Week of 4 7 2014: It's a homestead life for me!

Try to keep this short and readable in a reasonable time frame ... but we got a lot happening around the new homesite/homestead.

We got our roofing materials delivered! And a brand new leaky roof. If you've been following my little journal blog, you'll remember we had a horrible leak in the ceiling from a bad patch job. We were hoping for at least a year to get some things done and money saved, but no go. The roof asserted its insolvency. So, there went the 'fix-it-up' nest egg. However, I have to say that as a new homeowner I am very happy to have a good roof overhead. Whatever else happens -- if you're just starting out or have your own fixer-upper, get the roof inspected and repair or replace as recommended. Best peace of mind you'll ever have. I know were sleeping better (LOL)

Note the really bad patch job on the front over the door: that was the problem. But the roofers delivered the materials, the crew got out here at the crack of dawn, and before long viola! a beautiful leak-free roof with a 50 year guarantee. (Granted, it won't outlast the pyramids ... but it will outlast me maybe)


Hubby and I FINALLY won the battle between Kilz and the Red Ceiling and now have a beautiful white ceiling. We've gotten the Egyptian Tan to cover the peach and are in the process of the second coat of Cypress Green to cover the trim. I used a beautiful terra-cotta for an accent piece,  but after getting the tan and green up, I think I'm covering it with a semi-gloss white. Still not sure of the curtain material and we have heavy dark furniture, so a little extra white might add some balance. Nothing ventured nothing gained: glad I tried the terra cotta; and it looks okay, but I know my hubby hates it and to be honest I would have to warm up to it myself. Maybe in another room.

We did take time out for a nice country road trip across the state (Elbert County to Cherokee County: 2+ hours) to listen to the indoor percussion ensemble my son is in. MAN they were LOUD! But it was a really cool show and if you want to see what an indoor percussion ensemble looks and sounds like, go to YouTube and search for Atlanta Quest Meet Quest 2014 Villain. They're in Dayton, Ohio as I type and kicking butt in the prelims. Tonight is the grand finals and I hope they do well.

Back on the homefront, we've gotten our chandelier up and illuminating the front room, paint is almost finished in one room and we will move on to the next important room: our son's bedroom. Graduation is almost here and he will need a place to crash. His room shouldn't be the nightmare ours was: no crazy colors to try to eradiate.

In the meantime: I am finally picking up my knitting needles and working on a beautiful scarf. My knitting guru -- Zibeline Knits -- told me one time when I was feeling really down and discouraged to find a difficult pattern and pour my energy into it instead of moping around. It worked. So, while I'm DEFINITELY not moping around these days -- I do find that I need something to distract me from the aches, pains, and stress of redecorating a beautiful but neglected house. So I'm working on a lace pattern scarf with lace weight yarn and teeny tiny needles. And I know you can't tell from the photo, but those are little sun faces for my markers. The yarn is also a Zibeline product (as are the markers) and what a great season-spanning color! This is my zen time.

Last news from the homestead: I got a job at my old university and my son was accepted into the same university the week before. I have some time to finish prepping the painting before the job starts, and son will be graduating soon and will be here this summer to help with the finishing touches. I will be a homesteading 'weekend warrior' for a while, but this is a means to the end: ultimately, its a farm life for me!



All in a (last) week's work (or how my house is trying to kill me)



Okay, so you know about the leaky roof and the rain falling inside on my hardwood floors. Thankfully the good people at the local Big Box Hardware have TEAMS of people that can repair and replace a roof. So we called in a local rep who, on his first day managing the Athens store, has to drive 1 ½ hours to our place to do an estimate. This is a city guy. I mean BIG CITY guy. He thought he was in "cattle country" out here. Hate to tell him he ain't even close. 

So my hubba hubby is outside when he arrives and chatting away as the guy takes photos. I exited the house to introduce myself, step on a piece of slate paving stone my hubby has discovered, and promptly fall over on my butt and roll down the hill a bit before my car assisted in stopping my momentum. So yes, welcome to the country – and I have no physical coordination. Impressive.

Despite this, I'm going to have a beautiful brand new roof on my house at a good price and the bad wood will be replaced and we will have no more leaks. Yep, this takes the major chunk of our cash, but it will be worth it to have a good "hat" overhead cause the weather is taking a turn for the crazy again.

We've had some seasonable temperatures over the last week or so. I have friends planting berries, others out hiking, and the State Parks (especially Elijah Clark) have been flooded with visitors and fishing boats. Its been NICE. Today, the weather took a dip: this morning it was just over 34°F and barely squeaked out above 55°F by mid afternoon. And, NO LIE, the weather is going to go down to the 20's tonight. 

  Hubby and I worked on drywall and trim in the morning and headed out to improve the well house

Old: Uninsulated and Open

during the warmest part of the afternoon. Scrounged a nice big board from the pile of building materials left behind and set out to close up all the open areas. You can see how it looked before from the photos, but maybe not how poorly insulated it was. The new photos definitely show how much better enclosed it is now. We also added some of the hardboard insulation to the inside walls, wrapped the pipes in insulated cover, and set a utility light out with a bulb to generate a little heat. This baby is sealed! 


New: Closed and Insulated

But all was not well with fixing the well house – no, all was not well at all. 

 We kept misplacing things, losing nails in the grass, I sent an ant farm into rebellious protest against my work boots, hubby had difficulty with the saw, kept forgetting gloves and glasses, and our efforts to hammer indicate an area where more attention and practice would be helpful. Hubby was getting so frustrated I decided to help with his major pet peeve: organization of tools. I carefully found all the tools lying around and set them on the roof of the well house within easy access: duct tape, hammer, bucket o' nails, pencil, and a sturdy piece of wood about 2" thick and 2" wide and 3' long. Some of the old insulation was blowing about and I didn't want the birds getting it, so I set out to pick up the trash. 

Did I mention that it was also very windy today with this cold front moving into our area?

No sooner had I started back to the trash bag with my handful of icky old insulation than a BIG gust of wind blew that board right into my face. Literally hit in the face with a board! Fortunately, the board was so light that – despite its velocity – I don't appear to have gotten hurt very badly. No blood, no broken teeth, just a sore little nose and yet another case of "it could only happen to me."

So the upcoming blog will be filled with wonderful changes: the new roof should be in place, we are eradicating the hideous red ceiling (under 3 coats of KILZ), and the Laundry/Half-bath is turning from its aqua blue mess into more natural tones of brown and green.  Photos will follow.

Stick with me and keep checking weekly: blogs will hopefully become more regular as we move our house into the 21st century with internet and everything!






　

Water and Drywall and Rain … oh my!

Water is a wonderful thing. HOT water is even better.

I have a hot water heater now, along with two water hydrants near my cross-fenced fields, and a fully functioning water pump.

Funny how something so simple can be so satisfying

I took a local Big Box Store clinic on repairing drywall recently and am now in the process of making a huge mess in my hallway covering up the huge holes and dings left by the former owner. This mess will turn into a beautiful wall … after I get the sanding finished and the paint up.

Funny how something so messy and ugly can wind up disappearing.

 Ceilings – and their corresponding poorly repaired roofs – are another subject altogether.

What we hoped would hold out a year opened it ugly maw and let the pouring rain fall down upon our already weather abused wood floors. You know, those wood floors I love so much and can't wait to refinish? Yea, a little more water damage to enhance the rustic patina.

 Wonderful hubba hubby rigged up a type of water diversion shed in the attic, using some old gardening plastic to guide the water out the roof vent. The leak quit; pretty cool idea if I do say so myself – even if I did have to sacrifice some hoop house material. Just in case, we left a bucket under the hole. When we returned the next day, no more water had collected (Yea!) Of course, this even became a game changer for us. Because of this, we're having to reprioritize our repair and renovate list – we obviously don't have the year we hoped for to put on a new roof. So now we're in the midst of pricing Big Box roofing rep and figuring out how to pay for this as well as the other necessary renovations to bring the house to the point where we can move in the furniture and start on the property planning.

Trying to do this and stay debt free is the real trick because, well, we might not be able to manage it without borrowing a few dollars. Did you know that if you have no debt, and have carried no debt for about, oh, say nine years now that your credit rating is a ZERO? This is despite evidence of previous credit extended and promptly paid. And then to find out that you are an “unusual situation” because you saved your money and paid for your house instead of getting a mortgage. (Also weird is that the word 'mortgage' is derived from the french word 'morte' which means 'death' or 'to die'. So seriously, WHO would want something that basically says its going to kill you?! But I digress) So, we'll see what we can do to improve our financial situation a bit or take care of the roof and put off the floors, install the insulation ourselves, and keep our spending to the essentials.

Our saving grace is that our expenses are very low, we have more than a few months of food put back, and growing season is about to be in full bloom. We have so much land to explore that we will be spending a lot of time outdoors getting to know our property and hiking, hiking, hiking (something this little round pumpkin butt needs!) I walk out my front door and I'm on a vacation adventure. There's a part of me that knows the easiest thing to do would be to get a job, but I think higher authorities have my job already in front of me: set up the house – get the garden started – begin THIS adventure – do THIS job first.

I keep applying for intersting jobs and I'm still holding out hope for the one's I've applied to call. Until then: the weather is turning towards Spring and will soon have us Southerners complaining about the heat and humidity of Summer (instead of the freakishly cold and/or rainy weather we've experienced since LAST Spring). As for the house, our initial efforts have begun slower than we thought – I don't know, I guess we thought we'd have the painting finished by now and be working on furniture arrangemenents. Of course, we have only owned the house SIX days. Maybe we're being a tad over-ambitious? We've been working towards this day for the last few years … we're definitely anxious to get this homestead in motion.

Regardless of the unexpected events, a sudden deficit in patience, and dwindling funds, we're both happy with this decision. These initial bumps in the road will be the events that help us plan and organize the development of our homestead. I am happy we bought the house and look forward to the day we look around at our homestead, I gaze lovingly in my hubby's eyes and say “Hey, think we could move the goat barn to the other side of the field?”

What my Realtor has put together, let no man put asunder.

Well, no “man” … but how about the closing attorney's?

So we got this great house at a great price and the closing was supposed to be the end of the month but it got moved up to the middle of this week (3/12/14 as a matter of fact) and EVERYTHING has been smooth sailing.

We've heard the horror stories about purchasing foreclosures. Heard tales of home inspectors who didn't know how to turn the water on a toilet and declared it “broken.” Friends have had deals ready to close only to have them snatched out from under them hours before closing. Others have looked for over a year to find something in a price range they could afford – only to have the lenders INSIST on a 30 year mortgage. Oh we have heard the stories and we were armed with info and anxiety.

But everything was cool; eerie cool. First, our home inspector spent four and a half hours with us (4.5 hours!) teaching us about our house, what was good, what could be problematic but fixable, and what to prioritize. Turns out, for a 50 year old house, its level (he checked every floor), the foundation and crawlspace just need the vapor barrier repaired; a few minor electrical and superficial (read: esthetic) fixes and we had a steal of a house. And no lead in the paint anywhere! Too cool!

This didn't take us long to find. Maybe about 2 months of looking and calling a real estate agent who met us all over Northeast Georgia and was very instructional and helpful in his guidance of what we could expect from each property. When this one came up, we all knew it was the one. The house is sited perfectly on the South East line and we have road access from the front and back of the property. I'm thinking Batgirl cave on the back 5 acres.

When our realtor took our offer to Freddie Mac, we were told there was another offer on the table. We stood firm and – they took our offer. Easy Peasy. And it took days, not months. We could afford to buy the house in cash – and NO ONE insisted on a loan or 30 year mortgage. Got the paperwork in order, homeowners insurance, home warranty (which Freddie is graciously paying for a year), and our real estate guy got a nice commission. He deserved it – we made him go everywhere -lol!

Then came closing week. And everything was going fine. But our realtor is on vacation deep-sea fishing and golfing in Florida. But everything is going to be fine. He says.

Its 2 days before closing and I get a call from the realtor (who has caught the biggest grouper and a mighty big shark) and he tells us we will need to have a cashiers check for the money at closing. No problem – we have a great bank and money in the account. We're waiting on final paperwork, should be there tomorrow.

1 day before closing. I call the selling agent office to confirm the closing time because we haven't received this mysterious paperwork. That's odd, she says, and proceeds to contact the closing attorneys. She calls back – we should have it by 2. They have forwarded me the paperwork – but no attachments ...and its 3:45. I call the selling agent back. We need to wire transfer the money

WHAT?! We've already gotten the cashiers check drawn and written out to the lawyers!

Calls go back and forth. Seller says wire transfer, our realtor says cashiers check, lawyers say: let us check on this. Nope: wire transfer. It's 4:35. Wire transfers from our bank end at 3 pm

We're at the bank – its not our usual branch. I can't talk to our realtor anymore … I'm too angry. I have a difficult time not yelling at the poor receptionist at the lawyers office (its not her fault, I know). No one can pick up their phones anymore – what the heck is up with that?! Time is moving incredibly fast and info is being delivered incredibly slow.

We're not sure we can get the money back into our account from the cashiers check – only corporate can decide that. No one is answering in that department either.

Our realtor guy calls back. I give the phone to my hubby: you talk to him, I'm too ticked.

Bank lady is gracious, tenacious, and empathetic of our plight. She's working like crazy and offering me words of encouragement.

Its 5:00 pm. The banks doors need to be locked. FINALLY someone answers and she rushes to the tellers: “No one close out until we get their money back in their account!” Its something out of a great rom-com movie where the least seen character is the one who saves the day.

Its 10:00 pm. We're showered, in bed, and ready for the closing tomorrow. Tomorrow we will own our ten little acres and a house. The wire transfer is set up to go tomorrow at 9:00; closing is at 11:00.

I should mention that the closing office is 2.5 HOURS from the house; a bit over 110 miles away. No cigarettes, but we will be wearing shades. A bit opposite of the Blues Brothers, but it feels like a mission from God just the same.

There is rest for the weary.

What happens to a dream (or a blog) deferred?

Well, the great Langston Hughes had something to say about this and – granted – his work is far grander and far reaching than my version. Thoreau said: Build your castles in the air, just make sure you put a strong foundation under them, for that is where dreams become reality (I paraphrase here). But both these philosophies have been my comfort over the last few months of absence.

I sulked away from my blog with all the self-pity, discouragement, disappointment, and sense of failure my personal vessel could bear. I have spent the last few months on an emotional roller coaster and have apologized profusely to my dear hubba hubby and my wonderfully stalwart dearest friends. I have cried, calculated, and cried some more. I gave up on our dream and retreated into our little grey room.

And then the dream deferred exploded like a phoenix rising from the depths of despair to become reborn into an absolute miracle. My castle in the air landed on a crawlspace on a nice little plot of land surrounded by trees, creeks, a river, and dotted with other homesteads waiting patiently for spring's glory.

We found a house. Not just any house but a darling little 1964 house with REAL hardwood floors, a big country kitchen with REAL WOOD CABINETS (no pressboard for this lady thank you very much - lol), bricks already in place waiting for a wood burning stove, and just enough room for the semi-empty nesters we will soon become.

Did I mention it was also on 10 acres? And that we got it at half the market value?

How about learning that the septic tank and the well were only 7 years old?

And that I already have quite a bit of fencing up.

Okay, so the interior needs some work as the pictures will attest, but I can see the end result in my mind's eye already. I am so excited about the work we'll be able to accomplish on our own, grateful for the remaining nest egg that will pay for the things we cannot do.

But the very best part: We paid the house off in full. That's right: no mortgage payments, no interest payments sucking us into debt, no one to be able to take this away from us.

We are home. God provides beyond what we imagine.