it was a great day to be a boy

This week marked a year since we started work on the Farmhouse. We didn't close until September 30, 2015, but if you recall from one of Ben's earlier posts, he started cutting trees down before we owned the place. One of the few risks we've taken and honestly, one of the lesser ones if that tells you anything. When the trees started coming down the debris went various places. Friends, neighbors, old neighbors, family...anyone who wanted wood could take some. Some of the pine branches that came down were re-purposed into coasters to give to the previous owners and their kids, who all had fond memories of those trees from when they were freshly planted. The wood that couldn't be used or given away was taken to the back of our property to burn some day. Over the course of the next several months that pile grew. It grew and it grew and it grew. It grew until it was huge, now comprised of not only tree stumps and limbs, but burnable components from the house demo that didn't fit into one of the four dumpsters we went through, and that didn't meet Ben's "keep" standards (which I must say are pretty low. As much as it pains me to keep nearly everything, sometimes it comes in handy and I can find the perfect piece of wood for a shelf or some other random project). We knew we needed to take care of that pile. Ben chose the longest Saturday of the year, June 18, as the big day. There is some rule about fires needing to be out by dusk or something to comply with the burn permits in our township. I might have that wrong, but I DO know there was some significance to a late sunset.

Ben set the pile ablaze early that morning and by the time the boys and I woke up and headed to the backyard to see what was happening, it was all very tame. We missed the big show, which I am perfectly fine with. I've learned over the years that I'm generally happier the less I know. House projects, cop stuff, etc. One time I noticed a bruise on Ben's abdomen and asked what happened and he said, "oh yeah...I almost got impaled last week loading up old metal from behind the barn..." Eyeroll. And silent prayer of thanksgiving that he somehow stays safe most of the time.

Apparently when you have a big fire planned, people show up. Ben's dad, brother-in-law Mike, nephews Gabe & Brett, co-worker/neighbor Jon...all came to watch and help. Mike showed up with a backhoe, which was very helpful keeping the pile under control, removing some more stumps, and adding to the fire. 

boys took a break to do other boy things.

Ellis discovered how much he loves to play with "shooting guns". Thanks, Brett :)

beer break. well deserved. meanwhile I was nursing a Diet Coke trying to keep my pregnancy concealed and trying to stay alert enough to keep everyone safe. Daunting.

seems safe. 

typical Colt. reflective, thoughtful, careful.

Starburst break in the canoe that's going nowhere.

Kind of like this.

It was a successful day. A lot got accomplished and it felt so good to take action on the property. The focus has overwhelmingly been the house so far, rightly so, but there are also two acres of potential out there that need some attention too. We need to keep reminding ourselves that things don't happen overnight and we're not going to have everything how we want it this year. That's cool, we have plenty more years, God willing, to figure this stuff out.

before and after :: main floor bath

I have to start out by saying Happy Birthday to my big brother Doug! The world is a better place with you in it.

July is always a blur for us. Between the 4th of July, birthday parties for Gabe and Annika (nephew and niece) and our annual Big Star Lake vacation, the month is always over before it even feels like it begins. And this July we refinanced our house (yes, already...rates are low, people!) which just added some additional unplanned chaos. So no surprise here, we don't have any major house updates. So I figured this was a good time to share some before and after pics of our main floor bathroom remodel.

This was one of the first things we tackled once we closed on the house last fall. The floor joists were rotted and sinking and needed to be completely removed and replaced. In order to replace with new joists the floor needed to be jacked up about 4 inches. This is pretty significant and would have impacted other projects (like the roof) had we not fixed it. Our job was to completely gut the bathroom then leave the pros to start putting it back together. My brother Tim, Ben and I went to work the first Saturday we owned the house. There was really nothing salvageable. I take that back. I think we still have some drawer pulls in the garage because you just never know. The layout of the bathroom was also extremely awkward, so a fresh start it was.

A dead bird is a good bird, I say.

Off to a good start with this Farmhouse renovation. This all took place on a Saturday and by the following Monday Countryside had arrived to jack up the floor and get the new joists in place. Electricians came soon after, and new plumbing was roughed in. Drywall was hung and finished, and then we waited. We didn't do any tiling until February when Ben did the floor and I did the shower. My dad painted, and the final lights and fixtures were installed by the pros in March. Voila.

They flipped the toilet for a better flow. Genius. This is also the only bathtub in the house so it's where the boys get clean. Ergo the detachable shower wand. It's the best.

We downsized the vanity and got rid of the built in linen cabinet. This bathroom just doesn't need a whole lot of storage since we mostly use the new master bathroom which is upstairs.

Cabinet (including the cool hardware) from the Habitat for Humanity Restore. Countertop came from ceiling joists pulled out of the kitchen. Tally not including plumbing fixtures = $150 for the vanity and top. 

The mirror was also from the Restore. $25 plus some green chalk paint from Hobby Lobby and leftover dark wax from a different project. I also just remembered that the door was salvaged from the original bathroom. A few fresh coats of paint and it looks good as old.

I still really love these cross handles. Aldi soap photo bomb.

It's really hard to take pictures of small spaces. Please don't judge me, I only have capacity for zero hobbies so I'm not going to become a master photographer anytime soon. There is still a little bit of trim work that Ben needs to do but it's nearing the bottom of the list. There is also zero decor in here, but that's not exactly exclusive to the bathroom. We've been here four months now and I am just starting to get motivated to hang some shelves and pictures again. I was telling Ben's sister Gina last night that we had family pictures taken in September and I printed enough to hand out to our families but we don't have any of those pictures on display in our own house. So just in case I don't ever get around to printing those, because we actually have more pictures scheduled for next week, here are a few so I can remember September 2015. Ellis 2, Colter 3.5, Belle 6.5, Car 29.99, Ben 33. We had the pics taken at the Farmhouse because we were so excited! A bit in over our heads but excited.

God is so good. He's brought us so far. Before and afters are my favorite...what great stories of redemption and new life and hope. We all need some of that don't we? It just takes a little FAITH. 

Ordinary.

Oops, been a while again. I fell into a little rut, thinking there wasn't much to update on because nothing “big” has been happening. Then our message today in church was about David and Goliath, and how God can use our ordinary life for an extraordinary purpose. Which made me realize that there might not be a single person who cares about the ordinary past two months, but I certainly don't want to forget them, either. And maybe there is one person who can be encouraged by us. And so I write.

We've been in the Farmhouse now for a little over two months. It took a while to sift through all of the boxes and clutter. And to be honest there's still quite a bit of that to go around, but it's mostly isolated to one area in the house that we don't really ever go in. This space will eventually likely be “formal” (we are not formal people) dining and living room. And also we have three large living spaces in this house so having one out of commission is not a problem. Ergo, stacks of unpacked boxes.

Some of the projects we've tackled since the last post are:

1. We re-papered the back of an original built-in cabinet in the kitchen. For the cost of one roll of craft wrapping paper from Hobby Lobby we gave a pretty instant update to what was kind of an eyesore before, compared to the rest of the freshly refinished kitchen. I considered painting the shelves and doors, but just changing the backdrop updated it enough for me to leave the rest alone for now. I also changed out the knobs with something I found in the garage.
   
   
   

   
   

   

   
   

   

   
   

   
   

   

   
   
   
   
2. The guys had originally framed the laundry space in the mudroom to be more of a laundry closet with bi-fold doors, which I painted white a few months ago thinking “it's a closet, I'll use cheap left-over white paint.” But after thinking about it, we decided we really didn't want doors as this space is pretty much used constantly, and it's just one more thing to get in the way. So I visioned up a cute solution to make the laundry area feel more like the mudroom it's in, rather than just a closet that got forgotten. I re-painted the inside a few weeks ago to match the mudroom (technically it matches the upstairs family room, but you can't tell. Leftover paint strikes again). This immediately made it feel warmer and more like it wasn't supposed to be a closet. Then we hung some stock cabinets from Menards which I chalk-painted green so we have some storage in there. All we need now is a counter top, which Ben is going to make out of wall studs that come out of Colt's bedroom closet when we renovated the upstairs. So it will have a reclaimed wood, rustic style countertop that should make this space even more functional and HOPEFULLY not just a place to unload junk. We struggle with that.
   
   
   

   
   

   

   
   

   

   
   
   

   
   

   

   
   
   
3. Ben finally got the garage organized close to his liking and we can now get both vehicles in with room to spare. I have to take some blame for the previous state of the garage, because at one point when we were getting down to the wire before final inspections, I moved EVERYTHING that was in the house that didn't belong in the house (aka Ben's tools, wood scraps, stray nails and screws, paint supplies, dust masks...) into the garage to deal with another day. Since then Ben hasn't been able to find anything in under 10 minutes so he's been understandably frustrated. He also owns the fact that I didn't really have a choice, as the house needed to get cleaned out, and he didn't have time to sort through stuff then either. Regardless, he finally feels better about his garage and I don't live in guilt for that fateful Saturday in March anymore either. It also helps my case that Ben's mom helped me with that chore, and he can't be mad at his mom, so really he can't be mad at me, either.
   
   
   

   
   
4. The basement is safe again and is fitted with a sump pump and some new blocking and drainage. A few weeks before we moved in we realized that some of the original, very very old stone and mortar foundation was crumbling. Like big stones just fell down and into a nice pile on the floor. I about threw in the towel at that point, but Corey and AJ came quickly and secured the basement with temporary braces. Greg got right on it and got quotes to fix it permanently, and we are now in a good spot. Nobody was ever concerned that the house was going to collapse. But if you ever come over, I would suggest staying away from the South-West corner of the house. Between you and me.
5. Straightline Lawn Care (Ben's employer during his college years) came and power raked the yard and sprayed hydro-seed a few weeks ago, and we have a thin lawn now. Kind of looks like a 4 month old who started out with a lot of hair and is now losing it. I'm sure it will come in thick again. Some of the original grass is starting to come back too. It all took a huge toll with all of the heavy machinery, re-grading, etc. that took place during the fall/winter/spring. We'll be very thankful with a full yard full of grass, as boys and a dog in clay alone are enough to make me pull my hair out.
   
   
   

   
   
   

   
   

   

   
   
   
6. We found a cool old baker's hutch at the Youth for Christ donation center last month and it fits perfectly in the kitchen. Actually, Ben found it in January and said it would be perfect, but I wasn't ready to commit and we didn't really have a good place to store it anyways. So I said no, and life went on. Then six weeks ago or so I started getting serious about actually finding a vintage hutch or something else to fill a 4+ foot space in the kitchen. My friend Melissa was getting rid of a hutch that would have been PERFECT if it was 3 inches smaller. It was already painted a lovely blueish/teal, and had all of the nooks and compartments I wanted. Alas. It was not meant to be. The baker's hutch turned out to still be available in May, so we took it home. It looks great in the kitchen and helps bring a touch of old into the space that is now brand new, except for the floors. And the built-in.
   
   
   

   
   
7. We just this weekend hung some shelves and closet rods in my closet. I'm getting anxious to organize this room, so this should help a lot. It's a big closet with a lot of potential. It also doubles as my “dressing room” since Ben is often asleep when I need to get ready. Can't wake up my sleeping beauty now, can I? Third shift wife problems.
   
   

In between all of this, we have just been playing and puttering a lot. Figuring out how to live and function in this new and old house. Ben and I have gone on a few dates which have been great again. We went 7 or 8 months or so with about one date total, and not much quality time at all. Our dates usually end up being on a Monday or Thursday or something a-typical, but it works for us. And more importantly, our sitter, Jaycee.

The boys just love it here. They love digging in the dirt and throwing rocks in a little drainage ditch we have in the backyard. They love riding their bikes around the driveway which is quite flat. I often find myself missing Huizenga; the sidewalks, walking to parks or to Captain Sundae, being able to run up the hill to Dollar General when we forgot something, playing in the backyard with luscious grass, living in a smaller house with everything on the main level. I also love the Farmhouse, it just takes getting used to the differences. While the boys do quite well, bike rides down the road are terrifying, and I don't think I'd attempt it by myself yet. It takes man to man coverage. The sunsets are stunning here. The breeze is amazing. And I love being upstairs and looking out the windows, feeling like I can see forever. These are things we didn't get to experience living in town. We also didn't have to experience manure spreading season, which one day was so terrible we had to leave the house. Even Ben, and he “loves manure”. We did get a surprise last week when Ben realized that the crops coming up in the farmland surrounding our house were soy beans and not corn. Which means my fear that the boys would get lost in a cornfield this summer will NOT come to fruition, at least by our house.

They recruited their friend Cooper to dig with them. This is seriously a thing here. "Hey Ellis, let's go dig!" "Okay, Colter!" and off they go.

My coworker, Aimee, told me a few weeks ago about a contest Joanna Gaines from Fixer Upper is doing, where she'll choose someone NOT IN WACO, TX, to do a remote design job for. So, I entered, because why not? The winner will get a living room makeover complete with a design plan, a rug, a hand selected furniture item, paint, and $1,000 spending allowance at her store, Magnolia Market. And since Joanna is big into farmhouses, I think I might win! Just kidding, there are so many entries. But the winner will be announced on June 15, so I'm just crossing my fingers because you know what? Somebody has to win. Maybe it will be me. I did win a Kindle Fire one time, which only lasted 8 months before Colt/Ben dropped it on the driveway. Joanna, if I win, I promise to not let anyone drop anything.

I occasionally (or often) have a hard time focusing on the blessings right in front of me, because I'm looking ahead to something else that needs to be done or crossed off the list. I'm working on it. I want to enjoy the here and now and just be THANKFUL with what we have and how far we've come. In the last month we've watched friends say “good-bye” to a dear friend with cancer who left behind a wife and young baby. We've heard about (and seen, if you're Ben) too many tragic car accidents. We've heard about yet another mass shooting in our own country, possibly the worst one yet. There is so much to grieve. There is also so much to be thankful for. We never know when our number is up, when God calls us home, or just calls us to walk through some hard times. I choose to be happy and thankful and live life to the fullest right here and now. And to pray for those who are too weak to muster up the strength for themselves right now.

So, if you hear me complain about something that I don't have or some project that is left 90% and not 100% complete, give me a kick in the pants and remind me to be thankful and to go be a blessing to someone else. But if I win the contest, just give me a high five and let me be happy about that.