lost in $$$$$

Does anyone else out there get totally lost in tax prep world in January?  For the first time, we are actually going to get our taxes done in early February (aka Monday Feb 1st), instead of April 15th (ish)...  What that means though is that mama has to get all our shiznit together WAY earlier than usual!  I mean it's nice to get it out of the way and all... but mortgage interest statements from home loans, savings accounts, retirement plans, 1081's from school loans, charitable giving, and W2's, medical and dental bills, sales tax from a year's worth of receipts, property taxes, rental incomes...  all in the year that we build a house... HOT DANG that's a lot of paperwork!  I am very grumpy right now trying to finish it all up tonight...  but it will be nice to get it out of the way.  Luckily for me my archaic Quicken program still manages to spit out some nice looking reports.  PHEW.  Now to just compare them to remodel bills, draw requests, and invoices paid, and I WILL BE DONE!  For this year anyway.  Until our accountant calls me from his meeting with Steve and says "what the heck is this?"  But I will just deal with that when it comes.  Good accountants are definitely WORTH IT and I am willing to shell out for them making sense of my mess.  That's my evening vent.  Happy almost Friday!

sunday sunday

Sunday morning, 830am.  Steven just left to do "truck checks" at the fire department, and Oly and I are enjoying "tote an jewwy" (aka toast and jelly).  The best part about today is that tomorrow there is NO WORK!  So instead of the usual semi-bummed feeling you can get on a Sunday afternoon knowing the weekend is almost over, we are instead excited for a whole other day to spend together.  Steve and I are hoping to go on an actual child-less dinner date tonight.  I know, crazy right?  The last time we went on a date was our anniversary back in July, and we ended up eating dinner with a ton of people we knew because we happened to go to a locals favorite for supper.  And before that it was Valentines Day... so yes this is long overdue I think.  Of course because we never go out I am having trouble picking a restaurant because they all sound SO GOOD right now.  Italian or a pub?  Always a dilemma.

I'm hoping to get some study time in today for the PE exam.  Remember that crazy 8 hour exam I took last April?  Well... I did not pass it.  I never posted about that because frankly I am embarrassed to say that I failed at anything, especially something related to school and/or job.  So... anyway I have to take it again in April.  Last time I blamed failing on living in a trailer with an infant while trying to build a house.  This time I don't have the house excuse, so hopefully I've got that going for me!  Boy I tell you though, fluid dynamics and temporary structures are not my cup of tea :)  But I digress.  You got to do what you got to do.

And right now what I've "got to do" is take a shower before Church. 
ha ha


Hoping your Sundays are relaxed and joyful!

remodel walkthrough #3 (LOTS O' PHOTOS)

So I've had this post written for a few months now, but FINALLY got the missing pictures transferred from Steve's mac to mine, so that I could insert them into the fray.  Phew.  At least I don't have to try to think my way through this post since I already wrote it!  Just insert.insert.insert. done.

Ummm, it could literally take you a while to look at all these pictures.  But they do tell a pretty great story if you follow them through. So settle in...

I present -- the DOWNSTAIRS...

We started off with a structure full of... everything.  You name it.  Tools, tractor parts, rusty nuts and bolts, irrigation parts, paint and thinner, oil, firewood, old yearbooks, old shoes, and a little apartment built at the back that hadn't been lived in in a long long time -- full of JUNK, mice, the nastiest bathroom I have ever seen, three woodstoves, couch, chair... well, you'll see.  Heck, there was a hay baler parked in the middle of what would someday be the living room!

Walk in the front door, view to the left.

 

View to the right.

 

View straight ahead.  That little door leads to the "apartment."

 

Walk through the red door to this hallway.

 

Bathroom to the left.  I went in once, and never again entered through the door.

 

Kitchen/living room? That frying pan on the stove was full of grease and dead mice.

 

Looking back towards the hallway.

We rented a 40 yard dumpster from Waste Management and went for it.  Of course, we saved what we could, but a lot the crap in that building was too far gone to even consider keeping!  Dust masks were a must for all the dust and grime and dirt.  Thanks to my mom and dad who spent the whole day with us throwing all that nasty stuff away!

This is after Steven tore out the wall to the bathroom.   Gross.  Dirty.  I just kept thinking "please don't let there be hanta virus!"

 

ACTION SHOT -- Chucking things out the windows upstairs straight into the dumpster. 

 

Ripping out the kitchen.  Underneath that kitchen linoleum, there was another layer of linoleum (the "fake brick" look, and under that we found the floor papered with old newspaper articles from the 50's.  Under the newspaper we found a concrete floor painted red.

 

Finally the dumpster is full...  Yowsas. 

Next we had to knock down the concrete walls.  Preggers.  Well I'll be honest, I only took 3 or 4 swings at the wall between the (ex)bathroom and kitchen.

 

 

We also needed to tear down this wall, and the chimney in the corner there.

 

 PHew. Dust. Concrete. Pumice stone. 

 

 

Steve also had to take out a weird concrete subfloor under the kitchen/bedroom, which had sand/gravel/rocks between it and the actual concrete floor.

 

Finally it was all (mostly) clean.

 

 

 

Looking at the southwest corner -- eeeeeew, those floors joists (ceiling) are kind of nasty, eh?  Good thing Steve spent an entire weekend doing nothing but sanding this place down, 10 hours a day.  Shoutout to brother in law Haakon who assisted for a few days!

 

Looking east towards what will be the living room.

 

Old back door and back wall.

 

Beginning to frame in the outside walls with metal studs.

Framing in the stairs and my office/craft room.

 

Also notice the new sub-floor, which leveled out the not-so-level concrete.

 

Southeast corner - windows have arrived!

 Love that big window that took the place of the tri-fold doors...  We had other ideas for maybe a huge all glass garage door right there... but it was fairly cost prohibitive, and this big window also lets in a lot of light.  That big pile of beams on the right turned into our front and back porches.

Spray-In insulation = SWEET.  1 day of work.

 

All drywalled, and ready to start the stove hearth/backing.

 

This is called "Dry Stack" with local river rock.  GORGEOUS.

 

The completed product, with painted walls and a woodstove installed!

Looking at the kitchen.

South wall, beginning the trim work.

 Nick, one of our handy volunteer electricians.  Thanks friend.

Teak floors with a french bleed.  Engineered hardwood - no that doesn't mean veneer - it is really wood, just a thin layer on top of the rest of it.  Should be better at resisting buckling.

Hand planed goodness.

 Wild Washington cherry wood in a no-reveal style cabinet.  Local craftsman Andrew made these for us - I. LOVE. THEM.  He is awesome.

Moving in appliances.  Did you know you can barter with the peeps at Lowes and Home Depot?  Well, you can.  We got most of ours really cheap because Steve found scratches and dents on the floor models and talked down the salesmen.  Sweetness.

 

And finally, a completed kitchen.  Of COURSE there are dirty dishes in the sink.

Someday I will really post pictures of the whole thing, all put together, I promise!  But for now, I hope you all enjoyed this walk through time. 

Single Ladies

I somehow stumbled across "Pomplamoose Music" singing and playing Beyonce's 'Single Ladies' and I LOVE IT.  I love the original too, but there is just something super catchy about this rendition.  Take a listen!

finally, new year here i come.

 I have been avoiding posting because I felt that in the new year, I should have some great ideas about resolutions, or what I did on my Christmas break, or something GOOD, you know?  But really I am tired and apparently I have writers block too :)  Not that I write all that much, but really, seriously, there's nothing coming to me right now people.  I should probably share a few pictures with you from our very special Christmas, and time spent with friends both before and after.  I'll get to that... once I finally download them!  Ha!

Here's a start though -- we sort of opened up our property as a Christmas tree farm of sorts this winter... so we ended up having help thinning out the doug fir and grand fir babies!  It was pretty fun actually to have so many people drive out, hike around, and drive home happy with a tree on their car.  All in all I think about 10 family friends came out -- too much fun!  Here's a few pics of when Steve and Olaf and I hiked around looking for trees.

So anyway, I got over my writers block.  PHEW! 

Well I hope you all are all off to a great start to the year already.  Mine is going swimmingly, as I enjoy my family and friends, and buckle down at work.  We really are blessed.