A time for new beginnings.............

I was on Spring Break this week and we did a little bit from our list of things to do.  I finished up the drawers from the kitchen and Terry got all the knobs and pulls on.  We are debating over what to put between the cabinet and counter tops.  I know I want stamped metal behind the stove but can't decide whether or not to carry it around under all the cabinets.  So many choices!

One morning I woke up to let the chickens out and it looked like jewels in my front yard.

The chickens didn't care about any of the beautiful things - they wanted breakfast and were in a big hurry!

We also had visitors this week.  They are like you crazy, old aunt that makes a lot of noise and never wants to be forgotten.........LOL

Max had to say hello also.

They stayed a little while and rested before moving on.  We have had several pairs stop and rest.

I transplanted and trimmed my rosemary bush.  Not sure if it will be happy in this pot and I need to settle it down a little more.  This is one of my only plants the chickens did not eat last summer.

AND we worked on cedar boards.  We trimmed them, planed them, measured them, and hung them.  We finished most of the living/dining.kitchen area today.  We have about 8 feet let of the ceiling to do in this room.

We started over the kitchen ceiling as well.  There is 8 feet to finish in this room.  We have not started on the laundry room or the closets yet.

Our bedroom is now finished - ceilings, walls, trim and baseboards.

Bedroom from the northeast corner.

And the last wall with the tv.  My amazing husband made a floating shelf to hide all the cables and things in.  It looks so different in there.

Kitchen ..... part 2

 Still working........cabinets are in and "stuff" is put away.

 

I painted all the doors and got them ready to go on Friday.  Then I hung them all on Saturday.  I was too tired to paint the drawers so I left them until Sunday.

Other angle:

My kitchen table no longer holds the contents of the entire kitchen.  I also got a new fruit bowl this week. :)

Ok.......drawers painted but no knobs yet.

This will be what it looks like once the cedar is up.

And today's results!  Knobs are on all but two drawers.  I picked up the wrong on for two.

I did decide to put the pulls on the fake drawers and think it looks good.  We'll see about the polishing affect when washing dishes.

I washed my countertops for the first time in 4 years.  That was exciting!

Finally....more progress!

Scooter likes the trip to Sam's Club too!  This was a box the boston butts came in.  He thought it was perfect for sleeping out of the wind.  Maybe I need to make him a cedar box to sleep in.

ANYWAY!!!!!  We finally have more progress to share.  A snoop around Craigslist got Terry thinking about kitchen cabinets again and we decided to go and price cabinets.  At one store, for two base cabinets, it was going to be $600 for finished white cabinets.  We went to a discount builders store and got unfinished birch cabinets with plywood shelves for $500 for 2 base cabinets and 4 wall cabinets.  SO this weekend we dismantled part of the kitchen.

After much stress with painting, we were ready to install the wall cabinets.  Terry had never hung cabinets before so this was an interesting process..........hahaha.

He actually did quite well with only having to adjust the cabinets once.

Level and plumb!

Cabinets are in all but the lazy susan for the corner on the floor. We have some questions about it still.  Off to Lowe's to get knobs and pulls for the drawer.

I like the house to be fairly clean so having the kitchen throw up all over the rest of the house was stressful!

Putting the doors on.  The handles and paint finish as well as the pattern on the door are all very old fashioned looking.  That is what a cabin should be like.......right? 

One wall nearly complete!  Hopefully the corner cabinet will go in tomorrow and then we will be able to get the next two cabinets with this week's paycheck.

It has been 18 months of living in the house with shelves for cabinets.  It sure looks funny in here!  haha  I will get better pictures after the corner cabinet goes in..........in a $1000 we might have counter tops, too!

Sunday Afternoon musings............

It has been raining, raining, raining, raining, and raining here.  We have been unable to get anything else done on the house.  The ground here is like sliding on a mud slide when you walk anywhere that has no grass or gravel.  Our gravel is slowly squashing into the mud.  As soon as it dries up a bit, we will need more gravel. The poor hens are soaked through!

I am feeling soaked through as well.  LOL

Alex and I have both been under the weather for the last week and are both on the road to recovery.  

I am ready for some sunshine, blue skies and flowers!

Merry Christmas!

Here are our latest picture updates.  Alex was given a foosball table from a co-worker of mine and he and Terry have enjoyed it.  Behind them you can see his unfinished bedroom wall.

He is so cute when he is sleeping!

This is Alex's bedroom with the ceiling, walls, and top trim finished.  We still need to do the baseboards and closet.

We have one wall of our bedroom and half of another finished.  I also tried a new bedspread to make it more cabin looking.

This weekend we worked a little on the ceiling in the living room.  We have now used up all the dry cedar that we had cut and will be back to sawing logs soon.

Alex got a new down-style comforter and curtains for him room.  Don't mind the mess at the top- it is my next project.

Christmas dinner of homemade lasagna and rolls.

And best of all............my Christmas present from Alex.  He saved his allowance and bought it all on his own.  This is the first present he has paid for and picked out all on his own. :)  I love it!

Hope you all have a happy holiday season!

BUSY BUSY BUSY

I apologize for not updating in a while but we have been a bit busy. We have planed, cut and sized nearly both piles of cedar boards that were cut.  We have about 4 more rows to plane and cut.  We will work on them this weekend.  Here is what we have finished so far:

Ceiling in master bedroom:

 Partial wall and window framing in Alex's room:

Around Alex's door:

Entire ceiling and parts of two walls.  Here is everything that is covered except the ceiling.  This picture is not true to color as the above two were.

Our chickens have been growing like crazy and we are getting between 9 and 14 eggs a day!  Anyone need fresh eggs????

This girlie will not lay her egg in the house like the rest.  She is a bit of a rebel!

This is Tilly who was being picked on.  She is growing her feathers back nicely!

Munster is getting bigger but is still pretty mellow.  He does crow at me when I don't let him out quickly enough.......lol.

Trick or Treat???

We chose TRICK!  Alex wanted to have a Halloween party for some of the boys at his school.  He invited 10 boys and 6 of them made it.  While he was gone with the high school band Saturday morning, Terry and I worked hard to set up a spooky trail. 

Fire pit for the grown ups ready!

Food table ready!

We fed the boys hotdogs and chips and then we walked along the trail just after dark.  Alex was scared first by a talking head that dropped out of nowhere to tell them to turn back.  I did not get a chance to take his picture!  We we got to the first corner, I stopped to count and make sure everyone was there and let them go on ahead of me.  They walked into a large spider web! We kept going and this pulley system:

flew 3 glowing trash-bag ghosts across the 1 acre field.  They were not so scary as they were moving away from us but as they came back up the line, I had a boy stuck to the front of me hugging and yelling:    

"I don't want to die! I'm too young to die!"  They finally noticed the pulley system and started to breathe again.  

Every time we would hear a noise, I would turn the flash light of and they would all freeze and hush.  OHHHH THE CONTROL!!!!  LOL  As we kept going, we went under a black light and came up on another floating ghost. They kept waiting for it to come after them but it did not move.  :)  

Onward we trudged and came up to my little friend:

She was way too quiet and didn't scare them much.

I told them some of the history of our property including the Choctaw Indians who once lived there and the Stage Coach route that crossed the top edge.  Then I added a little fictional history about train tracks that crossed our land.  Just after I got through with this part, Andrew and Nancy (parents of one boy) jumped out behind them flashing a flashlight and screaming.  I thought I was going to be run over......lol. We kept walking and turned the corner into our front yard which connects to a smaller trail. As soon as all the boys where down the smaller trail, the "ghost train" appeared in the form of a high powered spot light and air horn.  I haven't seen them run that fast before!  Their little hearts finally slowed back down and we rounded the last corner meeting this friend:

He was loud and bright and freaked them out one last time!  They settled down, and got drinks and candy to refresh themselves and then played flashlight tag for over an hour.

I think a good time was had by all:

I know I enjoyed myself!  I have 7 11-12 year old boys standing really close to me to "protect" me.  I've never felt so safe! ;-)