Spring Has Sprung!

Spring has officially arrived on the wings of red-breasted robins.
Dozens of them are all over the fields. In Ontario I was thrilled when I spotted the first, SINGLE robin of the season. Here, I almost drove off the road when my side-kick pointed out the speckled hay field!!  I guess the country has some extra space. The more the merrier! Hearing their cheery songs as I hung up the laundry this week made it seem more like play than work.

It always feels like we are headed in the right direction when the robins arrive don't you agree?

Spring means warmer temperatures.
My summer stove is settling into our kitchen! Kijiji is the best !

We still put a fire in the wood stove every morning, evening and on cloudy, damp days....but once the outside temps began to creep over zero it was getting powerful warm trying to cook meals. There are plans to make, in some distance future, a summer kitchen with a rocket stove and a clay, earthen oven. But let's not kid ourselves, it ain't happening any time soon. So Plan B it is! An electric cooker. 

They say that twenty-one days is all it takes to make or break a habit.  Guess who is leaving the stove on?  Yep! Spent most of November and December looking for knobs on the wood-stove to turn it off whenever I removed a pot or took something out of the oven. Now I just walk away with the food and don't look back! haha. Here's hoping I develop the habit of turning this one off before the electricity bill goes through the roof! Also, guess who puts the kettle on a burner and then wonders why it won't boil? Haha. Gotta get used to the "on and off" thing again!

May I introduce Bagheera. (pronounced - Bag-ear-ah)

Our first animal on the Farm. A barn-cat.

We named him after the black panther in "The Jungle Book". Hopefully he is a mighty hunter and will keep the mice and vole population down. In the mean time, he's imprisoned in "The Goat Shed" for up to 21 days (14 minimum) until he gets used to us and his new home. He is settling in just fine. We were able to "trick" him out of hiding less then 24 hrs after he arrived and he hasn't "looked back". Two of us went in to see if we could find him....a black cat in a dark shed, well there were times we wondered if he had escaped! Finally, The Youngest  (who is enjoying this thoroughly) spotted his glowing eyes behind the left-behind tractor tire. She started tossing in kitty-treats, but it didn't convince him to exit the safety of his hidey-hole. I suggested she leave while I stayed put on the stool. Out she went (which is a noisy endeavor when sliding barn doors are involved) and once he thought he was again the sole occupant.....he popped right up. Haha. You should of seen the surprise etched over his feline features!! I almost laughed aloud. What could he do? The "jig was up" his cover was blown. He decided to sit beside the tire. Then slowly, slowly he made it over to me and before you knew it he was pressing in for rubs and scratches.

Now he is taking all the loving and petting (and of course treats) that we can give him. He didn't start up the purr-machine until the second day. What a comforting sound that was! When you get a FREE cat from the SPCA because they didn't think he would ever make a house cat and they tell you it's wild and scared of humans; well, a cat that comes for loving and purrs while receiving it melts the heart of even a non-cat person like myself. We think he won't need a full twenty-one days to adjust. Most likely we'll crack open the shed door much sooner then that!

Geoff has been making headway on the bathroom!! There have been times during the last six months where the "vision" grew a little dim. For six long months the washroom was the grossest room in this building. Possibly the grossest room I had ever seen and I was living in the same house with it!! It was hard to believe when looking at the disgusting state of the shower, toilet and vanity that it could look any worse, but it did. With the walls stripped down to ancient studs and dirty insulation and a massive hole in the floor because of rotten wood, it was like we took a huge step back. But I've said before and it still rings true.... "Sometimes one must go backwards in order to move forward".  Well, I'm glad we took before pictures, cause the transformation is stunning! It doesn't even seem like the same space!

The tile floor before the vanity is installed.

Vanity - All hand-made by the one-and-only, very talented Geoffrey Harris!! 

Next thing is to replace the bathroom window, which arrived by courier yesterday. We have quite a few things on order right now, chicken starter stuff, fencing items, vitamins, birthday gifts, so it wasn't a surprise when a delivery truck pulled up our muddy driveway. But when he mentioned it was in a wooden crate? We were like.... Brooding lamp? Fence charger? Chick feeder and watering container?  Like, I know we are new at this but CRATE?  Turns out it was wooden alright, but a somewhat thin crate. 

It was the window for the bathroom. 

Time to take out the old and install the new.

Now if only this Spring weather will behave long enough......

Bagheera

Tomorrow we start our farm for real.
Our first animal is getting picked up at the local SPCA.

Yep, we are getting a barn cat.
A black, male we are going to name Bagheera.
After the black panther in Disney's movie "The Jungle Book"

The Youngest and I made the decision yesterday that we were going to use only Disney character names when naming animals on "Between Here and There Farms". 

I think the Day-Care kids will like it and find it easier to remember who's who when they are named after characters that kids already know. :)

Just thinking about having a black cat named Bagheera made me look up the SPCA's web-site and just like I had heard, they do have a Barn Cat Program. Feral cats or partly wild ones that wouldn't make a good house cat are given to those who promise to provide food, water and shelter from the elements. 

Well, we have three great out-buildings and lots and lots of mice!! So he will hopefully find this to be a place he is happy to call home.

He comes neutered and "fully loaded" with all his up-dated shots etc. for the low, low price of free!! That's something we can afford!! :)

We have already gotten the "Goat Shed" ready. (No, there are no goats in it yet, but we have to label the out-buildings with something. The Barn, The Wood Shed, and the Goat Shed (which will hopefully have goats one day) 

Although Bagheera won't know or probably appreciate what we did to prepare for his arrival we got out there and removed any garbage left by John Smith, made a cozy "nest" for him out of a box, towel and snuggled it into the fluffy pile of hay. Bared up any holes or gaps that looked like a cat might try to squeeze through and now we wait until tomorrow. The plan is to keep him barred in the shed for a few days until he realizes that these new humans equal "food" and hopefully he'll acclimatize enough to stay with us.

I have never thought of myself as a cat person, and although I know that this half-wild fellow most likely won't be the type to curl around our legs purring I am so excited about getting our first ANIMAL I can hardly stand it!! haha :)  I have complete trust in our Resident Animal Whisperer. If The Youngest can't make him tame enough for a pat now and then or a scratch under the chin, than there ain't no one who can. 

And he'll have something to hunt on his first day, The Youngest scared up a real, living mouse while cleaning out The Goat Shed. What a surprise! 

You Go Get 'Em, Bagheera!!! 

And in case you were wondering what we would have named an orange cat? 

Why, Thomas O'Malley of course!! O'Malley the alley cat. :) 

A Day in the Life of....

..... a complete home renovation.

The thing is it's not like we even gutted the place!  I guess if we weren't living in it things might go a little faster?

Somehow I don't think so.

Basically for the last six months my main thought is "There is so much to do, I don't know what to do first."  Oh well, most days we push through and accomplish something, and there have been a couple days where we ate meals, did dishes and played games.  I just dubbed them "mini-vacations". (It's been awhile since we had one of those and I don't see one on the horizon either)

Since I blog so infrequently now....I thought today would be an up-date with pictures of as-we-are-in-this-moment.  I cringe just thinking of making these public. haha. For a person who lives to find a place for everything and make sure everything gets put back in it's place, I'd say I'm doing good at hanging onto any measure of sanity!!

Here goes.....see if you can spot any differences or improvements!!

It was decided to not install the laminate kitchen floor until the new mudroom is added with a place for the washing machine. Rolling the wringer-washer back and forth to the sink would be too hard on it. I have to admit I am going to miss using it as a shelf though!!  :) 

It's wash-day as you can tell. I am also taking advantage of a "kitchen day" (that is what I call days that are too cold to be in the rest of the house) and have started to paint the signs for my day-care business.  It's going to be called "The Teal Kangaroo".

So, many of you admitted to tinges of envy because of my pretty stove. Well, she ain't pretty all the time!! The door is left open unless I am baking to allow more heat to escape. At the moment, two bags of sawdust are thawing near it. The saw-dust is used for our compost toilet. (that will be an up-and-coming-blog......holding off on that one for some reason....don't want you to know the "depths of our craziness" I guess). haha.

The seedling shelf is in from the barn. Got a little excited a little too early.  So I started some house plants instead..... until it's time to get flats of seeds going. The pails are the compost toilets waiting to "be processed" Today isn't only laundry day.....it's also "empty the potties" day. Fun! :P 

Little bits of decor in with "all the rest of the stuff" and dust. Plenty of dust!! 

See the six white and red boxes. Ceramic tiles for the bathroom. 50% off!!

Plastic up between the living and dining room while the ceiling is dry-walled. It's an attempt to contain the dust. But one is never sure it actually makes a difference. :)

This is a thing of beauty. An almost complete ceiling in the dining room. My man's the GUY!! 

The tool table gets tidied once in awhile. But it's not usually evident to the "naked eye".

The living room felt like home....for a bit. Now with all the dining room furniture crammed in and my growing collection of day-care toys.....it's feeling a tad crowded in there at the moment.

Oh, well, it's too cold to be comfortable in there most days, so no worries if it's crowded. It will be all straightened up by the time the weather warms and we can enjoy this lovely room to it's fullest then. I am suggesting a small wood stove go in the corner where the T.V. is. When it's not in use it can double as a T.V. stand and when winter arrives with it's unbearable temperatures the T.V. can move! 

The tub. No shower yet. That's a long and painful story that involved broken plastic pieces, non-returnable item and emailing complaints to the manufacturer.  It has a partial happy ending with the new (and METAL) piece arriving quickly and will be even happier when I buy a shower curtain on our next trip to town! Gone are the days of forgetting to take the deodorant to the off-site shower! 

The other side of the bathroom. Waiting for nicer weather to remove the ancient window, then the wall can be finished too. 

Instead of putting another railing back up. (Have you priced spindles and banister!?!)  I asked for a book shelf instead. :)  I would have it filled with books already, but we need to get a massive Jacuzzi tub down the stairs first, plus it needs a coat of stain and I want to wait until a warm spring day when all the windows can be opened before doing that.

This was a pretty looking reading nook. That's the thing. I have NEVER moved so many items and boxes so many times in my life!!! You pile stuff over here, until that area is "fixed or finished" then you LUG the stuff into the completed area to get it out of the way so you can keep on keeping on to the next thing! 

The upper-hallway floor which is really the size of a small room, had been painted several times and I think they had ended with a latex layer on an oil one. It was chipping and peeling everywhere. What you see here is hours of work scrapping the beige paint off with razor blades. It was the most environmentally friendly way we could do it. Now we are sanding it and then on goes the paint. I am getting tired of painting. But I have a long way ahead that includes many an hour of it just the same!

Here is the guest room! Can you tell? We had joked in a previous blog that we are booking into 2017. Due to unforeseen....hahaha who are we kidding. But yeah, we'll take reservation for 2018 or maybe 2019?....instead.  

This monster has had it's pictures taken for it's debut on Kijiji. Just need to get them up there so people can actually know we have it for sale!! Then down the stairs and outta here it goes!! 

And this here is a blog waiting to happen. 

It's our facilitates.

 Primate yet effective.

 Make your "deposit" and cover it with sawdust. We've asked our guests (in case we had just become accustomed to the smell) and no one (if they are being honest) says they can smell the fact that we have a pail-of-crap in the house. Phew! You had better be telling the truth, guys!! 

So there you have it Ladies and Jellybeans......if you had of arrived here today, unannounced, this is what you would have experienced. We do tidy up a bit when we are expecting company, but don't we all?

Please note - No pictures were edited. I did not use photo-shop. ;) (bet I had ya fooled eh?! wink, wink) 

Raw, living life, photos. 

Just keeping it real, folks!!

Oh, and being that you can't see it in the pictures, you should know, there is dirt on the floors too.

Even though I sweep. 

Every. 

Single. 

Day........and then some. haha.  

Cheers from our messed-up-house to yours!   

Hey, it may not be as bad, but you got a mess somewhere too, admit it. 

And I wouldn't eat off YOUR floors either....even if you paid me. ;)  haha :)   

Wee Bits of Wildlife.

Chick-a-dees and mice.

We have those in abundance.

I am getting used to seeing mice (and now voles) in the house. I'm not happy when I see them, but there is no yelling and climbing furniture at least. There are traps all over the house and one is bound to entice them so it's not too concerning.  But the other day I spotted a mouse the size of a quarter.

A QUARTER!!!!

I was more then just a little unhappy. One, full size mouse, might mean that it came in out of the cold and when you trap it that nuisance is taken care of. But a quarter size mouse, means that somewhere in our house a lady mouse used a midwife!!

A MIDWIFE!!!

You can be guaranteed sure that there are more tiny-wee fur-balls elsewhere and snap-traps are useless at that size. They gotta grow up first!

Everything in the kitchen is wrapped up tight.

The bread is in the bread-box. The staples are in canisters. Every glass and tin container has been called into service so I am not worried about food being ruined, but I may start leaving "crumbs" out to help these little ones grow up faster!!   I think it's this snow-less winter we are having so far. The ancient foundation of our house is uncovered and the cracks are such that even a pregnant mouse can fit through! Grr.

Enough about rodents though, let's talk about chick-a-dees instead. Now they are a lovely treat. It helps that Geoff made me the prettiest bird feeder I have ever seen.

It didn't take long after it was up and seed added before we had "customers". First a wood-pecker. Then blue jays. And although you could see chickadees all over the place they were slow about trying out the new buffet. Once they found it though there was no stopping them.

Except when jays bluster in, then they clear out and either go to the suet ball or ground to sort through the spilled stuff.  There is also a flock of starlings, comical they are, as they aren't worried about sharing, so it isn't unusual to see twelve or more all over the feeder. A single cow-bird visited, who although quite small, was given total, undisturbed access to the feeder, even by the jays!! There have been other birds too, but we weren't able to identify them. (even with Google, can you believe it!?). It doesn't help that they came only one time.They were so pretty though that I sure hope they visit again!

If you are a "friend" of mine on Facebook then you know we have been working on hand-taming the chick-a-dees. I think it has become our favorite part of the day or thing about this property.... the times we go outside to feed those little feathered tufts of cuteness!

We all carry seeds in our pockets since there are times we go outside to do other things but the birds come "asking" as soon as they see you. :) There is no way you can get an energetic power-walk in anymore. Not if you have a heart anyways. They won't land on your hand while you are moving. (except one, young, brave one) So you have to stop often and hold still while they light on your hand and pick a seed or two. The ones that decide to take two are with you a tad longer as they work hard to fit them in "this way and that" and they usually succeed!

Sometimes one will call out a cheery "Chick-a-dee-dee-deee" when it gets to you, before picking a seed and flying away. At first I thought it was a "thank you" but have come to realize they only do it when we are far from the house and feeder. I'm thinking now that the correct translation is "Hey Guys, the move-able feeder is now over here!!!" as it never fails to draw more of "the family" to you.
They also sound out a "peep" when they are approaching you. Well, some do. Sometimes you don't know a "customer" is coming until there are flutterings happening a few inches from your face. My startled hollering only causes them to retreat a little bit away and they watch knowing I will compose myself, reach into a pocket and ta-da seeds will be there.
An extremely entertaining thing to watch is how they will come all the way from the house, a good couple hundred feet, to the road to get seeds from us if we're out walking. They have the cutest way of flying, a serious of dips and ups. Love it! It's crazy but they don't fly out to the neighbours walking by. (I've asked) Some how they know us apart from other two-legged creatures. This was proven in another way when our nephew came over and The Youngest gave him seeds and didn't take any herself. She thought they may only come to her, and she was probably right in guessing that, as they took awhile to trust the "new" human. Once chick-a-dees approached us as we were walking past our neighbour's driveway!! About 700 feet or so away from our place! I was worried that the poor neighbours must be getting swarmed whenever they were out "thanks to us", but no, they aren't. Don't ask me how they can tell us apart, it boggles my mind.

Then a couple days ago something happened at the feeder that was "too close for comfort" but ended up being truly special. It started with The Youngest saying "Why are the chick-a-dees frozen on the feeder?" and sure enough two, wee things were there not moving. If you know anything about chick-a-dees is that they never stop moving. I knew from past bird-feeder experience that meant there was a bird-of-prey nearby. It took a few minutes to spot him, but yes, there it was in the willow that all the birds use to wait in or crack open their seeds. There is a family of voles that live in the adjacent shed (and some grew up and moved into our house!!) and they explore all under that tree, so we knew the hawk was most likely there for them. But since our little friends were out there trapped and terrified I decided to go out and scare it away with the hopes that it successfully find supper somewhere else.
My only fear was that I would startle the chick-a-dees prematurely.
Turns out they didn't move prematurely, but in their frightened state, once the hawk left one flew straight into the window and knocked the air out of it's lungs. Well, at first I was afraid it was worse then that, but I decided that I couldn't let it just die without trying. I picked it up and if I wasn't looking at it I wouldn't have known it was in my hand that's how light it was. Birds fill their lungs by the flapping of their wings, so when "their wind" gets knocked out it takes a fair bit of panting before they can get back off the ground. In which time a predator or in this case the cold can get the best of them.
I took my wee patient into the mud room and kept him warm while he labored to catch his breath. His eyes slowly became brighter, he began to "stand" a little taller so I removed the top, cupped hand, but one wing still didn't look right. I wasn't sure he could fly. I opened the door though so that he could go whenever he wanted, but he stayed where he was for some time, I started to call out to the family inside that maybe a bit of water to drink might help and when the inside door opened and a face peeked out the chick-a-dee took off with both wings working just fine! What a relief. I wasn't really interested in trying to work with a broken winged chick-a-dee, but when your youngest child is like mine I wouldn't of had a choice!!

Later that day we took our "pockets full of seeds" for a walk into the back woods. The chick-a-dees follow us through the trails that Geoff and The Man-Son have cut. The Youngest was getting most of the "customers" (as I call them) since she was in the rear and willing to stop more often. But once I got to my favorite part of the woods I stopped too and held out my hand.  It had to be the chick-a-dee whose life I had saved that morning, cause one landed and stayed on my hand for a couple minutes. Just sat there still, looking at me. No hopping about and checking out the seed selection. No looking over it's shoulder for other incoming birds. Just sitting there comfortable gazing into my eyes.

All three of us stood transfixed waiting for it to take off. Finally it took a seed and flitted lightly away and when I said aloud  "That had to have been the one I saved this morning. It was the same size", (when you play with chick-a-dees every day you begin to see differences), both my walking buddies quickly agreed with me. It had to have been.

And I think that time, in that truly special moment, a "Thank you" was said without a sound made.

Well, thanks for sticking with me on this rather long-winded blog.....stay tuned for more "Feathered Tales" that are sure to come. :)

P.S. And while I appreciate recommendations and suggestions on how to get rid of baby mice please know I won't be resorting to "sticky-traps". In order for me to be able to "live with myself" it has to be either a quick death or none at all.....even then the snap traps don't always work swiftly enough :(
And yes, we will be "investing" in a furry feline.....eventually.

Wash Day.

We found and bought a working wringer-washer!!! It was on Kijiji for $125, which we had as cash in our pockets, but when we arrived to pick it up it had a $75 sticker on it! Bonus!!!
Up into the van it went (on it's back) and when we set it upright and wheeled it to the kitchen door it poured oil all over the mud-room floor. Gasp! Thankfully it leaked onto a floor that will be ripped up come spring, but then we were worried that we had wrecked our "treasure" before we even got to use it! Geoff did a bit of figuring and research, bought some all-purpose grease, managed to get some into the right spot in the washer and "Bob's your Uncle!" we were in business.

The first time we used it it took all four of us to get the clothes cleaned. What a hub-bub and circus we had going on in the kitchen that day! Honestly we should have set a camera up in a corner and recorded the whole event. It would have been hilarious to watch! No instruction book. Old knobs and cords that are a tad temperamental. Not the most ideal set up in the kitchen.  Emergency "kill-bar" that makes a dreadful bang when it's hit. Jeans getting stuck. Water going EVERYWHERE!
But it wasn't the laundry-mat costing three dollars a load and it was a pile of fun!

I can see why pioneer women had each day of the week set aside for certain chores.
When your chores are labour intensive you need to dole out the work.

Using a wringer-washer is many steps up from doing the laundry in the creek and whacking the clothes on a rock. It's better than lugging water from the well, heating it on the stove in a galvanized wash tub and skinning your knuckles raw on the scrub board.
But it's definitely more involved then the big modern boxes the rest of you use. ;)

Monday has become "Wash Day".  Thankfully it gets easier with every use. Although every Monday presents a new challenge to figure out there is a rhythm starting to emerge and I think if you were to sit and watch the process now you would think we flow rather smoothly. Actually the "we" could easily be "me", I only include others so they can take responsibility in cleaning the clothes they dirtied. :) Not to mention, added The Youngest, "Many hands does make the job faster and lighter". Very true.

First up is wheeling the machine to the sink so it can be filled with water. Thankfully we bought one of those slightly-more-expensive but handy pull-out faucets. "Wash-Day" would look a little different if we didn't. Our water pressure is so low that this is the only stage where I can walk away from the process for a bit. While the tub is filling I get everything else ready and then still have time to kill.

Getting other things ready includes - pulling out.....
- the re-purposed rubber-maid container (it is now the rinse tub),
- the baskets (lack of room means some clothes go outside no matter the temperature!),
- the clothes pins,
- the plastic-hanger-drying-thingys
- the rag towels to catch all the stray water.
Also need to sort the week's pile of dirty clothes, set up the drying rack (cause it's winter) and put my long hair into a bun. Gotta be safe around that wringer!!

Here's hoping this video of our "set-up" works so you can get a visual of what we do.

The process is pretty simple. Fill the tub once with hot water, do the whites first. Use the roller-bars to wring out that first load into the rinse water. Put the mediums into the slightly cooler, albeit a little dirtier water. Wring the rinse water out of the whites while the second load is being agitated and hang it up. Wring mediums into rinse water. Add some cold water to the washer to replace and cool down the water, add the dark load and while that is being cleaned, wring out and hang the second load. Wring, rinse, wring out the last load (the one that contains all the jeans and threatens to steal away your "religion" :p) Hang to dry. Pump water out of washer. Wipe clean. Empty rinse tub, one jug at a time. Wheel washer back to starting point. And Ta-da! one weeks worth of dirty clothes, one tub of wash water and one tub of rinse equals three loads of wet, but clean clothes.

It's that easy. Tongue in cheek of course. ;)

Of course there are pros and cons to everything.

Some cons of using a wringer washer are I can't really multi-task. There is no walking away and doing something else while a machine does it all for me. Well, it never does it all anyways. They haven't invented a machine to fold and put away yet have they?!
Weather is un-predictable and hanging clothes that are freezing faster then you can hang them is a bit of an inconvenience. The drying part, at least in the winter, takes up my whole kitchen for the whole day.

You have to tuck away your OCD-self on laundry days. It looks like a clothing store blew up in here on Mondays so expect that if you drop by. My pride is also put away along with my OCD so if you do stop by, I can handle it.

But there are more pros than cons. Not only does it use less water and hydro, making it cheaper and more environmentally friendly, but I no longer "forget" and find musty loads of laundry in the washer a day or two later which then need re-washing. Nor will I ever find a half dry and/or really, really wrinkled forgotten load sitting in the dryer, demanding another go-round using even more energy. When Monday is over the laundry is DONE. It's not in stages all over the house. And while I can't multi-task, I am also not trying to figure out what to do with my spare time! I don't have to decide between activity A or B (or C, D or E either) I know what I am doing Monday and must plan my other tasks accordingly. It's hands on and good for the brain trying to plan out all the steps needed and it's not hurting me physically either. It's more demanding of my muscles and fat-stores, then the "just-drop-and-go" type of machines. And since I can't have a regular washing machine in this house (yet) it saves me running to town to clean our clothes.

I'm glad God provided us this "miracle".  Like who finds wringer-washing machines these days?! God does, that's who! :)

But I have to tell you..... the best thing about Wash Day is Tuesday!
I spend all day Tuesday appreciating how tidy and spacious my kitchen is without the laundry hanging all over it.

To enjoy life's ups you gotta have the downs!! 

I realize that when it comes to the "downs" of cleaning clothes, ours are self-inflicted, but that's OK we aren't sorry about our decision to buy an antique clothes washer.

Well, most of us aren't, The Man-Son still makes comments like.......

"Hey Mom, there's this really great invention they've made......"

What Happened?!

Many of you probably read my post titled "Lot's Wife" on your email, but if you tried to check it out on the actual blog page it wasn't to be found.

Let me explain.  I removed it.  :)

Going cold-turkey off carbs and sugars was much harder than I anticipated. By the end of the second day I was a mess. Massive headache that pain killers wouldn't touch.  Geoff and I came to the decision that I would use the two weeks to wean myself off instead of doing cold-turkey. I already know I eat a diet high in carbs without much meat or veggies. It is time to make changes.

I also plan on finding a place in this area that sells meat with no added hormones.  I have been suffering with hormonal headaches for several years, but while living in Penetang we discovered a small butcher shop that sold local meat without added hormones and after a year of eating meats purchased from there I was noticing my headaches were getting fewer and less intense. 

In the mean time I am still very tired. Many think I am just worn out from our whirl-wind nine month journey in which we put an offer on this place June 4, 2016, spent an intense four weeks preparing our Penetang house for market, sold it July 14th, then began the process of packing up to move across country two months later. Only to move into a trailer, and begin our race against the seasonal clock because we needed to be inside a real house before winter struck.

We did it. Just barely and there is still so much to do.

OK, so maybe I am tired for a reason. Just typing that out makes me feel tired all over again.  haha

Maybe I'll cut myself a break today.

After I get everything done off my list that is. (Don't worry, it's a short list)

Haha, I don't sit well, I HAVE to do something first to "earn" my rest. So if I at least get some food made for meals and the dishes done then I can sit down for a bit without feeling guilty.

I really want to paint and wall paper today. I am having an interview next week with a mom who needs day-care and I would really like the upstairs hallway finished. It's not the looks that I care about, but the railing is missing and isn't supposed to get installed again until the Jacuzzi tub is removed and some painting is done. Well, I can't participate in the tub removal for sure. I would push myself through the painting but a few days ago my right arm became so weak I can hardly use it. I am giving it a chance to correct itself before visiting a "professional" but in the mean time I am limited in what I can do. Guess I will be delegating out some painting work today. I think a securely installed railing upstairs would go a long way in helping a mother feel like this place is safe for a toddler. But maybe she'll be turned off by the table of tools and the stack of insulation in the bathroom. haha. She'll have to really, really like us to think her child would be safe here.  I of course won't plan on letting a little one out of my sight. But maybe it would be best if we just waited to bring day-care here AFTER the renos are done. ( I won't be advertising until spring, but this lady was asking for child-care on the village's Facebook page and when I told her what we had to offer, she said she was very interested) 

One of us has to start working sometime. Child-care is in high demand in this area. I wouldn't need a car to get to work. And the best part is I LOVE little people. So, we have been on the look out for the items I would need to care for children and God has been providing almost everything from cheaper, second-hand sources. :) At least it's something to look forward to and another reason to get myself feeling better and in shape!! 

Well, I had best get to the day, so that I can rest later. ;) 

Have a good one!

Making Christmas.

Greetings to You.
Here's hoping you had a wonderful Christmas season and are looking forward to a great New Year!

We've been a mix of busy and relaxed.

Christmas brings it's own work but we were able to set aside house construction for a bit and have a little holiday fun beginning with a visit from my mom. She was here Dec 12-19th, so that's when Christmas started for us.

This year we enjoyed an experience we've never had before, we hiked out to the back "35" with a sled and a saw and harvested a couple spruce trees for decorating. Kinda cool to get your Christmas tree from your own property!
The Youngest got one for her room, partly since she has the biggest bedroom which can accommodate a tree, but also because we were trying to make the house as festive as possible for Gramma's visit.

There is a third reason.. we are the proud owners of two Christmas tree stands.

Being I knew we would have a real tree this year (our "backyard" is full of them) I snatched up a stand as soon as I saw one at the Salvation Army thrift store. All the stands were priced $4.99, except the one I picked. Of course it wasn't until I got to the cash that I realize that there is no price tag. I apologized and told her that all the rest were priced for $4.99. She gave it to me for $3.99 since I was honest. Cool! Discounts at the thrift store, I'm OK with that!

A couple days later, I am in the second level of the wood-shed outbuilding. One half of the flooring up there seems a little rickety and so I have "barred" it off with some orange, surveyor tape. All of us have walked across it at some point but I don't need guests falling on through and injuring themselves. Well, I guess I have only ever been up there in the late afternoon when the sun shines in through the west window making the East half look even more dark and scary and so between the rickety floor boards and the darkness I haven't explored that area of the building. Imagine my surprise and slight annoyance after just purchasing a tree stand,  when I ventured up there in the morning with the sun shining brightly in the East window and what should I see at the far end of the rickety floor?

A Christmas tree stand!

Well, I didn't stay annoyed for long. Instead I quickly came to the thrilling decision that we'd have TWO trees and left it at that.

Along comes the prepping for Gramma's visit. The newer and much cleaner stand gets used in the bedroom. We'll clean up the dirty, wood-shed one when we put up the main tree later.

All goes well with tree number one. Although I gleaned from that experience that "installing" a real tree is much more work than one might guess.

The day comes for tree number two to grace our living room with it's beauty.  I begin to clean the second tree stand only to discover that it had a hole in it and wouldn't hold water. Blah.
That'd be the reason John Smith left it behind in the first place I reckon! haha.

Well, we weren't about to take the first tree down to use the new stand and neither were we about to go without a tree in the living room. So we Macgyver'd a milk-jug into that leaky stand to hold water and after a little bit more "work" (albeit fun enough work) we had a not-quite-Charlie-Brown-but-almost-tree in our front room.

We were ready for Christmas.

Almost ready that is. I still had to put my wood-stove and skills to the test for Christmas baking. Thankfully my list of goodies has considerably shrunk over the years to only three or four special things that we are pretty sure Christmas can't be done without. I am of the strong opinion that far too much sugar is consumed at Christmas and being it comes at us from every which way, I refuse to be the main source, but I will make a couple things to keep up special traditions.

Well, the wood-stove complied. Christmas was safe again this year even with the challenge of making cookies in an oven that is 200 degrees in one spot or moment and 450 degrees elsewhere.
The trick? Small pieces of wood added frequently. DO NOT leave the oven and it's contents unattended. Make use of the timer. Rotate trays often.  It was kinda hard not to be overly proud of myself as the baking was turning out. :)

Christmas brought another first for us. It was the first time in 26 years that our family was divided for the celebrations. I can't deny, I shed tears. Thank goodness for Skype and Amazon. Gifts were delivered and we could visit using today's amazing technology.

I had planned to have a Christmas greeting and walk-around video of the house to post on Christmas day, but turns out I had a doozey of a headache and even had to miss the festivities at the S.S.I.L's

The grand tour will have to wait.

But the place is shaping up. We had the neighbours in for "a bit of Christmas" and they were blown away by how much we have accomplished in such a short time.

I'm glad they were impressed. I'm still looking forward to the day we'll have a shower and bathroom sink.

Until then?  We are becoming experts at packing our stuff for having showers at the S.S.I.L's. We rarely forget the deodorant or towels anymore and it no longer feels strange to brush my teeth at the kitchen sink.

But here's to the up-and-coming New Year and the day when we'll have more then one source of running water in this house!

And may your 2017 be blessed with something wonderful that you have been anticipating as well!
Cheers!