MISC.

This is a view of the overflow pipe in the pond. It is about 2.5 feet under water. Here is the outlet of the overflow pipe. This winter it froze. Todd took the elbow piece off so the level wouldn't get too high if it froze up again. He replaced it in March and had to cut a foot off so the pond level would not get too high. Our beach is kind of mushy because of the water level. We will probably add some of our excess sand to it some time.

Shots of the house:

Retaining walls on the main level are almost done. And my clothes line is up, now if it would just warm up so I could use it!

G and her first critter. We plan on expanding with goats in a few weeks.

N's tea party in the pines

Pie and Bread Bowls

These are from a while back. The pie is J's she has gotten quite good at pies in general.

This shot shows the tile in the kitchen well.

One day during school some one read about creamy cheese soup. I couldn't get the thought out of my mind. I had wanted to bake bread that day so I got carried away with the whole thing and put together a dinner fit for a restaurant.

It was more than worth all of the work. YUMMY!

My living room Shelves!!!

Well....it will be someday! Daddy...help me please. (It is so much cuter coming from a 2 year old) This wood came from trees we had to cut down to have the pond dug. It is mostly white oak and some maple. We had a local man rough cut, kiln dry and plane it for us.

For perspective I wear a 10.5 wide shoe. This is one of the wider baords. They vary because they were cut form the outside of the tree in.

This piece was on top. It looks like the alien from the movie Alien. I love to see the diferent grain marks and make us stories how they were made.

The place that looks like a cut mark is actually smooth so the color variation is in the wood.

My office and sewing projects

J wondered if I was really going to share pictures of my messy office. I reminded her that it isn't too messy for her to try to take over and that some of the mess is hers. It really just id a busy place as this is where two of my favorite machines live--my sewing machine and my laptop.There really is only room for one person to work at a time. I can sit in the old rolling desk chair my mom and I got at an auction and reach my desk that was my grandfather's work desk, my sewing machine cabinet that use to be my grandmother's and my table which my grandparents at breakfast at every morning for years and years. All of which I refinished at some time (after college or in my first year of marriage) they all have the same stain and finish except my desk hutch because my dad made it and somehow the stain color got miscommunicated.This is the only room (other than the great room and kitchen) in the house with more than one window. I squeezed in as many windows as possible for lot of light. Unfortunately I sew after dark most of the time--when else do I get quiet uninterrupted time?--and I need at least one more work light. It could be organized better, but I have wanted a room with these pieces of furniture for a long time and I got it before all my children left home--earlier than I though I would. So it works. When we get another sewer in the family we may need to spread out or give them their own work space and machine(s).Remember clutter is a sign of a great mind. Or maybe just a busy mind.This is the last of the bedroom curtains. I didn't get a good picture of the curtains because of the sunlight. I trimmed our bedroom and bathroom curtains with ribbon. I have more ribbon and plan to use it as accents throughout the room like on my bath "toys" basket.This is what our island was made for.
This is my second attempt at a Romantic blouse from Sense and Sensibility Patterns. I was not happy with the first one, but love how this one turned out. I have a jumper that goes with it,but don't have pictures yet.

This is T's favorite place, or on top of the island. She is there anytime J or I are working in the kitchen.

Unfortunately while I sew I put my friend whom I have a love hate relationship with in charge of entertaining the children. D and M get sucked in immediately and stay. G and N went to play with the cats and J and T were "helping" me.

Actually this was a sick day when 5 children were recovering from strep all the same week.

progress

no pictures--I should take one of the empty boxes--sorry.

The children and I cleaned out almost everything from the living area of the barn and put it in the wash, away or in the trash can (my favorite).

Todd brought over the next set of boxes last night. I figure if I unpack and organize one van load a week the barn will only have things that stay in the barn by new years OK maybe Valentine's Day. Todd also got the school closet and linen closet shelves up for me. So the school things I have found (I expect a surprise sometime) are organized and "away" I even got some baskets of special "school" things organized for M and T--after years of planning to do this I finally did it.

Tonight I went through boxes of pictures and some nick knacks. one box had obviously been a home to a mouse family and had been dripped on so I had to unwrap everything. Of the 5 boxes I unpacked I repacked only one and was able to pitch some things. I still have one box to unpack and sort. It is mostly old family things and I wan tall the children to see what is there and maybe learn some family history. That is a school subject, right?

Tomorrow we have our first purely social guests since we have been in the house. Saturday we have more. I know they will be understanding, but it is motivation to get more put away and clean.

B

We're in

And sort of settled. These are the happy pictures. The sad pictures which I won't take are of what is left in the barn. It looks like we took off in a hurry and left a bunch of stuff.Believe it or not this is a great improvement. Have you ever seen what moved in looks like to an 8 and 10 year old? It is scary.

It's not pretty (yet) but it functions--no more laundry mat! I will have shelves over the washer and dryer. There is a sink behind the door and a laundry chute that empties on to the washer.

Happy Birthday Todd! His present...a living room without boxes.



The final comfort added today--I got the DVD player, VCR and TV hooked up. We can get 4 TV stations, not PBS ;o(, with our bunny ears well at least until February.

Moving day

Moving day arrived and everyone was so excited that we all got up bright and early...some brighter than others.

T's last trip into the house for breakfast.

Todd made breakfast,

Todd's specialty, blueberry pancakes

then the helpers arrived. I was told I could spend the day telling guys where to go...oooohhh it was going to be fun. Well it got overwhelming fast because of how fast they brought the boxes. Thank you to Rod, Tim, Larry, Sarah, and the Chrysler Family

By lunch half the barn's contents made it through my doors. By bedtime enough stuff was in the house that we could go to bed in warm cozy comfort on clean sheets.

Basement in the afternoon

Dad was in charge of getting closets ready so we didn't tax his back too much as last time he was here.

Thanks for everything Dad.