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!