• Thursday, February 9, 2006 - Help! We're remodeling the kitchen!!

Our home (as seen in my avatar) was built in 1883 and is a lovely albeit a bit decrepit lady.  Since we moved in 4 years ago, we have tried to take good care of her as far as resources and know-how would allow.  The kitchen had undergone a rather bad remodel several years and while it was adequate for most things, it did not work well for us.  There were very little cabinets and and even less counter space.  This is basically the whole work/storage area.  To the left of this picture there was a built-in sort of cabinet that houses the 50 year old refrigerator and an almost useless skinny cupboard.  Behind the fridge is a closet that is actually off the downstairs bedroom that we use for a TVroom/Library. To the immediate left of the picture, was a door leading to an enclosed back porch in which my husband had built shelves all along one wall for canned good storage.  There are 4 windows out there and the door going out to the back yard.  We decided to open up that whole space and make it all kitchen!  Here you see it after much of the demolition had already occurred.  The wall is down and the big white thing to the left in the photo is our refridgerator which was sitting just inside the dining room. One of the big difficulties experienced by my husband and his brother (our destruction/construction guy) was that the cabinets had been built in place and therefore had to be ripped out in pieces.  That was quite a job!  Here they are tearing the cabinets out; you can also see some of the lovely wallpaper that was behind the upper cabinets.  There were also 8 layers of flooring to be torn out along with all the sub-flooring and floor joists.  There had been termites in the house 50+ years ago and even though the termites had been terminated  the areas of damage had never been replaced.  There was rot in the joists and some of the other supporting timbers.  All the floor came out down to dirt and rock and new floor joists were put in and then overlaid with new plywood.  Now the floor is solid and level.  What a wonder! While all of this has been going  on (it's been a month now), what have i been using for a kitchen? you ask.  Good question.  Here it is.  This is our former kitchen table set up in the living room with all the essentials of living.  The crock-pot, coffee pot and electric griddle also often occupy the top of this table and it has actually worked quite well.  The new stove is now occupying it's space (at least until the new cabinets and new flooring material need to go in) in the kitchen and the new fridge is sitting in the dining room. So after spending one week priming and painting the new kitchen space, this week i am staining, sealing and varnishing 27 new kitchen cabinets.  They were supposed to be delivered Monday a week ago and just came in this Monday afternoon.  They need to be finished and ready to be installed by next Monday.  Yikes!  What am i doing spending time on the computer when i have so much work to do?  The cabinets are about half done and i am waiting for varnish to dry at the moment.  And i haven't even mentioned moving the bathroom door from the kitchen to the dining room!  That will have to be another post. bye for now!

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• Wednesday, December 28, 2005 - Learning New Things

At this stage of my life, and i have lived for more than half a century  , i am starting a new chapter.  i have been a full-time, active-duty parent for the past 37 years and now i am finding myself out of a job.  All the while my children were growing up, i would ask myself, "Is there life after children?".   i couldn't imagine it.  i figured i would just dry up and blow away or something when i had no more children in the home.  My youngest, ds aged 20, has been at college for the past year and a half, coming home for breaks.  He has been home since just before Thanksgiving (his school has a break from Thanksgiving until after New Year's  ) and will be going back next week.  He will graduate this May and says he plans to get an apartment (and a job  ) next summer.  So here i am, wondering.  i have no desire for employment, or further education although that option does strike a chord every now and then.  Throughout all the years of raising my children i would look longingly into the future when i would have TIME to do all those things i didn't have time for then.  Well, again, here i am.  i now have TIME. What to do with it?   Ordering this new life is interesting and a bit frustrating at times.  i have lots and lots of projects either in the works or in my mind:  quilting, weaving, expanding my soap business, fixing up our old house, making things for the grandchildren, and on and on.       My goal (not resolution, i don't believe in them) for the new year is to spend the month of January finishing the unfinished projects that have been sitting around for a while.  Then to choose one project a month and work on that until it's finished, then start another one.  Hopefully, i can maintain the discipline and not have all sorts of half-done things laying about.  That's the plan, and i hope to be able to post here on my progress throughout the year.       i would love to hear from others in my situation (empty nesters, although i do not like the term) as to how you are re-adjusting to life after children.      One of my unfinished projects that i am currently working on is a pair of socks.  i had always wanted to learn how to knit socks (i knit other things already) and last month my sister-in-love taught me.  i  have one sock done and the second started.       Well, that's enough rambling for one day.   Wishing all of you a very blessed New Year's.

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• Monday, December 26, 2005 - Let me introduce myself...

i just found this blogsite through my sister who has a blog here also.  It looks like just my cup of tea!  Even though i was born and raised in a large city in the midwest, it was always my hearts desire to live on a farm.  i haven't made it to a farm yet, but we live in a very tiny town and have lived on a very small acreage just outside of a very tiny town.  Because of my love of homesteading, i have learned many skills that relate to living simply and making things for yourself.  On our little acreage, we had chickens which i just loved.  We also could buy raw milk from a local dairy (which is now out of business  ), and i would make butter and use the cream in other things.  i also have taught myself to knit and crochet; have made a quilt with much help from dd's friend, and taken a weaving class.  i bought a loom and have made some dish towels and long for more time to weave and also to quilt.  i also grind wheat and make our bread. Several years ago, i discovered soapmaking in my quest to learn all things "old-timey".  At first i made it as much like grandma used to make it as i could; since then i have studied and learned how to make a lovely bar of soap that does not eat the skin from your hands.  i actually sell some once in a while.  i have always wanted a little cow or goat to milk, but not yet.  The other area of homesteading that i am at all well-versed in is gardening.  i am hoping to learn to like it and do better at it through the helpful advice on this blogsite.  Now that i have told you all a bit about me, i look forward to learning more about all of you!

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