Walls Are Up, Walls Are Down

Zoe's walls are up.  She has decided that she doesn't want to move and has given me a hundred reasons why we shouldn't.  For the past week it has been getting progressively worse.  Today she sobbed and went on about it for nearly two hours.  She told me we should get our money back.  When we went out to the new house she was fine though.  She loves her new room when she is in it, but the rest of the time her anxiety is high.

I think we all have high anxiety at the moment.  The amount of work to be done is daunting, but finally the wall in the kitchen is down.  Scott made amazing progress today.  He extended the soffit so the oven cabinet will look right.  He recycled material from the wall he tore out, between the living room and kitchen, to build the soffit.  He used the studs and the drywall, so very little will be wasted and we save money.  He also redid all of the wiring in that wall and installed new light switches.  Have I mentioned that Scott is amazing?!

This is what the wall between the kitchen and the living room looked like "before".

"After", with the new, extended soffit over the fridge and the spot where the built-in oven will be.

The new view from the living room.

The new view from the dining room.

While Scott did all of the hard work, I finished most of the cut in painting upstairs.  I am so close to being finished with the upstairs painting, with the exception of the bathroom, where I still have wallpaper to remove.  I'm just glad I got anything done today.  Zoe developed a fever yesterday afternoon and was sick through the night, but made a recovery by morning.  If anyone is keeping track, that is malady #3 for the week.  I am ready for us to all be healthy and well.  There is too much work to do to be sick! 

Scott's parents spent the day helping out, so we ordered pizza to feed them for their efforts.  About the time I expected them to return from picking up the pizza, I hear honking out front.  It was already dark out, but I could tell it was a truck rather than their car.  I went down to see who it was and an older gentleman told me he was my neighbor. He then began to talk and talk and talk - even after my in-laws returned with the pizza.   He told me all about how wealthy his children are; how he was raised a Baptist, but that there are over 300 flavors of Baptist, so now he is part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  He told me that it is the only church built on the rock of Jesus, or something to that effect and that if I could prove otherwise he'd, "kiss my butt"!  I also found out in the course of our very weird conversation that he is 81 and a widower.  I just did lots of smiling and nodding, all the while hoping my pizza would still be hot when I got inside - if I got inside!  After all of that, he mentioned that his son is the one who was previously grazing his cattle on the back part of our property.  (The previous owners had acquiesced when they were asked permission, but told us they had regretted the decision.)  Anyway, he had tried to buy just the back 10 acres, but obviously didn't get it, so he wanted our permission to graze the cattle back there.  I said no.  Then, I said no again, and again, and again.

So, to sum things up with the neighbor encounter...I am not a Mormon now, and I am still cow free.

Going Green

I have stated before that this renovation is happening on a non-existent budget.  However, that isn't preventing us from doing a great remodel.  I thought that we would be keeping the weird mish-mash of appliances for a while, but thanks to my Gran, we get to replace the oldest appliances. (The almond colored cooktop that doesn't match the other white appliances, and the old range.)  Through her consignment store, Consignment Exchange on HWY 69 in McAlester, Gran was able to get fairly new appliances.  They came out of the local district attorney's house when his wife updated their kitchen to stainless.  We will be installing a Jenn-Air ceramic cooktop and Whirlpool double wall oven, which is a huge blessing.  So, we will have a kitchen full of newer, white appliances absolutely free!  How very "green" of us.  I am not into the politics of "green", but I do believe in being good stewards of what God has given.  We get great newer appliances.  They just happen to be white instead of the trendy stainless steel.  White will show fewer fingerprints anyway!

Speaking of being green, I made a trip to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore.  It is located at 13th and Sheridan, just west of Sheridan, behind the skating rink.  You can get amazing deals on building supplies that have been donated from remodelers and builders.  I was hoping to find an 18" base cabinet and a countertop, but they didn't have any today.  However, they had a great stock of interior and exterior doors really cheap and we need to replace a few, so Scott and I need to get measurements and head over there in the truck.  They also had several vanity tops that might be a good option to replace our lovely pink one in the master bath.  If you are remodeling, I highly recommend that you check them out, both for supplies and to make tax deductible donations of anything you pull from your house.

Zoe's room is another example of re-using and re-purposing.  Her chandelier is a find from my Gran's store.  It came out of someone's home, rejected, but it is beautiful to Zoe and the perfect size for her room.  Some of the best things can't be found at Lowe's or Home Depot!

Yes, that is a slide on her bed.

As you can see from the pics, Zoe's room is pretty much complete.  We just need to put in quarter round at the baseboards and find a pink shag rug for the floor.  One down and too many to go!

Oh, and before I forget, since we are being green, does anyone need a blue toilet?  Anyone?

It's Always Something

It has been a while since my last post.  That is partly due to being busy, but mostly due to Murphy's Law trampling all over me!  Let's see, last Friday morning I was awakened at 3:45 am to a disturbing queasy feeling, which quickly propelled me in to the bathroom where I remained for half an hour until the heaving subsided.  I had the privilege of 2 more episodes before the vomiting stopped and all that remained was that horrible nauseous feeling and the wonder ... you know, wondering if anyone got the license number of the Mack truck that just hit.

According to Murphy's Law, since I was sick, it had to be on a day when no one could take care of me in any appreciable way.  (Though Zoe, bless her heart, was so good to her mama.  She was able to get me water and saltines.)   Scott had taken the day off work so he could spend the entire weekend working on the new house.  He and Zachary camped out and worked from dawn til dusk.  Thankfully, they avoided what had hit me because they weren't here, but poor Zoe got in it's path and at 5:00 am on Sunday morning her toilet hugging began.  By 10 am she was fine.  I wish my immune system was still that effective!  I wasn't feeling anywhere near human again until late Sunday, and then it was only in short bursts.

Despite moving at a snail's pace, I did drag myself out to the new house long enough to inspect the progress.  Poor Scott had slaved away all weekend and didn't get halfway through what he wanted, but got a lot done.  The crown molding in our bedroom is up and the fridge has been moved, complete with the install of a new water line and shut-off valve with a proper remodel box.  The old range is out and all of the cabinets along that wall of the kitchen have been removed.  The cabinets that go above the fridge were cut to size and new trim was added and stained.  Scott did a great job.  It always amazes me that an engineer/computer programmer is also so good at construction.

If you compare this shot to the before pics in the blog, you can see what a great job Scott did modifying the cabinet.

Forgive the spots, apparently the lens on my cheap digital camera needs to be cleaned!

Monday and Tuesday I had a reprieve from illness, but was still dragging.  The kids and I made it out to the house with a load of stuff and did some more cleaning.  I managed to get the downstairs closet scrubbed and lined with Contact Paper.  I then loaded it with board games.  My dad came out later and installed a Wilson Electronics whole house cellular amplifier and antennae to boost the cell signal in the house.  We went from having 1 or 2 bars to having 4 or 5 in some spots.  It made a big difference.   (If anyone is in a dead area and needs one, he sells and installs them.  Just FYI.)  We had to get the cellular signal boosted so that we could use it for our Internet access.  There is no DSL or cable modem out there.

I had big plans for Wednesday, but woke up and my right eye was swollen shut.  By Wednesday night, my left eye had joined the party and Thursday morning both eyes were swollen shut.  I spent those two days popping ibuprofen and using ice packs on my eyes.  In the midst of that I had to keep chaos at bay in the old house and did a whirlwind cleaning when a Realtor called wanting to show the house in 2 hours.

Despite all of the weird illnesses, house showings, homeschooling and the normal copious amounts of laundry and dishes, we are moving forward.  We're like the Little Engine That Could!

The Pressure Mounts

Can I just say that moving and trying to sell a house is a horrible, awful, stressful process that I really hate?  I am thankful that I have a house to sell and that we were blessed enough to find another house on acreage and buy it - I really am - but the resulting chaos, frustration, anticipation and disappointment are entirely overwhelming!

I no longer know what day it is because they all look the same - pack something, paint something, clean something, repeat ... 1000 times!  Actually, I am not sure 1000 times would even get it done.  Still, I plod on.

We had our first showing of the house this weekend.  I was so proud of the progress we had made and how great the house looked ... until I spoke with my Realtor and got the feedback.  Apparently we are overpriced, the office still has too much stuff in it and the condition of the carpet upstairs is worse than the other two homes for sale in the neighborhood.  We need people like us to look at the house - those who can imagine what could be and realize that new carpet is no biggie.  Did I mention that I hate this process? 

On a more positive note, we got Zoe's bed moved into her new room, which gives me renewed hope that we are indeed making progress.  However, there have been setbacks too.  I used painter's tape to mask off the baseboards and such in our bedroom before I painted, yet I still have paint all over the woodwork.  Despite scoring the tape before I pulled it, I still had spots where it pulled the paint off the walls, so now I get to go in with a tiny detail brush and fix the paint job, plus have to sand the baseboards and re-stain them.  Like I didn't have enough to do!

Thanks to my wonderful mother,  I do have clean cupboards and quite a bit of Contact Paper lining them.  She spent a day scrubbing, measuring and cutting for me.  While she did that, my dad pulled up carpet, padding, tack strips and staples in order to prepare the floors for the new flooring.  In the process, he found $9.25 in change under the baseboards, which will provide us with over 9 square feet of new flooring!  (Every little bit helps.)

One thing that we don't have to purchase are smoke detectors.  I think I have counted 12 in the house.  Should I be worried about the wood burning stove?  So far it has been nice to be able to pick up wood from the yard and use it to keep the house warm instead of the electric, but it does scare me a little.  (Yes, apparently I am such a city girl.)  Besides my concerns over having a fire going in my house on a regular basis, the aesthetics of the wood burning stove have me looking for other options.  Can we get one that actually fits in the fireplace and lets me see the fire, while still heating the whole house?  I think we can, but I need an expert on this.

The wood burning stove is not exactly an attractive addition to the room, though admittedly functional.  I want a pretty fireplace!

The kids are very anxious to be living at the new place.   They love being outside there.  I even find myself outside a lot, despite the cold.  There is just something about being on the land that is awesome.  (Remind me of that when the grass starts to grow and the work really begins!)  I was hoping to be living there by February 1, but am now convinced that the only way that is possible is if I revise my goal to February 1, 2012!  Did I mention that I hate this process? : )

Despite all the stress, frustration and delays, I am so thankful that we get to do this.  It will all be worth it in the end.  Stay tuned...

What Have We Done?

There are a couple of ways I can answer that question.  I am going to begin with the literal.  Today we managed to get the master bedroom primed and partially painted.  I love the color, but can't post pictures until the room is finished.  Zoe's room is now ready for furniture.  It is painted, floored and has a pretty chandelier.  Can you believe that is 98 cent per square foot, resilient vinyl flooring?  I think it turned out great.

Zoe's room almost "after"

Zoe's room "before"

Now I just need to get outlet and light switch plates and we can move in the furniture.  I am so excited to have a project completed!

The other reason I ask, "What have we done?", is that all of the realities of country living are hitting.  Today Scott met another neighbor and she was talking about all the copperheads she has had to kill and how a rattle snake killed one of her horses at her other property north of Hwy 412.  She was also saying how close the coyotes come to her barn and that she is worried they are going to kill her older horse.  What?????

Discussion ensued about how to keep our Pomeranians safe from coyotes, hawks, owls, etc.  I am not sure I am prepared for all of the critters and creepy crawlies we are going to encounter.  I think all the bug bombs are going to get put to good use.  I'm not sure what to do about snakes and coyotes though.  We definitely can't just put in a doggie door, which is what the dogs are used to.  I wonder if they would use one of those dog boxes that look like a little patch of grass.  The first time I saw a commercial for one I thought they were stupid, but now they are looking like a pretty good idea!  https://www.pottypatch.tv/?gclid=CMjkz_eJrKYCFYXu7QodHzv5aQ  Seems crazy to have 20 acres, yet have your dogs go to the bathroom inside!

We have also realized that we need to get one of those big outside lights that are like street lights.  I have no idea where to get one or how much they cost, but if I have to guess, I am going to say they are expensive.  Everything else is! Somehow I don't think my Goggle ads are going to make that kind of coin!  I have also decided that I need one of those utility vehicles with the little truck bed on the back in order to take out the trash.  Yesterday I had to hike a block up the hill to get all the trash to the street.  It is not easy to drag old carpet up a hill!  At least I got a good workout.

While I am asking questions, how do people manage to move in any kind of reasonable time-frame?  This is beginning to feel like a full time job and we have barely scratched the surface.  Now I totally understand why people get to the point that they say they are never moving again.  I am sooooooooooooo there.

You Don't See This In Your Average Back Yard

We spent all day at the new house today and were fortunate to meet some neighbors.  Mom and I were painting and I saw a woman walking next to a child riding a bike with training wheels.  I thought he looked about Zoe's age, so I grabbed my jacket, ran up the hill and down the road to catch them.  It turns out he is the same age as Zoe - just turned 5.  His mom and I started talking and I mentioned that I homeschooled and her eyes lit up and she got very excited and said she homeschooled too.  I told her I was part of CHEER homeschool group and it turns out she just joined at the beginning of the school year.  Crazy small world.

I wanted to introduce the kids, so we walked to the back of the acreage where Scott, Zach and Zoe were gathering pecans.  They became quick friends and gathered about 20 pounds of pecans before we headed back to the house.   The kids then rode their bikes in the side yard, climbed a few trees and then began to dig.  That is when Zoe made her archeological find.  She is fully convinced that she has discovered a dinosaur!

Zoe's "dinosaur" bone

In addition to meeting neighbors and finding fossils, we actually did get some work done, though I am convinced there is some sort of temporal vortex because in 8 hours I should have accomplished more!  Mom helped do the trim painting since I am not very detail oriented.  The upstairs is almost completely painted.  We just have a little more trim and the master bedroom.  While we painted, Scott managed to make a little bit of progress on Zoe's floor.

I have a countertop refinishing kit that I am going to try in the kitchen, so I am getting things prepared to begin that project.  I am not sure if this stuff will work or not, but it was only $55, so it is worth a try.  If it does work, it fits well in my "Design on Less Than a Dime" budget!   I have to get creative in how to work around the metal border pieces, but I think I have a plan that will work nicely.   When I delve into the project, there will be a post devoted solely to project details and "before" and "after" photos.

We have not had a single showing at our old house, so I am getting a little concerned, but we probably needed the extra time to get it staged better.  We have a LOT of stuff!  Between dogs, a cat and kids, I have constant cleaning to do to keep it in order to show.  It will be nice to get moved so there will be less pressure.  In the meantime, I am torn between two homes and working like a dog.  It is all worth it though!

Interior Photos

OK, here are some pictures of the inside of the house.  I love the spaces, but we really need some updates. 

The dining room

The living room

The den

The master bath

The downstairs bath



Master bathtub - yes, it is pink!



The master bath - pink counter top - totally me!

Things Are Different Out Here

Things are coming along very slowly on the renovation, but we did, finally, get some flooring down in Zoe's room, which is a major benchmark of progress.  We stayed out there until about 10 last night and as we were walking out to leave, we heard a chorus of coyotes make some of the craziest sounds.  It scared Zoe, reminding me of all the things that we are all going to have to get used to in our new country setting.

We are only 15 miles from our current, middle of the city, location, but once you are beyond the domain of all pizza delivery, there are bound to be some differences.  For instance, we were commenting how we needed to get those deer signals to put on the front of our vehicles.   We have already come across a deer and two raccoons on the road to the house.  We have to remember to stay beyond alert when driving through there.

When you are outside of the city, there is no sewer system, so another new thing for us is maintaining a septic system.  I try hard not to think about plumbing, sewage, etc., but now I have to think about it.  Do we have to adopt Cheryl Crow's two square limit on toilet paper, or is there a greater margin of error?  I don't know.  This is all new to me.  I have some Googling to do.  I just keep thinking about some friends of the family who had septic along with signs in their bathrooms that said, "If it's yellow, let it mellow.  If it's brown, flush it down."  (I promise not to post any signs.)

I definitely need to stock up on flashlights and batteries, because it is dark with a capital D out there!  That will be great for sleeping and star gazing.  The stars last night were brighter and more abundant than I have seen in a while.  Without all the light pollution it is amazing.  I can't wait for a warm spring night so I can enjoy it longer.  The 21 degree temperature last night was not conducive to enjoying outdoor time.

I am sure there are plenty other things I will discover that are foreign to my current lifestyle.  For instance, should I be concerned that the former owners left us 9 bug bombs?