Beauty Farming Life

We're back!  Tired, but back.  Long day, of which I'll blog about later tomorrow, but it's all good. SO much progress, it's amazing watching the transformation.   Biggest thing we can check off the list is the porch railing and stairs.  They are DONE!  Porch Guy did one heck of a good job.  I'll post pictures tomorrow.  They won't be the best pictures in the world because the porch and area in front of it is the storage area for the inside debris, but you'll get the gist. Electrician is also almost done.  We now have a nice fluorescent light fixture in the mudroom, new and extra outlets, and one porch light (so far).  It's all wonderful! We also went to an amazing furniture store (I'll blog about them next week), and bought two great pieces of furniture.  Might even get a third piece soon.

OK, so I'm a little late this month, but September is National Preparedness Month.  They are urging everyone to be prepared, for disasters, emergencies, weather, whatever may come up. Sadly our country has had it's share of disasters, both natural and man made.  Hurricane's, floods, earthquakes, blizzards, tornadoes, wildfires, and more.  Also, there can be widespread power outages for whatever reason, nuclear plant problems, industrial accidents, and terrorist attacks.  We all need to be ready for whatever might happen. Make sure you are prepared with food, gasoline, important papers, first aid supplies, money, a way to communicate, a route of escape if it becomes necessary, etc.  There are many, many online resources for ideas. CDC INFO HERE READY.GOV INFO HERE FEMA INFO HERE SUPPLIES FOR SALE HERE RED CROSS INFO HERE It's not a topic we like to think about, but we should.  At the least, it could make your life more comfortable in the...

Off to the farm again today, with a detour to Nadeau  to check out a farmhouse dining room table. We haven't heard from the painter/contractor all week, no news is good news?  We're hoping it's nearing completion.  If it's painted all white, but still not entirely finished, we'd be OK with that.  We're dying to see the house in a different light, so to speak.  It's changed with just the wall changes we have had done, but still seeing the same wall colors we've seen for years when we visited, we're anxious to see it all white.  Then we'll KNOW it's ours. Since the ceilings are done, I need to see about putting up a couple of new ceiling light fixtures for the kitchen.  Also need to examine the rest of the work the electrician did, put in some light bulbs for the exterior lights, take some more measurements, etc. More when we get back!

Well, there wasn't as much progress as we had hoped for.  He had been out of town for a few days, and his guys didn't get as far along as he thought.  The good thing is, he was having them work all day yesterday and then he was going to shoot for more work today.  He tells us he should have it finished by Tuesday or Wednesday.  So all is moving along, just not as fast as we had hoped.  I don't have any new pictures to share, but hopefully will have FINISHED pictures in a few days! We didn't get home until after 8pm, but we were running errands and getting stuff for the farm.  Today we are going to shop for a water heater and we might even check out the stove and fridge.  We are going for the Kenmore brand, and we found out that  Sears  has a layaway program for their appliances.  So we're going to check that out. More later, including the review of our favorite furniture store.

Here we are, one year into our journey. It was one year ago today that I started this blog, after we were given the chance to buy the house and the land. Now, here we are one year later, we own it and we are slowly turning it into the dream place we've always wanted to have (albeit, lots more work yet to come). This last year has been an amazing experience...happy, sometimes stressful, cold then hot, then really hot, dry, then really dry, periods of not much happening and then periods of high activity, lots of rewarding work, and then a back injury that slowed things down...we take it all in stride and now we  can't wait to see what the next year brings. Thanks for coming with us on the journey, the best is yet to come.

To say we are majorly bummed would be an understatement.  I guess I should back up, we are very happy with the work so far, the house looks SO different.  But the contractor was out of town for a few days, on family business, and left it in his workers hands...sadly, they didn't get as far along as he (and we) had hoped earlier in the week. We were even there to hear him yell at his guys!  It made me nervous, ha.  I think he was honestly a little embarrassed because the last time we spoke, he said he'd be almost finished today.  I still took pictures, but like I said, it's not finished, I'd probably say instead of 90% finished, it's about 70% finished.  On a side note, the electrician did a perfect job, we have new outlets inside where we didn't before, we have porch lights, security motion lights, and some outdoor outlets all around the house for plugging in stuff. Today, we decided to replace all of the closet doors and the two bathroom doors.  He...

Immediately after the bee class, we decided to head out to the farm to check on the progress.  I've set this post up to appear automatically, so by the time you read this, we will already be at the farm . Instead of saying "today is the day", as I've done before, I'm going to just leave it as a possible nice surprise that it is finished.  If it isn't, then at least we won't be disappointed like last weekend.  I mean, it's gone on this long, what's a few more days to get it right at this point? We've also got a call in to the delivery guy to see about delivering the awesome furniture we bought that I blogged about in the last couple of weeks, and so we might actually have our first pieces of furniture in there. Check in later tonight or tomorrow, for a bee class update and a remodeling update.  Hoping it will be good news all around!  

As you read this, I will be at the farm.  Yep, in the middle of the week, in the middle of the day.   The furniture from Nadeau that I blogged about is being delivered today.  The painter tells me the flooring is almost done.  He's done all the vinyl flooring, and now the hardwoods are in the process of completion. The painting is done except for touch ups. All we are apparently waiting for now are the new doors for the closets and bathroom. I am taking a 1/2 day off to go out there.  While waiting for the delivery guy, I hope to be able to do some of the little things I wanted to do the last time we were out there but couldn't.  Put up the closet light pulls, put the lightbulbs in, maybe even install the light fixtures in the kitchen.  Just depends on if I'm alone there for awhile or not.  The workers may be there and I surely don't want to get in their way.  Our farm fence line from "greener days" last year  One thing is f...

Quick update...just got home to the city. Furniture was delivered, but it's all piled up in the mudroom.  The vinyl flooring is all done, but the living room and master bedroom floors had just been done, couldn't walk in there, dining room and kitchen not done yet, so the furniture that goes in there could not be placed, the new ceiling in the dining room is not painted, there is still paint splatters all over the windows, there are things I saw missing that we want to have fixed, paint that was seemingly done haphazardly, the list goes on...Calgon take me away! He still tells me it's a work in progress, but he will be done by Saturday.  Of course, the only reason I went out there was to be there for the furniture delivery, so I must remind myself that if I hadn't seen it today, I would only have seen it as of Saturday. Don't get me wrong, it looks awesome, but we're just ready for it to be done.  We want the house back, warts and all...so we can get on to ot...

We are off to the farm today. I won't write a big long note, just a short one to let you know where we are and that we might come back with good news.  Is a finished interior in our future? I guess we'll know soon enough! Until then, enjoy this picture I took Wednesday...in the midst of the dead brown yard, the 3" rainfall we got brought these colors to the yard.  Sure, they are probably weeds Rain Lilies (thanks SB158!) so it's still better seeing this than the barren patch we've had most all of this summer. We'll take what we can get at this point. More later!

New "Old School" Windmill I can't tell you how much I want a windmill.  I know they once (and often still do) served a vital purpose.  They were used to pump water from wells, disperse it to where it needed to go on the property, functioned as machinery to run pulleys and gears before electricity was so prevalent, and it could even grind grains and corn. Of course, nowadays, it is probably more closely associated with "wind power", and living "off the grid".  While we have looked into wind generated electricity as a future source of power at Seda Bolsa, I'll be honest and say that I just like the look of old windmills.  Growing up in Oklahoma, I loved seeing old homesteads with windmills on them.  They were usually spinning and moving most of the time.  Some were wooden (really old) some were new (at the time) but all were fascinating to me. I'm not sure 2nd Man understands my fascination with them, but I sprung it on him the other...

The painter/contractor called and he's finished!  They are cleaning up trash and debris this morning and then it's all ours once again. We've got SO many to dos on our list, so we'll be going out there today or tomorrow.  I know that there will be lots of updates coming soon on the blog.  We've got lights to put up, fans to put up, doorknobs to put on, pull chains for closet lights, measurements to take, three pieces of Nadeau furniture to put in their new homes, sink vanities to build, and the list goes on.  Not sure we'll get it all done this weekend but it's great to know that we can start doing it now! This is almost as exciting as the closing was!  More later!

The First Photo I Took We are off to see the farmhouse for the first time since it's been done, and we're going to start doing some of the extras we've been wanting to do. We didn't make it yesterday, spent the day running errands for the farm, getting some cleaning supplies, putting all the stuff together we want to take out on this trip, etc.  By the time we finished our errands, it was late in the day and we wouldn't have had much time out there. Above is the very first photo I took of the farm driveway, over a year ago as we were given the opportunity to buy it.  I took the picture before we walked down the driveway.  Of course, we knew the family for years and years, and had been out there many many times, but I took this photo after we knew we would, hopefully, own it, when we were walking down the driveway to the house.  Somehow it seems nice that we've come full circle. So, as you are reading this, we'll have been at the farm for a few hours.  ...

                  We are off to Seda Bolsa today.  For new visitors, that's the name of our farm, you can read how we came up with the name  by clicking HERE . Even though we started doing some things last weekend, this is our first real weekend of being able to do it without anyone else there or left behind trash and tools and ladders.   So, we have a lot of to do, and it all begins now!  The Jeep is loaded up with cleaning supplies, the vacuum and steam mop, some small furniture items, tools, and other things we want to take and either use today or leave out there for future use.  On the way, we hope to stop at Ikea and pick up the corner unit of GORM shelving for the mudroom.  Looks like while 2nd Man is busy cleaning windows and floors, I'll be building furniture.  The upside is today it a BEAUTIFUL day in this part of the state, cool weather, sunny, clear...it's one of the rare days we have and w...

Phew, what a long day we had.  Long weekend actually.  Got a lot done, but we'll have many many more weekends like this one.  It was good and fun and rewarding, but it's a lot of work creating something out of nothing! On our short checklist, I got the all the switch plates put up, the shelving built in the mudroom (ugh, that's a story in itself), the static doorknobs on, the oil lamps in the dining room put up, shelf and drawer liners, LOTS of cleaning by both of us, and some stuff rearranged.  Didn't do much outside, but there is time for that.  We need to focus on the inside right now.  Didn't get to a couple of the things, but that's partially our fault for getting out there late each day, and then the fault of the Ikea shelving (again, more on that in a future post).  But as long as things are getting done, I suppose that's all that matters.  We have to remind ourselves that we have it, it's ours, and there is no time limit or deadline. ...

Farm Fortune Cookie?     A coworker had an anniversary today and we all went out for Chinese food.  When we got our fortune cookies, before I opened mine, I said "this one is for the farm"... And above is the result.  I thought it was very cool.  But then one of my coworkers said "maybe that means weeds!" I think that goes without saying, ha. Anyway, just thought it was neat and I'd share with everyone else.

. This will be me at the farm today, tools and building furniture and putting things together... ...and this will be 2nd Man, he'll be cleaning windows, the tub, the counter again, the floors again, and so forth... We know it's work, but it will still be fun.  It's ours now, ours to do with as we please and it's very rewarding.  I have a whole list of things to do, and I really think we can get most of it done.  And I'll take lots of pictures as usual!

It was a gloomy Saturday at the farm.  Having been sick for the better part of the last three weeks, and of course dealing with my Grandfather's passing, we have not been to the farm in three weekends now. Cold Winter day The weather was damp and gray and cold ... Garlic and shallots in the raised bed But the garlic and shallots are growing... Yellow kitchen hutch I found these cute metal signs last week and looked for a place to hang them. I finally decided to put them on the hutch in the kitchen... Three dead mice Unfortunately, there were three 'dispatched' mice in traps.  We have ten traps down, a couple in each room, and there were three 'sprung' traps this time.  They are instant kill traps and you don't see them, they are contained inside a container that you dispose of.  I hate the mouse problem we have but it is what it is I suppose.  All drawers, beds, couches, and closets were clear so at least there's that....

Based on your suggestions when I  asked about heating  options for the farm, we made some purchases.  First, we decided on these oil filled radiator heaters.  We bought two for now.  I did my research and found that these by DeLonghi were the best reviewed.   DeLonghi radiator heaters The unique thing about this particular model are these unusual vertical thermal tunnels which allow more heat out into the room.   DeLonghi radiator heater with vertical thermal vents And wow, did they work great! We only took one out this weekend (in case I needed to send them back).  It was cold and damp on arrival.  The temperature in the house was 56 degrees.  Outside temp had been in the low 30's overnight and was about 44 degrees when we got there.  So the house does stay warmish even without heat. Anyway, I put it in the bedroom (where we'd want to make sure it was warm when we stay overnight) turned it on and cl...

Back from the farm, well, back last night and then out again early this morning then back again tonight.  A renovator's work is never done, ha. Took this picture when we got ready to leave today.  Notice how things greened up?  Of course, some might be weeds, but hey, I'll take the green.  It's a color we missed most of this Summer.  Color from any source is welcome. It's also nice seeing the porch without all the construction stuff laying around.  For those wondering, the porch railing and stairs were built using pressure treated wood (lasts a long time and is termite proof), and it has to cure before we can paint it.  Side note, never use pressure treated wood in your garden, the chemicals used can leach into your soil around your veggies. Alas, that tree there in the middle of the photo died in the drought.  It's fate was always up in the air because it had several things going against it.  Now that we have the new st...