A Bathroom, a Fence, a Tractor, a Puppy, a Pregnant Cat and a Kid in a Tree House

Sounds like a redneck children's book, right?  It's been almost 7 months since my last blog entry, so there is a lot of ground to cover.  I will use as much brevity as I possibly can, because I have lots of pictures to tell the story for me.

My proudest accomplishment is finishing the bathroom downstairs.  Scott and I did the whole thing ourselves, from plumbing and electrical to tiling.  I became somewhat the pro at mosaic tile.  It only took me 18 hours across two weekends to get it done.  It was murder on the back and I think I still might have grout on my hands, but it turned out great.  As a quick reminder, here are the "before" pictures:

We gutted the bathroom and squared up the wall to give ourselves a nice rectangular canvas.  This is the result.  (Zach wanted me to give him credit for the "after" photos, because he was proud of his work.)

Zach "staged" the bathroom for pictures.  I'm not sure what happened to the black towels, but you get the idea!

One of my favorite things about the bathroom is the fun fixtures.  All of them light up and change color based on the temperature of the water.  I like them so well that I think we will put them in the master bath when we get around to that project.  Guess I am still a kid at heart!

For my birthday, I bought myself a fence - well, fencing materials anyway.  Thanks to a bout with pneumonia, Scott and his dad had to install the fence without my help or input.  (Come to think of it, that was probably best.)  The end result is a huge area for the dogs to run and play, which makes life much easier.  It was getting quite tiring having to take them out every couple of hours and then trying to keep them all corralled.

Scott's favorite bit of progress is the tractor.  God kept just the right one for us.  It had everything we wanted/needed at a price that we could afford.  The back hoe will give us the ability to do all kinds of projects that will help with water flow.  As soon as it gets dry in the low areas, we are going to dig a huge pond that we will stock for fishing.  Maybe that will eliminate the swamp/snake issue.  Though I must admit, I will miss shooting snakes from the balcony!

Today we picked up our new Keeshond puppy to add to our pack.  Mom says I need to set up a 501 (c)3 and rescue animals for a living since it has become a hobby around here.  We took in a kitty and she is about to have kitties of her own.  There have been 2 dogs dumped out here that we have found homes for too.  The kids are very excited about the kittens.  I am going to use it as an educational opportunity.  If anyone is looking for a kitten, let me know!

Zach's never ending project for us is what he now calls "Parkour City".  It will ultimately be a collection of playsets, monkey bars, ropes, bridges and other fun stuff for fitness and play.  So far Scott has built one platform and we have had two donated from people who wanted them out of their yards.  If anyone else out there needs a play set hauled off, give me a call.

Cows Gone Wild!

Actually, everything seems to have gone wild.  It has been a crazy month.  I am pretty sure I could write a hit country song based on our experiences!

On September 26th, at about 9:30 am, our dog, Chewie, was outside going to the bathroom when he was attacked by a coyote.  Since he is just a 5 pound Pomeranian, I was not sure what his chances of survival were going to be.  Zach and I rushed him to the vet and were told that he was going to need surgery and to expect around $600 in bills to save him.  I swear this dog has nine lives and so far each of them has cost us about $600!  (He had parvo when we got him as a puppy, thanks to a negligent breeder.)  Anyway, he had surgery and they discovered that his diaphragm was completely torn in two and his stomach and intestines were in his chest.  He was a mess.  Thankfully, he made a miraculous recovery and is still with us.

Chewie with his drains and stitches.  He has staples up both sides.

OK, so part one of the country song covers a sad story with the dog.  Part two for a good country song is that our tractor broke.  Scott has been doing a lot of restoration on it so that we can at least brush hog the land, and he had it running pretty well, but then the rusted wheel broke.  We already needed new tires, but now we need new wheels, which are crazy expensive.  I am pretty sure we could buy a whole tractor for less!  I think a new tractor and a back hoe/front loader will top Scott's wish list for Christmas.  (Not that Santa or anyone else I know could afford them!)  We have ponds that we need to dig out and dirt to move around to help with how water flows on the property.  I think we could stay busy with a back hoe for months with all we would like to do.

Part three of our country song involves cows, and lots of them, with a bull or two thrown in for good measure.  We have a neighbor that has 7.5 acres with longhorn cattle on it.  There is no house or anything, just the livestock.  The fence is a little short, so they keep jumping over to our side.  So far a cherry tree has been the only casualty, but it is a bit disconcerting to have the kids come face to face with a 1000+ pound animal in the yard.  A couple weeks ago a mama cow jumped the fence to birth her calf in our yard.  The result was what Zoe calls the "Dalmatian cow"!  (Oh, and lots of cow patties during the two days she was wandering our land while calming down enough to round up her and the calf without anyone getting hurt.)

The week following the birth, we had a visit from another one of the cows, along with a different neighbor's bull, both of which we were told were a bit squirelly and mean.  I guess rounding up wandering livestock is one way to meet the neighbors.   I now have full appreciation for the old saying, "Good fences make good neighbors!"

The final verse to our country song is dedicated to the fridge dying.  I know, that doesn't sound very "country song-ish, but if you think about it in terms of not having anywhere to cool your beer, that brings us full circle!

Now, we're gonna throw that all into a song, not necessarily in the order I wrote about things, but in there none the less.

Everyone now, to the tune of "The Gambler"...

Got a bull in my pasture
A cow in my front yard
A coyote got my doggie
And then my tractor broke
The fridge ain't a coolin'
No ice in the freezer
Still doin' renovations
And all my money's gone

You gotta know when to hold on
Know when to calm down
Keep being thankful
Despite what's goin' on.
Stuff's gonna happen
It's all a part of livin'
There's not time enough for pouting
With work to be done

Thank you, thank you very much.

P.S.  The kids also found a kitten and brought it home.  The jury is still out on whether that is a good thing!

The Cine-Gym-O-Mat is Here!

It is amazing how life gets in the way of renovation, but we have made some visible progress - finally!  I wouldn't call the project finished, per se, but the Cine-Gym-O-Mat is usable and functional.  What is it, you ask?  It's a home cinema!  It's a gym!  It's a laundry room!  Ironically, though not yet neatly organized and decorated, it is the most popular room in the house.

  

The Cine-Gym-O-Mat is fully furnished with a TV, 4 station weight machine with a 300 pound weight stack that doubles the weight for leg presses, a recumbent bicycle, kettle bell, treadmill and 3-50 lb dumbbells with an incline/decline bench.  There is also a washer/dryer, deep freezer and side by side refrigerator/freezer.  A folding table acts as my sorting table for the laundry and a broom stick hanging from the garage door rails by three hangers acts as my clothes hanging area.  We even managed to cram three of our theater seats in there!  Add in a couple of storage units and a bunch of stuff that we don't know what to do with and you have the semi-put together, semi-cluttered room that we now call the Cine-Gym-O-Mat!  (Say it several times, it's fun!)

  

I think my favorite thing about the Cine-Gym-O-Mat is that I can open the garage door and feel like I am outside.  This time of year it is perfect.  Oh, and the other really nice thing about it is that the only money we spent in there was for the red paint for the wall.  We already had the gym flooring from the old house.  It's not exactly as finished out as we would like, but it works for now, and like I said, it is still the most used room in the house.

Now that the Cine-Gym-O-Mat is fully functional, I am working out daily and welcome company! 

The next completed project will be the downstairs bathroom.  We finally have all of the materials, so we are very close.  Hopefully I will be able to post pictures in another couple of weeks.

Stay tuned ...

How Do You Eat Fried Worms?

I only ask because Zoe's new hobby has netted us an abundance of worm protein.  She has spent the past week carefully searching for her prized friends and has become so proficient that even her big brother is impressed.  It is so funny to me that such a girlie and prissy little girl will spend hours on end digging in the dirt for worms.  When she finds them there is no squeamish response, just giggles of delight.  The more active the worm, the louder she laughs.  It is a joy to watch her having so much fun.  The worm race was very exciting! I have, of course, included pictures.

Zoe has just covered her bounty of worms for the worm race.  The first one out wins!

If anyone needs bait, Zoe is a pro at finding it!

Searching for more worms.

She's tired and dirty after a hard day's worm hunting.

The adjustment to rural living is happening quickly for all of us.  The appearance of a tick or spider on us no longer results in any kind of reaction.  There is merely a calm acknowledgment and a lazy brush off.  That's quite a change from the early days when both kids would scream and dance around at the sight of a bug.  Even I am accustomed to it now.  I still don't want to share my bed with spiders and ticks, but it doesn't creep me out anymore.  I just evict any creepy crawlies and move on.

Scott has spent the past few weekends working on the downstairs bathroom.  He has redone all of the plumbing in the floor and filled the holes back in with concrete, then finished off with a layer of self-leveling concrete to provide a nice surface for me when I lay the flooring.  Today has been mostly electrical work, with the hope of getting to the point of framing in the new wall.  We have the bathtub and toilet standing by in the driveway, just waiting for their new home!

The view into the bathroom from the garage.  (Yes, we really can put it all back together!)

We have still been doing quite a bit of shooting.  Last weekend we had so many cans in the back that looked like we were starting a recycling center.  They made great targets for the kids with their BB guns.  Zoe and Zach are both becoming very good marksmen and take gun safety quite seriously.  I have become a crack shot when it comes to shooting the snakes.  I have taken out another 3 since my last post.  I feel like I need to start putting notches on something to keep track!

Zoe just loves her pink BB gun!

Despite the hot days, we still spend a great deal of time outside.  It is just so beautiful and all of the trees keep us pleasantly shaded.  I am really starting to love it out here!

Looking back over this blog post, I realize that I need to stalk Zach with the camera this week so I can show what he is up to!  Stay tuned ...

Snake ... the Other White Meat

Alternate blog titles for today: "Snake ... It's What's For Dinner" and "Snakes on the Plain"

Where do I begin?  It has been a long time since I last sat down to post.  We have been busy working on all kinds of projects, but most of them are not really photo worthy yet.  Still, I do have a few to show.  The first one is a result of the afternoon's activities.  Zach and Scott went out on the back part of the property to shoot some skeet and while they were back there noticed a number of snakes in the pond.  The new activity became snake shooting.  In total they took out 5 snakes, which appear to be cotton mouths.  (Pause here to shiver and have an Indiana Jones flash or something.)  Here is a picture of one of the casualties.

In light of the events of the day and all of the snakes, the next part of my story really scares me - in hindsight.  Still, it was fun at the time.  The land just to the east of the house has a tendency to become Lake McCarty during rainy weather, or "The Swamp" as my mom and one of the neighbors refer to it.  Anyway, it becomes a watery wonderland for kids.  Zach and Zoe love it, as did their cousin, Connor.  They did a little "Redneck Rafting" out there this week.  I didn't have a boat or any kind of swim float, so I blew up one of the twin sized air mattresses, handed them an old shower curtain rod and off they went for hours of fun.

Thank God for protection for these stupid city folks!  It just looked like too much fun, and while I wouldn't be hanging out in the swamp now, at that age I would have been right in there - snakes and all.  Heck, if you ask Mom, she'd say I'd have brought a few snakes in the house when I was finished!

I think now that Scott has pulled out the guns, we are going to be joining in with neighbors and providing plenty of blasts of our own.  It's nice to fit in!  I got a great shot of Scott on the balcony, preparing for Zoe's first date!

In between shooting snakes and swimming with them, we have done lots of work.  Scott spent several weekends building a new foundation for the storage shed, moving it, building new doors for it and finally painting it.  I neglected to take a "before" picture, but originally it had doors that were rotted and falling off, a floor that was rotted out and a foundation that was leaning at a double digit angle.  Now it has a solid, level foundation, new floor, and new doors.  It is also loaded to the gills with stuff already!

Zach's room is finished except for the space mural and glow in the dark stars.  I would have posted a picture, but it is too much of a mess to be photographed!  He loves it though. 

Scott's newest project is the downstairs bathroom.  It is pretty much gutted and we are preparing to build out the side that was angled off so that a tub will fit.  The plumbing is all going to need to be re-routed, so it is quite an undertaking, but with a little help from our dads he has it figured out.  (Or so we think!)

My projects have been less noticeable - unpacking, organizing and gardening.  The garden is coming along fairly nicely.  If the wild animals don't get to everything first, we should have tons of tomatoes.  My next project is the garage.  I am going to get all of the stuff that we are storing out of it and then clean, paint and put down flooring so that we can use it as living space.  

I finally got on the tractor and did some brush hogging.  (When you have 20 acres, you don't mow, you brush hog.)  It was kinda fun.  I felt like that scene in Footloose until I got the feel of how it shifts.  Now I have this strange desire for a John Deere.  What is up with that?  

Over all, I am mentally, physically and emotionally tired.  I am ready for the renovation to be complete.  Once it is, I will re-evaluate how I feel about being out here.  The amount of work to do to get where we want to be is overwhelming at times and some days I still wonder ... "What have we done?"  Days with snakes and flooding make me wonder too!

P.S. We are still making 2 house payments and really need that to end, so if you have any clout with God, maybe put in a good word for us!

Drum Roll Please . . . Ta Da!

It seems like forever since I have been able to post.  We have worked our butts off with little to show for it until now.  There has been more moving, unpacking, organizing and the day to day things that take up all the time too.  While we have made progress on Zach's room that I could show, tonight's blog entry is dedicated to the kitchen.  It is, after all, the heart of the home.   It is also the room I have been most anxious to complete, and I am sure all of you have been anxious to see how my countertop treatment turned out.  ("Countertop treatment" sounds so much better than saying I painted my countertops!)  Regardless of semantics, the fact is that it turned out great.

Before the unveiling, let me remind you of where we started.

As you can see, we are 99% of the way there.  We still need to do trim around the microwave, but everything else is done.  We removed the range hood and repainted it white, as well as repainting the black accents on it.  Really the only things we bought were the sink, microwave, cooktop and the materials to make the new counter/bar area where we removed the wall.  Everything else was refreshed and re-used.  The countertop treatment turned out WAY beyond my expectations and these photos really don't do it justice.  If anyone needs a relatively easy and inexpensive way to give your kitchen a facelift, I highly recommend it.  http://www.gianigranite.com/

With the kitchen complete, all that remains upstairs is the bathroom - which is a biggie.  We have our eye on a nice Jacuzzi tub and are saving up for it.  In the meantime, I will paint the bathroom and install the lights I picked up at the Re-Store for $5 each!

Finally, finally, finally...significant progress!

There's light at the end of the tunnel!  All of the hard work is paying off and things are finally coming together. Last night I finished the last little bit of flooring and we were able to move in some furniture over the weekend.  Saturday night, for the first time in over a month, I did not have to sleep in a sleeping bag and I was more than 4 inches off of the ground.  The master bedroom is pretty much complete, with the exception of moving in our armoir.  I am elated.  It is so nice to have some calm in the chaos.  Here are "before" and "after" pics.  I don't have a great camera, so I can't get a good wide shot, but you get the idea.


Before I went crazy with paint and ripped out carpet.



After, with new flooring, paint, crown molding and the light/fan moved to the center of the room.

With all of the flooring complete, we were also able to bring our dining table out, which makes a huge difference in how things look and feel.  It is nice to be able to have family meals at a real table rather than at our little folding table.

Before



After - room with a view.  We just need a new light fixture and eventually some wood blinds.

 Funny, now that I post it, it doesn't seem like much, but hours and hours of work went into the results you see here.

The kids are really beginning to love it.  Even Zoe is no longer having her meltdowns over the move.  I think having more of our stuff here and getting things in order has helped a lot.  The picnics on the top of the hill and large puddles to splash in don't hurt either!

Zoe is running through there somewhere.

I have been getting lots of exercise here too.  Just walking to the mailbox or to take out the trash is a small workout!  It is so beautiful that I just want to walk around outside all the time.  On one of my walks I need to find a spot for my garden.  It is almost planting time.  I'm even considering getting some chickens so we will have fresh eggs.  Anyone know how to raise chickens?  My mom calls this "the farm", so might as well look the part, right?

Next on the remodel agenda is Zach's room.  He is feeling a bit left out since all of the renovation is occuring upstairs.  He has some really off the wall plans for his room.  Black paint and lots of glow in the dark paint is involved!  I figure he is only a kid once, so why not go over the top with the room?  Creativity is good.

Now that things have come together a little, I am going to go enjoy a soda on my balcony, while looking at the stars and listening to owls and singing coyotes.  Who knew that could be so relaxing and entertaining?!