We are now in the home (Dream Home) for a little over 1 1/2 years. In the meantime the little house that we renovated and lived in for 14 years has been up for sale for a little over 2 months. Today we had an Open House and the realtor said it was one of the best open houses he has had this year.
As much as I don’t want to part with the little house, paying 2 mortgages is a bit trying. It sits on one acre and we have done alot of inside renovation that was (before blog) so I don’t really have any before and after photos. Although I do have photos of the front porch and back porch renovation. Those were posted in 2013 I believe March through October. So you might want to check those out.
Thank you for visiting my blog and keep your fingers crossed that someone will buy it that loves it as much as I did.
Th title has 4 totally unrelated things done this weekend.
It’s October, just a week from Halloween and my roses are a wondrous sight to behold. I never grew roses before, until this year, and so I am not sure if they are supposed to bloom this late, but they look great. My favorite color is yellow, and boy are the yellow ones looking beautiful. I will have to research how to keep them alive through the winter, because I don’t want to lose them. Now I will show you some photos:
Close-up. I think I may make this my desk top.
I am having issues with doing this post as I can’t find my tags or other things I am used to seeing on the old dashboard. Blog-talk. Found them in Edit mode. Now where was I. Oh, yeah, roses. Here are a few more pictures of a red rose bush and my beautiful pink climber:
My pretty red rose bushMy pink climbing roses.Had to get a close-up of this one.
On to the stairs. Lynn spent the week getting the stairs to the correct thickness and cutting them to size. I spent the morning going over the underside of the stairs with a planer and wood chisel. Installed them then stained them. They aren’t perfect, but good enough for me. Much better than they were. There will be a runner down the center of them that will cover some of the imperfections and seams. But they are real stairs now. Only have 8 more to go. Right now, they are waiting on a budget increase. Remember this part is “a pay-as-you-go.” Maybe by Christmas.
A distant shot of the stairs I just installed and stained this morning.Up to the first landing done. Visualize a carpet runner down the center. It will match the living room carpet.
This has been a little progress on the house. In between times, I am trying my luck at writing my second novel. The first one is on the house and is a result of this blog. It is what I did on NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) from last November 2014. It is still in it’s revision stage.
This November I will be writing a novel on human trafficking and that is why I have been doing all the research for the last 3 years. I will tell you more about that in a later post. In the meantime beginning November 1, I will be focused on writing 50,000 words, so my updates may be a little slow coming in.
Whoops, I almost forgot the Rowing Machine, mentioned above. Yes, about the rowing machine 😦
Lynn has decided that we needed to pull out the rowing machine that he has had in the storage shed for at least 27 years. You know how you have the best intentions of doing exercise and you buy these machines that sit and gather dust? Well, we have a few of those. I have gone through this so many times with him, but alas, if he will use it, I can’t complain too much. Can I? I will let you know how that turns out.
On that note I think I will head to town to get a banana split.
Thank you for following my blog. I am always open to comments and suggestions.
As you can tell from the title, we are cooking in Washington State and don’t see any relief until maybe Friday. In the 100’s every day, after coming out of a week in the 100’s. This means that I didn’t complete the task I set out doing 2 weeks ago. Weed whacking part of the back yard. Nor did we (Lynn) make any progress on the gate.
So that meant that I needed to get some inside work done. The stuff that I have been putting off, and putting off some more. So here is the progress report:
I had Friday off for the holiday. and was totally useless. I tend to do that on 3-day-weekends. My mind or my body refuses to work on anything, the first day. What a lazy girl I am.
So I get up on Saturday, the 4th, racked with guilt because I wasn’t productive, decided to make up for lost time. First on the agenda, while it was a cool 80+ degrees, I decided that I was going to get the outside in shape with my new handy dandy weed whacker. I made it about 10 feet and it looped onto some electric fence wire. A big bunch of wire. Well I proceeded to get it all untangled. That done, now we begin again. Having an ear for this trusty little gizmo, it was sounding funny and wouldn’t run quite right, so I turned it upside down to see what was amiss and I couldn’t see anything wrong. Luckily my son Steven was standing next to me and said “you broke the belt, Mom.” I didn’t know it had a belt :(. Did I mention I HATE mechanical stuff. Well that ended any of the outdoor work.
Not one to be dissuaded, I figured we would go to town for groceries as it wasn’t getting cooler and we need to get back so Kinzie could come in the house out of the heat. She can’t be trusted in the home alone as she is a veracious chewer.
Back at home, Kinzie safely snoozing on the floor in front of the AC vent, and I am ready to do some of the indoor work. I have a mile long list, so I am not at a loss for things to do. The one thing I have avoided for (well since we moved in), is putting up the towel racks in the master shower. I don’t know why I didn’t want to do this task, but I just didn’t. Any way, I had bought a 5/16 drill bit especially for the tile and I needed to find two spots between studs, to mount them with these drywall thingamajigs that really hold tight. I found I liked using those, thingies, when I was installing the closets.
Well the towel bars were 24″ Moen (Vale style) brushed nickle. They matched some of the other bathroom hardware. Anyway, the first thing I did was use the template to mark my holes that I needed to drill and made sure they were level and that the holes would be avoiding the studs. Figured that out with my handy dandy stud finder.
The marking and drilling went fine, and now it was time to put in the drywall thingies. I don’t think the manufacture took into account the thickness of the tile, nor did little ole me, and the thingies didn’t want to spread out like they were supposed to, so it was a little tougher getting them in. Then I had to pry one out, but eventually I was able to get them in after a few (alright a-lot) of mishaps. Here is a picture of my progress:
If you look close you can see the little holes I drilled.Some tools and templateThingamajigsFirst towel bar upMy failures.The 2 towel racks installed and ready to be used.
Now I’m on a roll. I have a toilet paper holder, a towel ring, and a mirror that needs to be installed in the 1/2 bath off the back door utility entrance. This went very smooth (finally). I installed a pivoting toilet paper holder, Moen (Vale) style. That is the handiest thing! I really like the style. Have one in the master bath, and I need to buy 2 more for the upstairs. They are about twice the price of a regular TP holder, but worth it.
I also installed the towel ring. It is from Glacier Bay and it is White Porcelain. I am not above mixing it up, if I like the looks of the accessories.
Now for the mirror. It came with the vanity and I just haven’t gotten around to installing it. It had two little wire triangles to hang it on. We got this vanity set about 10 years ago when we saw it on sale. Liked it then and like it now. Hanging the mirror was a little tricky, but I got it done. Now, I just cross my fingers and hope those little triangles hold it securely of which I am not too trusting. If it falls, it will ruin the porcelain sink also. Now for those pictures:
Pivoting Toilet Paper HolderNothing like a full rollTowel Ring in the 1/2 bathFinally got the mirror up. Love it.
Later in the afternoon we cooked out hamburgers with Steven and Leon and Sierra. Steven did the grilling and we all pitched in and had a wonderful ending to the day. Then the kids headed into town for the fireworks.
Had a wonderful 4th.
Sunday
Wanted to get out and mow the back yard before the weeds got too high. Of course the gate is not finished so Lynn can’t get into the back yard to mow with the rider (which is now fixed) so I decided that I would mow it with the walk behind. Haven’t used it since last year. Gassed it up, checked the oil and primed it. On the first pull it started right up and quickly died. So in working the throttle, I discovered it was broken and not hooked up. So I set to dismantling it. Pretty simple really, just one bolt. After a few tries, I fixed that. But it still wouldn’t start. So along came Lynn as the back-up. By this time I was done with trying to get it to start, so I stomped (really stomped) over to Steven’s and borrowed his Toro as I knew it worked as he was using it Friday. Lynn said he could get ours started so I let him try for the next 15 minutes without success. I told him that oil was leaking out of the side so there was something wrong with it. Not really wanting any mechanical input from me, he just shrugged and said do what you want. Another piece of —-, not working. Did I mention I hate mechanical stuff. Ugh.
Well I got the Toro running without a hitch, but Kinzie wasn’t having it. She doesn’t mind the riding mowers, but she hates the walk-behind-mower and the walk-behind-weed-whacker, and growls and barks and throws an absolute fit. I have never mowed when she was in the back yard before as I would usually lock her on the porch out of the way, so I wasn’t prepared when she came up behind me and took a big nip at my bottom. On reflex I turned around and swatted the heck out of her snout. She didn’t break the skin because I was wearing jeans, but I don’t think she expected the mower to bite back… She gave me a wide birth after that. Neither of us was hurt. Except her feelings. Nothing sadder than a collie with her head hanging down. She has never bite me even when I am brushing her. So it was a shock to both of us. I think she saw me as an extension of the mower.
I mowed half of the back yard but had to stop as I was getting too hot. So inside to the air conditioning I went.
It has actually been a very productive weekend. Too bad it has to end. I have lots and lots of stuff still left to do. I think I probably should update the blog on Saturday and Sunday. Because by the time Sunday is over, I have forgotten what I did on Saturday. I wish I could forget to eat like I forget everything else.
Saturday: Did some more painting on the fence boards and, actually, Lynn and I put up 4 more boards (2 sections). Then we went to town and did grocery shopping and stopped to get some Chinese food.
2 sections doneUp a little closer. The Gate will go just to the left of the 2 sections
Then a little later in the evening we decided to check out the back gate and how we are going to put that in. We are both very anxious to get little Miss Kinzie in her own back yard. The weeds are mowed down for now. Lynn broke another belt, but at least we have the weeds more under control now.
Lynn checking out where to put the back gateA little closer shot of Lynn scoping out the next thing on the “honey-do” list.
Sunday: Painted more boards and finished up 2 more sections. Then painted some more. Still have a little bit more to paint before I retire the paintbrush for another week. Want to get the boards done so Lynn can work his magic and build our gate. I’m hoping that he will work on that tomorrow, but we will see if he feels up to it. Weekends are hard on him.
Thought if I painted the boards first it would be much easier than painting the whole gate afterwards. Can always touch-up any mar in the finish.
One of the other things Lynn and I both did this weekend was to mow and pull some weeds.
My side job.This is a before picture. Stay tuned for next weekMore to clean up around the utility porchSo much sage brush and weeds.Where the back gate is going. It is just leaned up for now.
Those are the photos of what was accomplished this weekend. Tune in next weekend for the finishing pictures. Now that I have committed to posting the finishing pictures, I have to get busy and give you some results. Okay, now one last photo. Not sure when I will get to this project. 🙂
On of Lynn’s many mower carcases that he can’t part with. Ugh. It may disappear someday when he’s not looking.
Stay tuned, and thanks for reading my blog.
Annie, the fence building, weed pulling Diva of Waitsburg
This was a long weekend for me as I took Friday off to get the house inspected and we are good to go when the electrical inspector blesses the house, we can move in.
There are still things that need to be done as not all of the plumbing is finished and hooked up. We had some issues with a stopped up sewer line. From my understanding it was a plugged line that could be attributed to how our original line was hooked into the main sewer line 20 years ago when we had the line installed. We live on 7 acres but it is in the City and has City utilities. That was just another thing that I can blame on breaking that mirror. Ugh. Fixed now though, I hope (the sewer block). As for the mirror, I bought a new one, that should count for something. I can’t afford 7 years. Fixing it should account for 6 years and 11 months, so I am good 🙂 Gotta think positive.
We have to get the water heater strapped down with a drain pan under it and a pressure valve plumbed to the outside. One more toilet installed. Two claw-foot tubs installed; the hydro tub with heater installed; two of the vanities to finish and the shower heads installed. Pretty soon.
Another hurdle is, the cable company says they have to trench in a line to the house. I guess what we buried is not big enough. Ka-ching, and that is going to cost us $580!! As much as Lynn wants to move he won’t move without TV and Internet. That won’t get put in until March 6th, unless they have an opening before that.
I worked on the house for 3 days, and just took a little break to head to Famous Dave’s for BBQ on Valentines Day. Ate way too much, but it was delish.
Now for some photos:
Happy Valentines Day, wasn’t that sweet, look what the flooring guy leftLiving Room carpet downAnother shot with the lights onOur little bar sinkAn added touch of flashing to our upstairs deckInstalled blindes in the bath, just waiting on the tub installationI though putting in the blinds would be easier before the tub was installed, That 3 windows, only 41 more to go.Moved a few boxes and the dining china cabinetsNew retro furniture. Just kidding, I hope!
This has been a 20 year journey, but it is almost done. The work around here will be on-going as there is always room for improvement, at least now I will be able to take my time and enjoy the process. Lynn will finally be able to relax and enjoy the new old house. It is a culmination of a lot of hard work from both of us though-out the years.
Dreams are possible, you just have to be willing to work hard and keep the vision of what you want to accomplish. You make your own dreams come true.
I am not done yet, now I have all the undone things that will probably take me another year or two to accomplish. In between all that, I am looking at seed catalogs, planning a garden and maybe get a chicken or two.
Stay tuned, as I am hoping to turn this blog into a book. I’ll let you know how that process goes. I also have a couple of other books in the works. Gotta keep busy.
This is how I spent my weekend, and what is happening in my little world.
Spent the last couple of hours finishing the staining of the stairs for now. I will keep the brush handy for the remainder of the stairs when they are installed.
Love the staircase, but will love it more when it is done.My reading nook. Can’t wait to sit down with a good book.
Along with a couple of contractors coming tomorrow, Steven will finish digging post holes and get ready to move the railroad ties. Lynn will tally up how many 2x6x16 boards we will need, along with what will be needed for the gate. That will fence off the back yard to keep our little Kinzie safe. I think she will miss her yard buddies Romeo and Scarlet, but they are just next door if she wants to have a play date.
Beginning of the soon to be fenceThe fence will separate the front and side yardNice square hole. Thankfully the ground is not frozen.
Took some pictures of the claw-foot tub faucets. Just love them. I know they aren’t really from the time period, but I couldn’t pass up the little phone showers. I looked into the showers that were full showers that could go with them, but I really didn’t like the style. They appeared too flimsy. Won’t know how these work as I am still waiting for the water hook-up and drains. But maybe by the end of tomorrow I will be able to let you know.
Claw-foot tub faucet.The other claw-foot tub faucet
Also, I took a picture of the dining room light which I just couldn’t part with so we had the electrician take it out of our dining room in the house we live in now and move it to the new house. I haven’t been able to find another I like more than this one.
The light from our dining room is in the new house now. I loved this fixture and couldn’t find another like it.
So another weekend passed and we are a little closer to being finished. Hopefully, we will be in the house by the end of February.
Annie, with fingers and toes crossed that we will finish this week.
I haven’t posted in about 3 weeks as I have been having very little movement on the part of the contractors. This project, for them, is winding down and they have moved on with other projects. As much as I try to focus on the positive and I love my contractors, I am beginning to get a little anxious. So in some of this post you will sense my frustration with the process and how long it is taking. But there are still things that have to be done before the final inspection.
The plumbers have got to hook up all the vanities, tubs, drains, kitchen sink, dishwasher and shower. We ran into a snag when the tub was unpacked, it had a crack so it went back and we are waiting for its replacement which I hope will be in this week. They worked last Saturday, but I had purchased 3 wrong faucets and had to return them and get new ones which I did immediately. Tho they were able to get some of the other faucets and the water heater installed, they still need to finish. Now I have the new faucets and am chomping at the bit to get done already. They are supposed to be here on Monday.
Also the floor contractor has almost finished putting in all the carpet except the living room. He has to also finish grouting the shower. He will be here on Monday, also, and will be focusing on the living room carpet which is a floral design which will make matching seams a challenge.
Shower almost finished
Living room carpet, and this carpet will be used as the carpet runnerThe carpet used in the rest of the house.
S & K Mountain Construction and Hays Electric have been wonderful, but some of the subcontractors are being a little challenging. There was obviously some miscommunication with reference to the stair parts that were supplied. The staircase is very complicated and now a question with reference to whether the full stair will be supplied or whether there will be carpet put there instead. I thought when you purchased stairs, that meant the complete riser and bull-nose step. They are telling me that they understood that I was going to put a runner down the steps and only furnished the end caps and that the rest would be carpeted. This is where the misunderstanding needs to be ironed out. But first we have to have a meeting to go over this, and the supplier cancelled (or was a no-show) to the meeting that was scheduled last Wednesday.
The key being the runner. The runner I had in mind was bound along the sides and went over the steps leaving about 6″ on each side exposed. But nothing can be decided until we meet so that is going to be my focus beginning Monday. I will let you know how it turns out. Here is where we stand now.
Stair treads. Note the flooring guy was told to put those tack strips down, but they will be coming up.
In the mean time, I worked for about 3 hours today staining the railings that I didn’t get to before it was assembled. That takes more prep work than I like, but it has to be done, so there you go! Tomorrow I hope to finish at least that project.
Other things that are going on is building a fence for the back yard so Kenzie can be secured safely. That requires post holes being dug. Lucky me I have a well-able-bodied-post-hole-digger, Steven. It brings back memories of when he was a teen, and the never-ending post holes that he had to dig. He almost has it down to an art form. We are talking big post holes for railroad ties. I believe he has 3 or 4 left to dig, then muscling the posts into the holes. I think that will be a two person project. Then the 4 rails to match the front pasture.
I will post more pictures of the claw-foot tub faucets and the post holes and fence as it progresses.
I talked to the contractor and it looks like they may finish up by Friday. That is the target date so far. The plumbers and electricians have some hook-up work to do. The electrician has almost everything installed. I just asked him to switch out the light fixture in the entryway and that will take some creative ladder work to get to the ceiling as the railings are up now.
The plumbers, on the other hand, have a lot to install. 1 toilet, 3 tubs, 4 vanities, one small wet bar, one dryer vent, a dishwasher, garbage disposal, and last but not least a geo-thermal water heater that runs off the heat pump. Supposed to be economical. Lord knows I need economical after the really large heat bills. I am hoping that was resolved with the correct thermostats. A $799 heat bill for one month almost gave me heart failure. As my dear son points out, “Mom you are 60+.” I thanked him very much and told him I would out-work him any day. No argument from him. Kids these days are soft. Huh, Steven?
Well, I do have to say, I like having him help me. So here is what I/we have done this weekend:
I will begin with easy first. We unboxed the microwave and put it on a shelf. I told you I was beginning with the easy part. Then, we unboxed the trash compactor and wiggled it until we got it in the cabinets. Steven did the wiggling. Then we unboxed and muscled the freezer into the utility room. I was so ready for a new freezer as we are still using the one we bought 26 years ago. I hope this one lasts that long.
Now on to the study as Steven had finished up the caulking and I finished with the primer and the final coat on the window ledges and baseboards. That just makes 2 rooms that are actually (completely) done with the painting before the carpet goes in. The rest of the house will have to be done later. The outside will be finished up this summer. Promise.
Now for the pictures.
Stairs are coming together. When the pieces are sanded, the staining will follow
Looking toward the one guest suite upstairsMy favorite part. The reading nook.Another view of the stairsThe light that will be hanging over the pool tableAnother beautiful view of the back pastures, through the bonus room. aka Lynn’s man-caveThis is the view from the reading nook
Where did December go? I was supposed to rest in December!! And you know, winter is my time to hibernate. No hibernating and I really get cranky. Just has Lynn. If our marriage survives this last 7 months it can survive a lifetime. I have totally lost my sense of humor, and I broke a mirror so that may be responsible. I wonder if you have the mirror replaced, does that help take away some of the bad luck?
Can’t wait to show you pictures of the carpeting and the finished kitchen.
I haven’t done a Monday blog in a while. Today it was full speed ahead. The electrician (aka Sparky) from Hays Electric came to put in more lights, fans and appliances. And I was anxious to check out the progress when I got home from work.
Now remember I said that I was furnishing the house with a medieval/victorian/eclectic theme? In the following photos you will see what I mean. The medieval will come a little bit later.
I fell in love with this small fixture with its etched glass and rough bronze. This is in the breakfast-nookThis is a small light under the staircase bar. I wanted something a little subtle as it may be used as a back light for TV watchingThis is a fixture over the kitchen sink with the panoramic windows. This was a a polished silver. It was a hard one to pick because I wanted it to blend but not really be a focus in the kitchen.Fan in the living room.Fan in the study.
More to come tomorrow, or at least in a few days. Can’t really promise tomorrow as I have been so busy with work and packing and other commitments.
This journey is coming to a close really fast now. Landscaping will have to wait until spring as will some of the exterior painting. So I may have a few days to relax after moving, or maybe not.
I really appreciate everyone reading my blog. It has been a kind of therapy along with a motivating factor to keep me positive and on track. To be able to look back and see where we started and where we have come up to now. It has been through hard work and getting out there even when we were tired and didn’t want to do anything, that this is coming together. Taking almost every extra penny and putting it into the house and keeping the dream alive.
Dreams are powerful, but the power only comes if you are willing to do the work toward that ultimate goal. This can be applied to everything in your life, not just building your dream home. My son’s dream is to be a nurse. It is only going to happen with hard work and keeping the goal in focus. He just has to believe that he can do it and it will happen.
I know this is a little late for Christmas, but I still feel it in the air. Been busy packing and working and painting and caulking… on and on. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas spending time with family and friends. That makes for a beautiful Christmas’. We didn’t really celebrate much this time as we are in the middle of finishing so many projects. Hoping that we will be able to move into our new house sometime in February.
That progress at this time is: Most of the trim is down and waiting on the counter tops and some flooring. The counter-top will be installed on Tuesday the 30th. The guys have been working on the stairs and they are going to look amazing. All the appliances have to be installed and the 2 claw-foot tubs have to be installed. The faucets and plumbing items are purchased and should be delivered by the 5th.
My son Steven will be coming to stay with us for awhile so he can get registered and, hopefully, accepted into the nursing program at WWCC. It is his dream to be a nurse, and I want to do all I can to help him recognize his dream. Bonus is, he will be a lot of help around here. Never realized how limited we have become in this past year. Everything seems harder and seems to take a long longer to accomplish. Just need to set goals and keep working toward those goals.
I did get a rude awakening when I got my power bill this month. It was $799+ for one month. It went from $139 the previous month to $799. To say that took my breath away, would be an under statement. The power company along with the heating company will be coming out to see what is going on. I knew the bills would be higher, but I was not prepared for that. Needless to say that has put a tremendous damper on things around her. Holy molly, cross you fingers and hope it is a malfunctioning meter.
Now for some photos: We will start with the tile in the shower.
Another view of the showerVinyl combo with tile for the tub surround
Still now finished, but I am sure the flooring guy will be a fixture in January.
Then there is the staircase. To say I am excited for the stairs is an understatement. It will be the focus of the house. Lots of natural light and something I can decorate next Christmas. Oh, boy I can’t wait.
Yet another view of the stairs. They will be stained after they are installed.The railing is going up in the reading nook
Stairs are going in
The guys also installed the French pocket doors in the upstairs bonus room (aka man-cave). Also, I found an entertainment cabinet that I am going to use as a wet-bar sink. Our little wet-bar is only about 3X4 and I had to get creative. Excited about how it is going to turn out. Not much of a drinker, but it could be a coffee bar. I love coffee.
Interior French pocket doors
A media center will be our new wet-bar
While working all the time, leaves little time for anything else, I did take a moment to snap a few photos of our really muddy April. She is our little yard ornament and can’t figure out what the fuss is about. Looking forward to spring when everything greens up and we have warmer days. Then we can look out our front windows or sit on the front porch and watch her play.
Dirty AprilApril wanting to know where the carrot is hiddenApril looking for Papa.. He’s her favorite
She has a stable mate, Buckwheat the llama, but he wasn’t having anything to do with the photo shoot.
More photos and more blog through-out January. Hoping our move-in date will be real soon 🙂
15yearsandcountingdream 