A busy summer so far

We’ve been doing a lot of gardening between the two houses. It has been very hard to bring back the yard at 203. Pruning, digging, planting, digging, mowing, digging. You get the picture. I’ll post pics when I have a bit more done. We had some really windy days, and my rose trellis snapped. argh. I’ve sort of fixed it, but it needs totally redone, which won’t happen until the fall when I trim back the rose bush.

There’s been a lot of work as well. Dan has been doing a wiring job for the school district. I’ve been doing sewing. I’ve also repaired two chairs. Check it out!

Life has been busy with SCA meetings, SCA beledi dance and bobbin lace classes, School board stuff and the Huerfano RE-1 Schools Foundation. We are working on a mill levy overide to provide more money for our school district. In order to make it a bit more sustainable, we are setting up a foundation that can raise money any time for the schools. If you’d like to contribute, you can send a check to the Huerfano RE-1 Schools Foundation care of the Huerfano RE-1 School District, 201 E. 5th, Walsenburg, CO. 81089.

Destruction of the front yard

Or, how I spent most of my day gardening.

Today was gardening day. Or, destruction of the mess formerly known as the front yard. Yes, I had done some work previously, but the rains and lack of time means that things got away from me. The weeds were 10 inches high. So was the grass. Argh! I started working around 8am. Once I figured out the weed eater’s quirks, I began to trim around bushes and plants. I figured that it would be good to do so before Dan began to mow.

I took a break around 10am, and Dan was working on a video. Just as he started, someone began mowing. Much to our surprise, our neighbor had brought out his “bush hog” mower and was cutting our grass and weeds! It was wonderful, and considering all that we had to do, a life saver.

After lunch, Dan and I worked on making the tree out front happier. When the tree was planted, they put big rocks and gravel around it. It was Not Happy. So, we pulled all the gravel back, moved the stones and then added more dirt. It is now a much happier tree. The other one is trying to come back as well.

I worked on two side beds and a few other bits while Dan mowed most of the back yard. We are exhausted. Happy, but exhausted.

A good weekend

We spent the night on Friday! It was lovely. We hope to do this more often.windowview

Saturday I worked on various projects upstairs while Dan continued to sort through stuff in his office. He was suppose to have a meeting, but it didn’t pan out. I’m starting to actually work on projects too! I’m switching printers with Dan so that I can use the scanner and copier to make patterns for various things.

Sunday I got a lot accomplished while Dan was off working the Tannahill Weaver concert in La Veta.

I started off the morning working on the guest room. Reorganizing the closet was first. It now is home to 8 tubbies of SCA gear, holiday tubbies, and odds and ends that I just don’t know what to do with at the moment. I put a few things up on Walsenburg Freecycle too. Then I moved tubbies to our room. Photos, family papers, etc. I organized the closet to hold things a bit better.

Tackling the desk and paperwork was next. I didn’t realize how disorganized I’d gotten during the crazy “box up everything and stuff it in storage” move a year ago. I sorted papers, threw things away and filed other papers in logical spots. I wrote up minutes, and updated a few websites as well.

Last of all, I refurbished three stools that were left her. I spray painted over nasty green paint and then tung oiled the tops. I think that they will look pretty good in the studio or library.

Decorating!

It has been a while since I last posted. We’ve been busy. Between meetings, trips to Pueblo and work, we have not done as much work on the house as we would have liked. However, All the painting upstairs is done. All light fixtures, sockets and switches are repaired. Even better, we have unpacked boxes and decorated!

One of the first things that we have noticed is the lack of furniture. We have 3-4 chairs that need repaired, but the rooms are just a tad empty. It isn’t a bad thing, as it will allow us to find those gems that should go in the house. On our list are more book cases, a washer, a fridge, a mattress and box spring and a stove. We’ve been promised a stove and it may arrive this week. It’s propane, which will require a bit of reworking of the pipes, but it will be nice.

This week we have also started working on the back yard. We are organizing the trash to haul it off and our neighbor is giving us a bunch of dirt, as he is widening his driveway. 🙂 One corner of the yard will become a compost pile and oh will it be full by the end of the month.

Here are the latest pictures. Some of the rooms are sort of difficult to photograph.

My Studio!!!

I finished up putting everything in place today. PHEW! It felt so good to get everything in that room put where it needs to be. The only thing not there is my desk, which will go on the wall were the table is leaning against the wall. I won’t be moving it until we have internet at the house.

Here are the pictures. Dan needs to cut me a piece of board to mount my cutting mat on, and then I will be able to layout fabric. The first two pictures is what the area looked like before we cleaned. The last pictures are what it looks like today.

Of lumberjacks and interior decorations…

Today while I installed fixtures in the bathroom and tidied up things, Dan and Dayne cut back branches on two trees. We are due to have 60 to 80 mph winds tomorrow, and both of the trees had branches that rubbed on the house. I was sorry to have to trim them, but… it was needed.

Tomorrow while the wind blows and Dan fixes computers, I will be doing touch up work in the bathroom and begin to ready the kitchen and breakfast nook for paint! Once those rooms are painted, I can start unpacking a lot of boxes! Wheee!

Visitors!

Yesterday was cold! We got about 4-5 inches of snow, and the sun slipped in and out of the clouds all day. Yet we had a wonderful surprise. Visitors! Granted, they were rather shy and just walked around the yard, but it was great. Pics below.

It was cold in the house today, and we lit our first fire in the fireplace. It was a little smokey, but we figured we’d need to clean the fireplace. Dan finished fixing the stairs, so the trip to the basement is no longer an accident waiting to happen. The paint in the library dried, and I will need to do a second coat. The bathroom needs a second coat as well. Once that is done, and a few touch ups are made in the guest room, we will begin to move things into place. Book cases, books, and furniture. We will be moving tools into the furnace/tool room as well. The house is really looking good.

Dimensions

We were sorting through some papers this evening and I found one of the appraisals for the house which had dimensions. I realize that it is sort of difficult to understand just how big this house is from the pictures. It is 1627 sq.ft on the main level of the house.

Living room  21 x 15     Dining room 15 x 13.5     Breakfast nook 7.5 x 13

Kitchen 15.5 x 11      Guest bedroom 15 x 11     Master bedroom 13 x 15.5

Library 13 x 15.5     Bathroom 8 x 11     Hall 19 x 3

The basement is finished and divided up into a main area, laundry room and furnace room. It covers an area 34 x 30. (1020 sq.ft) There is also a detached garage (367 sqft), a small balcony off of the dining room, a covered front porch and a front balcony. (365 sq.ft.)  That’s a grand total of 3,379 sq.ft.  (314 sq meters)

This is a far cry from our wee Wendy House.

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These pictures are from 2007, but it’s what it looks like right now with the snow we had a few days ago. And yes, the pink exterior paint will be going away as well. 🙂

The cleaning continues…

Today we hit a milestone. The kitchen and breakfast nook are totally clean. Every surface from ceiling to floor and every cupboard and drawer has been cleaned. Lots of bleach, water and elbow grease. Over the next few days, we will be getting ready to sand the floors and prep the rooms for painting. All of the rooms are getting new paint. Especially the bathroom. I like lime green, but in the bathroom, I feel overwhelmed.

Here are some pictures to show you what we’ve been doing. I should have taken some “before” pics, but… I was too busy cleaning. The dining room minus about half the stuff on the floor is the best example.

I will be posting more pics as we refurbish the house. The dining room will become my sewing area. Dan will have office and workspaces downstairs. We have a ton of books to put in the library. We are looking forward to returning the house to more of it’s 1936 glory. Our big challenges at the moment are paint and fixtures. We are looking for Mission style switch plates and lighting. Some of the rooms have what I think of as the ‘boob lights’ from Home Depot. You know, the dome lights… sigh. I’m hoping we find the old lights downstairs. If not, we will do our best to figure out how to replace the three domes.

We’ve decided to paint all of the rooms a cream color. Sort of a hint of wheat/gold. The bathroom will have an olive/forest green highlight. We haven’t found a color to work with the tiles in the kitchen and breakfast nook. We’ve tried green and blue, but they don’t work. Next time we head to Pueblo, we will be looking at the tans. We are trying to keep in that Mission/Arts & Crafts style color pallet. The kitchen inner cupboard on the one side was yellow. John and Beth decided to match it, but it is just too much. The original paint on most of the kitchen was white. We found this out when we were scrubbing shelves.

We will be touching up the woodwork with a matching stain. Eventually, we may have to replace doors, but we are trying to hold off on that. As it is, six of the kitchen cabinet doors need replaced as well as four drawer fronts.

Once we are moved in, I will be making curtains or modifying the ones that I have to fit the rooms. Some of the curtains I made 12-14 years ago are still viable, and they will go back up as well. Once again, that historical color pallet will be put into play.

Twas a Dark and Dreary Day

Yesterday was cold! Wet! Rainy! Even Penny, my nephew’s dog didn’t want to go out.

Penny

We put our work on emptying the storage locker on hold. Instead, we got soaked while we picked the last of the tomatoes. Had to toss almost as many immature tomatoes as we picked that were viable. Probably close to 12 pounds worth of regular and cherry tomatoes combined. Now my kitchen is festooned in green globes. 🙂 We picked bell peppers and pulled onions as well. Kale is all that is left in the side garden and onions and leeks in the back.

This last week has been busy. I took Mom to Littleton to visit my sister on Wednesday. Friday I went to Golden for a two day CASB conference. It was really good. Saturday afternoon, I drove home and we attended the Spanish Peaks Legends Gala that night. Fancy clothes, good food and awards to people in the community who have made Huerfano County Great. Sunday we had the big post festival meeting. That actually went pretty well.

And the school district has been trying to get back on it’s feet. We have a dispute to deal with, and our executive secretary is just back to work. It’s been really rough on her.

Today we are hauling more stuff in from the storage unit. Wheee! My desk!!! I’ll be squeezing it into our bedroom. We will be moving other furniture and boxes as well.

Mom comes home on Saturday. 🙂 I hope to have all the reorganizing done by then. (mad cackling….)