Saturday, September 5, 2015

A Few Move-In Photos

A quite important piece of furniture is in place. It's been years since it had a front-and-center location in the home.
The cluttered table is not bolted down yet (top to legs), but it's been eaten on!
The red couches make life comfy in the evenings. Don't notice the crumbly drywall dust and mess that still muck up many surfaces in the rooms.
The kitchen's looking homey and is getting lots of use at last.
The house had an old stove and old refrigerator, but they both work fine enough for us. I don't believe in throwing big appliances into the dump if they still work.
Adam installed a new ceiling fan in our room Wednesday, and that makes for lovely sleeping!
This light fixture came from Julia's ceiling. She'll get a ceiling fan too, and this lovely piece will go into the kitchen. I LOVE this style -- simple like a pill-box hat.
When the contractor moved the A/C return vent into a kitchen cabinet, he left me a narrowish space perfect for my cookie sheets and pizza pans. Lovely!
It's now Friday morning. Adam came back in from raking and piling grass cuttings from the pasture, and putting it around his beehives to keep down weeds there. It's 8:30 AM. He's a morning bird, always has been. He's eager to get this property up and viable -- he views it as unemployment insurance :) Those of you who've done farming in the past may giggle at that. But a man must have a dream and a hope and a plan, and it's nice to watch. He loves his pastoral work very much, but someday we will need to retire, have a place to live, and have something we can to do make a little income in our later years.
I set about cleaning the back porch this morning, dragging the nasty rugs outside, sweeping it well, wiping off surfaces, and putting in a second bookshelf for more storage. You can never have enough storage.
 Those wonderful built-in bookshelves in the office have freed up many of my other bookshelves for other purposes.
Every surface needed scrubbing, but it looks great now.
Adam installed new closers on the back and front storm doors.
 And a new handle on the back door, since the old one was broken.
 Adam's other chore today was to install a clothes line for me. I don't think I've had a clothes line since we lived in Iowa, many years ago. Our goal is to cut costs and live simply and from our land (when possible). A clothes line will slash electricity costs. It drives me crazy to dry sheets and work clothes in a dryer -- what a waste when there's good sunshine and breezes outdoors!
(Now it's Saturday afternoon and I WILL click "publish" on this post before I find any other photos to post!)
So many people seem to be pursuing this rural, simple life ... and blogging about it. I've loved finding those kindred-spirited bloggers out there. Our children, nearly grown, seem to gravitate to the urban life, but we 50-somethings are drawn to the countryside like lemmings to the sea. Here's hoping that the fall into the waves is a pleasant one!!

12 comments:

  1. How sweet to see you moved in and setting up. I love hearing about your projects and the work being done. Your house is becoming a home.

    I've used a dryer maybe 10 times our whole married life. I love hanging the laundry out and taking it down. The scent of sun/wind dried laundry is heavenly. Crawling into bed with fresh line dried sheets is so wonderful.

    Have a lovely life in your new home ~ FlowerLady

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  2. Things looking nice and homey. Glad to see you are getting a clothes line. I LOVE mine and don't even own a dryer.

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  3. At age 58 and being a widow now, I still am drawn to the rural life. Even if I have to temporarily live in town at some point, I will keep dreaming of a way to get back to the country. I'm so glad you two are achieving that dream. You've made a good beginning with your soaps, lotions and bees. I think even when our kids seem to be drawn to the excitement of the city, they will one day want to come back to a more natural life. It seems to be a cycle. I'm enjoying watching the transformation. I love your squooshy red couch! :)

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  4. I adore reading your posts and watching your sweet little farm take on a new life with you two running the show! So very happy you've found such an amazing place to grow such wonderful roots in that earthy soil!

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  5. I'd love to cycle round and help you scrub! I'm going to attack my cooker now and pray with every microgram of elbow grease that our Lord will grant you the desires of your heart x

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  6. I am looking forward to the time -- at least by next summer! -- when I can string my clothesline above something other than dusty dirt.

    So happy that you are settling down and in, and less harried, so that you can feather your nest. <3

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  7. things are coming along for you all and it's showing. Keep up the good work and rest in between………..your new home looks lovely and I'm eager to see the finished project some day.

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  8. Looks like you are all getting settled in nicely. It seems to be a lovely home. I prefer the light fixture to a fan myself.

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  9. Hi love. We have the very same pill box shaped fixture in our kitchen. Our house was built in 1949, so probably original. :) Yours too? I know your house is older, tho. Lucky!

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  10. Hi love. We have the very same pill box shaped fixture in our kitchen. Our house was built in 1949, so probably original. :) Yours too? I know your house is older, tho. Lucky!

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  11. those pill box lights are pretty but the dickens to change, especially when one is in a hurry...which is, pretty much, all the time, eh? lol
    clothes on the line...nothing better...two loads today for me.
    it's looking like home, Mary Katherine, how wonderful!

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  12. So great to see your home and already looking very lived in! You are building a lovely home! I feel exactly the same about large appliances and I always get sad when people dump things! I don't like wasting- I was doing some laminating of some pictures to help the kids put their instruments back in the right places (I spent SO much time searching for instruments put back into the wrong box!) and there was a 3rd of the laminating pouch on 4 pouches still empty which I couldn't bear so I went and thought of some vocabulary labels I might need for future music lessons to fill them out!xx

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Welcome to the farm! Please let me hear from you ~