Fun weekend

What a busy weekend.

First, Saturday was my dentist appointment to get my tooth repaired. It was an hour away, so we left early which meant we had time to check out a thrift store beforehand. Came away with even more books. Yes, we have a spending problem: we love books!

Then it was time for the dentist. Just as I sat in his chair, a migraine hit me. Sooo not fun. He was sympathetic and moved the light from my eyes. I took 2 Aleve as soon as I could get something to drink, because the nausea and aversion to light had intensified while he was working in my mouth.

I felt better once the aleve started to work, and I ate something. Off to Home Depot with my list: closet and shower rods, carbon monoxide detectors, wire shelves and coat hooks, among other things. Buying a new home always means repairs or buying things for functional living!

Sam's Club was next. We buy bulk once a month to help me cook decent meals, but really can barely wait until we have our own critters and can eat just what we raise.

By the time we got home, it was late and we crashed. I was up early Sunday... Hubby's dad was in town for a few days, so Hubby's mom agreed to bring him out to visit our new home. Planned for late afternoon, so suddenly my plans changed from investigating a local nursery for fruit trees, to organizing the house and painting the Kid's new room in the basement. Here I am at 6:30 a.m. moving boxes around so Hubby's dad won't trip over something, then I gathered the painting stuff and started on the pink shelves in the yellow room. Remember, that was the playroom for the previous owners. The light green paint over the pink shelves made them look blue which was fine. By the time I was ready to start on the school-bus-yellow walls, everyone else was up and we all dug in. Hubby installed door knobs on those doors, the Kid cleaned his new bathroom and found tp/soap/towels, and I used the roller to paint the walls that light green. Hubby completed the door knobs and helped me finish the room. We were done by 2:00 ... just in time for showers and a quick 2nd tidy in the house.

What a feeling of accomplishment! I rock when it comes to painting, but I tell you... I can barely move. Again. Ah, the pain. I took a muscle relaxer last night, but only helped me to sleep. This morning I'm worse.

I never did get to starting my seeds last week, but that is my plan for today. Taking it easy, and starting seeds.

= = = =

I used the Parker/Aurora branch of Labor Ready to help with the move and I gotta tell you... very glad we're not moving again. The person who helped to pack placed open containers of flour and pancake mix on their sides (spilling) and honey upside down (what a mess). Hubby picked up a heavy box marked "plates" and it nearly burst open. Stacked among the plates were bowls and other dishes, many of them were not packed correctly.

The three guys who moved us (lifting boxes, etc.) didn't follow the labels, which is contributing to the fact that I still can't find my clothes or dishes. A kitchen box is in the downstairs schoolroom, and it took us almost 3 weeks to find the box of schoolwork with the Kid's history books in it. And one of those guys had to rest after every load, so basically I paid him the same as the others for only half the work.

Just checked the bank account and Labor Ready is putting through another charge ... without calling me first! That was the deal I made with Teresa when I hired them. She promised up one side and down the other that she would call if there were any additional charges, and yet, she didn't.

I'll never use Labor Ready again. I'm so tired of them overcharging and tacking on additional charges weeks afterwards.

Now I need to find a handyman to help build the barn and chicken coop, and put up the fencing. Oh, and dig holes for the trees.

All Moved In. Whew!

Finally, here it is Saturday evening and we finally have our phone, modem and internet hooked up. We did the biggest move on Wednesday with 2 guys I found to do the packing and moving with a hired U-Haul (uggh) and our 5x8 trailer. They did a great job, except in their haste to pack, well, I can't find the onions or potatoes!

We spent our first night here on Wednesday, and didn't sleep well that night. Very dark out here in the country, and extremely quiet. Every once in a while we could hear the turkeys next door, or my Kid's radio when it went to a loud commercial. Then at 2:30 a.m., a shower radio went off so we dug into the boxes to find it and take out the batteries. Up by 3:45 for Hubby to take his shower, then he realized we still had another hour before we needed to leave, so we went back to bed for 30 minutes. Got the Kid up, grabbed breakfast and headed into Denver to take Hubby to work.

The Kid and I went over to the apartment to meet those same 2 guys. We moved (using our 5x8 trailer) most of the rest of the stuff, mostly from the garage like plants and planks of wood. We were ready for our second trip to the house by the time Hubby got off from work so we headed back to the house. Unloaded, paid the guys and sent them on their way. Unhooked the trailer and visited a feed store to pick up some food for our rabbit. Visited a local steak house (local: 30 minutes from house!). Crashed again. No TV. No internet. Peace and quiet and darkness.

Hubby went into work on Friday by himself while the Kid and I slept in. A whopping 8:45 a.m. Got ready for the day, and went into town since the Kid was out of goat yogurt, and we needed a few other things. Home and I crashed until Hubby got home quite late (stopped by apartment to do something first). Crashed again. No TV. No internet. Slept much better this time although I'm in severe pain.

That brings us to today. Up by around 8:30 again. Ate, took care of the critters (quail and rabbit) and headed to the apartment .... that hour long drive. We met mom-in-law, ate brunch with her, then spent the next 4 hours cleaning that apartment from top to bottom. That refrigerator has never been this clean! We took lots of pictures with the Kid holding up today's newspaper, in various poses throughout the apartment. After each pic, I looked at it and glad I did. Found a box of rice-mac-and-cheese on a top shelf that would have been left behind. Oh no!

Now we're home. After unloaded the car for one last time, I took some pain killers and rested while Hubby found the box with the modem and phone, and hooked them up. Yahoo! Internet! Tomorrow, maybe we'll have TV too. Plus, we want to go to town (very small .... one street-light and a Wal-Mart) and check out a farm store that's having a sale on fencing.

Warning: If someone needs to be close to convenient stores, fast food franchises, or a grocery store, country living is NOT for you. Find some land closer to the city, but check livestock regulations first. See... I'm pretty much a hermit and can be good not being around lots of people or going to a store for a week or two or 6 at a time.

Packing Going Slow

I was up at 6 a.m. this morning to start packing, and by 6:45 threw my back out. Getting ever so much done. Not.

And the helper/packer I got today isn't what, rather who, I expected. Not very happy.

Hubby and the Kid are taking a load of mostly plants to the house, move the painting stuff out of the living room so we can get boxes and furniture in there tomorrow, remove the radon re-test kit that's been running since Saturday, and a few other things. He was going to go to the feed store to get a few things we need, like more food for our rabbit, but since I'm uncomfortable being alone with this packer, he's coming right home.

I think what's going to happen is maybe the kitchen will be done today. The movers will be here tomorrow and will take everything that's in a box plus furniture. Then if there's anything leftover, maybe I'll come back with a different helper and a bigger trailer on Thursday to get the rest. Still need to come back on weekend to clean.

Why hasn't teleportation been invented yet?

Homesteading When You R Old

Thanks, GRITS for the comment on Saturday's posting. I thought about how I'd take care of the homestead once I get older, and if Hubby and/or the Kid aren't around to contribute. We're just a little over 2 acres, but gave it thought.

Just as a reminder, the house and workshop (and soon, barn), separate the front acre from the back. The front acre, which includes the driveway, will be planted with perennials: fruit and nut trees and bushes, including blackberry brambles, holly bushes and bayberry bushes. Part of the back acre will have a few perennials, like everbearing strawberries, herbs, rhubarb, asparagas, etc. All of these perennials will take SOME work, but not as much as an annual garden. That's the way we planned it... lots of perennials!

I guess if I get too old and decrepit to put in an annual vegetable garden and take care of my goats, quail, rabbits and chickens, maybe there will be a neighbor kid who will help. Or I'll have grandkids. Or ....

You know... I think I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Meanwhile, we move tomorrow and Wednesday, and might not have internet until Thursday or Friday. Fun fun.

Recuperation? Who has time?

I admit it... I didn't get a lot done on Friday. Mostly took lots of pain pills and organized the next phase of the move. But today, we loaded up our little 5x8 trailer and took lots of freezer/refrigerator food in the Bronco and headed to our house. Our mail lady had placed the key for our mail box in a bag on our front door. After we unloaded the food and placed it all where it needed to go, we ate "linner" (lunch/dinner) and finished unloading the trailer. We also moved some boxes that had been put in the garage, right where we plan to place the chest freezer, and the cages for the quail and rabbit.

By this time, we headed out, stopping first at the mail place to check it out, and found it also serves as a community bulletin board with advertisements for pet setting (including goats, chickens and pigs!) to alfalfa hay and much more. Good to know.

We don't plan to go tomorrow (Sunday) as I can't move again. We will do some packing over the next few days. I have help coming Tuesday, and Wednesday is the big move. Nothing left here at the apartment but cleaning supplies. I hope!

It's almost inconceivable that this is our last move. It hit us during the drive back today. I can finally unpack the figurines I've been moving around in boxes since 1981. We can put out our hurricane lamps, and unpack every single book.... and organize them! (This is a very big deal since we have well over a couple of thousand books.)

We still have most of the painting to do, but we'll do it as we go along. The Kid's temporary room will be right next to ours. We need to paint his actual room in the basement and install doorknobs on the doors. His bed is already on the floor in that room (a double because he's getting so tall, he doesn't fit on the bed he has now!).

We also decided to put the bunkbed/futon in the room next to his because I'm prone to migraines. We need a futon mattress tho. It will be nice to have a futon in a room with no windows so I can lay there and take a nap, while waiting for migraine meds to work their magic. The other half of the room will be full of boxes as it will be basically a storeroom. But again, once we realized that we'll actually be able to unpack our millions of boxes (ok, exaggeration), we won't need to store as much. Mostly paperwork, baby things, etc.

I dreamed about our goat barn last night. We have a dog run in the back of our house that we plan to divide in half and use the back half (away from the house) as the goat pen. Have some planning to do. But first we need to decide on fencing for the property. No, first, I need to order the fruit and nut trees and bushes, etc. Ah! So much to do, but it's very exciting.

Ow. Ow. Ow.

Tuesday I met 2 temporary workers there to get some painting done. And even tho I'm not supposed to raise my arms, I felt so guilty watching them work so I did some too. After 4 1/2 hours, working a few minutes at a time with long breaks in between, we quit for the day.

The kitchen got a complete coat of KILZ on it (like a primer) and a partial coat of the right color, and most of the dining room done. That's Tuesday.

I could barely move by the time we drove the hour-plus home.

Hubby had Wednesday off, but I had hired those same temp workers to come back to the new house at 7 a.m. so the Kid and I were up and out of the house by 5:45 a.m. Hubby hung back so he could pick up the U-Haul at 7 and meet his temp workers (movers) at 8:00. The Kid and I helped paint a little but my two temps did most of it. By the time we had finished for the day, the dining room was 100% done, the living room and foyer were 90% done, and the kitchen was about the same, except behind the fridge. We finished that part completely early in the day.

The refrigerator was supposed to be delivered at 10:30. I called them at 11:30 and they said it would be another couple of hours. Hubby got there with the full truck (from our storage units only) and had it unloaded (I directed) and was on the way back to return it and the workers before the fridge arrived at 3:30. At least the paint was dry behind the fridge! Unfortunately we couldn't find the valve for the water for the ice maker/water dispenser so... another task to handle. Later.

Hubby was tired and sore from all the moving but he's better today except for a bit of twinge in his lower back. The Kid, while he helped some, spent most of the day at the back neighbors with the chickens, turkeys and goats. I, however, can barely move today. I can't stand to have people do work for me and not contribute but I'm paying for it... both physically and literally. I have problems with gripping with my hands anyway, and now that I've held a paint roller and brushes in them, I can barely type, and my hands keep cramping up. I squatted to get some lower areas on the wall so my legs refused to move, and don't get me started about my shoulders and back.

But... I have chores and laundry to do. I brought home enough paint on my socks and clothing to open a store. I finally got the droplets off my glasses and out of my hair.

Ok. I'll admit. I am NOT a painter.

Give me a couple of days to recuperate, then I'll be back online. My hands are cramping as I type and I need to soak them in between catching up on chores.

Ugh. And packing. Ugh.

Pix of current colors of new home

Bellen, a reader, wondered about how the owners decorated with those odd wall colors, so here's a few pictures that I snapped during the inspection on Jan 26...

Here's the brown bedroom... almost brass-colored. Won't do at all with our bedroom set. Couldn't believe they also painted all the light fixtures, face plates, etc. the same color. Ever heard of tape?

Unfortunately, they did that throughout the entire house. I'm gonna have to find something to strip the paint off, or just buy new face plates.


Ok.. the pix are in no specific order! Here's a pic of the room they used as a schoolroom, and since they kept that wall painted as a blackboard (there's a special paint), then we will too. It has a closet and shelves, but that orange paint is gonna go! The pic doesn't do the color justice. Picture an orange... orange.

I've always hated the feeling/texture of chalk but that would be a good place for the Kid to do math problems or keep track of reading, or etc. We'll see.

Here's the living room. Again, the camera didn't do the colors justice. The walls are mauve, and those vertical stripes are a burnt-purple color. I guess how they decorated makes sense but not for us. I'm repainting a light beige. Will go with our furniture and accessories, plus some paintings we recently acquired.

Actually, we're thinking about using this room as our dining room and sitting area, and the dining room (with the fireplace) as a den. The dining room now den will be painted the same color (that pic is further down). There's a family room downstairs so.... yeah, it should work.

Here's just the ceiling part of the kitchen. Except for a little white on the actual ceiling, the rest of the kitchen is painted that very dark green. It works with the backsplash and the marble countertops, but that dark avocado green makes the entire kitchen seem tiny and cramped. Which it's not. There's an entire wall that is nothing but wall, and it's this color.

This will be the first room I paint. Or at least get started on.

Here's the room in the basement that my Kid wants as his own. They used it as a play room. Yeah, we're gonna be painting it. He wants it to be dark forest-green, but I put a quick stop to that. I'm gonna paint it a very very light green, and give him a small can of forest green that he can add accents with.


This next pic is the inside of the closet that's in that yellow room. Note that the shelves on the right are painted yellow and pink, alternating. Same with the shelves on the left that I couldn't get in the pic. I'm painting the whole closet the same light green that I'll do the room in.

They took most of the curtain rods from the house. Odd thing to take, isn't it?

Here's the half-bath upstairs. Can barely tell the green color here but it's an ever-so-slightly lighter color than the kitchen's dark avocado. That's going to be the same beige as in the living room, dining room (below) and hallway.

At least they left some of the fixtures in this room. They are nice.

Oh poo. Just realized the mirror got my big ole me in the pic. Oh well.

And here's the dining room that we'll use as a den. It's a lighter color of mauve but the picture doesn't do it justice. Again. It goes well with the fireplace, but so could so many other lighter colors!

I took a sample from all sets of my dishes and none of them match this color, so it's going to be painted over with that light beige that will go in the half bath, living room, and hallway. Oh, and kitchen.

Geez. That's a lot of paint. Especially since I'll need some gallons of "kill" to apply on the really dark walls before I can paint my lighter colors.

We still have other things to do, repairs to make to drywall where they ripped things off the walls without a care for us. The half-bath's sink has a pipe that is fixed with electrical tape so Hubby needs to do that. And we still have some "slide-locks" to make the house more "ours". You know?

Can barely contain myself as it's time to get started on getting sand, er, soil, ready to be planted. Since it's mostly sand, it'll take a year or so before we grow as much as we plant, but we can do it. Meanwhile, we're planning on lots of sunflowers because their roots really push down far to aerate the soil. Perhaps once we have the fencing up and the animals to let lose, they can start "earning their keep"!!

I can't seem to get the spacing right on these paragraphs and pictures. One of the downfalls of using blogger (sometimes). Anyway... that's it! Lots of work to do. Now I need to call to arrange for painting help. Any volunteers?!?! JK.

Day 3 in our new home

We got a late start to the house yesterday. We were all aching from Saturday so moved a little slowly but still... we were packing up the trailer by 9:30 and on our way to mom-in-law's house to pick her up by 10:20. At the house by 11:45 and started unloading. I got more stuff in the pantry, some dishes in the cabinets, and MIL helped me pick out colors to paint the walls while Hubby worked on changing the garage door key codes (finally done) and the front door locks (previous owner had really screwed it up).

I'm not going today. Hubby has to work, and I have to work on the Kid's schoolwork. But I'll try to pick up some cans of paint so I can drive up and paint tomorrow. And believe me.. it needs it! Here's what we were left with:
-master suite: dark brown walls
-other bdrm suite: light blue walls but closet and bathroom painted deep/bright purple!
-upstairs half bath: puke green
-kitchen: DArk avocado green
-dining room: mauve and brown
-living room: mauve, brown and purple
-school room: bright orange
-Kid's basement bedroom: pink, purple, blue, green, yellow

Yep. I need to get some paint on those walls pretty quickly. I had nightmares last night about the purple in that one bedroom suite. If that happens after just glancing at it a few times yesterday, can you imagine how it will be when we're living there full time!

Plus the fridge will be delivered Wednesday. I want to at least paint where it will be placed so we won't need to move it once installed. I won't be able to get a lot painted because I can't really move my arm above shoulder-height but I can get a start, right?

I have some plastic walk-way squares that I used at our last house to walk through the garden. I need to install them as quick as possible at our new house because we're tracking in so much sand and rocks. There's no sidewalk or anything paved so it's straight from the sandy driveway to the front door across gravel and sand. If I just knew where they were!!!

Hmmm... maybe I'll make some bread today. And some crockpot soup. It's very cold and snowy. Yep, that sounds like a good dinner.

Have a great day, all! V

Day Two in new home

Boy I'm tired. The alarm went off at 6:30 so that we could get up, eat breakfast, load up my car and be gone by 7:30. We needed to be at the house by 8:30 to prepare for the seller's "buddy" at 9:00. We were there. He never showed. And since I had to drive my very old car which did NOT enjoy the drive, we couldn't take more than 2 boxes of food in the car, and no trailer. We arranged food in the pantry, emptied my car's trunk, and sat in the living room to enjoy the view. And dagnabit, I just realized, I should have taken a picture. Maybe tomorrow.

So this "buddy" has lost his window of opportunity to grab the drywall that the seller promised. It's ok. The seller also left behind a big pile of trash that we're going to have to pay to have removed, and that empty propane tank. We'll find a use for the drywall... believe me!

We still haven't changed the locks so the electric is disabled for the garages (for the keypad and automatic garage door openers). Hubby bought the correct lock replacements today (hopefully) and also some slide-bolts that can only be operated from inside. Those go up tomorrow.

On our way tomorrow, we're picking up mom-in-law since she hasn't seen the place. Hubby will work on the lock situation while I give her the tour (including the alpacas, chickens and goats at our neighbors) and put away more boxes of food and hopefully some dishes.

Did I mention that the neighbor with the goats let me hold one yesterday? How soft and sweet. I still can't get the goat snot off my sunglasses tho! And I helped feed it a bottle! We won't bottle feed ours but to each his own. They had a flock of leghorn chickens and couldn't satisfy their egg orders fast enough so upped it to 100 hens. Then the neighborhood foxes got 10 in one night, so they bought 2 dogs and now the foxes only get one every few days when a hen flies over the fence and escapes. They also have turkeys and guinea fowl. It's a mom and son operation. Now if I could just remember their names!

Speaking of animals, while Hubby and I were enjoying the view of the mountains from our living room, we heard this incredible braying. That verb - braying - gives you a clue, right? Across the street, next to the house with the alpacas, they have quite a managerie of critters... ducks, geese, donkeys, goats, and the required dogs. (There are lots of foxes and coyote in the area.) Can't wait to meet them! The neighbors, not the foxes and coyote!

Guess that's it for now.