Getting there....

It's been a stressful week. We had a showing at our lake house, which didn't go as well as we hoped. They LOVED the house, just not some of the other people that live here... sigh. What can you do?

Yesterday we painted most of the second downstairs bedroom and as a stress reliever I pulled weeds. I LOVE pulling weeds. I think of weeds as the negative people I deal with and pluck em out! Ha! Try it some time. Works wonders.

Today we will finish up the painting of the second room ( photo's to come), and paint the living room ceiling. I think the plumbing should be in by mid week so a tub and toilet will finally be installed. Then the fun begins! A brand new kitchen. I can live with very little in my life, but a toilet, tub and a place to cook are kind of important. So I do believe I should be "livin at the farm" by the end of May, first week in June. It's going to be so much fun. The view out of our living room window is an open field with probably about 8 horses. Two of them are colts (not sure if that's what you call a baby horse) and to watch them frolic around their mommies is just heartwarming. I'll try to get a photo of that today too.

We used that ionic ozone air cleaner and man oh man, that thing works wonders! It smells awesome, both in our lake house (where the furbabies have been a little naughty) and at the farm, where years of grubby boots with manure on them, and just the smell of a house that's been neglected has been eradicated. You can't be in the house while it's running, but if you are going on an overnight trip, or even while you are away at work it can really help any of those stubborn smells. Just make sure your pets are out of the house too.

I'm going to take a day next weekend to scour some of antique stores around here for some cool accessories. I'm not even sure what I'm looking for, but I'll know it when I see it.

Stay tuned...

Work work and more work

We raced from St. Cloud to Nevis at 6 a.m. Sunday morning to get some work done. It's just never ending over there! I painted a bedroom closet, which you would "think" would take about a half an hour, but no. 2 hours. It had some funky texture applied on it and I just couldn't get the paint to cover well, so it took 3 coats. But it's done. Whew.

Then I moved on to varnishing the windows I sanded last week. I made it through 3 windows and had to quit. I was exhausted. Who would think a baby shower could wear me out so much? We organized the two rooms that we will "live" in... and now are just waiting for the plumbing to be installed. Then tub, vanity and toilet will go in and we will follow. I'm hoping that we can be in the house by the end of May. Fingers crossed.

I'm heading over to the farm this morning and will finish up the varnishing and do the painstaking task of touching up the trim with a skinny brush. I know better than anyone, once you move into a place those little things NEVER get done. So it has to be done now or never. Photo's and video to come...

Update: I never made it over to the farm yesterday. I got a call from our realtor saying he is showing the house to some "GOOD" buyers on Friday, so there was a lot of little things to finish over there. Taking pictures is one thing, but walking buyers through is another. It has to be PERFECT! I scrubbed the basement -Actually used my steam cleaner on the floor to sanitize it, organized drawers and closets, and did 10 loads of laundry. I am pooped out. This pushed our "move" time up to Thursday I think.... How the hell am I going to accomplish that while working full time? Any suggestions? 

Exciting news??

Sorry I've been MIA from here lately. So much going on. I'm hosting a baby shower this weekend and we also put our lake house on the market which required a super duper deep cleaning, organizing and staging. I have to admit, it's easier to stage a house I don't live in. Chotchkie's abound at my place even though I've pared it down considerably. I think it looked alright though and will post the realtor photo's here when I get them.

The exciting news.... I think.... We are going to move to the "farm" for the summer. It will keep the lake house clean and pristine for showings (and that takes a LOT of pressure off of me) and it will mean I can work on the farm house at all hours of the day and night. Fun fun! But seriously, remember when I told you about not liking neighbors. I just want a nice peaceful summer. No stress from outside sources. So, as soon as we get that tub in and a bathroom sink, we are movin' to the farm. It should be fun. And rustic. And a super, duper adventure.

We are going to work on the deck and outdoor areas this weekend if weather permits. So after a long day at work I can plop my butt in a deck chair, sip iced tea and listen to the birds sing. For about 10 minutes since that's all Michael allows for rest periods. HA!

Tip of the day.... We have pets. We have too many pets. And pets pee. Try as I might to stay on top of the pet pee, they slip one by me now and then. Michael calls himself the Mayor of Poopville! Anyway, the house has a very faint odor of pee, so I was researching just how on earth to get rid of it. The answer? Ionic Ozone Air purifiers. You can't be in the house when you run it. But it is used in homes that have heavy smoke damage and it is said to purify the air, sheet rock, flooring, etc. We used it once in our flooring store when we had an odor we couldn't identify ( I think a dead rodent hidden somewhere) and it worked like a charm. I had totally forgotten about this, but this is what I am going to do for a couple of days after we move all the critters out. That, and shampoo all the carpets. It should smell like new.. I'll let you know.

Mother's Day weekend - how are you spending YOURS!?

Mothers Day - a day to be pampered and honored and maybe, just maybe, lazy. NOT for this momma! Not only am I swinging a paint brush but I'm also preparing for a procedure on Tuesday, which means no solid food and um.. how do I put this delicately.. Cleansing my innards for a look see. All I can say is it ain't the way I would want YOU to spend your Mothers Day. But enough whining..

The well went in this past week, so the theory behind that is, that we should have running water. It will be a lot easier cleaning the filth left behind. We also will begin building walls. Walls are fun as long as you measure twice, cut once. We learned that the hard way in the Brainerd house. We built a wall that had to be disassembled because it wasn't straight. Not fun. But once you get walls up you begin to see what the footprint of the room is going to look like. And that always make me feel that real progress is being made.

Nothing can replace the excitement of putting up sheet rock though. Now THAT's when you really see what's cookin' in a house. We are probably a couple of weeks away from that, but I can't wait. See how easily entertained I am??

Besides the upstairs master bedroom the most dramatic change in the house will be the kitchen. so stay tuned for that....

I'm hoping to have some photo's that are worthy of posting, but if not... you will just have to wait.

Weekend of May 5th

We had an interesting development this week. Our realtor showed the house, in the state of disaster that it is, and they LIKED it! Imagine what they will think when it's done!

There is still much to do inside and a load of stuff to do outside. I just have to take it piece by piece, steadily making progress or I get overwhelmed.

This weekend we will continue to work on the bathroom, and since the front flower garden got tilled up this week I will get in there and clean it up and plant some annuals to go along side the, as of yet, unknown perennials.

One issue I'm having is I purchased the "brown" paint out of town, and I need more. I know that the stores in town do color matching but I'm not sure if they can get it exact for the bedroom that needs a bit of touch up. And I don't know when I'll be going out of town to get more. Grrrrr. Hate when I forget to buy things.

I'll take some photo's again, of course and hopefully some of you smarty pants gardeners can help me identify the perennials!!

It was raining all day today, so no outdoor work. But man, did we bust butt today.
We got the entire kitchen demolished. I should really say Michael did. I spent the day sanding 10 windows and it was hard. Very hard. We have 5 pints of different colors of stain, and not ONE of them is the color I want. Why is stain so hard to choose?

I also took a video and for the first time I talked to the camera. I will tell you this much, it's going to take a LOT of courage for me to post it here. I look well, kind of like a dork! But I guess most of you see me talking to you all the time and already know that I look like a dork. I was just the last to know. Blah.

I took a couple of pictures of what we found under the appliances and cabinets. They may not be the best photo's because I wouldn't actually "look" at what was under there. I just held the camera out and hoped to get an image. Michael's reaction when HE saw it was that of utter disgust, so I was afraid to look. Thank God he has a strong stomach.  Yuck!

As you will hear in the video, I'm getting a bit attached to this place. It's certainly not what I would call my "dream" home, but there is something about it that makes me think I would be happy there. Maybe it's the location. Away from neighbors and noise. You really only hear birds chirping and today, rain steadily beating on the roof. It was a nice sound....
But, I believe that things will work out the way they are supposed to. If we don't sell the lake house in time to move to this house, there will be a better one out there waiting for me...

Couple of photo's - One is part of the mess in the kitchen.. just for your enjoyment, the next is of my two little helpers, and the third and fourth are before and after of sanding window trim.