Driveway Improvement

We've been living in the project house for about 3 months.  There are still many on-going projects to be done, but we're making headway and it's starting to feel like home.  Don't get me wrong, we still have a lot of big projects to be completed.  The driveway here was a mixture of sand and dirt.  Whenever there was any type of precipitation, the driveway became an endless puddle of mud and water.  The puddle were deep and anyone walking to a vehicle would have soaked feet. 

Thursday morning, a load of crushed concrete was delivered.  Mike, Paige, Alison, Madelyn, and (to a much lesser part)  I spent the morning shoveling and spreading the rocks all over the driveway. We had planned to only do the part of the driveway after the sidewalk, but there was so enough to do between the road and the sidewalk as well.

 After a few days, we discovered that the crushed concrete compacts extremely well.  In the portions where vehicles have been parked it has formed an almost solid surface!  We plan to pave the driveway in 2015, but I'm really happy with this short term solution.  No more wet and muddy feet.

New Appliances

The new appliances have arrived!  I love the large refrigerator.  Our former refrigerator was purchased 26 years ago.  Let's just say that we went from two people to 9 people without any increased refrigerator space.  No wonder I had to purchase milk every other day!  I can store up to 8 gallons of milk easily in the doors of the new one.  No more extra trips to the store for milk!

I had been really excited about our new stove.  It has five burners and a convection oven.  We've used the convection oven several times since the appliances arrived on Thursday and really like it.  The only feature that I'm unsure about is the oven cleaning system.  I checked that it had an oven clean feature and assumed that it was self cleaning.  It's not.  The instructions say to pour 1 3/4 cups of water and run the oven clean cycle.  Then scrape off the loosened spills.  Chemical oven cleaners cannot be used.  A few of my children who are superior cooks love to use the oven, but they tend to make huge messes in the oven.  My hardest task will be to make sure that any spills are cleaned up before the oven is heated up again, so the messes don't become hard baked and impossible to remove. 

The Big Move

We finally managed to get most of our possessions into the project house.  The kids and I moved a ton of boxes and the small furniture using our SUV.  Thankfully, the project house is really close to the other house, so we didn't have too far to go between trips.  There were a few goof-ups along the way....a bookcase fell out of the back of the vehicle, we got Amy's bed caught in the staircase because I forgot about the sharp turn into the living room at the bottom of the stairs, not being able to find any of my shoes Sunday morning on our way to church that were presentable.  I ended up wearing Michael's flip-flops instead of the paint splattered tennis shoes.   

The project house isn't finished yet, but it feels so good to be living there.  Mike and I still do not have walls in the master bedroom, so we're sleeping in the family room for a short time.  Katie was away at college during the move.  When I called to ask her if she was coming home for the weekend and to warn her that her bedroom wasn't finished, she mentioned that she planned to work on her room and would crash on the family room sofa.  She was a little surprised to discover that Mike and I would be sleeping in the same room with her.  Surprisingly, she decided to sleep on the top bunk in Paige and Allie's bedroom.

During our second night in the "new house" Madelyn discovered a bat flying around in the basement.  It startled her, but she wasn't afraid.  Mike went down to open all the windows and turn on the lights so the bat would fly outside.  The next night, she found another bat in the basement.  She managed to capture it in a new, but it escaped when she tried to open the window at the same time.  Mike eventually got it outside.  The following night, a bat flew over MY head in the family room.  I threatened to move everyone back to the old house if Mike didn't get the soffits and facia put on the house to get the structure totally enclosed.  Mik worked on the project for three days, but got everything enclosed.  It was a scary job because he had to climb 90+ feet on a ladder to reach some of the areas.  We haven't seen a bat since he got finished, so everyone is happier.

The apple trees on the property are loaded with apples.  I've put up over 100 quarts of applesauce and sliced apples.  We also made apple juice and I put up 36 pints of apple butter.  We've been eating apples almost every night.  I think that we'll try drying some apples to snack on and use in granola next.  Since I didn't manage to get any other fruits this summer, it's a blessing to have so many apples available.

We've started the final preparations at the last house, so we can get it on the market.  I'm so happy to be able to move without trying to sell a house where we're living.  There are some walls to paint in more neutral tones and a few other little projects left.  Mike is taking next week off of work, so we can finish it quickly.

Project House Updates

We're frantically trying to pull together various rooms of the project house before Steve's open house.  Joe and I (mostly Joe) with some help from Mike put down flooring in a nook in the entry where guests can hang their coats. 

The downstairs bathroom is coming along nicely. 

We installed the bathroom light fixture and discovered that one of the shades was broken, so we'll be heading back to Home Depot for a replacement shade.

I made and installed the curtains in the kitchen.  I love the colors in this room.  It's so bright and cheerful.

A Family Outing

My children were harassing me about how homeschool mom's are always looking for the educational merits of any activity.  In response to their thoughts, this was one of our recent education family outings.  Mike rented a trailer so we could haul away some of the trash from the project house in preparation for Steve's graduation open house. 

We took two loads to the dump and several trips to the yard waste collection site.

The first full trailer.  Notice all the old horse hair pew cushions on top.

Before we decided to dump the cushions we researched their filling.  Horse hair is black and pig hair is white.  Our cushions were filled with a small amount of pig hair which was wrapped in horse hair.  They stink.  Yuck! 

Paige, Mike, Steve and Joe grabbing more cushions to put into the dumpsters.

Paige and Allie were surprised that it didn't smell more at the dump.

Mike throwing cushions into the dumpster.

Paige was a trooper about unloading stuff.

Joe, Madelyn, and Paige hard at work.

We were also able to get rid of some tires that the former owners had left on the property in a tire disposal dumpster.

Paige closing the gate after the trailer was empty.

Citizens of our town are allowed one dump pass each year to dump non-normal trash.  The town also has free yard waste disposal.  The yard waste is composted and/or turned into wood chips which town residents may take for free.

Work, Fun and Surprises

Mike was able to take today off from work.  After church, he headed over to the project house to get some measurements.  A couple of seconds after pulling out of the driveway, he was back to pick me up.  A woman down the street, who has the most marvelous landscaping was giving way plants that she had split.  Mike thought that I might be interested in them, so he picked me up and we went to see if there was anything that I could use. 

We picked up two large bags of gorgeous ferns and three bags of lavender irises.  She was standing in the back of her yard talking with a neighbor and we walked over to thank her for her generosity.  She asked if I could use any other plants and then offered me 9 blue fescue plants and a small bag of violets.  We talked for about 20 minutes.  She talked about her garden and some of the things that she has done to get such beautiful, lush plants.  It was so lovely to get so many perennials for the new house. 


The girls and I spent several hours planting our haul and moving some of the large Rose of Sharon plants.  The front yard is starting to look better and one of the terraces is filled with greenery.  Amy planted the irises at the back of the property where they can multiply without causing any problems with the other plants.

Mike needed a change from installing drywall, mudding, and sanding walls.  He decided to do something with the pews that had been stored in the attic of the project house.  I had asked for two 4' pews/benches to use on the sun-porch.  My first thought was to paint them white and make colorful throw pillows and cushions.  Mike had a different idea. 

 After designing the benches, Mike turned over the construction of them to Joe.  He did a great job and managed to put together 5 benches in one afternoon.

 The old pew ends needed to be cleaned up.  Paige handled most of the washing.

Paige and Allie also helped paint benches.  They were thrilled with the opportunity to use the paintbrush.

It was a busy day, but so much fun.  I think we all managed to use some of our creativity.  And Mike's idea for the benches was better than mine.  Maybe the green and yellow one's would look good on our sun porch!  We have enough pew ends to make an additional 15 benches.  Mike is going to try and sell some of them.  He's always thinking of new things.

Project House Updates

Kitchen looking in from the dining room.

Main floor bathroom.

Entry walls painted.

Kitchen looking from laundry room.

Nook walls painted.

Bathtub removed from main floor bath.

Rubbish from removing wall board from main floor bathroom.

Floor is leveled.

Madelyn's bedroom painting is completed.

Joe's bedroom painting completed.

Carpet removed from main floor hallway.

Carpet removed from second staircase to second floor.

View of all from nook.

Carpet removed from nook.  Gymnasium floors was reclaimed by previous owners.

We've been hard at work at the project house.  Here are some photos updating our progress.

Photo Update of Discoveries at the Project House

I finally managed to borrow Madelyn's camera cord to upload photos.  The following is pictures of some of the things we discovered in the attic above the family room at the project house.  One of Joe's friends had mentioned that the project house was once used as a church.  While Mike was working on installing new dry wall in the family room ceiling, he discovered a ton of things in the attic.  Steve, Joe and one of Joe's friends brought down most of these items.  Some were taken out through a hole we created in one of the upstairs bathrooms and the rest came from a hole we created in Kate's bedroom.

 

 

 

Pew ends

One row of pew ends

The hole we created in the bathroom to remove pew ends.

Stacks of pew ends, seat and back rails, spindles, and the backs of theater-style seats.

The cross used in the former church.

There are 20 of these seat cushions.

I'm planning on taking 4 of the pew ends and 2 of the seat backs and seats and making 4' benches to use in the sun porch.  The cushions will be made from new materials.  After placing the benches to form an L, a table will be placed in front of the benches.  It should be a nice place to do school on warm days and a quiet place to play cards or have a cup of coffee.

Catching Up

It's been hectic around here as usual.  A lovely woman from our church died.  She and her sister were very kind to Amy and I when we sang in the choir.  She was diagnosed with cancer last July, right before her mother died.  After undergoing treatment in the fall, she was told that the cancer was in remission.  At the beginning of March she went for a screening and it was discovered that the cancer had spread through out her lungs and other organs.  She died two weeks later at age 49.  She will be greatly missed by her sister and church family.  I attended her funeral a week ago Friday. 

Paige and Allie have some friends that we have scheduled play dates with each week.  Friday, I was asked to babysit their friends because they had a half-day of school.  The friends arrived as I was pulling into the drive from the funeral.  The friends were a little on the cranky side and it wasn't a successful visit. 

On Saturday, Madelyn had stunt and tumble clinic in Mount Pleasant.  We were gone for 14 hours.  Madelyn enjoys the clinic and always learns some new skills, but I dread the fall and spring event.  It's exhausting and boring.  There isn't much to do in Mount Pleasant and it's always too cold to go for a hike.  When we were on our way home, I had an idea.  Next fall, I'm going to go to the movies while she's at her clinic.  The parents aren't allowed to watch during the clinic, and I usually end up sitting in the parking lot for four hours.  At least I now have a plan for the future.

Sunday morning I woke up with a migraine headache that lasted a full week.  The kids managed to feed themselves and keep the house from burning down.  Mike was busy working or tearing out the bathroom at the project house.  No laundry was done.  The vacuuming and dusting was forgotten.  The bathrooms were allowed to accumulate soap scum, dirty clothes and towels, and overflowing trash cans.  When I forced myself out of bed on Saturday, I almost cried.  The house was trashed.  There was not a clear surface anywhere.

The older children pitched in and helped prepare some of the food for Easter Sunday.  Madelyn decorated the Easter eggs with Paige and Allie in the back yard.  Paige and Allie fllipped loads of laundry, so almost everyone had clean clothes on Sunday.  I folded mountains of clothes, picked up stray belongings, put fresh sheets on the bed and decided not to stress over the house. 

Easter was lovely!  We all were able to go to Easter service together and even managed to take communion at the same time.  We returned home and finished cooking the dinner and the younger children got their Easter baskets.  After a hurried meal, we drove to my mom's for her annual Easter egg hunt.  The younger children had fun searching for the eggs that Madelyn and Joe hid for my mom.  We had a nice time visiting with my family before we headed home for ham sandwiches.

The kids are on spring break this week, so I'm hoping to get a lot done at the project house.  At this point, I don't even have a tentative moving day, but the end is starting to be visible in the distance.