Completely Unexpected

I woke up this morning, anticipating a lazy, laid back kind of day.  We didn't have any concrete plans, except to perhaps watch a movie.

When I went in the kitchen to make my daily pot of coffee, there was a puddle of water coming out from under the refrigerator.  Great.  We had issues with the water for the ice maker/water dispenser leaking which cause flooding about 3 months ago!

Last time (luckily) the water drained through the floor and right into the girls' bathtub, which is directly below.  The paint above and around the shower surround bubbled up and peeled off, and I had intended to paint that bathroom this winter.  I even finally chose a paint color!

This time, the water again ran into the tub, staining and peeling more paint in the process.  It also travelled into the girls' room next door, and made a hole in the ceiling! 

Long story about the refrigerator, (which I actually blogged about back in 2009), The space for the refrigerator was too small, we couldn't open the doors, so our builder revised the plans and we consequently lost the door to our pantry.  Also, all of our appliances were from the Sears Scratch & Dent outfit near here, and almost every single one had problems that were more serious than scratches or dents.  When we tried to remove the fridge from the kitchen to be repaired or replaced back then, it wouldn't fit back out once the countertops were installed!  Back then, JP and 3 other men actually lifted it over the island to get it out.  Today, JP and I removed all the knobs from the base cabinets and slid it under.

We initially planned to order a new refrigerator, and had either Sears or Lowes had the right thing in stock, we may have a new refrigerator now.  They did not, and we do not.  The fridge is, however, the first thing you see when you walk in the door.  We discussed the issue, and we might just switch this one (since it still actually works) with the extra fridge, which is a bit smaller.  It's definitely the cheaper option.

While the fridge was empty, I decided to thoroughly clean it out, as it was fairly disgusting inside.  JP wondered why I did that since at that point in time, we intended to get a new one.  I told him that I didn't want the movers to think I was a slob!  Since we are likely keeping it, I'm glad it's clean!

During this whole clean up and moving process, J got a phone call from her buddy who lives up the road, to say that they were offered a bunny with a fancy pedigree, along with cage, feeder and water bottle for $20, would she be interested?

Ultimately, our friends brought the bunny by to see if we wanted it, and he now resides in the Chickbit house, along with our 14 hens.  He is a cute little thing, soft as velvet.  J and Granddad are formulating the perfect high-falutin' pedigree rabbit name, so for now he's just "Bunny."

Downstairs is still a mess, with the ceiling tiles out in the bathroom, plaster all over the floor in the girls' bedroom, and fans running both places.  I'm trying to avoid going down there, as it makes me feel sick to my stomach.

JP has run to town for rabbit supplies, and to pick up some dinner...we haven't eaten since breakfast!

I should really go downstairs and clean up a little bit.  I really should...

Splashy!

JP and I finished a small project today.

We have been pondering for the past 2 years, what to do with the back splash area behind our stove. It is always getting dirty, and the paint is wearing thin from wiping it.

Recently, we found self adhesive stainless steel tiles at Lowe's, and decided that it was the perfect application.

I first had to prime the area with oil-based primer. Then we laid out the tiles in the pattern we wished to use. Finally, we applied them, having to cut some around the light switch and under the cupboards.

This is the final result:


The remainder of the weekend was spent with friends, fixing various things that had come undone in the past several weeks, filling the wood bin on the veranda, and watching "Kate & Leopold" with the girls.

I hope you all are ready to leap into leap-week!

* Deja Vu All Over Again

* Let me preface by stating that I never use the above expression, except when I am trying to pull some humor out of an unpleasant situation...or if I already used the title "Deja Vu" in a previous post.

While preparing for our Super Bowl party last weekend, I noticed a bad smell that seemed to be emanating from the girls' bathtub. It improved after I ran water down the drain for a while. Fast forward to last night, when we noticed water backing up into the bathtub when letting the lukewarm water down from the kitchen sink after doing dishes. (Deja vu number 1.) This time it did not appear to be as significant as last Spring when the entire bathtub was full of grey water and didn't go down, since it s-l-o-w-l-y drained away.

Did you notice my reference to "lukewarm" dish water? Right...we discovered when cleaning up after dinner that there was no hot water in the kitchen. (Deja vu number 2.) This is nothing new, if you've followed the on demand water heater saga that stressed me out when we first moved into our new house. This time, however, when I was researching the problem, it appeared that the pilot light was out on the gas water heater. Neither JP or I could get it re-lit. The propane tank was at 40% of capacity, so we weren't out of gas...some other problem.

Fast forward to this morning when we woke up and the house was 60 degrees. I realize that some people do this every day in the winter time, but we have set our thermostat to go up to 68 degrees about half an hour before it is time to rise and shine. Yep. The furnace was no longer running. (Deja vu number 3.) JP whipped out his Droid to check the freezing point of propane (it's 150 degrees below zero, by the way). At least this time when we flip a light switch, the lights come on!

Now we are waiting for repairmen to return our calls. (Deja vu number 4.) We are still able to use the showers on the West side of the house...that grey water still drains outside and is connected to an electric water heater. Unfortunately, the upstairs shower is still filled with 5 gallon buckets of water, so we have to go downstairs for a hot shower. Inconvenient, but not the end of the world. We have the wood stove blasting and again, we are thankful for having it here. Even better, this time we actually have firewood split and ready to use!

Sometimes being a home owner in the country is a pain in the you-know-what!

A Bright Idea

JP and I have already tired of our new kitchen, so recently we decided to change things up a bit. We're not really tired of the kitchen, just wanted to improve some lighting issues. JP found these instant pendant light adaptors, which I installed in the recessed lighting fixtures over the bar.

Here's the first one...It took about 45 minutes to install. You can see the boring old recessed light fixture on the right.



Here's both of them. The second one took 15 minutes to install. Go figure.

Just heard on the news that they had to euthanize the Kodiak bear at the zoo because of debilitating arthritis pain. We'll miss you, Rocky!

Green Laundry

JP got a clothes line up for me on Monday. About 20 minutes after I happily hung up my first load of sheets, L commented "it waining!" JP and I frantically dashed outside to pull everything in. It has been raining since then, so today was my first successful attempt at drying my clothes in the great outdoors. Mmmm...there is nothing like the smell and feel of line dried sheets! The line is hung between the corners of the "L" shaped porch, and just steps away from the washer.

I finished my pantry re-organization yesterday, and now have one entire empty shelf, and more room on others if I squish.

I get a sick kind of pleasure out of labeling things. I told JP that I did this for my Mom's sake (I kinda did!)

While I was on the pantry pics, I thought I'd snap the kitchen since it was relatively clean. I'd still like to do something with the pantry entrance since we lost the pocket door, but I'm not sure what. Right now we are using a Japanese noren as a divider...a gift from JP's sister in Japan.

This is the Dining Room, and strangely, the main entrance to the house. We recently hung faux wood blinds in this window since the dusk-to-dawn light on the garage was bothering us in the bedroom at night. There is a small coat closet just to the left of the entrance in this picture. The pass through is my work space, and the doorway to the left of that goes into the Craft Room (which also houses the freezer, extra refrigerator, washer and dryer)...I'll photograph that room later as we are still working in there.

The cream colored table on the far left was a Big Lots find. We plan to put it on wheels. It will function as a sofa console table, buffet table and pattern cutting table.

The girls and I had a fun day today: we had friends over to play in the morning (including one of L's "tiny boyfriends"), and we adults were so deep in conversation that we talked through lunch and had to whip up some mac-n-cheese quickly for the kiddos. We then accompanied them to another friend's pool for some water play. Now J is anxious for L to get up from her nap, and I'm not (since blogging doesn't really count for accomplishing anything during nap time). Ah well...life goes on!

Coon Huntin

Just a little update about life in the new house...

It feels so HUGE after living in that tiny apartment for 7 months! I am officially tired of moving. Good thing we are living here until the end, eh?

JP has been working on unpacking and organizing books in the Library. I think we had at least 30 boxes just of books. It is nearly finished and the wall of built in bookshelves is filled.

I have been working on the kitchen. There were a lot of kitchen boxes too! I was able to get rid of a bunch of items...after all, I managed to feed us 3 meals a day in the apartment with 30% of the stuff! Some things we are really glad to see again, like our ice cream maker...just in time for the 4th!

We got the girls' furniture set up, and I unpacked all their things (also managed to hide some things away for the Thrift Store Donation Box). They are overjoyed to have their toys back, and spend lots of time downstairs playing together. That is really helpful while JP and I are trying to get some things accomplished, but I hope once we are settled they will bring toys upstairs to play too.

The repair men were out in droves this week. Yesterday a man looked at the washer. Apparently when you store washing machines, you should fill them with RV antifreeze so the pump doesn't crack. We have a new pump ordered and I should have a functioning washer and dryer by the end of the week (no more Laundromat excursions I hope!) The refrigerator guy fixed the fridge and the men hoisted it back over the bar. The stove dude found that the problem with the 2 burners on the left is that the controls are switched: the left front control works the left rear burner, etc. He has ordered a part AND a new cook top (just in case) and will be back in 2 weeks.

It is interesting living at a construction site. JP and I are up until midnight or later every night, and then the crew arrives at 7:15 to begin work. They are mostly working outside, but along with the birds in the morning, we get to hear the heavy equipment and nail guns. I'm not complaining, honestly, I'm still sleeping better than I have for 7 months. Our builder actually pulled a couple of men off this week to start their next project. I'm a bit sad to see them go...they feel almost like family now (and L has a bit of a crush on one of them, and his blue truck.) This morning, when I came out of the bedroom, they were working on the soffit of the prow and were way up in the air!

This week they have nearly finished all the siding, soffit and gutters, and have the furnace/air conditioning almost ready to run. They started putting the drop ceilings in a couple of the closets downstairs, so that should be completed by tomorrow.

I am on the rodent rampage again...trapped 4 mice over the past 2 nights. The raccoons got into our trash last night and spread rotting watermelon rinds all over the garage. JP has seen them on the porch several times, and run out with his gun, but scared them away in the process. I think we need a dog and/or cat!

We are still waiting on hot water in the East side of the house. Thank goodness we decided to put a shower in the washroom off my Craft Room!

All in all, we love being here! We are so happy with the house, although when pressed we could recite all the places we had to compromise (I try not to though...stop me if you've heard it!) We love the quiet, the space to roam, the virgin walls where we get to make the first holes. J and I "went to town" today, and when we returned, our dining table was in the dining room. So, by her measures, we now live here!

Finally...Countertops!

I took 2 van loads of stuff up to the house today. At noon, they were still waiting on counter tops, but assured me that they were on their way. After dinner, the counter tops were in, along with sinks, cook tops, faucets, etc, etc.

The refrigerator door opens now, as you can see in the picture above. When the fridge was plugged in, however, it made a terrible racket, so now we need to take it back to Sears. Problem is, with the counter tops in, there is less than 33" to get the 33" fridge out. Why can't something just work right the first time for once?

The built-ins on the window wall of the Great Room are finished, and look sharp!

These bookshelves have the old oak mantel on top, and line the hip wall of the stairwell.

This is a shot of my craft area in the mud room. I can't wait to take advantage of all the storage and have room again to leave my scrapbook pages laid out! I've had to work on a TV tray table lately, which is not particularly conducive to coherent thought.

Tomorrow is U-Haul day, and Thursday the phone and DSL should be transferred, so my next post should be from the new house!

T - 12 Days, and Counting...

Today is the last of May. Tomorrow starts the month in which we will actually move into our new house. This is the moment that we have been dreaming about and planning and watching come to fruition for 4 years now. I am feeling relatively calm about it this morning, but those obsessive-compulsive tendencies that I'm known for are simmering just below the surface, and threatening to explode in the face of the next person that makes direct eye contact with me.

J and I have finished our last full day of Kindergarten. It makes me a bit nostalgic when I think about it a lot...that my baby is growing up, and that recent lost tooth is going to be just another day in the life after a couple of weeks. Mostly though, I am thrilled! It was tough being a teacher when I never expected to be one. Over all, I'm glad we did it, AND I'm glad we're done. Today we are celebrating by eating out at Red Lobster (her choice), and for the next 2 weeks I am planning on several outings to take our minds off the fact that there is still a lot to be done before we can move our beds in.

Meanwhile, I am trying to tie up some last minute details. I ordered drapes and 100 cabinet knobs in the past week (not quite as expensive as the light bulbs, but a close second.) I have been thinking about towel racks and curtain rods and toilet paper holders...all of those mundane necessities of life. I'm hoping that the house can be ready to live in soon after we are handed the keys.

All the while, things keep happening out at the house. Last week they finished up the kitchen/dining room ceiling, and put in the kitchen cabinets. It has a log cabin feeling in there now, and the galley-type kitchen has become quite cozy. There are several things about the cabinets that we are not thrilled with, but overall, they are great. JP is of the mindset that our "dream kitchen" should be perfect. Perhaps I should think that way, but I grew up (as did he, really) in the "make do with whatever" mode, so I am planning to do just that. This photo is taken from the dining room, looking toward the pantry. The cupboard just behind our scratch-and-dent range hood is way back in a corner. It is a bit awkward, but a difficult area to fill because of the cabinet for the wall ovens and the small space.

This shot is from the pantry out toward the dining room. We have LOTS of drawers, which will be GREAT!

L could hardly wait to show me that they have put in the doors and trim downstairs. This is her beside a door in her room.

They have begun trimming out the windows and doors in the great room with wood. The rest of the house will have white trim (less expensive), but we wanted the wood look in this room.

The tiles are laid in the Mud Room and adjacent bathroom.

They were working in the Master Bathroom as well...put in the shower floor and drain, and will likely start tiling it as well before the day is out.

The whole crew was out on a Saturday. I expect they will be putting in a lot of overtime in the next 2 weeks. In fact, the builder asked when the light bulbs are to arrive so that he can work some in the evenings. I think they should come in by Tuesday so we can light up the night.

We have also chosen an exterior paint color for the house. It is called "Portobello"...because we are a bunch of FUN-GIS (guys)!

Oh, and another thing...

I have been trying to update this blog for the past 24 hours. First the computer crashed, twice, while I was trying to edit photos. Then the computer chair was usurped by my husband. Then life happened, and we actually made yet another trip up the hill tonight for a pre-vacation meeting with the builder.

So, we have finally reached that point in our building experience where I get a call every day or so from the builder with questions. It's nice to know that we've reached the point where we need to pick out faucets and what-not for the bathrooms. But now we've really reached the point where our "Over-Budget" bill is rising. We have decided to have a wood ceiling put in the great room and kitchen, and possibly a Solatube in the kitchen.

The builder is making lots of lists too. This one is downstairs.

The tinted concrete looks great now that it is completely dry. This shot shows it up against the block of the garage.

Here are the girls' hand prints...a bit hard to make out.

Speaking of the girls...they have decided that the big equipment is the best place to play lately. This time they brought along their baby dolls.

Most of the wiring in the house is done. I couldn't get a shot of the circuit board in the girls' closet because I would have gotten another butt shot of one of the crew. These are a few of the recessed lighting cans in the kitchen/dining room. They are all over the place! (No more bare light bulbs in closets!)

The egress window well arrived for the girls' window downstairs. The very nice folks at Wayne Lumber brought it out for me, and stayed for a quick look at the house. This came in 4 sections, and includes steps for exiting/entering. It is designed to be large enough to fit a firefighter with equipment.

We have had thunder storms and quite a bit of rain in the past 24 hours. The driveway has held up very well so far. I haven't shown pictures of our field and stream (Wisecarver Run) because they aren't where the action is at lately. However, things are completely soggy and flooded over there. It would probably help if we dig all the old tires and crap out of it, but we are focused elsewhere at the moment.

I should be focusing on packing at this moment. By the end of next week, we are promised showers, tubs and toilets!

Oh...NOW I get it!

The roof is basically on our house, with the exception of the roof over the upstairs deck which will span the space between the "bump outs" in front.

I am finally able to "see" what the house is going to look like. It has taken me a long time because I have a spatial handicap. This is the great room, with cathedral ceilings...changing light bulbs might be a challenge in here!

Under the dropped ceiling will be our dining room and kitchen. Kitchen counters will extend up to the space for the stairs, with the pantry wall taking shape at the far right of this picture.

This is the opening in the wall of my work space. Yes, you heard right: I get my own room again! (Of course, I have to share space with such feminine things as the washer & dryer, freezer, and the coats and boots.) I will, however, have cabinets and a built in desk which looks out over the Great Room through this opening. It will have a pull-down door of some sort.

If you examine this picture closely, you can see that the ceiling in the Master Bedroom is not even. There will be a tray ceiling in this room and the study on the opposite side of the Great Room. This is a nice feature that we forgot to delete during one of our cost-cutting sessions.

Here is a view from the main entrance of the house, with the hip roof completed, and space for a small window for lighting purposes.

It is so exciting to see things looking more like a house and less like a giant white box!