The Bahn doah is done! ayah.

Barn is kinda done...doors anyways- and it looks awesome opossom!  I love it & our neighbor, Tucker, came over to say "hey" & tell us just how much he liked the door color!

I got the front door almost done, 1 more coat of blue to go (this color takes 3 good top coats), and front columns 1 fresh coat of white primer/paint...the difference a coat of paint can make!



July 2010 before I will admit, the green foliage adds to this pic- can't wait to see that "after" photo..!




Getting there....!  (Frannie is modeling for us....she likes the door too!)

As promised, pics of the ladies "free ranging" they got brave today and cruised around the backyard a bit!  They provided Jeff & Wayne with some entertainment while working I think!  They are scratching around, seaching under the fall leaves & having a blast, we both feel happy they have a better life than being trapped in their run...so far so good... (we have 6, one was roaming & the other laying when I snapped this shot...)



Soap Box...

Scott & I found this quick blurb about the new mortgage rules interesting....
(click to listen): (its only 3 min) ...Morning Edition (NPR), New Mortgage Rules

One extreme to the other...first we'll give you all kinds of money for a property that doesn't have "real value", for no risk on your behalf, & THEN we'll make it virtually impossible for you to buy a home because you can't save enough money due to the expense of inflating prices in every aspect of your life... Really, how many people can save 40-45,000 for a 20% down payment?  If you're poor, they'll help you w/ government programs, which is great, and an incentive .... but what about the "middle class" work hard, get screwed.

I didn't personally think making it any harder to acquire a mortgage would be possible....I was wrong.  How does this help the market/economy improve?
As they say with everything, moderation.

Getting off my soap box now.

A dedication to Sarah....

My sister Sarah surprised us with a fabulous gift a few weeks ago!  She presented it to me a most confusing fashion however...."We bought you a gift, but as I was getting ready to come see you I had the realization , I'm not sure you need it at all!"   My thought, at that point was there is nothing we cannot use/need....what in the world could it be...?!

I opened the gift and immediately began squealing, as few things actually make me do!  It was this fabulous envelope shaped mailbox!  Which I actually had been eyeing and daydreaming about in Pottery Barn catalog!  Now, Sarah's hesitation was correct, as she recalled we had installed a mailbox at the road, which was required by our mail delivery person, as I believe they are slowly changing over all homes as sold to roadside delivery (too bad, something so charming about a walking post person)...but I had also loved the look of having a box on the house, and found it nice if someone needed to leave us something or vice versa ....so had been eyeing this type of thing as a long off desire to put one back on the house....

YAY!  Great gift Sarah (& Sam)! We love it!  After much deliberation between Randy, Scott & I about just "where" the mailbox should live...we finally all concluded...."Randy, could you hold it there one more time, so I can walk out to the road and look at it"- lol!





Please feel free to deposit checks and gifts of any type in this box.....lol!

I was also inspired by Sarah & Sam's house number sign...I have been admiring it for quite some time now, and decided to attempt to craft one ourselves.  Sam's Dad made theirs, and I thought we could give it a whirl too.... we bought some fairly inexpensive numbers at the hardware store that are projected, and mounted them to a piece of wood that we might have found at Pete's shop :) after sealing it w/ some spar varnish Scott had hanging around from his fly fishing rod making "stuff"....

I think it was a success, (I have to admit, I came with the idea & sealed the wood....Scott was responsible for the rest!), I think it has a Craftsman kind of look, which I'm a huge fan of...

"Randy, can you move it up one more clapboard and over an inch, then let me walk out to the road & see if that looks better...." (what the neighbors must think of us...really!?)

Ta da.....

Mailbox & "64"... (don't look at the horrible trim paint!  It's next on the list after the barn!)



 A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost.  ~Marion C. Garretty

The barn gets a facelift!

The barn began its transformation today....after a couple days of pressure washing, scraping and sanding I believe the doors and trim were ready for primer and some color....taking advantage of the warm mid day temps, I hurriedly got some painting done.  We are anxious to have at least the front of the barn done, to compliment the rest of the almost complete siding! :)  We are also being rushed by the non-paint comprehending folks at the lending institution which we are attempting to refinance with! (don't let me get into it please for all our sanity!)

I used an interesting product I read a bit about for a primer, seemed to have many excellent reviews...like anything good, not cheap...but hopefully long lasting! XIM Peel Bond, the stuff looks and goes on like paste, and is clear...a bizarre animal...but seemed to set up well & quickly which was key w/ temps....I got it mostly for the barn door, but there are some other areas we'll put it to use on...


The barn to start...July 2010



Starting today...actually 1 coat of primer is on door, but because its clear, you cannot see it....

 Scott, the barn, not my butt is what I asked you to take a picture of!

 I know it looks turquoise, (which ironically matches the chicken coop!) but when complete (2-3 more coats) it will be dark navy blue, California Paint's "C2 Moby Dick"...note the trim is painted around the doors now, and the left side corner board...tomorrow calls for mid 40's again...painting here I come!

A washing we will do!

I am currently drying my second load of laundry!  We FINALLY got our dryer vented today! EVERY appliance now works in the house! YAY! The electrician is completely done!  What an awesome thing for all of us to celebrate!

Here's Frannie trying to help! (I did ask her what she was going to help with this morning...while we were discussing the day.) First, she helped with excavation as she dug a hole while tied up outside...then she helped with laundry!



My Nana is really good at laundry, I think it's in the genes!  First you have to sort it.....(& chew it!)




This time I'm just looking for the ice cube you gave me to play with...I put it in here SOMEWHERE?!



& proof that a $1.20 new toy & a big sister can keep me busy for AGES!

6 new residents!

BIG NEWS TODAY!  We have 6 new residents...The chickens arrived at 64 High Street! (pics to come tomorrow!)
 The coop came along on Doug's trailer (thank you!) & our ever faithful friend Randy (God bless you! So glad you work for beer & food!) helped get the ladies over here-safely! (Taylor too, thanks for your muscles!)
Wayne & Jeff arrived back from lunch just in time to give us a hand with landing it at its destination spot in the back yard.
After a bit of talking it over, we decided the gals are going to become free range now and not be kept in their "run".  We realize death may come to them by natural causes, but we both really enjoy seeing them cruise around the yard.  We placed their coop so we can see it out the kitchen window and it is quite fun to look out and see the girls!  This could change as we begin landscaping etc...but for now-enjoy your freedom gals!

We should all send our sympathies, as our rooster, Mr.Annoying Pants (as Madelyn had named him) has left for chicken heaven.  He was just a bit too noisy & rowdy for the High St neighborhood....
Scott is really getting out numbered now ME + 2 FEMALE DOGS + 6 HENS vs. 1 SCOTT! poor thing!

Sadie, hanging out with Lady Madonna, so cool to have a bird dog, that knows not to eat the other pets!

Freak OUT!

Okay, so this might have been the identical image of me the last 4 days...after I wiped that as my father called it, "the black stuff off your forehead" (that'd be mascara Dad from hysterically crying!)

Our lending appraisal came in ridiculously low, $50K less than our "real estate assessment"...and there seems to be a huge discrepancy between what is a bedroom, and what is NOT a bedroom, and how many we have...in the appraisal's opinion. 
I am sure we will get past this, but till then, I look a lot like the crazy above on a regular basis....God give Scott strength!

Came across many interesting articles about this issue in today's current market:
One of the articles

My dog ate my homework!

I feel like a kid who is late on turning in a school project...'course this would not have been me as a kid, Type A folks don't operate that way!
Anyways...here are some delayed updates:



Okay, don't look too close, but wow...it's looking good!  The guys are actually on the last side in the back of the house as of today! (well...once the correct siding actually arrived...ah, the "64 High St show" something exciting everyday!

This is a pic from a few days ago...they are all done this side part and are now on the kitchen gable end (on far right in this pic)

We finally got to use the washer...and wow- was Frannie psyched!  "What is this thing Mama?"  (anything to entertain her.....for even a moment is helpful!) 





We snagged these 2 great chairs from Craig's List...stumbled upon them while searching for a full size boxspring...they were available at the Captain Fairfield Inn, in Kennebunkport which apprarently was changing its decor...we snagged 2 chairs (which we LOVE & are the perfect blue to balance the orange walls, & a great size & just different enough from each other, but the same to make a pair...),we also got a great floor lamp for Scott's library & a table for between the chairs...$185 total! (I guess the "negotiating" runs in my family...'cause they wanted $200 just for the 2 chairs!  Mom, I don't think they would have taken a quarter...)   :)-

new floor lamp...



the details....

It's funny, since we've been in the house, the projects are smaller, and, so much less to create a post about. I hardly find scrubbing the baseboard radiators to remove the plaster mess left behind, or trying to find in the barn (a.k.a wood workshop/salvage storage) the pieces of radiator gone MIA a fascinating blog post! :)
However, these are the details we are down to, and the ones making an amazing difference to having the house feel "finished". (but do not expect a "before & after" series of this event!) lol!

I did finally tackle 1 of our 2 closets...that being it was storing our paint/tools, shop vac, etc....we had hid in it, time has come to make it into a clothes closet, so emptied it got, and painting began....our clothes are temporarily in the guest room hanging everywhere....I said my mother would call this a "gyp joint"!! (no offense to the gypsys out there, this is an term I grew up hearing and until I said it out loud to Scott yesterday I never thought of its orgin!) 

We're taking a break today to for a bit of fun & food & education to head up to Portland with Doug to the Maine Restaurant & Lodging Expo should be fun!  Doug promises we can "eat our way thru the expo!"

Dining in!

We had committed to a dinner party last week, which then seemed like a great idea.  Then, after feeling sick on Sunday & having a hectic day on Monday, it was the last thing I wanted to do!

However, we scrambled a bit in the couple hours before guests arrived, and got the house "pulled together" a bit more- much needed, so it prompted that, which was a bonus!  & when everyone arrived, it was so fun & wonderful to have good friends & family share our new home, and listen to all the praise on the success of our hard work, I immediately felt pleased everyone was there! 

We sat at our dining table for the very first time, & it proved to be perfect!  Scott made us a wonderful meal, which Nancy declared was, "better than going to a restaurant"! We enjoyed potato leek kale soup, then our entree was a moose &/or beef roast which Scott marinated 2 days before and slow cooked all day, root vegetables, and his almost famous (& Doug & my favorite!) twice baked potatoes!

Scott is really enjoying our new range/oven and having a large, functional cooking space....(still a challenge sometimes to find everything in the drawers, but that will come!)

I had to snap this shot, it was like walking into a commercial kitchen watching Scott plate up 6 meals! (his twice baked potatoes are featured here!) & of course our colorful fiesta ware make every meal beautiful!

Yesterday morning, I was feeling a bit better (struggled w/ a horrible sore throat on Sunday....how a sore throat can take me down like nothing else!- it is always my "Achilles heel"!)

So Mon a.m, going to tackle some of these "to dos" on our house list....first, for the last few days there is 1.5-3" of standing water in our new part of basement...(we have a busy sump pump in our old part of basement, but new part needs its own due to design).  Off to Biddeford, we hit Home Depot (thinking, we'll go to a big box store for this investment, and save some money & have more options....) Well, options we had & hadn't - seems like a lot of folks must have wet basements as many models were sold out. We finally selected what we thought seemed the best available option and headed home. 

We arrived home, quickly opened box, ready to get this show on the road...and it seems our NEW sump pump was someone ELSE's first!  Yes, instruction manual folded open to page 3, w/water stains on it, no bags or packing material, and as we pulled pump out sand fell out of it....(a lot!)
We were frustrated & fuming...but we NEED a pump!  & Biddeford is about 20 min away!  UGH!  We decide to get as much sand out as we can & see if we can use it for a day at least, then bring it back- we set it up, plug it in....nada! (It all became very clear- they bought it, used it, broke it, repackaged it & returned it), then someone processed it & put it back on the shelf for us to buy!

I returned to HD w/ rage in my eyes both at man kind & at the lack of quality control in this store!  When the poor customer service employee asked me, "what do we have," boy did he get an answer!
Of course to complicate the situation, there is no more of this particular pump available -sold out!  Great, 'cause it took us 30 minutes to pick it out the first time!

Two employees scrambling, and I fuming pickout a new pump....which now needed 2 pkgs of 25'lengths of flexible hose, and 2 small parts to connect hoses together....excellent- more complicated! :)
They give me $50 off, which worked out as this pump was less expensive & to make up for now buying flexible hose which I did not need w/first pump! ("time & gas is expensive we understand." - I will say they handled the mad customer very well, including accepting responsibility & apologizing for having it on the shelf to begin with)

Got home, assembled with my small bit of patience (assembling is not one of my strong skills) and successfully got this thing running....hose out the basement window- and away from house. About 2 hours later, something in my brain clicked & I realized gravity was allowing the back flow of water from the hose back into the hole and causing the pump to run all too often- (almost immediately trigger the float), so pulled the hose BACK into the basement thru the window, and ran it at the slightest downward pitch which exists into the old basement into the pump hole over there....finally BETTER! not running quite as much & no more back flow it seemed. (I'm not convinced this battle w/ the water is over.)

Now that 3/4 of the day had been used up on project #1....it was time to hurry up & clean up- as we were having our first "official dinner party" at #64! (I believe I may have sat in the corner for just a minute & rocked in the fetal position) :)

Meet Frannie!

Everyone meet Frannie:

Hello!

My adorable droopy ears get wet when I eat & drink! (I'll grow into my bowl one day!)

Scott is in love, quite obviously.....& Frannie looks pretty pleased too!

I love sleeping with my big sister, Sadie, she is being wonderful with me, but I have learned to stay away from her food when she is eating! 

We're in!

 Well we're in!  I'm exhausted & Scott & I have had more temper tantrums than we perhaps had in the last 6 months total in the last 4 days!  Today I spent a half hour on the phone getting tech support, a trip to the devil's workshop (WalMart), and then 3.5 hours on the phone again w/ folks which english is not their first language we'll say...and finally after thinking I totally messed up Scott's computer BIG TIME- we have all systems a go- and wireless internet! OMG how can something so small be so hard!


Scott has been feeling the pain of "hanging things up" Oh, I remember when I thought painting was fun...(yeah, on the first room!) how quickly that dies!  Well, as I mentioned in a previous post, he was all anxious to get things "up on the walls"....now he dreads everytime I say, "can you help me for a minute"...(he knows what's coming!)  (fyi...real plaster walls are an animal all their own - as we've learned- and a simple nail does not go into them....there is an art to hanging things in this house!

Our first night was a bit rough- our friends Randy & Kristen joined us for some pizza as our oven was still not operable....we had fun- a bit too much fun maybe (due to that champagne Kristen was so kind to bring over), we both spent Monday moving around a bit slowly till noon...I went to yoga at 8:30 & was a bit in a fog deciding which was my left & right foot at times! :) our mattress was hard as a rock, "firm" I guess you could call it....so we improved on 2nd night, by "drying out" and adding our LLBean feather bed on top of the mattress....ahhh, much better!

The electricians just left now, after 2 very busy days, we almost have everything working in the house...a few outlets & dryer/washer still to go- we're getting there.....for sure!  We no longer have extension cords to trip on in the middle of the night! Thank God!

I'll post a lot more in the next week or so, sorry to all who have been missing my foolish posts- lack of internet and making the most of every moment has been critical- but I will make up for it all pics too- promise! 

Oh my what a busy, busy day!

We knew we intended to tile the backsplash between the island counter tops, and behind the range.  I spent countless hours looking at tile, both online & in person...for months now!  I (as commonly happens to me) got paralyzed by too many choices & my anxiety about making "just the right choice"....in the end, I just finally drove to Home Depot and made myself choose something! 

Day 1...."the planning"



Scott & our friend, Randy, who helped throughout this entire process- (Thank you Randy!), and my Dad...supervising the very early planning stages.




Scheming the layout for the island tile.  These tiles I bought are on mesh backing, so they come in a particular pattern, but there is room for creative genius as well! 



Day 2...The Real Deal

 before any tile

 on goes the thin-set

 first tile is up!

 & off they go a tilin'!

 Scott was self proclaimed, "Randy's helper"...they both worked tirelessly for 9 hours!  Food & beer helped! :) (I was in charge of that, if I've learned anything over the years...if you want the men to keep "working" gotta feed 'em!)

 Complete....(minus the grout!) we love it!!

Note: Work started at 10am...by 10:15 Sadie was tucked under Randy's jacket...fast asleep,
where she resided most of the day! LOL!

 Behind range area...before

before tiling could start in this area, there was a wire that needed to be "fished" up to a higher hole inside range hood...seemed simple enough in the "planning" day 1 stage...however, when the guys went to do it, they quickly realized the thorough job that Up-Country did "blocking" the wall to support the range hood led to a very nearly impossible fishing experience (kind of like ice fishing for those that are familiar!) :)

So in the end, the hood needed to be removed & Scott had to stick his monkey hand inside the big vent hole and grab the lower wire... (thanks Jeff for the help!)

 After replacing the hood, tiling began, thin-set on...

& more, & more....

Like frosting a cake!

Here Scott is setting the first of our "accent strip"....this was an after thought of Scott's, when he realized we would have "extra tiles" from the island project....we all agree this was an awesome addition, & ties the 2 spaces together nicely.

 Any excuse for Scott to stand on the counter, he finds it! :)

 ta da...complete....(excluding grout)

We are thrilled with the results, the blues/greens soften the orange down just a bit, and add a level of character to an already awesome kitchen!  We also are please Randy was kind enough to help us for a long day, it is such an honor & pleasure to have so many talented hands & minds of those we love involved in our project!

Back to work, work for a few days....

Oh! 1 more addition to the kitchen: (this one's for you Doug!)

 This is the original sign on the outside of the building for the first 25yrs of business...it had since been retired & was hanging inside the SD barn on the employee side....we thought we'd give it an honorable spot on our kitchen wall- I love this sign, the wear and age it shows....and all that it stands for.