My desk closet, then and now

 When we found our new house, and saw it for the first time, we saw this big space in the wall of the living room.  It had been the "big screen TV" spot when the house was built in 1996.  Remember when big screen TV's were so huge and thick they had to be placed in spaces like this?

The stagers had put the shelves, and plants to make it look nicer, and had hung a flat screen TV on the wall (which looked ridiculous).

We wondered what to do with the space. We thought about making it into a closet, but then realized it would make a great office for me.

We had a counter top added, and put rolling filing cabinets, and doors on it. I can do my paperwork and computer work right in the living room, but I can shut the doors and it basically looks like a flat wall.  It is one of my favorite things about this house.

Got Water?

Since we have a well, we decided to install this rainwater collection system.  This cistern holds 1500 gallons, and we should be able to water our garden with it all summer.  We put chicken wire all over it and planted jasmine bushes around it, and they should grow up and cover it within a couple of years so it won't be so ugly.

Welcome, new baby Hailey!

Seth and Janette's 2nd daughter, Hailey Elizabeth, was born yesterday.  We are so happy for them!

We have had a broken wireless router for more than a week, so either Wayne or I have to plug our computers straight into the modem to get them to work.  Therefore, only one of us can be on the computer at a time.  This puts a definite cramp in my style.  Sorry I haven't blogged more, I was actually trying to get back in the habit of putting stuff up more often.

Friday afternoon and evening we had a short lived ice/sleet storm here.  The roads were quite impassable so we just stayed home.  This morning I was supposed to teach quilting in Chapel Hill, and since it was icy in the morning, instead of cancelling, the shop just made the class start later, so we were still able to have the class.  Our long gravel driveway and our gravel road were icy, so Wayne was so nice to get on the tractor and scrape a bunch of the ice away so I could have traction.  Then he drove me to the end of the road, and then he walked home.  (He is my hero!)  I drove to the shop, Thimble Pleasures,  at 11:00 a.m. and there were just a few scary icy spots, and then everything melted by evening when I came home.

Meanwhile, back at the Farm

When we moved to our new house, I immediately decided to take these pictures and send them out with our Christmas cards.

 (If you want to google "American Gothic painting" you can see if we copied them well or not.)

Isaac's tree swing

Rachel said that all Isaac wanted for his birthday was to make a rope swing in one of our trees.  He chose one down by the pond, and worked on it a couple of different days, and got it finished on his birthday.

 Thomas, Rachel, and Hannah watching Isaac climb the tree.

 Isaac, getting ready to swing off of the tree.

 Exciting!

Boy Scouts everywhere

This has been a very happy day. Wayne has two scout troops over here for an overnight scout campout.  There were boys and their dads everywhere!  Some putting up tents, some jumping on the trampoline, some gathering firewood and stacking it, some riding in the trailer in back of the tractor going to pick up the firewood, some cooking dutch oven meals, and for an hour or so, all of them were having a AirSoft battle in our woods.  (Look at the picture to see how much wood they cut all in one day!)

I didn't see anyone down by the pond, or swinging on the rope swing in the tree, but they will probably discover those things tomorrow.

Wayne is in heaven!  He has always wanted to be like the Stephens, and have land where the scouts could camp out.  I am so glad he finally got what he always wanted.

These are only a few of the people who are here, most are not in the picture.

This photo was taken from my sewing room window.

Sign

This is what you see when you drive up our driveway.

My head is exploding

The roofers have been on my roof ALL DAY THURSDAY, ALL DAY FRIDAY, ALL DAY TODAY.

BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, HAMMER, HAMMER, HAMMER, SCRAPE, BANG, BANG, BANG, HAMMER, HAMMER, SCRAPE, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, HAMMER, HAMMER, HAMMER, SCRAPE, BANG, BANG, BANG, HAMMER, HAMMER, SCRAPE, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, HAMMER, HAMMER, HAMMER, SCRAPE, BANG, BANG, BANG, HAMMER, HAMMER, SCRAPE.



And the builders have been finishing my bookshelves and the painter has been painting my pantry shelves.  I totally feel like Shelley Long or Tom Hanks in "The Money Pit", I walk through my house  every day, saying hello to all the workmen either inside it or looking in through the windows.

When will it ever end?

Wayne's new baby, John Deere

It has a front loader, a mower, and a tiller.  We have to buy a blade to scrape the rocks in the driveway.
I don't think all those implements are supposed to be on there at the same time, but thats the way he bought it.

Checklist

Done

Start sleeping at new house.
Start cooking at new house.
Get well repaired at new house.
Get old house painted.
Get old house recarpeted.
Handyman repair things at old house.






To Do

Get new roof at new house.
Buy a tractor.
Get DSL at new house so we can move the computers.
Move my deskwork and paperwork to new house.
Get shelves built in new pantry.
Put all food away in new pantry.
Sell old house.
Start blogging regularly again.

Sewing Room Floor

My grandson, Anson, sitting on my new sewing room floor.

I have always hated having carpet in my sewing room.  And this time, I got the exact flooring I wanted:  vinyl with exactly 12" squares.  It makes your eyes crazy when you look at the room, but I have heard from other quilters that with this floor, you can square up quilts and even measure fabric.  How cool is that?

View from my front porch

I have always loved white fences.  This view is absolutely beautiful!

Our New Home

Here is our dream home, which has acreage and a barn for animals.  There is plenty of room for a big garden.  It has a well, and storage space for our food storage.

A series of miracles happened for us to get this property, and we are thankful beyond our wildest dreams.

We are staying in our same ward, but will live all the way on the other side of the ward.

Now you know why I haven't been blogging much lately, I have been busy moving.  (Actually, we aren't living there yet, we are waiting to do a couple of remodeling projects inside.  We might be moving in as late as Oct. 8.)