Entertained

I haven't blogged for a while as it's been a little slower going and, with a weekend in there, we didn't make as much progress. However, now interior walls are going up and it's fun to see rooms take shape. Tomorrow they may start on the upstairs trusses. I will be posting again shortly with pictures of all of that.

Meanwhile we have managed to keep ourselves entertained in our tight little space at the end of VanWagnen's driveway. Bob decided one afternoon to just stretch out and relax in the living room.....

and the bedroom....and the dining room.  It doesn't take much to amuse us.

We have also had several visitors stop by.

Our friends that we grew up with were here visiting from Alaska and Ohio and we ended up sitting around our table in our new garage with the doors open eating pizza and telling lots of stories. We were invited back to our old house to sit on the deck and enjoy the lake, but ended up spending the afternoon in the garage as the stories that went on and on and got funnier and funnier, consumed our time.

We've been able to use our old deck tables for some meetings and lunches just outside of the garage. Perfect atmosphere when there is a break from the pounding.

And finally, in the evening, we actually take some chairs and sit in our future living room enjoying the view. Ahh, home!

We've Got Walls!

We've actually got walls with openings for our doors and windows. It is fun to walk around inside and picture what our house will look like and to see the views out of the windows. Yay!

Our dear friend Jon (Butch) Reynolds who grew up next door to me and who now lives in Alaska, came to visit with his new wife Kathryn and our friend Phil. The timing was great and it was so nice to share this milestone with close, forever, childhood friends.

View out of our downstairs bedroom.

West side facing our garage with an entry into our mud/laundry room.

East facing wall with a future view of the lake and north wall with a door that leads out to our future screened in porch.

Main entry and window over our future kitchen sink.

Now this is exciting and makes living in our little travel trailer so worth while. The upstairs bedroom comes soon. Meanwhile the wonderful weather with cooler air and a perfect breeze is a delight! We are thankful!

Settling In

The heat continued to build with no rain in sight. The grass was brown and  large clouds of dust were stirred up from the sand around our lot. Our neighbor had had it with trucks driving too fast blowing the dust right towards their house. Bob called around looking for a solution and finally was told to get bags of Calcium Chloride to spread down the road. Then our neighbor followed along and sprinkled it with the hose.  It seemed to do the trick for now. There is dust everywhere this year with such a dry July, but add construction, digging and no grass and it was too much. We've got to keep the neighbors happy.

I thought this would be a good place to show pictures of our new digs. The VanWagnens have been gracious beyond words and I have no idea how we can ever repay them.

It is tiny, but convenient, plus, we can see our building site from the side window and keep an eye on when crews show up. Then Danny Omo is also so kind to let us cut a path across his back yard down to our lot and soon to be new home.

The building crew got our floor on and Mike thought it would be good to varnish it to seal it and protect it from the weather. He and Bob rolled it on.

 Mike worked Sunday in the worst heat yet (registering 106 on our blacktop driveway), marking out exactly where doors, windows, etc. would go as the builders put the walls in. He is precise with his guidance as he develops and teaches this young crew. Incredible!

It is going to be exciting to actually see walls go up and hopefully the heat will break soon. It has been tough on everyone. But on a nice note, this morning as a foggy, mist rose out of the swamp behind us, we watched three beautiful deer walk in a line down the bike trail. It looked mystic and almost spiritual. Ahhh the peace of nature.

Moving Is Not Easy!

I had no idea what it was going to take to move. This is going to be a long entry as time has passed with no time to write and with so much happening.

Our nieces and their families showed up Sunday from Illinois and Georgia to help. We moved as much as we could before the professional movers were to come on Tuesday. Things were flying out of the house and we kept adding new rows to the storage in our new garage.

So much happened since I last wrote that it is now all a jumble in my mind. I know we were up early and worked hard all day. The heat returned which doesn't help my energy, but we had super help and kept trudging on.

 

Sean and Lindsey had us over to dinner Sunday night, which was very much appreciated. We  then promised one last pancake breakfast Monday morning under our watch and then we'd get back to work. 

The morning went quickly and we all hated to see it end, but I had a cleaning lady hired to help me finish each room. The kids helped pack up the deck furniture and everything else we could fit.

Everyone finally cleared out just as Laurie, the cleaning lady came. She is a fast worker and wanted direction right away. That is the point at which I came closest to losing it. My brain ceased to work and I did't seem to be able to breathe. Bob sat me on the deck and made me stay quiet for bit and have a cold glass of water. I quickly revived. Whew! Back on track. It just seemed like we couldn't get done. We started piling anything that had to go in the entry to deal with it and clear out each room. Meanwhile we had picked up our trailer and wiped that all down so it was ready to move in. I was unable to make good decisions about what to pack from our closet and what to put in the trailer. Bob hung racks in the garage so we could hang stuff there instead of packing it all. When the weather changes, we'll be able to get at it. It may be dusty, but we can see it.

Meanwhile the builders were making progress and got the trusses on.

The morning of July 10, we hurried to get ready and the movers showed up about 9:30. What a nice couple of guys Jeremy and Easton were. They kind of made moving fun...well, at least we laughed a lot.

 

In the midst of it all, I had decided to sell our huge, heavy, solid oak computer cabinet and a lady named Stacy from St. Joseph decided she wanted it as her new job would be working out of the home. It was perfect for setting up her home office. She had over a two hour drive to get to our house and agreed to get right on the road so she could have help from Jeremy and Easton. She made it and it was an amazing thing to watch. I wish I had gotten a picture of those guys in harness bouncing that huge cupboard down the walk.

Bob helped them and they got it in the back of Stacy's truck and Bob secured it with rope and sheets of old sponge. It was a project! She texted us when she made it safely home. We were relieved.

The house was then empty except for an everlasting pile in the kitchen from the pantries. Then the carpet cleaners came and we left them to do their good work as Brian and Elise had invited us down to a relaxing dinner. It felt good to escape for a while.

We spent the night in our driveway in our trailer so we would be there to finish the job and because our house was empty of furniture. We worked from 6 to 9 in the morning and finished just as Kathy, her dad and the boys showed up with a load to unpack as they moved in. It felt good that the house was clean and empty. Now to find places for all of our stuff in the garage and our trailer. 

So much for our good ideas for organizing. Maybe next week.

We helped the kids unload and then headed over to set up our trailer at VanWagnen's. We have a perfect spot at the end of their drive with full hook up. Lynn came out and helped us set up internet and gave us a quick tutorial on how to use Amazon Prime to stream movies and TV shows. He told me there would be a test at the end of the week and then there would be a new lesson. He didn't want us to be "Old Foggies!"

I was so worried about our kitty, Minnie, but she actually seemed happy to settle in. We aren't going to let her out for a few days till she is used to the sounds and smells of a new neighborhood.

After a lovely night's sleep with a breeze blowing through the trailer, we showered, had breakfast and started off for the day. Mike wanted to meet with us to pick out windows, so we met in front of our garage at one of our deck tables. It was in the shade and perfect.

After our meeting, we picked up our first mail. This seemed like some kind of ritual that made it all seem more real.

Then back to 8120 to help finish the big move for Brad & Kathy. They added beautiful new deck furniture and perfect living room furniture with five built in recliners. It was all taking shape.

Mike and Todd showed up and there were many strong young men to make the work go quickly.

Kathy had things ready in the evening for pizza and cake to celebrate Brad's and Brian's 50th birthday and Pierce's High School Graduation.

So many huge events in a short span on time. Lots of adjustments. Lots of change. Be still my heart!

Too Much Stuff!

We worked through a very hot, oppressive 4th of July and were thankful for our air conditioning. In fact, while running errands on July 5, I was stopped at a traffic light in Jackson and noticed the car thermometer registered 99 degrees. That is scary hot for this northern girl!
Finally that evening, the weather broke and a cool wind blew. Heaven!

OK, here's the deal. I purged every corner of this house during the last few months. We had a more than successful garage sale and donated two truck loads to charity. I started packing our organized remaining belongings carefully sticking to categories and labeling each box. I have to admit I was feeling a little smug that I had this whole moving thing under control. And then as the box mountains grew and I still had "to do" lists of what needed packing for each room, burn out set in with a vengeance. I didn't seem to be able to finish any room. I stopped caring what went with what. If there was a space and it fit, it was good enough for me. I packed, sealed and labeled without care. I packed a rusty nut cracker. I will deal with it in the spring. For now, if it's loose, I'm jamming it in a box and it's moving with us!

Friday morning Lindsey called and offered to come over and lend a hand as we thought it might be a good time to begin moving some of the smaller items and boxes over to the garage. Brian also said he could help for a while. We decided we might as well start and then we could begin to organize the garage for storage. The garage is not insulated and after this very hot weather, we're thinking we might have to at least insulate the east wall as Bob said he could have fried an egg on the wall during the 90 degree weather. We're missing our trees and grass.

We accomplished a lot more than I could imagine in a short amount of time. I had to quit for a hair appointment (a necessity) and had to fight staying awake in the chair. When I got home, we had just enough time to assess what else could be done, make a list and start again with a new crew of volunteers. Kathy and the boys showed up with piles of energy and surprising strength. Jack, Luke and Logan are truly teenagers now.

 

Mike gave Bob pallets to use which he put along the far garage wall. He then put sheets of plywood on top of that so we could set boxes up off the cement floor. With all of the help, organizing went pretty quickly. Again, I had no idea we would accomplish so much in one day. Everything we get done is less we have to pay to have the moving company do.

Barney wore out before the rest of us, but by the end (we had been at it since before 7:00 AM) I think our age may have started to catch up with us as putting words together was becoming hard. Our crew left and we went home and crashed, mouths open, snoring! But, after a solid nap and some dinner, we actually went room to room, assessed what still needed to be done and made one more trip to the garage with a small load.

Today we get our travel trailer to clean and set up. Anything left in the house will be packed. Large items will be moved Tuesday by Two Men and a Truck. Meanwhile, I know this has been said before, but, we have too much stuff!

 We are most thankful for this lovely weather and good work crews.