and completely scarred by the entire experience. We knew God was with us, but we were having a really hard time seeing Him through the mess. This time forced us to examine our beliefs and tried our faith. We learned to rest in the promise that God is faithful and we chose to believe He would make sense of this for us.
We watched as home prices dropped, and dropped. It was so hard to know we could buy a home for less than our rent, but we decided we would just have to wait it out. A realtor friend had mentioned that owner financing was becoming more and more common, largely due to the foreclosure crisis and so many people being in our exact situation. We started keeping our eye on homes available in our area. But this time we planned to be patient. We set our criteria for another home very high... We wanted a very specific area, the possiblility of owner financing, and preferably something with a little land. A place we could make home for many years to come. We also decided that if there was something out there God wanted us to buy, He would make it happen. We weren't going to push.
Then one day that realtor friend found a property that we might be interested in. It was an old farmhouse on 13 acres on one of the 3 streets we had specifically mentioned being especially einterested in. We went to look at it and completely fell in love. Matt's exact words were, "I really wanted to not like it." But he did. We both did.
I went home and called my mom to tell her all about this beautiful property and the sweet owner we had met. She was an elderly widow and we had the chance to meet her while we looked at the house. She and Matt hit it off right from the start. In fact he spent almost the entire time we were in her home talking to her instead of looking around. Turns out she knew Matt's dad and they visited about her property and her plans when she moved out. I kept saying the owner's name and telling my mom all about the place. Then my mom said, "I think I know her, or at least her nephew that takes care of her."
When we got off the phone, my mom called the nephew, and sure enough, it was exactly who she thought. And believe it or not, she already had an appointment scheduled with the nephew the next morning. At the appointment they talked about the property and how much Matt and I loved it. The nephew invited my mom and dad to come out and have a look that Saturday, and if we wanted to, Matt and I could tag along. Are you kidding? If we wanted to? We couldn't get to the weekend fast enough!
My parents loved it out there. We walked nearly the entire 13 acres. It was even better the further you went back from the road. There were building sites all over the back of the property. If Matt and I could make the 2 bedroom, 1100 square foot farmhouse work for our family of 6 for a few years, we could build another house on the property that would fit our family a little more comfortably. Then we would have a rental, or more probably, a second home on our property for family members to live in (either of our parents, my grandmother) that would make them close enough for us to help out, but far enough for privacy.
We wrote a letter to the owner and made an offer on Monday. There was a lot of work to do... The house is over 80 years old (probably more like 90) and it needs work, but Matt and I are not afraid of hard work. We would be able to have chickens, raise a steer or a pig, and let our children run and play until their hearts content. This is exactly what we had dreamed of. Now we just waited and prayed.
She accepted our offer!!! We were thrilled. And 3 weeks later we had the keys and so began our farmhouse dream.
Only God could have taken us from a tiny home, mortgaged to the hilt and without hope of ever getting the money we had put in back out of our "investment" and put us in our dream location, on land better than either of us had ever dreamed, with possibilities beyond our imagination. If Matt and I had sat down and come up with our own wishes for our future and the future of our children, we couldn't have dreamt anything this incredible. This is a God story. Only He could have written this, only He could have orchestrated the chain of events we lived the last three years that ended here. This road has been hard, and I have been angry (sometimes even with God), hurt, troubled, and completely dumbfounded. About the time I finally let go and trusted God with my story, He made it better than I ever could have.
This is the second time in my life where I spent months asking God what I had done to deserve something awful to happen to me. I felt like I was getting punished for something, I just couldn't put my finger on what I had done that was so bad to deserve something like losing our home. I mean, I'm a sinner, but just the little, normal sins... How haughty of me! How do I get trapped into thinking like that? That every bad thing that happens is a direct result of something bad the individual did to deserve it. I don't look at the lives of others like that, why do I fall into that kind of thinking in my own life?
Now that I can see the "upper story" in my life, I'm not asking why I deserved to have something awful happen to me... I am asking why God loves me so much that He would take my circumstances and change my hopeless situation into extraordinary.
Three years ago we found ourselves in a position we never thought we would be in... We were stuck in an awful home loan on a house that wasn't worth half of what we paid for it. We tried everything we could to work something out... A modification, a short sale, a deed in lieu of foreclosure, but the bank would have none of it. We ended up foreclosing on our home in June of 2011. It was unbelievable. My husband and I both have good jobs and we make good money, but one agonizing turn after another lead us to the only option we still had. We moved out of our home and watched as the bank sold it for less than half of what we bought it for.
None of it made sense. We had done everything right. We had jumped through every hoop, filled out every form and made hundreds of phone calls. How could this have happened? We were baffled and completely scarred by the entire experience. We knew God was with us, but we were having a really hard time seeing Him through the mess. This time forced us to examine our beliefs and tried our faith. We learned to rest in the promise that God is faithful and we chose to believe He would make sense of this for us.
We watched as home prices dropped, and dropped. It was so hard to know we could buy a home for less than our rent, but we decided we would just have to wait it out. A realtor friend had mentioned that owner financing was becoming more and more common, largely due to the foreclosure crisis and so many people being in our exact situation. We started keeping our eye on homes available in our area. But this time we planned to be patient. We set our criteria for another home very high... We wanted a very specific area, the possiblility of owner financing, and preferably something with a little land. A place we could make home for many years to come. We also decided that if there was something out there God wanted us to buy, He would make it happen. We weren't going to push.
Then one day that realtor friend found a property that we might be interested in. It was an old farmhouse on 13 acres on one of the 3 streets we had specifically mentioned being especially einterested in. We went to look at it and completely fell in love. Matt's exact words were, "I really wanted to not like it." But he did. We both did.
I went home and called my mom to tell her all about this beautiful property and the sweet owner we had met. She was an elderly widow and we had the chance to meet her while we looked at the house. She and Matt hit it off right from the start. In fact he spent almost the entire time we were in her home talking to her instead of looking around. Turns out she knew Matt's dad and they visited about her property and her plans when she moved out. I kept saying the owner's name and telling my mom all about the place. Then my mom said, "I think I know her, or at least her nephew that takes care of her."
When we got off the phone, my mom called the nephew, and sure enough, it was exactly who she thought. And believe it or not, she already had an appointment scheduled with the nephew the next morning. At the appointment they talked about the property and how much Matt and I loved it. The nephew invited my mom and dad to come out and have a look that Saturday, and if we wanted to, Matt and I could tag along. Are you kidding? If we wanted to? We couldn't get to the weekend fast enough!
My parents loved it out there. We walked nearly the entire 13 acres. It was even better the further you went back from the road. There were building sites all over the back of the property. If Matt and I could make the 2 bedroom, 1100 square foot farmhouse work for our family of 6 for a few years, we could build another house on the property that would fit our family a little more comfortably. Then we would have a rental, or more probably, a second home on our property for family members to live in (either of our parents, my grandmother) that would make them close enough for us to help out, but far enough for privacy.
We wrote a letter to the owner and made an offer on Monday. There was a lot of work to do... The house is over 80 years old (probably more like 90) and it needs work, but Matt and I are not afraid of hard work. We would be able to have chickens, raise a steer or a pig, and let our children run and play until their hearts content. This is exactly what we had dreamed of. Now we just waited and prayed.
She accepted our offer!!! We were thrilled. And 3 weeks later we had the keys and so began our farmhouse dream.
Only God could have taken us from a tiny home, mortgaged to the hilt and without hope of ever getting the money we had put in back out of our "investment" and put us in our dream location, on land better than either of us had ever dreamed, with possibilities beyond our imagination. If Matt and I had sat down and come up with our own wishes for our future and the future of our children, we couldn't have dreamt anything this incredible. This is a God story. Only He could have written this, only He could have orchestrated the chain of events we lived the last three years that ended here. This road has been hard, and I have been angry (sometimes even with God), hurt, troubled, and completely dumbfounded. About the time I finally let go and trusted God with my story, He made it better than I ever could have.
This is the second time in my life where I spent months asking God what I had done to deserve something awful to happen to me. I felt like I was getting punished for something, I just couldn't put my finger on what I had done that was so bad to deserve something like losing our home. I mean, I'm a sinner, but just the little, normal sins... How haughty of me! How do I get trapped into thinking like that? That every bad thing that happens is a direct result of something bad the individual did to deserve it. I don't look at the lives of others like that, why do I fall into that kind of thinking in my own life?
Now that I can see the "upper story" in my life, I'm not asking why I deserved to have something awful happen to me... I am asking why God loves me so much that He would take my circumstances and change my hopeless situation into extraordinary.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Hubby to the rescue!!!
So I promised the story behind my husband having to rescue the kids and I our first night of owning our new home...
After waiting all day to start working on pulling out carpet and wall paper I had a hard time stopping. Remember that I spent the early part of the day checking out all the outbuildings on the property? Well, every lock has a different key, and in my brilliance, I decided to leave the appropriate key in all the locks until I could mark them somehow. Well, that decision was made in the daylight. When we signed papers on the house, L mentioned that she had problems with vagrance and vandalism at times in the past. 13 acres with one elderly lady is a good combination for people using your land. I remembered this all about 8pm... mostly because that is my kids' bedtime and their behavior was starting to show it, so I thought it was about time to call it quits for the day and head home.
My husband was working a late night at work, so we were on our own. Now I grew up in this rural area, but I have to be honest, I'm the skiddish sort. One weekend I came home from college and ended up waking in the middle of the night to the sound of footsteps outside my bedroom window. I called (read screamed) for my father convinced we had an intruder and too scared to actually get out of bed and go get the poor, sleeping man. My hero headed outside to investigate... Only to find 3 deer eating the plants on the patio. I was relieved no one was plotting to murder us in our beds, but a bit embarrassed that a 21 year old still calls for "daddy" over bumps in the night.
Back to last night... So I decided to put on my big girl pants and go lock all the doors and grab the keys. The lighting behind the house is moonlight at night... I was on my own. But armed with my handy iPhone for a flashlight, I knew I could find my way. Until about 20 steps from the back porch I heard footsteps in the grass area behind the sheds. Now, I'm a reasonable lady. I was sure it was just a deer or some animal, but boy did it sound like a really huge, scarey man. Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt for someone to spend the night in the sheds.... I'd lock them in the morning. I very respectably walked back to the house and locked the door behind me.
Then I started loading up to take my tired crew home. I headed to the car with a load. I had been getting in and out of the car all day and had left it unlocked, but when I got to the car it was very much locked tight. I checked 2 doors and then I pretty much freaked. The last time I had gotten into the car was through the back hatch... There is no lock button there, so there was no way I accidentally locked the car. I turned and ran back to the house, not at all respectably. By the time I got through the door I knew I needed to hold it together enough not to scare my tired children. I calmly grabbed the phone and called my husband. No answer, so I left a message that I had locked the keys in the car and needed his help. I didn't want to sound like a crazy woman, after all. Then I looked everywhere for my car keys.
Here's an important detail about my world... From the outside looking in, I'm pretty organized. Everything has a home in my house and if anyone is coming over, it is all in it's home. But if you know me, you know me, you know I lose my keys or iPhone about every other day. In fact, I had already lost my iPhone once that day, making me late to pick my son up from school. So, in order to save myself from needless searching, the most common place to find my car keys in in the ignition... Hey, this isn't LA! I know anything can happen, but car theft isn't a huge issue around here...
So, I searched the (basically empty) 1100 sq ft farmhouse for the keys I believed I had probably left in my ignition. I had been in every building, but lets be real, after the "footsteps" I wasn't going to any of the out buildings. As I searched I locked both the doors and shut all the drapes. I was still trying to be brave and not let the kids know I was freaked out! About 10 minutes creeped by with no word from my husband. So I texted him that my keys were locked in the car and my cell phone battery was almost dead. All true and sounded a bit more urgent. About 5 minutes later I started to panic... Text #2 went something like, "We need help, and I don't know who else to call. Please call back!" Definitely urgent, but I was pretty sure I didn't sound like a complete crazy woman.
He finally called back spouting reasons why it took so long and I completely cut him off with "Somebody locked my car, I heard footsteps and I am scared!" So much for remaining calm and trying to sound like an adult. I was the girl calling daddy to rescue her.
My hero was there within 5 minutes, and he even called on his way over and stayed on the phone until he was walking into the house to help me feel safe. Unfortunately, the keys were not in the car... But his spare key did get us in the car and eventually home. He came in the house, helped to load us all up and then went around to all the out buildings to lock up and retrieve keys. He then headed back to work... Apparently my hero was in high demand tonight and needed to put out some fires there too.
When he finally got home, he sweetly said, "I don't want to invalidate your feelings, and I would have been scared too, but I am thinking the footsteps might have been an animal and that the kids might have found your keys and managed to lock the car with the remote button. I just don't want you to be scared in our new home, and I am pretty sure there is a reasonable explaination. And I really don't want the kids to be afraid, so maybe we could not talk about this in front of them." Ugh... If he wouldn't have been so nice I could have at least been mad at him instead of feeling like a baby!
This morning I went back to the house to start working. I picked up the blanket the kids had used for their dinner picnic, and there they were... Right where the kids could have been playing with them...
After waiting all day to start working on pulling out carpet and wall paper I had a hard time stopping. Remember that I spent the early part of the day checking out all the outbuildings on the property? Well, every lock has a different key, and in my brilliance, I decided to leave the appropriate key in all the locks until I could mark them somehow. Well, that decision was made in the daylight. When we signed papers on the house, L mentioned that she had problems with vagrance and vandalism at times in the past. 13 acres with one elderly lady is a good combination for people using your land. I remembered this all about 8pm... mostly because that is my kids' bedtime and their behavior was starting to show it, so I thought it was about time to call it quits for the day and head home.
My husband was working a late night at work, so we were on our own. Now I grew up in this rural area, but I have to be honest, I'm the skiddish sort. One weekend I came home from college and ended up waking in the middle of the night to the sound of footsteps outside my bedroom window. I called (read screamed) for my father convinced we had an intruder and too scared to actually get out of bed and go get the poor, sleeping man. My hero headed outside to investigate... Only to find 3 deer eating the plants on the patio. I was relieved no one was plotting to murder us in our beds, but a bit embarrassed that a 21 year old still calls for "daddy" over bumps in the night.
Back to last night... So I decided to put on my big girl pants and go lock all the doors and grab the keys. The lighting behind the house is moonlight at night... I was on my own. But armed with my handy iPhone for a flashlight, I knew I could find my way. Until about 20 steps from the back porch I heard footsteps in the grass area behind the sheds. Now, I'm a reasonable lady. I was sure it was just a deer or some animal, but boy did it sound like a really huge, scarey man. Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt for someone to spend the night in the sheds.... I'd lock them in the morning. I very respectably walked back to the house and locked the door behind me.
Then I started loading up to take my tired crew home. I headed to the car with a load. I had been getting in and out of the car all day and had left it unlocked, but when I got to the car it was very much locked tight. I checked 2 doors and then I pretty much freaked. The last time I had gotten into the car was through the back hatch... There is no lock button there, so there was no way I accidentally locked the car. I turned and ran back to the house, not at all respectably. By the time I got through the door I knew I needed to hold it together enough not to scare my tired children. I calmly grabbed the phone and called my husband. No answer, so I left a message that I had locked the keys in the car and needed his help. I didn't want to sound like a crazy woman, after all. Then I looked everywhere for my car keys.
Here's an important detail about my world... From the outside looking in, I'm pretty organized. Everything has a home in my house and if anyone is coming over, it is all in it's home. But if you know me, you know me, you know I lose my keys or iPhone about every other day. In fact, I had already lost my iPhone once that day, making me late to pick my son up from school. So, in order to save myself from needless searching, the most common place to find my car keys in in the ignition... Hey, this isn't LA! I know anything can happen, but car theft isn't a huge issue around here...
So, I searched the (basically empty) 1100 sq ft farmhouse for the keys I believed I had probably left in my ignition. I had been in every building, but lets be real, after the "footsteps" I wasn't going to any of the out buildings. As I searched I locked both the doors and shut all the drapes. I was still trying to be brave and not let the kids know I was freaked out! About 10 minutes creeped by with no word from my husband. So I texted him that my keys were locked in the car and my cell phone battery was almost dead. All true and sounded a bit more urgent. About 5 minutes later I started to panic... Text #2 went something like, "We need help, and I don't know who else to call. Please call back!" Definitely urgent, but I was pretty sure I didn't sound like a complete crazy woman.
He finally called back spouting reasons why it took so long and I completely cut him off with "Somebody locked my car, I heard footsteps and I am scared!" So much for remaining calm and trying to sound like an adult. I was the girl calling daddy to rescue her.
My hero was there within 5 minutes, and he even called on his way over and stayed on the phone until he was walking into the house to help me feel safe. Unfortunately, the keys were not in the car... But his spare key did get us in the car and eventually home. He came in the house, helped to load us all up and then went around to all the out buildings to lock up and retrieve keys. He then headed back to work... Apparently my hero was in high demand tonight and needed to put out some fires there too.
When he finally got home, he sweetly said, "I don't want to invalidate your feelings, and I would have been scared too, but I am thinking the footsteps might have been an animal and that the kids might have found your keys and managed to lock the car with the remote button. I just don't want you to be scared in our new home, and I am pretty sure there is a reasonable explaination. And I really don't want the kids to be afraid, so maybe we could not talk about this in front of them." Ugh... If he wouldn't have been so nice I could have at least been mad at him instead of feeling like a baby!
This morning I went back to the house to start working. I picked up the blanket the kids had used for their dinner picnic, and there they were... Right where the kids could have been playing with them...
Before pics
This is the bedroom off the "middle room". We are planning to use it as the master because the door you can see on the right leads right out the front porch. I'm not actually sure our Cal-King bed will even fit in the room!
More "master bedroom". At least there will be lots of light coming in!
"Master" bedroom closet. We will be going from a very large walk in to this... I see a lot of dressers in my future!
Back in the living area.... This is the dining room. You can just see the entrance into the kitchen on the left.
More of the "pink bedroom"!
The area linking the kitchen and living area. I know it looks like a chalk board on a brick wall...It is actually a brick panel with an area of green wall paper in the middle. But check out the cool cabinet... I have big plans for that find!
Pictures of the kitchen are to come, as well as the unattached laundry shed and more...
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