The struggle is real

You know how you can tell yourself over and over that you knew what you were getting yourself into, so none of the hard stuff should be a surprise? Yeah, me too. It doesn't matter though, does it? I mean, maybe some of my crazy planner friends (you know who you are) would expect most of this, but I certainly did not. It's a daily struggle for me trying to keep the big picture in mind. The hardest part of all of this is just feeling disconnected as a family. Most of Ben's "free" time is spent at the house. I'm working more right now thanks to what we refer to as "year-end" in the biz. Normally I'm fortunate enough to have Wednesdays off with the boys, but for about 7 weeks in the January through March timeframe I'm a normal working woman, in the office five days a week. This is extra hard right now as we are already living in chaos. It's not lost on Colter, who has a better handle on our schedule than I do at times. He's very aware that Wednesdays stink right now (even though an extra day at preschool/daycare is fun for him), so we have this deal where I bring him (and Ellis) candy from work on Wednesday nights. Part of me is sad that I'm so easily replaced with sweets, but the other part of me is very thankful for the tears it saves.

A few other funny snippets before I give a house update.

- Anytime we can't find something, the resounding answer is "it's in the POD". Ellis even knows this now and takes it upon himself to remind Colter quite often.
- I asked Colter, our almost four year old, what he wants for his birthday, and he said "I just want all of us to live at the Farmhouse together." Oh my heart. Me too kiddo, me too.
- They both know the difference between the Farmhouse and "the house we are living at right now because the Farmhouse doesn't have a toilet." This was the most visible reason I could come up with about three months ago to explain why we couldn't live there yet. And yes, it's still true. In fact, there is no water at all. The drywallers had to bring their own in 5-gallon buckets. They also brought their own weed, but apparently I'm the only one who thinks this is notable.
- The boys love to go to Padnos with Ben to recycle copper and other metals. Ellis always asks where Louie is. Well...
- The boys are both absolutely set on having yellow bedrooms. The paint swatches they keep taking home from Repcolite are brighter than the sun. This will be a battle, but I promise, I will win. And by win, I mean probably paint the rooms yellow but like the dullest, "this is basically tan" yellow I can find.

Speaking of paint, we finally have color on the new walls! This has been a monumental week. The drywallers finished up last week and a painter came to prime all of the walls and finish the ceilings. Countryside has been off on a different job all week, so Ben and my dad have been busting it getting everything painted. Tiff and I took our turn one evening, so we can take some credit. We'll still have a lot of painting to do once we move in, but at least all of the new stuff is covered. I'm half expecting to repaint some of it eventually because we did the "let's choose one color and paint everything the same" plan. Technically two colors. From the same swatch. Right next to each other.

My dad in the new upstairs family room

Tiff in the new master bathroom

Other progress includes siding on the back of the house, the garage, and some on the South side. The garage door is installed (I think it looks good...remember this was a contentious decision), we have some doors on the addition, though they are temporary ones.

Ben totally patched in the kitchen flooring, which only took 40 hours or so. Kinda not kidding. It looks great, but it was pretty obvious what was new and what was 100 years old. He took some new stuff to Repcolite and they mixed up a stain to try to give the boards a weathered look, and it worked quite well. There is now one coat of poly on, so there is no turning back. Ben hopes to get another one or two on yet this weekend then call it good.

Patching in the squared off entrance. This door used to be angled and you basically walked into a wall. Now it's squared off and totally open.

I was definitely freaking out watching my dad teeter on an unsecure board, saw in hand. He and I spent about 3-4 hours in this section. The guys had glued and screwed down subfloor initially, before we knew we were going to use the maple. This had to come off so that Ben could lay the new boards directly on the joists. Someone had to rip up and sand off the particle board...and turns out that someone was my dad. And me.

Chisel got Ben a little.

Fully patched in kitchen, prior to the final sanding. Hey Phoebes.

After the first coat of poly...looking good with those white cabinets and 'Seattle Mist' walls!

Base cabinets are installed in the kitchen and they look great. They are shimmed an inch or two in some spots. Old house problems. The countertop guys attempted to make a template this week so they could start fabricating the granite, but when I stopped in their shop to check out our slab they realized the template wouldn't work when I casually mentioned the farm sink we were getting. Suddenly you could hear a pin drop and I was like whoa, what did I do? Apparently that has to be installed before they can make an accurate template. Oops...maybe next week?

Our little slab of natural stone. It's amazing to think at one point this was in a mountain or canyon or something, somewhere in India. Really makes you marvel at God's creation, and man's God-given talent to extract it.

Ben has all of the cement board installed in the bathrooms, which we are going to cover with some cutesy white hexagon tiles. With dark grout so I don't ever have to clean. Kidding. But also, not kidding. We still need to decide on flooring for the upstairs and the mudroom. Still leaning towards pine upstairs. And we have enough maple left from the kitchen patching to put in the mudroom, but I hesitate to do so. I kind of want an indestructible vinyl or something, but we haven't really shopped around yet. The "purist" in Ben would say to avoid something that wouldn't have been there before, but then I think about how we're not outfitting the laundry room with a wash basin or the kitchen with an ice box or anything so...it's all about balance.

Colt watching Ben spread the mud to install the cement board in the master bathroom.

Just hanging out with Zeke in his soon-to-be bedroom.

All of the electrical plugs and switches are in, and Ben scored a sweet deal on light bulbs at Menards one day. Apparently these bulbs are $10 a piece and he got them for $4. And the lights the electrician would have used were $23 a piece. Or $32 a piece? So he saved us like $600. This is exactly how this conversation went, by the way. I couldn't really tell you what a good deal is for a light bulb, but Ben will talk your ear off about it. At any rate, the house is now lit up and it's amazing. It's just the best being able to see everything and not freeze your buns off. We're really thankful for heat and electricity again. Even if that means we spent the entire $600 in light bulb savings on our utility bills last month. Robbing Peter to pay Paul.

There's still an overwhelming amount of work to be done before we can get the bank's sign off and get moved in. At least we're to the point where the house is generally safe (if you don't open the door to the stair-less basement or pull the cover off the chimney), so maybe we can start hanging out there more as a family. As soon as we get a toilet.

Trees

I remember driving through Waukazoo Woods with Colt a couple years ago, in midsummer, with the oaks and maples at full canopy. Waukazoo Woods, to the best of my memory, was initially settled in the early 19th century by a band of Ottawa Indians. They would eventually move away and over the course of a hundred years houses were built up but the integrity of the forest was preserved. After driving through the area for about 10 minutes and finishing our errand we pulled back out onto Ottawa Beach road and drove back to the east, towards more commercial and developed area. After a couple minutes, two and a half year old Colt asks, “Where'd the trees go?” “Progress”, I muttered, “Progress”.

One of the first orders of business this summer was to clear some trees around the house. The two acre lot had many mature maples and various other varieties. Sadly, a large maple on the south side of the house needed to come down. It was both too close to the house and also needed to be removed so the grading could properly shed water from the foundation. It was beyond my skills and abilities to take it down without risking life, limb, and house.

Thankfully, I know a guy. Actually I know a guy that knows a guy.

My brother-in-law Mike, has a buddy, also named Mike, who has a unique set of skills and tools. I just needed to rent a lift and supply the beer. (Relax). And rent a lift, “the biggest Taylor Rental has”. The Nifty Lift TM50.

I gave the Mikes a few weekends in September to pick from and Friday the 11th worked best for them (and me as well). I wanted to get the trees down as soon as possible as at this time we still planned on closing on September 18th (on the Ranch) and on the same day close on the Farm. The new buyers of the Ranch had agreed to give us significant time past closing which we wanted to utilize to get the house in a livable condition. Recall that our initial plan was to live “only a few weeks” with parents until the Farm was livable. We were so dumb.

As with each facet of the project, I did not want any work I was responsible for to delay the contractors. Really, there was just one issue to overcome. We did not own the house. We did not have insurance on anything.

Well, nothing ventured nothing gained. The gamble paid off.

South side of the house. The tree we took down is the large one in the center (rising above the shrub) and leaning toward the house.  

I picked up the lift Friday afternoon with the Acadia. I am not sure how much it can safely tow but it is really close to Nifty Lift TM50. Like within a few pounds. I did not exactly feel in command and control all the time towing it; but I got it home safe for naps and then dropped the boys off at Uncle Mike and Aunt Gina’s house for the evening.

I had chainsaw blades sharpened; though I put one on backwards. Turns out they smoke like sin if you have them on the wrong way.

The plan for the evening was to get the large tree on the south side taken down and then trim back some of the large arms from the big maples in the front yard (west side). All I wanted from these was the arms that stretched back towards the house cut out. If time allowed, there were several pines on the north side of the house that had to come down to make room for the garage and master suite addition. There were four more along the driveway that had also outlived their prime. I especially hated to cut these down as it was primarily for cosmetic reasons but they were not healthy anymore and would have made all the heavy equipment coming and going for the next several months much more bottle necked. I also wanted to cut out the large yew bush that had overtaken the front porch of the house. This thing was mighty to behold. It will all be replaced, in time, with tasteful landscaping.

I told Mike, my brother-in-law, that I felt the Acadia would struggle pulling the lift through the yard and he volunteered the services of his Yukon which handled the job with ease. It took a little remembering on how to operate the lift (it seemed so clear when the feller from the rental place gave me the one-minute tutorial) but had it up in the trees before too long. And Mike (the lumberjack) went to town.

If I have learned one thing throughout this process so far, it is that it is a thing of beauty to see a man skilled at his craft go to work. Tree guy. Excavators. Builders. Roofer. Mike was notching and felling branches with unflagging speed and efficiency. He worked his way down the big limbs until he finally made it to the trunk where he finally got out the big saw and, as you can guess, dropped it right where he wanted it away from the house, lift, Yukon, and people (me and other Mike). As he was dropping branches we hauled the felled limbs to an arbitrary spot on the last bit of yard before the corn. I did not want to burn them at this spot but the corn was still up and I was not about to go trampling into it to start my pile. Plus I did not even own anything yet and I wish to remain in good graces with the farmers.

Since we were in the backyard we trimmed up another old tree, which, after weeding out the dead stuff did not leave much left. But, out of principle, we left it standing. It offers some shade and a fine branch for a tire swing. And most importantly, it is leaning away from the house.

We moved to the front yard and were delayed by an issue with the lift. It seemed as if there was some safety interlock that we could not get past. After almost deciding it was broke or we were too tired it suddenly worked. The few branches were pruned and as dusk settled in on the prairie we lowered the lift shut down the saws. And then put a dent in the beers.

It was the first significant work done to the estate, possibly in years, and it drew attention. First off, out here, everyone that drives by waves to you. And a lot of them stop in. Out here it’s just what people do. I was not really prepared for it. But this has been one of the lessons God has taught me over the past several months. I need other people in my life. God’s kingdom is bigger than me and I was not made just to go to Heaven. He has prepared me in advance to do good works (Ephesians 2:10). And the gifts He has given me are mine to share with others and to further the Kingdom.

29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’  Matthew 25:14-30 (verses 29-30).

The following day, the lift was returned and I also continued deforesting the property. With the help of neighbor and supervisor Jon we tackled the pine trees. They were not daunting in size but still considerable to take down and buck up. His lovely wife even put in several hours of hard work hauling pine boughs to the pile. And then, there was just one more to take down. It was the biggest. And also leaning towards the uninsured and not-yet-formally mine house. We decided to tie a rope on it. Just in case.

The notch he cut in looked really good from where I was standing – holding the end of 50 feet of climbing rope. The tree should have begun falling in my direction. But then, suddenly, though ever-so-slightly; the tree rocked back, the chain saw bound, the rope went taught, and we both cussed.

You see, about 20 feet from the tree sat a Ford Fusion. Mine. Why we did not think to move it before hand is a wonder. It seemed so obvious now as I held the rope, heels dug in. Jon ran over to me and grabbed the rope and helped me play tug-of-war with a pine tree. Sweet Carolyn, taking a video and holding 2 year old Ellis, from a safe distance, was now called on to swiftly move the car. Which she did, though not with the urgency we would have liked. The tree was not yet falling back but rather just balanced precariously. After what seemed like minutes but in reality was probably just minutes Carolyn got the car out of the way and we were able to muscle the tree back towards us and it fell safely to the ground.

The remaining pines came down over the next several weeks without incident and it opened up the property, especially coming from the north. The excavator was able to literally pluck the stumps out with his compact excavator. The large stump on the south side of the house also came out with only minimal negotiation with a backhoe. There was a fear that it could be tied into the foundation however it was cleanly detached.

The rest of the property has many healthy maple trees, some of which will inevitably have to be thinned to avoid issues in future years. This decision will wait until the grounds are cleaned up and some time is spent living here and deciding what works for the land.

About a week later, Carolyn's dad helped us rip out the vegetation around the house and took down the old deck and lattice fence on the north side.  It was hard work; those vines were well grown and healthy, to say the least.  Also, we found the septic system, which was actually a very good thing.  We were waiting on this for the township to do their inspection and appraisal of the system.  

This is the remaining stump from the tree that came down.

Floors for days

When we took on this blogging endeavor I thought for sure I'd be able to keep up with it on a regular basis. Who am I kidding. Alas...another delayed post...

So. It's been six months since we put in an offer on the house. Things have progressed differently than we thought. We're handling the stress differently than we thought, at times. It's hard. Ben spends most of his free time at the house trying to get it ready for us to move in as soon as possible. I get that and while I appreciate it, I miss my best friend. BUT...the house is turning out better than I originally imagined, so it's getting even more exciting to dream about the future we'll have there. I found an image online one day in August when we were in the early planning stages. It stopped me in my tracks. Imagine if we could take this:

To this:

While there are vast differences in lines and architecture, the basic concept is the same. Use your imaginations. I knew we weren't going to end up with something exactly like this, but it helped me visualize a little. I sent it to Ben and he loved it but immediately pointed out the reasons why our house would be different (peak dormers vs. shed, double garage door vs. two separate, "I thought we wanted white siding", etc.) and I was all like, bro, I get it, it's not an exact science here. All I was looking for was a general idea of what we were dealing with. He takes things very literally. I sent the picture to Greg too, and the next time we met with him he pointed out the same differences and I was like okay...maybe this is a guy thing? I don't know. But either way...our house will look kind of like this but also really not. Kapish?

At this moment, our house looks like this:

Since the last post all of the electrical is in and most of the windows on the original house have been replaced. HVAC is mostly set, with the addition of two new furnaces and the removal of radiators. We decided to move forward with replacing the boiler system and feel completely at peace about this. Ben has made several trips to Padnos to recycle the copper and other metals we've pulled out of the house, and so far we've made about $200 in scrap. If that's not a great reason to update the heat source in the house I'm not sure what is. Ben's dad also took some copper wire back for us as well, but not before burning off all of the remaining insulation to get us top dollar. He's in the know in the recycling circles.

Tearing off siding and replacing windows

Isn't he handsome? 

Drywall started going in this week so that's really exciting! And now that there are functioning furnaces it's no longer an ice box in there. It's starting to feel like somewhere we could spend the rest of our lives, which is pretty much what you'd want to feel with such a large undertaking.

Ben and I spent the better part of three days (including New Year's Eve until 11:30 pm and New Year's Day) sanding the maple floors in the kitchen. We took off layers of paint, grime, glue, you name it. There was even a patch of tar which was kind of baffling until Ben decided it must have been the location of the sink at some point in the 130 year history. The whole sanding process was a learning experience for sure. There were several moments (hours) of doubt when we didn't think the drum sander was enough to get through to the maple. We spent a lot of time on our hands and knees scraping glue off with chisels. Later we realized that if we had just trusted the process and the 36 grit drums, we would have been fine. Live and learn...but also...never again. Anyways, we're happy with the flooring we uncovered and Greg found a place in Kalamazoo with the same stuff and ordered enough to patch in where we need and to cover the new space where the original stairs to the basement had been. Once we get that patched in we'll have to visit Ben's friends at Taylor Rental again to get an orbital sander then poly up that floor. After reading up on how tricky maple can be to work with, we decided to forego staining it and just seal the original wood. This plan could change again...we tend to do that...work in progress as they say.

Day Three

We can live with that

Ben's proudest moment...a dumpster diving wife. I think he actually shed a tear.

We couldn't have made it through those days without our families. Ben's parents, my parents and Tim & Tiff all took turns with the boys. It's a season of life where we need some extra help and we are so thankful for lots of family nearby.

We also discovered yellow pine flooring in the entire upstairs. We knew it was there in some places, but didn't know it ran throughout. We got the hallway and landing area sanded down enough to put a fresh coat of heavy duty paint on it. The plan was to keep this flooring exposed and patch in where needed, then put carpet in the upstairs addition. The original floor had already been painted, so it seemed like the easiest solution for now. And yellow pine isn't my favorite because it's just a little, well, yellow for my liking. But then we had this discussion the other day:

Ben: Would you consider putting pine flooring in the addition too, to tie in to the original floors?

Me: NO.

Awkward two minute silence.

Me: Well, could we stain it a darker color?

Ben: Absolutely! Whatever you want.

Me: Well...let me look online a little...

Two minutes of Google. 

Me: It would be a lot of work. We'd have to re-sand the floors to get them stain-able, lay all new flooring in the addition, stain and finish everything...but I always said I didn't want to pay for carpet ever again because it gets kind of gross with the pets and you and the boys spill so much...if we could make it darker I think I could be on board...okay why don't you see if we can even get the same stuff and find out how much it is. 

Ben: You realize you just had an entire argument with yourself and I never said a word, right?

Me: Yes, but you chose to marry me, so this is not my fault.

This used to be a chimney. It did not survive Ben.

Whenever people find hard woods (or in our case soft woods) under carpet on HGTV it's like winning the lottery. I don't disagree...it's pretty exciting. But I'd like to know how they sand, stain and finish it all in 45 minutes because I'd really like to implement that technique here. At any rate, the upstairs flooring remains undecided for now. This also changes the discussion about the new staircase as we had planned to carpet this as well. It also changes my shopping needs because I'll be in the market for area rugs and stair runners if we go this route. As my mom says (or quotes), "blessed are the flexible, because they will not be bent out of shape."