We're Getting There

Five years ago we started some major renovations on our  home.  We tore some down, put some up and gutted the rest.  We're still working on it.  Slow but sure.  My honey got the siding up on a couple of sides of the house.  Just thought I'd share.

This is the east side of the house four and a half years ago.
Here it is now-

We'll definitely be warmer this winter.  :))

Let Winter Begin?????

I wanted to share some good news. 

Long story-Our home is 100 years old and has a couple different additions on it.  Not very air tight and when we had it tested, we had the equivalent of 200 softball size holes in it.  Needless to say, we didn't have to worry  about carbon monoxide  poisoning.  It was COLD.  Last winter we went through enough propane to run a small town.  Well, for the last two weeks we've had work done on it.  Winterizing.  They finished yesterday and ran the test again.  They cut the amount of airflow down to about 20% of what it was before!  Better than they even thought it would be.  I was told that we should go through less than half the amount of fuel we went through last winter.  And when I woke up this morning, I was warm!  We don't have any furnace hooked up yet, and it was about 38 degrees outside!  How cool is that?  Or, I should say, how warm is that?

Thank you Lord!  You are so good to us.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Super Daughter

Our oldest girl has a way of amazing me.  She does the unexpected.  Need her to drive tractor? Cut hay? Help pull out a stuck Cat?  She doesn't fear, just does it.  She likes doing the somewhat exciting. 

We're in the process of putting a roof on half of our house.  It's two story and seems awfully tall when you're up there.  Need Super Daughter to help?  Sure, no problem.  Just tie her off, give her a hammer and watch her go.  She put on shingles and put the roof jacks in place.

The night before, I had asked her to make supper.  When I came in to check on her, she said that we had been out of mayonaise for the salad and so she had made some.  She's learning. 

Help me remember this when she gets up in the morning and mumbles her way out the door.

Good night, sleep thight and don't let the bedbugs bite.

Come for a Visit

Welcome to our homestead.  I thought I'd take you on tour.  We're just doing the outside today, we'll save the inside for when we finish remodeling.  That may be a while.

Here are my daughter's horses.  The palamino is for sale:

Around the front of the house I still have some tulips blooming.

Let's go around the side of the house, here are some of the plum bushes in bloom:

Next is the back of the house where we tore off and put on a new addition.   This is the rrof that has to be shingled today:

Now we're on the west edge of my garden.  The small orange object in the distance is my tiller.  I have all of this to plant yet:

Here's a picture of the clothesline.  I don't know- it just looks homesteady:

Here is our Bucyrus Erie 22B.  We use it to load manure.  Bet you wish you had one??-

This is Hatchet, the steer.  He just wanted to say hi:

 

 

 

Next time I'll show you the chickens, donkeys, goats and sheep.  Maybe an update on my garden.

Home you enjoyed your visit.  Y'all come back now, ya hear?

Necessity-the great motivator

Today I got to hand wash the laundry.  Our septic is acting up and won't take anymore.  I need to meter out doing laundry and have been falling behind a load a day. I am now about six loads behind and decided to do laundry in the tub.  This uses a lot less water.  I was able to wash two loads of laundry in about 10 gallons of water compared to the 30 gallons or so it takes just to do one load in my machine and my machine doesn't get the clothes as clean as my washboard.  Yes, it's more work and I won't be doing this everytime, but it sure is nice to have white socks again. Using homemade laundry soap and homemade lye soap on the tough spots, my clothes are getting clean again.  I think I do need a new washer.  The one I have barely agitates the clothes.  But it's on the bottom of the "to buy" list. 

I'm going to go and try another load and then use some good ointment on my poor hands.

Any decorators out there?

Today I am treating the kids and we're going into town.  We don't usually go unless we have some "real" business, but this is just frivilous.We'll put school on hold and maybe do a bit tomorrow.  We have three thrift stores in town, and we'll hit at least one.  Then Wal-Mart has their $1 a yard sale on fabric.  Dd 3 wants to sew a wardrobe for her doll.  I also started a new rug yesterday and would like some bright colored flannel fabric to accent it. So we'll stop there.  I   need some soap making supplies, I went to make soap yesterday and didn't have about half the stuff I needed, so we'll pick that up as well. These are my plans, Lord willing. 

I'm remodeling the bathroom and I need ideas.  I've got the walls mudded and sanded.  I'm going to put wainescoting on the bottom.  I hope to prime today, but I don't know what colors.  I wanted to do the tops of the walls in yellow and the wainescoting in blue, but my girls say that it would be too much.  Any color scheme ideas out there?  I want that "old farmhouse" look.  (With our house, you can't help it.)

I'll post later and give a report on this day.  If I find some good fabric deals,I'll post that too.

From Glory Farm

 

Pictures! (I hope)

I've been trying to post these pics from photobucket and i don't know how to do it.  They won't post.  Just the little x's in the boxes.

This is a picture of the side of the house that we tore the kitchen and bedroom off of.  Our girls are standing in the doorway that used to lead to our son's room.

 

Here is what it looks like now.  My honey insulated last night and is wiring today.  I'm going to help him get the house wrap on later. 

Could someone please tell me how to get pics off of photobucket and onto my blog?

Thanks.

From Glory Farm

House update-day #19

The scaffolding is going back today and we're going to rent a lift.  An all-terrain lift.  Doesn't that sound like fun?  We could BAHA up in the air all over the hayfields!  We probably won't do that.  We were out there today trying to get the felting on the roof and it was just too dangerous.  Twenty feet up in the air with a slippery oxboard under foot and a 3/4" diameter rope to hang onto.  This wasn't me, but my honey.  He doesn't like heights.  He was able to cover 3/4 of one side, but can't get to the rest without risking life and limb.  We HAVE to get this done.  He hasn't been to work because we HAVE to get this done. 

 

Enough about the house.  It'll get done.  And we'll get more organized.  And I'll be able to start Christmas gifts and do some baking.  Did you check out the pumpkin cinnamon rolls recipe on the Front Porch?  They sound really good.  I'll make them and eat them and let you know.

 

I need to get moving.  It's cold in here and I'm chilled.  Incentive to get things done.

 

From Glory Farm

Up on the Housetop...

Just thought I'd drop in and let you know we're still trying to get the addition done.  We have 1-2 inches of snow predicted today.  God has held off the bad weather for quite a while now.  I'm downing a pot of coffee and trying to get myself motivated to get outside and bury the septic line.  My honey has gone to town to get some scaffolding so we can finish putting on the roof sheeting and get the tar paper on.  We have the kitchen enclosed and the front door on.  We also have the second floor enclosed, just no roof.

 

Also, today I have a friend coming over to help me get my payroll started.  I don't know how to do it and since we incorporated, I've been very anxious about getting all of this paper work right.  If anyone else has experience with this, I'd love advice.  Even just keep on me so I keep praying.  I forget that God knows all about incorporating.  I believe He brought this friend so I could have some support.  She used to do this for a living.

 

Well off I go.  ....Maybe just one more cup of coffee....The snow is blowing past the livingroom window....My house and I aren't ready for this.

 

From Glory Farm

Wait 'till you see the pics, and wait...and wait...

Boy did I pull a smart one.  I was busy getting pics of the demolition of the house and then the basement being put in, the first floor going up, the side roof put on, pics of my new goats, old donkeys, etc.  I stopped at Wal-Mart last night to bring in the film.  Opened my camera and voila!  No Film!  Oh boy.  I'm not going through this all over again just to get pics, so i guess you're going to have to take my word for it.  I will put film IN my camera and take pics of what's up so far and new ones of my goats.  I don't know about you, but I like reading the blogs with pictures.  (You should see the books I read.)

We have beautiful weather today.  Should be good tomorrow, too.  After that they say it might not get any warmer than 40 degrees.  Our new kitchen isn't all enclosed yet.  But I've found that I can live with that.  My honey hooked up my stove yesterday so no more excuses about not baking.  Today it's his favorite, chocolate chip cookies.

Hope you all have a blessed day. 

From Glory Farm

Day 5

The continuing saga of the House That We Built.  Today we didn't get much of a chance to work on the house itself.  Things always seem to take longer than you planned.  We were to get the septic repaired this morning, but we ended up working on it almost all day.  Hey- it works!  Now I can wash clothes to my heart's content and boy do I need to.  I can also take a nice, long, hot shower.  Oh the things that you take for granted.  We went down and picked up some kitchen cabinets that I found on Freecycle.  We also got two very nice and heavy maple chairs.  These will come in handy.  Freecycle is so cool.  The people are so nice.

Tomorrow we have a DOT Safety Audit for our business.  This is something I've never had to do before, by my honey says it's no big deal.  After that it's off to the lumberyard to pick up more floor joises for the second story. 

On a different note, I got our garlic planted today.  I've tried garlic before, but never done very well with it.  I hope if I really baby it, it will grow well.  I love garlic.  I put it in everything.  Well, maybe not everything.  Sometimes I use horseradish instead.  :)

Hope your evening is warm, cozy and relaxed.

From Glory Farm

Onward and Upward

The basement is in, kinda.  The kitchen floor is on, kinda.  Two kitchen walls are framed and honey had to take a run to town for supplies.  I am a bit overwhelmed by it all 

We missed church yesterday because we are working with a deadline, but boy I can sure feel the need for fellowship.  My husband is my rock, but i love the worship and teaching at church.  Maybe we can get there Wednesday night.  Our church is 55 miles away so we don't go to the different activities that they have going on during the week.  This week I might.

Things on the house are progressing, but not quite as well as we'd hoped.  Living without a kitchen isn't as bad as I thought it would be.  I thought I'd be a bit batty by now, but...who can tell?

Boy, my writing is fragmented.  Hope you can follow my train of thought.  I'm still going to get some pictures of all of the fun we're having.  Maybe next time.

From Glory Farm

Putting in a Wooden Basement

The kitchen came down, the bedroom, too and the basement was dug yesterday. Two and a half walls were constructed and we dropped into bed.  At 3 am my honey got up and finished the walls.  We were to get them into the hole and set up before the cement came.  Didn't happen.  7:30 this morning the redi-mix truck came in.  This guy was great.  He waited for over an hour as my husband and a friend made forms.  Now the basement floor is poured and finished and we have two walls in the hole.  One is still waiting on the flatbed to go in.  The man who owns the excavator we hired has left it here for us to use until tomorrow.  Between him, the redi-mix driver and our friend Luke, God has truly blessed this endeavor.  Luke was here at 4 am to help with walls and the cement.  He is a rare friend.  Always volunteering to help.  He's painting our daughter's Camaro just because.

Only one hitch in the plans so far, that I can tell, I went to wash a load of clothes a bit ago and heard the rushing of water.  Running into our existing basement, I watched a river of wash water pour into it.  I'd better go and check if the toilet still has a drain.  Uck!  I think the extra PVC pipe we pulled out wasn't so extra after all.

Pictures are coming. 

God bless,

From Glory Farm

So, are we crazy?

When we moved here last year, we had all kinds of plans for fixing the barn, house, yard, fields, etc.  Well,we were off to a good start and then time and money seemed to run out.  We had wanted to take off our kitchen and a bedroom last summer, but we couldn't afford it.  My honey has been trying to work full time for almost five months.  God is good and we're not too far behind on our bills, but....he still has more time than money and decided now is the time to get rid of this kitchen and bedroom.  My parents offered to help out with the money part, and we got a Lowe's card (shame, shame). So as of yesterday, it was official and we started packing.  We need to reroute the electric, cut off water lines, move appliances and pack up the kithchen and bedroom.----by tomorrow morning.  I think we can do it.  My honey is one motivated guy.  The excavator comes tomorrow to tear down the house and dig the basement.  Dh wants to have the walls for the basement put up tomorrow and the cement poured on Saturday for the floor.  Then put up the first floor and the second will have to wait a bit.  We'll have no windows or flooring or cupboards for awhile, but we will have a much warmer house.  So are we crazy?  October in northern Minnesota is not a great time to start building. 

I'll take before and after and even after that pics.  So next time I write, we should have a new addition to our house well on the way.  Lord willing.

From Glory Farm

Yes We Can-Can

After months (two) of searching, I've found the prefect garbage can for my kithchen. Two months ago we broke our kitchen garbage can and I wanted something different.  Something functional that looked nice.  I was going to make a wooden bin, but I haven't got around to it yet.  I found a book at the grocery store called "Painted Whimsies".  And voila!  The perfect can. In my excitement, I ran to the computer to tell you all about it and here it is.....

We can all sleep sounder now, knowing that problem has been solved.

The Lord bless,

From Glory Farm

Kitchen -before and after

This is our kitchen before the paint and stuff.

Here's our kitchen a couple coats of paint and some border and new curtains, etc.

 

The dates on the pics aren't right.  I'm just too lazy to reset my camera.  The tablecloth and curtains are from Wal-Mart clearance.  I bought a couple of big tablecloths on sale for $4 a piece and made enough curtains for all three window and am reupholstering 4 chairs.  Not bad.  But, alas, this is the kitchen that we are tearing down in 4 months.  This is also the window that filled with snow during the last blizzard.  I now get to do floor plans and interior design.  Fun.

Have a blessed Tuesday.

From Glory Farm

Out with the old, In with the new

Here's the deal.  While bringing the trash to the dump, we broke our kitchen garbage can.  It was just one of those cheap plastic things.  Well, I've been looking around trying to find one to replace it, but I want something different.  Our kitchen trash doesn't go into a cupboard, so it sits out for all to see.  I want something asthetically pleasing.   I'm looking for ideas.  This isn't a contest or a challenge, but what kind of container could I use?  I tried an old milk can.  Not a good idea.  My kitchen is very old, farmhouse in blue and yellow.  Now I know this isn't the most urgent need, but light-hearted.  Got ideas?  I'd love to hear them.  Maybe I'll even come up with some kind of prize....(Watch out)

From Glory Farm

And then there was heat....

What a welcome noise.  The sound of a gas furnace blower.  We now have heat.  My husband, who can do anything, just installed our first ever gas furnace.  In all of the places I've lived during the last 20 years, I've had woodstoves.  Now, I'm all for self-sufficiency and all, and we left a wood furnace in the basement for back up, but to not mess with firewood is a first.  I'm loving it.  The price of firewood skyrocketed around here last year and we haven't cut enough of our own to get us through.  This is nice.  No more going outside to the woodstove to stoke it at 11:00 p.m.  We have a wood cookstove in the porch that I still use.  It's nice to have options.

We spent Saturday down in the Cities at the 4-H State Dog Show.  Dd1's dog surprised us all and came away with a couple of blues.  It was a God thing.

I'm going picture taking later today if the sun comes out and I'll post some gorgeous (??)  pictures.  :)

From Glory Farm

At home in our new home

Woke up to thunder rumblings this morning.  I love that.

We worked on the new fence line yesterday.  We are over half done with it.  I opted to just put up electric, seems to work better for the horses and cows.  The woven wire doesn't hold as well.  (Electric is easier to put up too.)

The horseradish sauce recipe I tried, turned out good.  I think.  It's so hot yet, who can tell?

We've been cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, here at our new house.  The yard is getting better.  The house is on hold while we try to get things done outside.  I'm going to try to finish painting the kitchen walls today.  I'll do some before and after pics soon.  I haven't done the ceiling yet, not really looking forward to that.

We need to do a school shopping trip soon.  Also, I haven't ordered much for homeschool yet.  We have enough to start, but I'm really missing a good reading program.  We get alot of our materials free off of the internet.

The sun is coming out.  Time to get a move on.

Have a blessed day.

From Glory Farm

A Day at the farm

The children are all in bed and my dh is "on the road again".  We've been going out to our new house almost everyday.  The cupboards are painted,  some sheetrock is up, the kids are working hard at fixing up their new rooms.  Dd2 is having a great time demolishing walls, cupboards, etc.  She's a natural. Sanding the hardwood floors is harder than I though it would be.  I still think it will be worth it in the end.  Time goes so fast out at the new farm.  Six hours seems like two.  We never get as much done each time as I thought we would. 

As we were finishing up tonight, stacking fenceposts behind the barn, God put a double rainbow in our back field.  It was brilliant and beautiful. 

We only have a week left to be out of our old house.  We were hoping to have the livingroom remodeled by then, but I don't think it'll happen.  Seems like I still have so much to move.  How did we aquire so much?  Major rummage sale time.

I best be off to bed.  It's getting late.

God bless...

From Glory Farm