Renovating

 

A gentle reminder from my sis-in-law . . .

"Where is the little shack in the boondocks?

It's been a few days since we heard from you."

 

To bring you up to date might take awhile so

pull up a chair and get comfortable. 

 

I had a birthday February 9th.  Ellis asked me,

"What do you want to do?

    Go to the science museum? 

           see what's on at the omni theater?

What about IKEA?  We can eat some of those Swedish meatballs?"

 

It was a snowy day with flakes the size of those paper snowflakes 

we used to make in grade school.  We hung them up everywhere to

help us remember  *it is wintertime!*

 

A day at home sounded better to me than anything else. 

"And what about that project we keep talking about?"

 

Renovating our bedroom . . .

It's been on the back burner for a few months.

Krysta and I started packing boxes of books and carting them out last fall.

We found out we are easily side tracked and that's all the farther  it  went.

Besides - we couldn't move that heavy furniture all by ourselves.

 

Here is a time line of this all consuming task that took over our lives.

Saturday -- emptied the room

Sunday -- rest and relaxation

Monday -- Ellis tore the ceiling out

Tuesday -- Hauled the boards home (car siding) 

-- parked pick-up outside bedroom

-- handed the boards in through the window one. at. a. time.

-- Ellis started putting the boards up one. at. a. time.

Wednesday -- continued putting up boards using bar clamps and other tools

to persuade them to go where they were supposed to go.

I was called on to help now and then.

I scrammed out of there when a bar clamp fell on my head,

"scrambling my brains just a wee bit" (a quote from my niece.) 

Thursday -- finished the tongue and groove car siding on the ceiling

- put foam board on the north wall

heard from our niece that company was coming our way.

We arranged to use a house next door for the company to stay in since

our house is topsy - turvy at this point in time.

Friday -- one of the nicest mid-term programs Maranatha chorus has given

at the First United Methodist Church in Austin MN.

Saturday -- Ellis took some needed rest from stress. 
He went to an auction sale.  =)

Jorgan came home from Maranatha Bible School. 
He took one look down the hall toward his bedroom and said,
"No, no! Oh no!"  We showed him to his new, temporary

bedroom -- Jeremy's old bedroom in the basement. 
He didn't even unpack . . .

just rounded up his equipment and went snow boarding.  =)

Ellis put up the wainscoting and wall board on the north wall.

Sunday --  rest and relaxation

Company came for supper.  We borrowed the house next door again
and had a wonderful time.

Monday -- SNOW  no school!  We were snowed in.  The four wheel drive
got stuck in our lane.  We escaped and drove to the neighbors where we
made breakfast for our company.  Ellis got the tractor going.
Two lanes got plowed.

Our company decided to risk bad roads
and hazardous weather
and make a break for home. 
After work we picked up a new box spring
 and mattress we found on Craig's List.  With much maneuvering
and squeaks and groans we took the old box spring and mattress out
and brought the new one in. 
For now they take up the floor space in our living room until
we are done with this project.

Ellis, Krysta and I put a coat of primer on three walls of the bedroom.

Tuesday -- supper with Evan in Blooming Prairie  

knitting class

Wednesday --  dinner out in Rochester

Thursday --  would you believe it? 
We have another snow day with no school. 

We woke up to the splash of rain on the roof. 
The roads were icy.  The snow didn't start until about 1:30 P.M. 
This storm is bringing a lot of snow
and blizzard winds with gusts up to 50 mph.
We painted three walls and prayed that our
electricity would stay on so we could heat the house.

 

These days when I wake up and look around my
kitchen/dining/living room/bedroom
I think about my grandma. 
She wrote this in a writing class she took.  --

 

            Pioneering in Minnesota

 

We built a small house, sixteen feet by sixteen feet. 

We used cull rough lumber and put tar paper outside and inside.

The total cost for two windows, nails, and tar paper was $18.70.

'A tarpaper shack!' you say.  "Hey, that was a castle, that was home!"

It had a  small wood cookstove, a little wood heating stove, 
wooden orange crates for cupboards, nail kegs with a board nailed
over one end for chairs, an old small table, a crib and a bed. 
Curtains?  Yes, from the printed sacks of course. 

We were cozy, we were home!

 

I look around this airy room and know there is insulation in the walls,
wiring for electricity, pipes to bring water in and pipes to carry water out. 
There is a propane furnace in the basement to warm the house,
an electric range in the kitchen to cook our food. 
Looking all around I know it is cozy,
it is a castle - we are home!