Merry Christmas!

Santa came to our new house overnight, and Mom and Dad came over to watch the girls open up their gifts. None of the gifts left under the tree by Santa were disturbed, nor were the gifts that I wrapped and put on the shelves a couple weeks ago. We have surprisingly patient girls.

Christmas Trees

We have a pretty awesome situation for Christmas trees now. In the past, we put them in the playpen so that they would be harder to reach and nearly impossible to completely knock over. It worked okay. We couldn’t use the playpen at all for a couple months and we only used our small trees and not the big one, but with very curious small people, it was the best way to do it.

One Thing After Another

Today we got another dog. I did not plan on getting a second dog. Ever. But we’ve recently found out that while Sammy will bark at one or two coyotes off in the distance, she is terrified if there are more or if they are closer. A few nights ago, we heard a bunch of coyotes howling very close to the house, either down in the pasture or even up by the road, and Sammy spent the night cowering by the house behind a bush. Didn’t make a noise. At all.

The theory we’re going with is that having a puppy will help Sammy feel a little more brave. And since Sammy is 8, she’ll have a little company as she gets even older and may not want to be as active.

Antenna Installation

We have opened up Pandora’s Convertor Box.

Adam had some help hooking up our new antenna that is supposed to improve TV reception and possibly give us PBS, which I haven’t had on a TV since we lived in Lincoln while Adam was finishing school. And that was before the digital TV switch, so it was very fuzzy.

Well, we do have PBS now (and Fox comes in much better), but I’m not sure if this is actually a good thing. See, the girls haven’t ever watched much TV because we never got any stations with shows that are appropriate for them. We watched videos on occasion (Fraggle Rock, Veggie Tales, Sesame Street, and such), but nothing on a regular basis. That is no longer the case.

One More Mouth to Feed

Today we got a dog. I did not plan on getting a dog this soon, but I also didn’t plan on having cats already, either. Let alone cats that get attacked by coyotes.

Five More Things the Girls are Really Excited About

The girls have enjoyed discovering all kinds of fun stuff around the house. Here are five more things they especially love.


- Kitchen Table

I’ve mentioned it before, but the girls love sitting at the little bar in the kitchen. I ate there a lot with

my grandparents, sandwiched between them, and it was also a favorite place to paint with watercolors. Their excitement makes me smile.

Meow!

Good news! Our mouse problem has decreased significantly! Partly because Adam has caught so many in traps, but also because they’re scared to show their furry little faces around the house and car now.

We have cats. And the cats are very interested in all the places where the mice have been hanging out.

EEK!

Adam had a rough night.

Recently we noticed that mice (ew) had been getting into the garage (yuck). Adam started leaving out mousetraps every night, and after catching nearly a dozen in the first few days, the mortality rate has mostly slowed down.

But not before we noticed that the mice had also been getting into the car (disgusting), which wasn’t even in the garage due to Grandma’s old furniture still being stored inside. Did you know mice like ranch? Yeah, it’s true. They chewed through a couple old ranch containers from McDonalds that had fallen under the seat and completely licked the ranch out. They didn’t touch the sweet and sour or barbeque, though. Why would they need to eat the ranch, with three children worth of dropped snacks hidden under car seats? Well, mice are greedy and obnoxious, so they ate the ranch, tastiest of all non-ketchup dips, and then they still ate the gram cracker chunks, lost cheerios, and bits of froot loops. And they left evidence of having been in and around all three car seats.

Five Outdoor Things I am Really Excited About

Here are some things outside of the house that I'm a big fan of at our new home.


- Pond

Don’t tell the girls yet (or ever?), but there is a pond in the pasture next to us. Sometimes there are ducks on it. It’s very pretty. I wouldn’t ever swim in it (my uncle keeps cows in that pasture sometimes), but it is nice to look at. And in the winter, you can take your chance sliding around on the ice a little bit. It’s not ice-skating per se, but something kind of close to it.

- Basketball Hoops

My grandparents’ old hoop is still up over by the hanger (though it needs to be rehung and restrung) and there are plenty of other cement places to put up a hoop someday. We didn’t have any good cement pads at the old house, so we kind of hit the basketball jackpot here. Horse, anyone?

Happy Fourth of July!

Every year, Adam and I go over to my parents' house a few times in the weeks before Independence Day to shoot off fireworks. Why? Well, fireworks don't go all that well in town when there's lots of trees, not a lot of empty yard space, and you don't want to shoot off fireworks in the road. Also, I'm told, we're not supposed to shoot them off in Goehner at all. But some people do, so I may be wrong about that. Or maybe people are just really chill about that rule.

Anyway.

This year, for the first time, we were able to do fireworks at our own house! Without worrying about neighbors or getting reported for using fireworks in city limits! And we even got to invite Mom and Dad over to watch. Which I think Mom preferred because she doesn't have to pick up used fireworks the next day AND she won't have to complain about finding firework debris in her gardens for the rest of the summer.

Five Indoor Things I am Really Excited About

There are lots of things I like at the new house, too. Here are five things inside the house that I'm particularly enjoying. And given the stormy weather of the last month or so, having a safe basement to cower in ranks high!


- Basement

What the heck, nature?! Nebraskans are good people. Lay off the severe storms, please? But at least we have a good place to go during severe weather. We can even bath, sleep, and paint and heat set dishes in a kiln down there if we need to. (Except the kiln isn’t set up yet. Someday.)

Patio Pool Party

Since we’re doing a lot of work at the new house and the girls enjoy playing over there, plus there’s so much more room to play, we set up our pools on the patio.

Yep. Plural. We have more than one pool.

Really, should that surprise anyone?

Actually, we’ve had a small plastic pool for a few years. Last year, Adam cracked it on the bottom. It has duct tape covering the crack now and does not seem to be leaking. But it may not have much time left on it. And we thought it would be good to have a “calm” pool for Agatha and a more wild pool for Emaline and Gwendalyn. Plus, three girls don’t fit into one small pool without a little territorial arguing.

Don’t Make Friends with the Wildlife

After the girls were in bed, Adam yelled that I needed to come look at something. Outside the living room picture window are three of the four little raccoons that live around the new house.  And Adam is tapping on the glass to amuse them.

I don’t enjoy killing animals, but a family of raccoons is not really something we can have. They will eventually need to be, unfortunately, put down.  If you have ever lived on a farm or acreage, you may be nodding your head or sighing in frustration because you’ve experienced this before. And you know how frustrating it is. If you’re really offended but live in the city and don’t actually have to deal with this level of critter issue on a regular basis (meaning lots of them every day), please don’t lecture me on wild animal ecology. You don’t even want to know what I think of mountain lions. And now I’m freaking out a little because I’m thinking about mountain lions. So thanks for that.

Most likely, Adam is the one who will have to handle the raccoons. I’m not a bad shot, when I’m not upset about having to be shooting at things. But I prefer bow and arrow, and that isn’t really practical here. Ever seen Robin Hood? Yeah, there’s no way I’m THAT good.

Five Things the Girls are Really Excited About

 The girls love the new house. Here are five things they are especially excited about.

- Windows

 This house has a few HUGE windows. The girls love looking at the plants, the sky, and the animals outside. The windows are now covered in fingerprints. And mouth prints. I will be having them wear Windex covered gloves in the house now so that they can wipe the windows clean as they look outside.

Bugs, Bugs, Bugs (and Trained Attack Babies)

This house has not been lived in for about two years.

Strike that. This house has not had humans living in it for about two years. It has, however, gained and maintained a healthy population of bugs. We have glue traps out and we’re squishing whatever we see, but I can’t say how much it actually helps. (Again, I don’t like killing things, but a near infestation is a problem.) The occasional roach seems to get in through the vents. Little beetles are coming in because the back/front door doesn’t seal all the way at the base. Mosquitoes have found holes in a screen door. Ants have a little passageway in the sliding door. There may be bees in one wall. Carpet beetles have a number of entryways, unfortunately, but at least they’re kind of delicate. And most of the rest of the bugs come in when I forget to turn off the inside light when the outside light is on and the door is open.

I remember Grandma and Grandpa used to have a bug zapper. I think I saw at least part of it the other day. We may need to see if it can be revived or just get a new one. At least for the outside door. Darn moths and June bugs.

Agatha, by the way, worries me. She puts a lot of things in her mouth. And she’s dangerously quick.

Dishwasher Disaster

Adam had his first day of graduate school today.  I thought I would be a hard worker and get a lot accomplished. But I was also a little lazy, too.

So I loaded up the dishwasher, still the original machine in the new house, and turned it on. Nothing happened. I called Dad, and he reminded me to turn the dishwasher’s water lines back on. Easy enough, right? I should have thought of that. The girls and I played, read some books, and then decided to do lunch in town and go to a park. Maybe even see Great Grandma. A few hours had passed.

On the way to get shoes on, we noticed that the kitchen floor was wet. Flooded, actually. As in, “Hey, get the plastic boats from the bathtub!” flooded. Monsoon season flooded. The dishwasher had not drained normally and instead was draining all over the floor, which apparently has low points over by the clothes washing machine in the entry and also in the space between the fridge and the oven. That’s where the pool of water was deepest, of course.

I sent the girls to play in another room, but of course they hung around to watch and ask a thousand questions about the water.  And splash. And get yelled at by a panicking mommy. And splash some more.

New Carpets and Naughty Babies

Due to a few problems with stains and mold, we have many new carpets in the new house. I would have liked to keep the old ones, but it wasn’t entirely an option. So only three old carpets remain.

New carpet it kind of nice. We got some odd looking ones and we were able to make the master bedroom yellow again. And there are fewer carpets with pins and needles in them. Seriously. Grandma sewed a lot, and growing up, I always left my shoes on in the house because it was really risky to go barefoot. My feet picked up SOOOO many stray pins over the years. It has only been a minor issue so far; mostly in the office-turned-sewing-room that kept it’s carpet. Along with the carpet roughness issue if you’re crawling on it.

But also, new carpet sheds a lot. There are lots of little pieces of carpet coming out and migrating around the house. And it’s REALLY easy to pull out a few loose strands.

Up and Down the Stairs

We’ve only been here a few days, and we’re already stuck in the basement for an evening. There was a big hailstorm tonight, and with the huge windows my Grandma always loved, being upstairs was not an option. So we brought a TV downstairs along with the girls’ sofas and spent the evening playing in the basement.

And Adam and I spent a lot of that time just going up and down the stairs. Going up to look out the windows. Coming back down. Going up to check the weather radio. Coming back down. Going up to get something for snack. Coming back down.

Moving-ish In-ish

Don’t tell my mom, but I’m allergic to bunnies.

I’ve actually known that for a while. And really, I’m mostly allergic to their food (timothy hay) and their loose fur. And the dust they create.

So as we’ve been packing at home and preparing to move, we’ve had a very important rule: If Adam is going to pack things near the rabbits (which I can’t do, due to said allergies), it needs to be at night so I can bath and go upstairs to bed right away.

Well, a few days ago, Adam forgot our rule. He’s out of school now, so he’s home all day. While the girls were doing afternoon nap, I was sitting by the TV, sorting papers. I didn’t pay attention to what Adam was doing, until I started sneezing and rubbing my very itchy eyes.

May Summary

Another month is over, but we're making some progress. Slowly.

* Upstairs bath tub door installed.
* New stove installed.
* Living room furniture somewhat arranged.
* Belongings from old house slowly moving over and being unpacked.
* Iris bed cleared out.
* Auction items sorted and repacked. (Thanks Betty!)
* Most of house cleaned and ready to be moved into.
* Most furniture pieces from auction have been cleaned and moved into appropriate locations around house.


And here is what we hope to accomplish in June.

* Install downstairs bath tub door.
* Install door to basement stairs.
* Clean off remaining furniture from auction, which is currently being stored in garage and china room.
* Move more auction and previously owned furniture into rooms, arranging according to maps.
* Clear out and clean china room, which is still crammed full of stuff and isn’t ready to have stuff moved into it yet.
* Move remaining items from old house into new house.
* Move over swing set, sand box, and small pool.
* Fill holes where dirt on new water line settled in the rain. Holes have multiplied in the last month, darn it.
* Weed garden beds, which no longer look nice and neat. Or like gardens, really.
* Decide which appliances to keep from the old house, and where to store them.
* Clear out corn husks from metal shed.
* Fix roof on metal shed.
* Make landscaping plans for new trees and bushes to plant. Will require input from uncle who uses out buildings and winters cows in the pasture.
* Maybe move in?
* Maybe put old house up for sale?






Despite a few distractions, we made some more progress. Keep thinking of us, please, and sending us some good energy! Maybe at the end of June, the "finished" list will actually be longer than the "to do" list!

Progress on Packing

We're slowly moving more stuff over, and the girls love playing while one of us or our parents hangs out at the new house with them. We've used the new small table, and they think it's really awesome. Because it is. Especially with the rolling chairs!

So at first, I kept track of how many boxes/bags/tubs I had moved because I thought I would feel motivated by all the progress we were making.

It didn’t take long to realize that there is no motivation in finding out that I have, for example:

• 2 boxes of cds, which I rarely have time to listen to and some of it isn't appropriate for kids anyway (Sorry, Self Righteous Brothers. You know it's true.)
• 9 boxes of random papers and stuff that haven’t been sorted since college, and I have no idea of where to put them or what to do with them, but I still cling to hope that I'll get to it soon
• 6 small tubs of t-shirts, none of which fit correctly at this time since most of them came from the junior section

Arranging the Living Room

Today I attempted to arrange furniture in the living room.

Today was a total and complete failure.

We have one sofa of our own. It was Grandma's. It's actually a sofa bed, and I lost many friends in college after they helped me move it in or out of dorm rooms because it weighs about as much as a baby elephant and likes to open and unfold randomly, as is its wont.

But that item is going into the office, which is where it lived until 2001. So some of the new-to-us furniture is needing to be arranged in the living room.

At the auction, I bought Grandma's amazing mid-century green two-piece sofa. It was the most expensive item I bought that day, but it was totally worth it. It's awkwardly shaped and each section weighs as much as a baby apatosaurus. Adam says that the next time it leaves the house, it will not come back. And that it isn't allowed to go into the basement. But it's fun to jump on and has lots of cushions for building forts. The girls like it. So take that, Adam.

We're Okay! And Very, Very, VERY Lucky

Maybe you heard about the storms around Beaver Crossing?


We lost one tree (see left), a lot of branches and limbs, and my cousins' pasture has a lot of insulation from the new building at the old Abel place (see right). That is the extent of our damage. And the electricity was out for twenty four hours, along with the power for everyone else on the south side of the interstate (although not everyone has power again yet). Oh! Plus, the roof of one of my great uncle's sheds ended up in the front lawn over on the other side of the road. But that's all.

We are so very, very, VERY lucky.

Everyone around the section has much worse damage. Some lost buildings, some lost roofs, and most of the pivots are mangled. The storm actually blew the wheels off. A lot of trees are severely damaged or just plain gone. (It looks like at least one of those sheds took out part of a shelter belt.) Power lines are down everywhere. And when I say down, what I mean is chunks of poles are missing, poles are splintered into bits, and some remind me of Lincoln Logs freshly dumped out of the bucket.

Beaver Crossing will never be the same. Ever. There's just no way, because so much has been altered or destroyed.

For someone who grew up in this area, it's really, really, REALLY sad.

Auction Trophies

Let's look at some of the great things Betty and I unpacked from Grandma's auction last October. Some of them I bought on purpose, some came with other things I bought, and some things I really am not sure about. We did end up with everything that didn't sell or was left behind by people. But that doesn't explain some of this stuff.

This right here is the crowned jewel of the collection. WHAT THE HECK IS IT? It doesn't photograph so well, but what it is, clearly, is a blue hand holding a blue cornucopia. And it is maybe a vase. Or a shot glass. I'm not really sure.

I love this thing! I love it more every time I see it. I did not know it existed and did not buy it on purpose, but it is amazing. And it begs many great questions.

What made someone decide to create this piece? Was it originally part of a set? Am I missing a foot kicking a turkey, a knee squishing a squash, and an elbow balancing a pilgrim hat? Because I'm pretty sure it would be in a Thanksgiving themed set. And WHAT IS IT? Vase? Shot glass? Seriously, someone tell me which thing it is. I don't drink alcohol much, so that probably makes it a vase by default.

Auction Sorting Assistance

Before moving all the auction boxes to the basement, I wanted to sort and repack as much as possible.

On the day of Grandma's auction, Adam was the person primarily responsible for packing all of the things we bought, as quickly and securely as possible because everything purchased by us and my parents would be sent back to Grandma's house in a U-Haul. So rather than being sorted in a logical manner, things are packed partly according to when it sold and what sold with it, and partly according to what would fit into the available boxes.

Because I did not get to organize the items sold and because I did not get to take what I absolutely wanted BEFORE the sale as was stated in Grandma's will, we had to buy A LOT of stuff to get the things I really, really wanted and to get things that I just liked a lot. So I ended up with a lot of strange odds and ends, things I didn't even know existed in her house, and things I would have never chosen myself.

It was a very daunting, stressful, emotional task. After many failed attempts, I admitted that I wouldn't be able to sort it alone.

Luckily, we have some very awesome, helpful friends. Having non-relatives help forced me to sort more quickly, not get as hung up on emotional stuff, and even to admit that some of the things I ended up with are a little ridiculous. Like all the boxes of empty picture frames that didn't sell.

First Play Date!

Huge milestone today..... We did our first play date at the new house! Actually, it was the first time we've ever hosted a play date. Ever. That's a little nerve-wracking in a house we don't actually live in and therefore don't have things like cups and plates and bread lying around. Or extra rolls of toilet paper......

It went well, though, I think. No one had to be rushed to the hospital, although Emmy shut her fingers in a closet door within the first three minutes.

Emmy and Gwen were thrown off a little by having someone else's input to consider. They normally have a series of activities that we do every time we're at the house: play with off-brand Jenga blocks, play rubber ducks, play with pull string animals, play hide and seek. And these things often happen in a specific order, too, because the girls are extremely prone to patterns (my fault). So having someone wanting to play different things was a new adventure, and they came up with a great new activity: running in circles around the living room and falling down.

March/April Summary

So here's an overview of what we've accomplished in the last month plus a little extra, and where all the remodeling stands at this time.

* Preliminary map of furniture lay out made for each room in house.
* Carpets and flooring replaced as needed, all walls painted.
* Bath tubs replaced, bath tub doors not yet attached.
* Water and sewer working.
* New front/back door and windows.
* Light fixtures installed and replaced as needed, electricity fixed in garage.
* Island in kitchen torn out, space for stove/oven prepared.
* Stair fence replaced with solid wall, waiting on door to stairs.
* Fridge, washer, and dryer put back into place.
* Shelves put back into closets. Had been removed for painting.
* Driveway garden cleared out, still working on iris garden.
* Limited amount of stuff moved in and unpacked in living room and old sewing room, which are clean.

Here's what we're still waiting on or planning to work on in May.

* Install bath tub doors.
* Install new stove and microwave.
* Install door to basement stairs.
* Moving furniture into rooms, arranging according to maps.
* Getting the "okay" to move belongings into the rest of the house, unpack more things.
* Fill holes where dirt on new water line settled in the rain.
* Clear out iris bed.
* Clear out corn husks from metal shed.
* Make landscaping plans for new trees and bushes to plant. Will require input from uncle who uses out buildings and winters cows in the pasture.
* Unpack, sort, and repack items purchased at auction. Will require a great deal of help and emotional support. Many items (especially holiday decorations) will go back into storage for now.
* Maybe move in?

I know we're making a lot of progress. It just feels slow, knowing how far we still have to go. Thank you, though, for all of your support and encouragement!

Lunchboxes and Irises

So, I know what you're thinking. "Boy, those wrestler action figures sure looked sharp up on that decorative railing. What would visually compliment them best?" Well, if your guess is my lunch box collection, you are absolutely correct.

And yes, those wrestlers do look sharp. But someone needs to tell the Bret Hart twins and the British Bulldog to stop jumping off. That ledge is not a turnbuckle, and no is getting clotheslined today.

Anyway, my lunchbox collection is now lining one wall of the former sewing room/current play room. Except that it was never intentionally a collection, Karl and I just had some cool lunchboxes growing up. Plus a great Dark Crystal lunchbox we found in high school. And later some awesome Muppet ones, and it's hard for me to pass up Muppet merchandise. And I got a great Beatles one as a gift. (Don't tell Karl I took his lunchbox. He might not actually know. I don't really want to give it back.) (Don't tell him that, either.)

One Garden Done!

After working two more days on the driveway garden, it's all clear! Here's a look at the before and after.



 These are "before". I should have had Emmy or Gwen stand in there to show how deep it was. Very, very deep.










 These are "after". You can see there's still a little junk in there, but not nearly as much. Look at all that green stuff! And dirt!




 

New Gloves! And New Work......

After an evening of hauling away more corn husks, it's starting to look less like my uncle's corn field threw up in our yard and more like a real lawn.

I had to relocate my dumping site tonight, having made the first pile entirely too big. Anyone need husks for anything? Anyone at all?

Before coming over, we made a trip into Seward for tools. There were no pruning shears or cutters of any kind in the garage. (Why would there be? It's full of mops.) So I bought a three pack of varying sized shears. I think I dulled all of them today. And here's the frustrating part: after cutting out hundreds of volunteer trees and very thick weeds, I don't feel like I made any progress. I just keep noticing the ones I missed, and resisting the urge to get get the cutters out again for a second round.

Easter Gardening Attempt 2: Sore Hands

The storm passed, I picked up everyone else from home, we picked up some supper in town, and now back to work.

Yesterday, by the way, we stopped to help Dad move the fridge back into place and there was much crying from the girls because:
A. We weren't staying to play.
B. We weren't staying to see Grandma and Grandpa.
And this is the most important, apparently:
C. We hadn't gotten food at McDonalds to eat at the new house, which we had done ONE time a couple weeks ago, but it's now the thing we "always" do.

After yesterday's mini-break down, we made plans to do a special fun meal tonight. Here are Emmy and Gweny, using a table set up that Adam came up with. Box table, tub lid table cloth, paint can chairs.

The girls love eating like this, and Agatha laughs when someone leans on the table top and knocks everything down. We don't really think it's funny, but we're also the ones cleaning up crumbs. Well, mostly Adam picks up. Okay, fine. Just Adam.

I've been just clearing away husks today. I'll load them up and haul them away tomorrow. After several hours of raking, it looks a little like I've parted the corn husk river. Let my garden go!

  

Easter Gardening Attempt 1: Storm Interruption

Happy Easter! While the girls nap (it was a very busy day between church, donuts after church, egg hunting at my parents' house, and eating primarily candy for lunch), I thought I'd get a head start on working at the new house. But I only got to work an hour or so before I was forced to take a break, which included going home to check the weather on TV and picking up everyone for supper.



First, look at these plants!

This is why I haven't spent much time in the iris bed yet. When I get such good plant feedback on the work I've done, I can't help but keep going in the same space.


Second, I know I've caused a lot of invertebrates to relocate with all of this gardening, but now I've caused a rabbit to move, too.

There's a hole under these husks that was full of fur and strands of grass. I covered the hole with a pile of husks and some of the fur, but I'm pretty sure this mama rabbit is going to make herself a new den now. No babies inside - I did check. It's not a great hiding place, anyway, considering it's proximity to the back/front door and the garage.

 This, though, is the highlight of the afternoon. See what I watched move in as I worked on the driveway flower bed?

Facing south while raking, I could see the storm gradually move in. And I could feel the wind shift, pick up, and cool down. Seriously, it was amazing. A little freaky and intense (especially being alone), but very amazing.

Experiencing Delays........

"Hey! Why haven't you been posting things on here? How can you neglect it already?" Well, thanks for asking. It's been quite a week and a half. And we haven't really done much over there, so there's less to tell. Plus, with some technical issues (darn camera), I couldn't finish any of the posts I had started anyway.

Good news, though! The water was hooked up a week ago this past Monday, which is great! I've already washed my hands a couple times. And on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, the broken light fixtures were fixed, two new lights were put in, and the garage circuitry was fixed so we can open and close the garage door again. (We hadn't been able to for a few weeks.)

What Could Be Slowing Us Down?

So, we're still waiting on the currently empty rooms to be cleaned out. But while we wait, let's look at what's awaiting us in the other rooms.

This is the dining room. Washer and dryer were moved here during painting, and they will eventually be moved back to their closet. Although a washer and dryer might be useful in the dining room with our messy eaters. Hmmm.....

You can also see some of the furniture I was able to buy at the auction; some boxes of stuff Dad, Mom, and I need to divide up from auctions; and a couple of my little DVD racks that are just hanging out until they can be placed in the living room and used again. See that racket? The girls aren't clear on what it's for, but they love running around with it. Which is why it's up high right now.

Space to Play

The girls love playing at "the new house", as we've begun calling it. And as much fun as they're having, they haven't even gotten to see what we can do with the space.

Grandma has some great playing options, which I can tell you about from experience. The patio in back is great for riding roller racers and scooters. It's also great for coloring with chalk, but if you use crayon, it makes adults grouchy even though they should know better than to not have any chalk in the house.

We need to re-lay some cement going down the slope, because that's one of the best parts of riding things around back here. If you get going fast enough, you might even end up across the drive.

The windowed area used to be a little porch kind of thing, before the sun room was added on. That is one change I wish could be undone, because I used to use that area as a play house. But we'll leave it. I think Dad would be pretty put out if I tried to talk him into a new un-construction project so soon.

Different Day, Different Garden

Believe it or not, there are iris flowers somewhere here, under all these corn stalks and dead leaves, among the volunteer trees whose days are numbered. (Unless anyone wants to transplant and adopt some.....?) (No idea what they are. Unless "Obnoxious" is a new tree type.)

I took a break from the driveway to work on this tonight. I didn't have much time, so I cleared a little bit by the front/back door and then got to work on this.

Beginning the Yard Work

Until I can do more inside, I'm moving outside. I'm also doing this because I hear it's spring now, and plants apparently start sprouting at this alleged time of year.

Grandma loves flowers (as evidenced by the things she painted) and had extensive garden spaces going all summer long. The flower beds have been neglected the last couple years as the house has stood empty and the last year Grandma was out here when she was having more and more trouble with endurance and mobility. My mission is to get these beds uncovered and see what comes up this year. Next year we can make changes, but with everything else going on, we'll just see what we've got for now.

The biggest problem is corn husks. There is nearly a foot deep of husks in many places around the farm, but most of those places are gardens. And under the corn husks are another two or three inches of leaves and what I assume used to be leaves before they decomposed into a dark goo. This is going to take a very long time!

On a side note, many of the fields around here are completely devoid of corn husks and stalks. Hey neighbors, I know where your husks went! Feel free to come get them at any time. Seriously.

Wrestling with Interior Decorating

Still limited on how much stuff we can move over, but that's okay today. I'm working on decorating. And then unpacking the rest of the board games and random art supplies. Which kind of relates to decorating, right?

So, Grandma was a china painter and had many china painting friends. She has many places and furniture items around the house that were dedicated to her vast collection of china. We weren't able to keep all the china in the family. Not even the things she made, which is yet another sore spot for me, so we'll keep going with this story. Now I have a dilemma called, "What do I put on all of these shelves made fairly specifically for plates?"

We did buy as much of the china as we could, and some of the plates will be displayed somewhere in the house, but these shelves seem to be too out-in-the-open and too narrow for highly breakable things. The girls are careful, but things get thrown around once in a while. And this room is currently the front runner for where my awesome Dr. J foam basketball and hoop set from the 1980s is going to go. But it's okay, I have a great idea.

In sixth grade, I went through a WWF (now WWE) wrestling faze, as all young girls do. And as I've gotten older and had time to look back on those months fondly, I've bought a few of my favorite characters as I've seen them and been able to afford them. (They're a little pricey for something that is not a Muppet or a Beatle.) And guess what! They can mostly stand on their own! Sort of! So guess who's going up on the railing.....

We Can Flush! (But only once per toilet for now)

Hey, the sewer is all finished and working! In theory! Because the water isn't hooked up for the new well yet, and so the toilets haven't been flushed because there isn't any water to refill them after one flush. We're saving that one flush per toilet until there is a child-related emergency that can't wait for the drive home.

But actually, the guess is that the water will be hooked up tomorrow (Friday), and then we can really test out all the new water lines for real. And that will be exciting, and maybe scary if something isn't working right. Or messy.

So now we maybe have a timeline! So far, things have been in a ripple. When the remodeling is done, the floors can be put down. When the floors are down, the walls can be painted. When the weather is nicer, the new well and sewer can be put in. Now there's just a little touch up work to do in the bathrooms (paint got scuffed when the toilets were put back, apparently - I keep forgetting to notice), the new oven isn't there yet, the half door to the basement needs to be put in, and a few light sockets need to be repaired (the awesome light hanging in the old sewing/small dining room is one of them for those of you who have been inside - removing that light fixture was a deal breaker).

A Side Note on Packing, Unpacking, and Auctions

I need to pack up more stuff here at home before I can move anything else over there. Still only have two rooms worth of shelves and closets to fill because the other rooms are still being deep cleaned, and the carpets still aren't ready for furniture to be moved in. (Vacuuming has started, but may be redone several times.) But this is a good time to talk about part of the packing/unpacking problem.

We have a lot of stuff. Random stuff. Small stuff. Stuff we probably don't even need, but I hang onto anyway because I haven't had time (or energy or patience or the right frame of mind) to sort it. When we've moved in the past, it's just stayed in boxes or been piled up somewhere (often on or under chairs and tables). I'm hoping to have a fresh new start in this new place that has a magical number of closets and cabinets.

Moving: Day 2

Today I did some more moving alone. I got a little more done without my small helpers running around entertaining me. But it sure was quiet! (The radio helped that, once I found a good classic rock station on the manual tuner, but I turned it off when Mom and Dad got there, since Mom would maybe not like Foreigner and Led Zeppelin blaring in the kitchen.)

Books are shelved, coloring books are in a cupboard, and board games are beginning to find a good closet to live in. The main level hall closets are getting their shelves back, which were removed for painting. My Grandma actually built in most of these shelves herself. Most of them are really pretty straight. We suspect she eye-balled it, so a few are a bit tilted. But they are all spaced according to her needs at the time, which looks pretty odd right now, on account of me not having the same things in the same places. We've really enjoyed seeing all of Grandma's carpentry. She has never been one to be helpless. If she needed something done, she did it to the best of what she could do. Which generally worked out pretty well. So we'll let two or three crooked shelves slide.

It's begun!

Today we officially started "moving"! Bags of movies have been organized onto shelves, and boxes of books are on the floor waiting to be sorted and shelved. That will have to wait until tomorrow, because the movies took all day. It apparently was a big deal to get every genre grouped correctly. I say "apparently" because I didn't plan for it to take all day, it just did. But my favorite TV series are grouped together, my favorite comfort movies are on two shelves (although I may reorganize them another day), and the ones I never watch/somewhat regret buying are up too high to reach. With the scary movies. Because no child under five needs to check out Scream or Attack of the Giant Leeches, regardless of how tame you think they may be. And how cute Skeet Ulrich is.

How's it going?

Okay, so the house needed a little work before we could move in. It hasn't been lived in for more than a year, Grandma wasn't fully able to care for it for a couple of years before that, and there were just some general issues.

I loved how the kitchen looked, but it was maybe not entirely going to work with little girls running around. The stove top was on a little island in the middle of the kitchen, with the ovens mounted into the wall. Yep, plural. Two ovens. And they were olive green, to match the old fridge, which was taken away several years ago. A sad day, indeed.

In case you were interested........

I don't know how many people know or care, but I wanted to give interested people a chance to follow how our move is going.

Yep! That's what we've been up to for awhile now. About a year ago, Dad and his sisters started talking about what to do with Grandma's house, since she's no longer living there. Grandma and Grandpa Luebbe built the house in the 70s, and the original house that Dad grew up in was moved to Goehner (it was not on the market when we moved to Goehner, but part of me was hoping it would be). I've always loved Grandma and Grandpa's house and I spent a lot of time growing up there.

So when the vote was to sell (after selling everything inside), we had to make some choices and look for some solutions. Dad knew this was important to me and Mom eventually okayed it, and they've helped us find a way to make it work. Hopefully.

Honestly, it's beyond our budget. We will likely go bankrupt in the next year trying to pay for it while trying to sell our current house, which we are still paying off. And my parents are technically buying the home and having us rent-to-own, so we will likely drag them down with us. It's terrifying, stressful, and sometimes I wonder what we're thinking.