Here we go!

We're gearing up. We've got a 14 foot U-Haul truck reserved. We'll pick up the truck at 8 am Saturday morning and begin moving furniture and appliances. We still need to get the toilet reinstalled in the upstairs bath but we've been waiting for the adhesive to dry on the tile so I can apply the grout. It's been so humid in the house that it seems like it took forever. But I checked before we left tonight and it will be all set tomorrow morning. But that still means no toilet until Saturday to give it 24 hours to cure.

The air conditioning was reconnected this morning and has been working to dry things out- but it's been so cool here that it hardly ran today. I also ordered my new dryer (we're leaving our venerable gas monstrosity here- but I'm taking my new washer) and it will be delivered on Tuesday morning. So no laundry after tomorrow.

After Friday night we will be without internet access until at least Monday- and no cable TV either (what will the boys do?- oh yeah, work!). If I have time and energy, I'll try to take some pictures of the ordeal. At least the weather is supposed to be nice- so far they're predicting low 80's and partly cloudy. I can live with that- as long as it isn't pouring rain.

Think happy weather thoughts.....

The big push

Ok. I'm off for the rest of the week and we're talking getting the cable/internet access hooked up, the air conditioning will be on tomorrow and we're hoping to rent the moving truck this weekend. Internet time may be limited. 'See' y'all soon.

Judy

Independence Days- take 2: week 10

It's been another busy week here. Things are starting to come together both for house and garden. The end isn't in sight yet but we're starting to see a glimmer of light. I'm ready to start dry fitting the tile in the bathroom tomorrow evening so hopefully Wednesday I can actually put it down officially. But on to my usual Monday business- The Independence Days challenge.

1. Plant something- Nope. I really need to figure out where my herb garden is going to go so I can get things planted so they have a chance to get established before winter. Maybe in my spare time....

2. Harvest something-

Beets!!!

Broccoli, chard, beets, a hot wax pepper, raspberries and yes, the first tomato!!! It was a tiny Cherry Roma- no bigger than the tip of my little finger and it was red, ripe and delicious. Sorry, no photos, it didn't last long enough.

3. Preserve something- made Summer Fruit Massacre jam. I've got lots of beets coming soon so I need to find my recipe for pickled beets and see if I can find the time to can up a few.

4. Reduce waste- the usual- recycled, composted, used cloth bags. We're reusing the old shower curtain that was in the basement as a tarp for keeping things dry in the barn since we're resorting to using the barn for storage since we don't have the basement finished. We have continued to repurpose as much as we can out at the house- even if it means more work than buying it new.

5. Prep and storage- Stocked up on sugar since there was a good sale and I needed more than I had for making jam. Otherwise, still holding off on putting much food out at the house until we actually move due to the potential pest problems we have out there. I'm still counting all the work we're doing on the farmstead as prep work since it is the ultimate prep.

6. Build community food systems- Have been trying to get back to eating more locally but it's been tough as busy as we have been.

7. Eat the food- Still eating a lot from the freezer although we've been slipping with 'convenience' foods when things get crazy around here. We've been eating at all kinds of odd hours, anything from 5:30 to 9:00 pm for dinner. Our schedule has been dictated by what we're doing out at the house- the kids have finally adjusted to the chaos and we rarely get the 'are we going to eat soon?' plaintive questions anymore.

I'm hoping to get a few days off work this week to get some more done. We're hoping to move some furniture in the next few days and the air conditioning guys are coming on Thursday morning to reconnect the exchanger so we'll be cool and dry. It hasn't been too hot but it's incredibly humid in the house which makes it uncomfortable to work.

It will be another busy week here. Wish us luck.

Progress- a long weekend in pictures

Whew! What a weekend. I have been a bit frustrated since it seems that we haven't been able to get out to work until lunchtime all the four days I've been off. Of course, there have been good reasons. But much progress has been made. Thursday morning J15 and I moved almost the entire contents of my closet to the new house while V worked at home- he had a big deadline for his paying job. But in the afternoon we got the drainage system finished for the house. And just in time- Friday night into Saturday morning we had 8/10 inch of rain and....the basement was dry!!!! Hoorah! It appears to have worked. Friday, the boys hauled composted horse manure from the barn/yard to put on top of the plastic rain barrier next to the house. Now I just need to plant some pretty annuals for landscaping and we're all set.

I didn't have much time to work in the garden but at least we got rain so I didn't have to haul water.

We got another head of broccoli- YUM!!!

The basement- will it ever be ready to move in???

V works on the last of the heating/air ducts.

The basement is a mess, without any walls as yet. But it is dry. and much of it has the insulation up and V finished the duct work today. We did get the concrete slab poured and the air conditioner unit is moved back into position. We just need to have someone come and reconnect it and recharge the system and we're all set. The ducts are all reconnected and the system works. We had the fan running this afternoon to circulate the air.

While V worked on the duct work. J15 and I worked on the upstairs bath. The drywall is all up, the cabinet is set in place and the tile backer subfloor is all ready to go.

It doesn't look like much but it represents several days of hard work!

We will tile get the toilet and sink base in place next, then tile the floor, and finally, tape and mud the walls. It still seems like a lot to do but we're making good progress.

The tile is all ready to go!

We're feeling the crunch now. We are required by terms of our mortgage to move by the 21st, so we're in the final push now. We're probably not going to have the basement finished, maybe not even J15's room done. But she will be gone for a week in New Orleans from the 20th to the 27th so maybe we can finish her room then.

I"m going to see how much time off I can talk my co-workers into this week. We NEED to get this done!!!!!

I hope you all had a fabulous long holiday weekend.

Drywall and massacres

It's been a busy day here. I was up early cooking and baking. It's my turn to provide bread for the Sunday service at church this week so I baked some bread this morning. I also created a summer fruit massacre that I'll be featuring in a bit.

But in better news. We worked at the house all afternoon (V had work to do this morning and I was in the kitchen). J15 and I got half the bathroom drywalled!!! Tomorrow we will finish the drywall and hopefully have time to put down the tile backer board so Sunday we can put down the ceramic tile. Maybe by the end of the weekend we can have a functional bathroom upstairs.

Drywall in the bathroom!!

We're still working on getting all the animals to play nicely together. It's amazing, Ticket is doing better with Mandy, the kitten, than with Spaz, who has supposedly lived with dogs before. Mandy is much more willing to let the dog sniff and lick her. At least Spaz is big enough to fend for himself.

Ticket is still getting to know Mandy.

I did make jam this morning. I didn't have enough of any one thing so we have a melange of fruits. Black raspberry, blueberry and peach. J15 nicknamed it "summer fruit massacre" and it stuck. It's REALLY good.

Summer fruit massacre!

Tomorrow is another busy day. We're planning to take some time tomorrow to celebrate the holiday and just enjoy being out at the house. J15 has another date with her new beau to see the fireworks. I don't know- 3 dates in two weeks. It must be serious. The scary thing is- he has his license and drives!!! EEEK.

Help?

I'm posting today over at Homemakers Who Work on the difficulties of asking for help. I suffer badly from the 'do it myself' syndrome but I'm working on it.

Independence Days- take 2: week 9

What a busy week it has been. I've been weeding like a fiend for the past two days (well, only in the evening today) The garden is starting to look a little better. I've discovered the drawback of the wonderful, loamy soil that I've got. It dries out quickly. It seems like only last week that I was lamenting that we were having so much rain. Tonight I was hauling water to drooping pepper plants. Of course, the hose is back at the town house since we are using it to pressure wash the garage. sigh

But on to the business at hand. It's Monday again, time for my weekly check in with the Independence Days Challenge. I'm still finding this challenge quite helpful for me in organizing all those things that I'm doing. Even though I know we're accomplishing a lot, sometimes it seems like I'm just spinning my wheels and not getting anywhere. At least this helps me see what I've gotten accomplished toward our goals.

1. Plant something- nope.

2. Harvest something- Behold!!!

Chard, and two firsts: broccoli and a hot wax pepper.

Ok, I know it's not normal to harvest the first broccoli and the first pepper on the same evening. But I'm really excited about the broccoli. I've never grown it before and with all the craziness of moving it got planted out really late and looked pitiful for the longest time. I was actually surprised to find a head of eating size and a bunch of little ones coming along when I was weeding. The pepper- I just couldn't resist.

I also harvested some raspberries and saved some chive seeds.

3. Preserve something- again, only my sanity. Working 6 days straight last week and then only having one day off has been draining. But I only have to work 3 days this week and then I have a 4 day weekend. I may even try to take Wednesday as a vacation day if it stays slow like it's been. I'm really glad that I have so much vacation banked that I can use. I've used a lot of it this spring.

4. Reduce waste- just the usuals: recycled, composted and used cloth bags at the store. We've been repurposing as much building material as we can out at the house with good success. I've slowed down on collecting boxes. We've still got quite a stash and I'm not sure how many more we will need.

5. Prep and storage- not much stored. House prep continues. We've been focusing on waterproofing the basement since much of my food storage space will be down there, not to mention J15's room, my sewing room and the 'play room' so getting it reasonably watertight is a priority before we can start to finish it.

I'm also counting the cats as 'prep and storage' material. They will be figuring prominently in our mouse control plan. I'm actually glad now that we got them before we moved. They and the dog have been getting acquainted slowly but we've been having to keep them isolated from him when we're not available to 'supervise'. This means that J15 has their litter box in her room, which is NOT where she wants it on a permanent basis. So, hopefully they can work things out before we move so we can have the litter box in the downstairs bathroom as we had planned and have the dog leave them in peace as they move about.

6. Build community food systems- hmm, not so much, I've been rather self centered lately and not focusing so much on my community. I'm hoping to make up time later.

7. Eat the food- Still working on eating down the freezer in prep for moving. I had raspberries on my cereal this morning. YUM! We're going to have to incorporate broccoli into the menu tomorrow! And I'm seeing an omelet for breakfast with sauteed hot pepper and onion. I don't normally go in for that big of a breakfast during the week but it sounds sooo good.

I'll try to post more regularly this week but I make no promises. The fabulous weather is supposed to hold through the weekend. Highs in the low 80s, low humidity and clear skies. Sounds like great weather to finish a bathroom.