3 Years and Thankful Still

Three years ago God answered prayer in more ways than I can even begin to describe - our move from Merrimack to Temple happened with so many things that were absolutely God's hand moving on our behalf and blessings poured out. I think the tag link for 'moving' will take you to posts relating to all the things that went on.

This was what we bought on March 15, 2013

This is now (well not really now - as this was a summer photo)

Other than the trauma that is small town politics (town meeting!) we are still in love with this place that God has so graciously provided for us.  This is truly our HOME in a way that we never felt in Merrimack.  The kids love it, we love it, the animals all love it.  It's simply marvelous.

When we have people come here - generally everyone comments on what an amazing spot we have tucked away and hidden from view.  It's wonderful and we are truly thankful for God's gifts.

Blessings on the journey~

Random Brain Ramblings

I haven't posted much of late as I've been sort of in a low spot in many ways and have had trouble pulling my brain out of the fog for more than is required for just general life a lot of the time.
We've had a very long stretch of cycling snow storms and freezing cold temperatures and that has caused it's own issues as well as creating a certain amount of drab feelings and cabin fever alternatingly (is that really a word?).

We've had frozen heat pipes, a giant frost heave just outside the garage door, the chicken coop is at a definite angle - probably also due to frost heaves, we've had ice dams and leaking into the house, and as of yesterday, a different heating pipe has begun to leak and the plumber can't come until next week Tuesday.  I've had a weird tendonitis thing in my right hand/wrist that has made life very challenging and has completely thwarted my self-therapy of sewing.  The dog had surgery and then a weird doggie vertigo episode that has resulted in lots of vet visits and bills.

All this is fairly negative on the surface, however there have been many good things and bright spots as well.
There are things to be thankful for even when things are hard:

• After my temper-tantrum with God back in September (mom-camp), we started attending church in Peterborough (Monadnock Congregational Church) and that has been a tremendous blessing and source of peace.  Steve and I even attended membership class with the Pastor and are planning to become members during the month of March (Lord willing).
• We've had some rough spots with friends and family that have required us to speak up and step out of our normal non-confrontational lifestyle to deal with uncomfortable issues - this has resulted in shifts in relationships that prayerfully God is putting on the right track again.
• Almost all of the house issues have resolved - mostly - without any really dreadful situations or too horrendous of expenses.  And we are really evaluating what is needful for projects and home improvements both long and short-term.  I do see having to paint the family room this year after the water leaking in left water spots on the ceiling, but that was sort of needful anyway.
• My chiropractor has made great improvement in my hand/wrist with a new technique.
• Today it is 40 degrees and the sun is peaking out!
• The kids are healthy and doing well with their school work and we are working on our plans for next year including starting to look at colleges for Jess.
• Ben is learning to drive.
• I'm reading several books right now.
• Steve built Jess some fun built-in bookshelves in her room.

• Steve is working on building me a design wall for my sewing room.
• My chickens are all still laying and seem to be surviving their first winter okay.
• My new cat Gypsy is settling in nicely and loves to sit on my desk with me.
• We have had some great silly laugh-fests when we get a bit stir crazy.
• I've got lots of projects to work on once my hand heals enough to get back to sewing.
• There is prayer meeting on Thursday evenings at church and it's wonderful.
• There is coffee and chocolate and fudge in my world.
• I have a husband who is truly amazing, loves me so and cares for me completely, and we've just celebrated 19 years of marriage!
• My kids are awesome, smart, funny and very helpful.
• I have dear friends to share with, laugh with and who will keep me in prayer.
• I know that Jesus loves me and will carry me through the toughest things by His grace & mercy.

Blessings on the journey~

First Project of 2015

We've been fairly quiet on the house projects since early summer when we did the hang-out space for the kids.  I've been busy with lots of sewing projects and we've had a fair amount of just regular life happening around here.
Since we generally have a two week vacation with Christmas and New Year's, Steve wanted to tackle something good sized with the time.  He knocked off quite a few smaller projects last week and this week we did a really fun photo wall in the living room that I just love and then we started working on painting Jessica's bedroom.  This might be a record... we started on New Year's day in the afternoon and I finished it today (Jan 2nd) just before dinner time.
Of course I don't have before or after photos because it was a marathon of painting and I didn't stop to take any.  Bad excuse, but I'll try to get some shots after we put the furniture back tomorrow and update this post.
The one fun thing we did tonight was this neat little art photography project.

Photographs of signs by my amazing hubby

Sorry for the really awkward picture, but I took it with my phone and it's on a tiny wall just by her door that is awful for trying to photograph.

Steve went out this afternoon and photographed all the street signs in a few different towns and we printed, framed and hung them tonight as a surprise.  She actually hasn't even been upstairs to see it yet.  Hopefully she's going to like it. :-)

Her room done is the 8th room painted in the house and leaves us just 2 more rooms and 2 hallways to paint - all since we moved in less than 2 years ago.  I'm stunned at the progress we've made in such a relatively short space of time.  

Actually her room wasn't awful as it was painted and was fairly neutral in color, but she wanted a light, brighter color on the walls as a backdrop for her eclectic style.  She chose the same light color she'd had in our Merrimack house (Creamy Buttermilk - by Glidden) and we had the very nice paint guy at Home Depot color match it in Behr paint for us.  

Now to figure out some window treatments, and get some things hung on the walls.  Then Steve is going to build her a custom book shelf & storage unit against one of her knee walls (she has a windowed dormer on one wall).  A great way to start the new year and the last semester of high school! 

Praying that God blesses all our projects in 2015 to be as fairly easy as this one. 

Blessings on the journey~

New and Improved Sewing Room

It continues to be proven how very blessed I am as Steve's wife.  He designed and built a fabulous addition to my sewing space over the last few days.
It went from this:

To this:

Which then allowed me to make it like this:

Which means that what once looked like this:

Now looks like this:

Almost every bit of fabric I have is now organized on this massive shelf wall along with space underneath for notions (zippers, trims, etc), shelves for current projects in process, and even a floor cubby for one or more cats to nap in while they keep me company.  All the shelves are adjustable too! 

My husband loves me so!

Biggest Project Yet - The finale

Part One and Part Two.  ***Photo heavy***

Here is the big reveal!

So now we were ready for finishing touches and furniture!

Instant fun... just add teens! They are enjoying their space immensely and I am so amazed at the transformation!  I'm also once again so amazingly blessed that my husband sacrificed so much time and effort to create a beautiful, inviting, comfortable space for our kids and their friends.

Now if he can only get around to that shed....

Blessings on the journey~

Biggest Project Yet (Part 2)

Part 1 of this project is HERE.   ***LONG AND PHOTO HEAVY POST***

If you remember from the last post, we are now to the point of mudding.  This was the most ridiculous part of the entire project!
We went through SO MUCH mud!  Like way more than any of us would have ever thought.  I think we had 4 complete 4.5 gallon buckets plus a couple smaller ones and then part of another 4.5 gallon bucket

We had never done this part of a project before and were totally winging it.  Steve watched several YouTube videos and we bought some special tools and gave it our best shot.  If you notice the ceiling is VERY high and has some seriously funky angles - with accompanying enormous gaps.

Steve worked his regular job during the day and then came home and worked here for hours more to fill holes, seams and then did all the final sanding himself.  Crazy and so wonderful!
Finally we were at the point where we gave the boys the task of washing walls (ok - I did help a little) and then a couple gallons of primer and some rollers (this I did NOT help with!).  And let them go to cover the ceiling and the walls to seal the sheet-rock and get ready for paint.

They also painted the ceiling with only minor touch ups after the fact.  They did a great job and I was very thankful for the help.
After some negotiation and about a hundred paint chips and some samples on the outside area wall, we decided on a two color scheme of Behr paints "Dark Storm Cloud" and "Tibetan Orange".  I'm not sure who names paint colors.
Then Ben helped me paint the walls.  I started with all the edging of the ceiling and where the two colors would meet and he began with the first coat of roller work.

It took about 2-3 days to do two coats of each color on the walls, but it came out really terrific.

Next came the windows - which all had to be trimmed out with extension jambs, sills, and molding.  We also opted to simply cover the yucky window with a vinyl privacy film until we can figure out about replacing it. I painted a million feet of baseboard molding to be installed after the floor was installed.

Then onto the flooring!  That remnant piece of carpet we bought was almost large enough for the space, but not quite, so we decided to install laminate floating 'wood' flooring in part of the space and do the carpet in the rest - sort of a divided living space idea.  It was, again, something we'd never done and Steve did some research, rented a tool and we dove into carpet installation.

Then Steve installed the laminate flooring.

To be continued...here.