Acacia Acres

A Bathroom, a Fence, a Tractor, a Puppy, a Pregnant Cat and a Kid in a Tree House

2012-05-10T20:06:00.000-07:00

Sounds like a redneck children's book, right? It's been almost 7 months since my last blog entry, so there is a lot of ground to cover. I will use as much brevity as I possibly can, because I have lots of pictures to tell the story for me.

My proudest accomplishment is finishing the bathroom downstairs. Scott and I did the whole thing ourselves, from plumbing and electrical to tiling. I became somewhat the pro at mosaic tile. It only took me 18 hours across two weekends to get it done. It was murder on the back and I think I still might have grout on my hands, but it turned out great. As a quick reminder, here are the "before" pictures:

We gutted the bathroom and squared up the wall to give ourselves a nice rectangular canvas. This is the result. (Zach wanted me to give him credit for the "after" photos, because he was proud of his work.)

Zach "staged" the bathroom for pictures. I'm not sure what happened to the black towels, but you get the idea!

One of my favorite things about the bathroom is the fun fixtures. All of them light up and change color based on the temperature of the water. I like them so well that I think we will put them in the master bath when we get around to that project. Guess I am still a kid at heart!

For my birthday, I bought myself a fence - well, fencing materials anyway. Thanks to a bout with pneumonia, Scott and his dad had to install the fence without my help or input. (Come to think of it, that was probably best.) The end result is a huge area for the dogs to run and play, which makes life much easier. It was getting quite tiring having to take them out every couple of hours and then trying to keep them all corralled.

Scott's favorite bit of progress is the tractor. God kept just the right one for us. It had everything we wanted/needed at a price that we could afford. The back hoe will give us the ability to do all kinds of projects that will help with water flow. As soon as it gets dry in the low areas, we are going to dig a huge pond that we will stock for fishing. Maybe that will eliminate the swamp/snake issue. Though I must admit, I will miss shooting snakes from the balcony!

Today we picked up our new Keeshond puppy to add to our pack. Mom says I need to set up a 501 (c)3 and rescue animals for a living since it has become a hobby around here. We took in a kitty and she is about to have kitties of her own. There have been 2 dogs dumped out here that we have found homes for too. The kids are very excited about the kittens. I am going to use it as an educational opportunity. If anyone is looking for a kitten, let me know!

Zach's never ending project for us is what he now calls "Parkour City". It will ultimately be a collection of playsets, monkey bars, ropes, bridges and other fun stuff for fitness and play. So far Scott has built one platform and we have had two donated from people who wanted them out of their yards. If anyone else out there needs a play set hauled off, give me a call.

Cows Gone Wild!

2011-10-17T17:17:00.000-07:00

Actually, everything seems to have gone wild. It has been a crazy month. I am pretty sure I could write a hit country song based on our experiences!

On September 26th, at about 9:30 am, our dog, Chewie, was outside going to the bathroom when he was attacked by a coyote. Since he is just a 5 pound Pomeranian, I was not sure what his chances of survival were going to be. Zach and I rushed him to the vet and were told that he was going to need surgery and to expect around $600 in bills to save him. I swear this dog has nine lives and so far each of them has cost us about $600! (He had parvo when we got him as a puppy, thanks to a negligent breeder.) Anyway, he had surgery and they discovered that his diaphragm was completely torn in two and his stomach and intestines were in his chest. He was a mess. Thankfully, he made a miraculous recovery and is still with us.

Chewie with his drains and stitches. He has staples up both sides.

OK, so part one of the country song covers a sad story with the dog. Part two for a good country song is that our tractor broke. Scott has been doing a lot of restoration on it so that we can at least brush hog the land, and he had it running pretty well, but then the rusted wheel broke. We already needed new tires, but now we need new wheels, which are crazy expensive. I am pretty sure we could buy a whole tractor for less! I think a new tractor and a back hoe/front loader will top Scott's wish list for Christmas. (Not that Santa or anyone else I know could afford them!) We have ponds that we need to dig out and dirt to move around to help with how water flows on the property. I think we could stay busy with a back hoe for months with all we would like to do.

Part three of our country song involves cows, and lots of them, with a bull or two thrown in for good measure. We have a neighbor that has 7.5 acres with longhorn cattle on it. There is no house or anything, just the livestock. The fence is a little short, so they keep jumping over to our side. So far a cherry tree has been the only casualty, but it is a bit disconcerting to have the kids come face to face with a 1000+ pound animal in the yard. A couple weeks ago a mama cow jumped the fence to birth her calf in our yard. The result was what Zoe calls the "Dalmatian cow"! (Oh, and lots of cow patties during the two days she was wandering our land while calming down enough to round up her and the calf without anyone getting hurt.)

The week following the birth, we had a visit from another one of the cows, along with a different neighbor's bull, both of which we were told were a bit squirelly and mean. I guess rounding up wandering livestock is one way to meet the neighbors. I now have full appreciation for the old saying, "Good fences make good neighbors!"

The final verse to our country song is dedicated to the fridge dying. I know, that doesn't sound very "country song-ish, but if you think about it in terms of not having anywhere to cool your beer, that brings us full circle!

Now, we're gonna throw that all into a song, not necessarily in the order I wrote about things, but in there none the less.

Everyone now, to the tune of "The Gambler"...

Got a bull in my pasture
A cow in my front yard
A coyote got my doggie
And then my tractor broke
The fridge ain't a coolin'
No ice in the freezer
Still doin' renovations
And all my money's gone

You gotta know when to hold on
Know when to calm down
Keep being thankful
Despite what's goin' on.
Stuff's gonna happen
It's all a part of livin'
There's not time enough for pouting
With work to be done

Thank you, thank you very much.

P.S. The kids also found a kitten and brought it home. The jury is still out on whether that is a good thing!

The Cine-Gym-O-Mat is Here!

2011-10-17T08:56:00.000-07:00

It is amazing how life gets in the way of renovation, but we have made some visible progress - finally! I wouldn't call the project finished, per se, but the Cine-Gym-O-Mat is usable and functional. What is it, you ask? It's a home cinema! It's a gym! It's a laundry room! Ironically, though not yet neatly organized and decorated, it is the most popular room in the house.

The Cine-Gym-O-Mat is fully furnished with a TV, 4 station weight machine with a 300 pound weight stack that doubles the weight for leg presses, a recumbent bicycle, kettle bell, treadmill and 3-50 lb dumbbells with an incline/decline bench. There is also a washer/dryer, deep freezer and side by side refrigerator/freezer. A folding table acts as my sorting table for the laundry and a broom stick hanging from the garage door rails by three hangers acts as my clothes hanging area. We even managed to cram three of our theater seats in there! Add in a couple of storage units and a bunch of stuff that we don't know what to do with and you have the semi-put together, semi-cluttered room that we now call the Cine-Gym-O-Mat! (Say it several times, it's fun!)

I think my favorite thing about the Cine-Gym-O-Mat is that I can open the garage door and feel like I am outside. This time of year it is perfect. Oh, and the other really nice thing about it is that the only money we spent in there was for the red paint for the wall. We already had the gym flooring from the old house. It's not exactly as finished out as we would like, but it works for now, and like I said, it is still the most used room in the house.

Now that the Cine-Gym-O-Mat is fully functional, I am working out daily and welcome company!

The next completed project will be the downstairs bathroom. We finally have all of the materials, so we are very close. Hopefully I will be able to post pictures in another couple of weeks.

Stay tuned ...

How Do You Eat Fried Worms?

2011-06-18T20:13:00.000-07:00

I only ask because Zoe's new hobby has netted us an abundance of worm protein. She has spent the past week carefully searching for her prized friends and has become so proficient that even her big brother is impressed. It is so funny to me that such a girlie and prissy little girl will spend hours on end digging in the dirt for worms. When she finds them there is no squeamish response, just giggles of delight. The more active the worm, the louder she laughs. It is a joy to watch her having so much fun. The worm race was very exciting! I have, of course, included pictures.

Zoe has just covered her bounty of worms for the worm race. The first one out wins!

If anyone needs bait, Zoe is a pro at finding it!

Searching for more worms.

She's tired and dirty after a hard day's worm hunting.

The adjustment to rural living is happening quickly for all of us. The appearance of a tick or spider on us no longer results in any kind of reaction. There is merely a calm acknowledgment and a lazy brush off. That's quite a change from the early days when both kids would scream and dance around at the sight of a bug. Even I am accustomed to it now. I still don't want to share my bed with spiders and ticks, but it doesn't creep me out anymore. I just evict any creepy crawlies and move on.

Scott has spent the past few weekends working on the downstairs bathroom. He has redone all of the plumbing in the floor and filled the holes back in with concrete, then finished off with a layer of self-leveling concrete to provide a nice surface for me when I lay the flooring. Today has been mostly electrical work, with the hope of getting to the point of framing in the new wall. We have the bathtub and toilet standing by in the driveway, just waiting for their new home!

The view into the bathroom from the garage. (Yes, we really can put it all back together!)

We have still been doing quite a bit of shooting. Last weekend we had so many cans in the back that looked like we were starting a recycling center. They made great targets for the kids with their BB guns. Zoe and Zach are both becoming very good marksmen and take gun safety quite seriously. I have become a crack shot when it comes to shooting the snakes. I have taken out another 3 since my last post. I feel like I need to start putting notches on something to keep track!

Zoe just loves her pink BB gun!

Despite the hot days, we still spend a great deal of time outside. It is just so beautiful and all of the trees keep us pleasantly shaded. I am really starting to love it out here!

Looking back over this blog post, I realize that I need to stalk Zach with the camera this week so I can show what he is up to! Stay tuned ...

Snake ... the Other White Meat

2011-05-29T17:42:00.000-07:00

Alternate blog titles for today: "Snake ... It's What's For Dinner" and "Snakes on the Plain"

Where do I begin? It has been a long time since I last sat down to post. We have been busy working on all kinds of projects, but most of them are not really photo worthy yet. Still, I do have a few to show. The first one is a result of the afternoon's activities. Zach and Scott went out on the back part of the property to shoot some skeet and while they were back there noticed a number of snakes in the pond. The new activity became snake shooting. In total they took out 5 snakes, which appear to be cotton mouths. (Pause here to shiver and have an Indiana Jones flash or something.) Here is a picture of one of the casualties.

In light of the events of the day and all of the snakes, the next part of my story really scares me - in hindsight. Still, it was fun at the time. The land just to the east of the house has a tendency to become Lake McCarty during rainy weather, or "The Swamp" as my mom and one of the neighbors refer to it. Anyway, it becomes a watery wonderland for kids. Zach and Zoe love it, as did their cousin, Connor. They did a little "Redneck Rafting" out there this week. I didn't have a boat or any kind of swim float, so I blew up one of the twin sized air mattresses, handed them an old shower curtain rod and off they went for hours of fun.

Thank God for protection for these stupid city folks! It just looked like too much fun, and while I wouldn't be hanging out in the swamp now, at that age I would have been right in there - snakes and all. Heck, if you ask Mom, she'd say I'd have brought a few snakes in the house when I was finished!

I think now that Scott has pulled out the guns, we are going to be joining in with neighbors and providing plenty of blasts of our own. It's nice to fit in! I got a great shot of Scott on the balcony, preparing for Zoe's first date!

In between shooting snakes and swimming with them, we have done lots of work. Scott spent several weekends building a new foundation for the storage shed, moving it, building new doors for it and finally painting it. I neglected to take a "before" picture, but originally it had doors that were rotted and falling off, a floor that was rotted out and a foundation that was leaning at a double digit angle. Now it has a solid, level foundation, new floor, and new doors. It is also loaded to the gills with stuff already!

Zach's room is finished except for the space mural and glow in the dark stars. I would have posted a picture, but it is too much of a mess to be photographed! He loves it though.

Scott's newest project is the downstairs bathroom. It is pretty much gutted and we are preparing to build out the side that was angled off so that a tub will fit. The plumbing is all going to need to be re-routed, so it is quite an undertaking, but with a little help from our dads he has it figured out. (Or so we think!)

My projects have been less noticeable - unpacking, organizing and gardening. The garden is coming along fairly nicely. If the wild animals don't get to everything first, we should have tons of tomatoes. My next project is the garage. I am going to get all of the stuff that we are storing out of it and then clean, paint and put down flooring so that we can use it as living space.

I finally got on the tractor and did some brush hogging. (When you have 20 acres, you don't mow, you brush hog.) It was kinda fun. I felt like that scene in Footloose until I got the feel of how it shifts. Now I have this strange desire for a John Deere. What is up with that?

Over all, I am mentally, physically and emotionally tired. I am ready for the renovation to be complete. Once it is, I will re-evaluate how I feel about being out here. The amount of work to do to get where we want to be is overwhelming at times and some days I still wonder ... "What have we done?" Days with snakes and flooding make me wonder too!

P.S. We are still making 2 house payments and really need that to end, so if you have any clout with God, maybe put in a good word for us!

Drum Roll Please . . . Ta Da!

2011-04-07T19:10:00.000-07:00

It seems like forever since I have been able to post. We have worked our butts off with little to show for it until now. There has been more moving, unpacking, organizing and the day to day things that take up all the time too. While we have made progress on Zach's room that I could show, tonight's blog entry is dedicated to the kitchen. It is, after all, the heart of the home. It is also the room I have been most anxious to complete, and I am sure all of you have been anxious to see how my countertop treatment turned out. ("Countertop treatment" sounds so much better than saying I painted my countertops!) Regardless of semantics, the fact is that it turned out great.

Before the unveiling, let me remind you of where we started.

As you can see, we are 99% of the way there. We still need to do trim around the microwave, but everything else is done. We removed the range hood and repainted it white, as well as repainting the black accents on it. Really the only things we bought were the sink, microwave, cooktop and the materials to make the new counter/bar area where we removed the wall. Everything else was refreshed and re-used. The countertop treatment turned out WAY beyond my expectations and these photos really don't do it justice. If anyone needs a relatively easy and inexpensive way to give your kitchen a facelift, I highly recommend it. http://www.gianigranite.com/

With the kitchen complete, all that remains upstairs is the bathroom - which is a biggie. We have our eye on a nice Jacuzzi tub and are saving up for it. In the meantime, I will paint the bathroom and install the lights I picked up at the Re-Store for $5 each!

Finally, finally, finally...significant progress!

2011-03-07T20:35:00.000-08:00

There's light at the end of the tunnel! All of the hard work is paying off and things are finally coming together. Last night I finished the last little bit of flooring and we were able to move in some furniture over the weekend. Saturday night, for the first time in over a month, I did not have to sleep in a sleeping bag and I was more than 4 inches off of the ground. The master bedroom is pretty much complete, with the exception of moving in our armoir. I am elated. It is so nice to have some calm in the chaos. Here are "before" and "after" pics. I don't have a great camera, so I can't get a good wide shot, but you get the idea.

Before I went crazy with paint and ripped out carpet.

After, with new flooring, paint, crown molding and the light/fan moved to the center of the room.

With all of the flooring complete, we were also able to bring our dining table out, which makes a huge difference in how things look and feel. It is nice to be able to have family meals at a real table rather than at our little folding table.

Before

After - room with a view. We just need a new light fixture and eventually some wood blinds.

Funny, now that I post it, it doesn't seem like much, but hours and hours of work went into the results you see here.

The kids are really beginning to love it. Even Zoe is no longer having her meltdowns over the move. I think having more of our stuff here and getting things in order has helped a lot. The picnics on the top of the hill and large puddles to splash in don't hurt either!

Zoe is running through there somewhere.

I have been getting lots of exercise here too. Just walking to the mailbox or to take out the trash is a small workout! It is so beautiful that I just want to walk around outside all the time. On one of my walks I need to find a spot for my garden. It is almost planting time. I'm even considering getting some chickens so we will have fresh eggs. Anyone know how to raise chickens? My mom calls this "the farm", so might as well look the part, right?

Next on the remodel agenda is Zach's room. He is feeling a bit left out since all of the renovation is occuring upstairs. He has some really off the wall plans for his room. Black paint and lots of glow in the dark paint is involved! I figure he is only a kid once, so why not go over the top with the room? Creativity is good.

Now that things have come together a little, I am going to go enjoy a soda on my balcony, while looking at the stars and listening to owls and singing coyotes. Who knew that could be so relaxing and entertaining?!

The Noisy Bird, the Tiny Closet and the Rodent of Unusual Size

2011-02-28T08:28:00.001-08:00

Crazy title, I know, but it will all make sense later. It has been over two weeks since I have had a chance to document any of the insanity, so I have a lot to tell. I wish more of what I had to tell was about the progress we have made, but unfortunately, that has slowed to what would seem sluggish to a snail. We work long, hard hours, yet when we are finished, we can barely tell anything has been done. This is especially true of the flooring. I know everyone was expecting to see pictures of the finished product, but I am still working on the living room. The floor prep takes forever. First, you have to make sure your subfloor is all in good condition. If not, a little work with a circular saw is necessary to remove the bad piece and then cut a new piece to fit. In one spot we had to nail new joists to the old ones to bring the floor up a little higher to match the piece next to it. Once that it is all done, the floor must be scraped of all debris. In our case there was a lot of joint compound and ceiling texture material that I had to scrape with a trowel. When that was done, I had to countersink all of the nails, sweep, vacuum, then apply vinyl floor primer. After that dries, flooring can finally be put down. You'd think applying what are essentially giant stickers to the floor would be easy, but it just sucks the time, and some days the life, out of you. Oh, my aching back!

We are living at Acacia Acres now, though we are far from moved. We began staying here the night before the big blizzard. Life is across between camping and being on vacation at an unfinished condo. We were sleeping on air mattresses, but Monday we managed to get our king size mattress over here. We are still on the floor, but at least it is a real mattress. For those of you who watch the DIY Network and HGTV, we are a cross between three different shows: "Renovation Realities", "Family Under Construction" and "Design on a Dime". If cameras were on us, I am sure it would be quite entertaining. I actually think about that when things get tense or if I am frustrated with a situtation. It makes me laugh to think what it would all look like on TV.

Since we are not going back and forth between houses, the kids are doing much better thinking of this as home - especially Zoe, who was really struggling. She has loved stomping in all the big puddles, having picnics on the hillside and going on walks with the dogs. Both kids are in awe of all the wildlife. Yesterday we spent time doing something I would never have imagined - watching a beaver swim in our pond. That's not exactly in our realm of experience. It was cool though, in a world of short attention spans, that we could be entertained for nearly an hour just watching nature.

Zach, Zoe and their friend, Clayton, watching the beaver do laps in the pond.

Can you find the beaver?

Another little piece of nature that has become a frequent visitor is the friendly neighborhood woodpecker. The first day I heard him I kept thinking someone was at the door. I felt like an idiot when I realized it was a bird!

I am disconcerted that it is not even spring and I was face to face with a rather large, black arachnid in the kitchen last night. It had the audacity to be on my countertop. I don't even want to think about what the spring and summer will bring...scorpions, wasps, snakes, more mice (though not if the snakes have their way), mosquitos by the swarm...who knew I was such a wuss? We met another neighbor and he mentioned bobcats. What???? He also asked if he could hunt on our land. Apparently, he has hunted on it since he was a kid, with his dad and uncle. Seemed like a really nice guy. I told him sure, as long as he doesn't shoot the kids. That is one things about living out here - everyone has a gun, and everyone knows how to use it. That is one area where I fit right in! It's funny, because in town if you hear a gunshot, you turn on the news to see what happened. Out here it is just a daily occurance that you tune out after a while and don't even give a second thought. One day I would wager I heard at least 100 rounds being shot!

I had hoped to post a lot of "after" pictures by this time, but there has not been enough of a change to waste the space on my memory card. I have about 80 more square feet of flooring down, but nothing is complete. I did finish the flooring in the master bath, but without the other improvements, it doesn't make for a good picture. The second tier of the countertop is on, so I will include that, though still not evidence of any great progress. As a matter of fact, as I write this, I am wondering how we managed to do so little in over 2 weeks. I want to have a house warming cookout here in the spring to let those who are interested see the place, but at the rate we are going, the Mayan calendar will end before we are anywhere near finished.

Tier two is almost complete. We just need to do some filling and sanding, then I can do the countertop treatment.

Oh, we did make minscule progress in one other area - the tiny closet mentioned in my title. We took the extra cabinets that we removed from the kitchen and put them on the back wall to provide some shelving. However, that did not solve the problem of Scott's clothes smacking me in the face as I walk through the door. That is what inspired the C.S. Lewis ripoff title that I originally chose for the blog. Walking into my closet reminds me of them pushing aside coats to walk through the wardrobe in Lewis' Narnia classic. (I changed the title to the current one, which is more of a nod to "The Princess Bride", because some of my friends had their minds in the gutter. You know who you are!)

My tiny closet. You can see what I mean by having to walk through Scott's clothes. They cover half the door.

Despite all of the chaos, we still had all kinds of company this weekend. It was Zach's birthday and he had a slumber party, so parents were here to pick up their kids. We also had a family party, so grandparents and great uncles were crammed around a card table and eating off of TV trays in an unfloored room. Even in transition we put on a good spread!

I am ready to hit the ground running again tomorrow and will hopefully have more to show for my efforts this week. Stay tuned for more photos.

It's a Kitchen - Almost

2011-02-12T18:57:00.000-08:00

Today was an interesting day at "the farm", as my mom and dad call it. We had all kinds of company. The Dish Network guy was here installing our satellite dish, so our receivers finally have something to do again. We also were visited by Scott's parents, my parents, my uncle and my nephew Connor. I think the satellite guy thought it was pretty funny that we were all just hanging out watching him work - well, except for Dad, who was providing his guidance since he has been in the satellite business for almost 27 years now. Mom commented that Dad could have installed the thing twice in the time it took this guy. Anyway, the focal point of every room is now functional so we can rot our brains with television once again and use it as a babysitter when we are feeling tired or cranky. (I am kidding of course.)

The progress made on the kitchen today was quite gratifying. We are so close to having a fully functional AND pretty space. Thanks to those of you who visit my blog, I have earned $12.26 that can either purchase 11 square feet of flooring for the kitchen, or 4 outlet covers/switch plates. Your contribution is hereby acknowleged and appreciated! :)

Look what we did.

As you can see, we have the lower counter top installed, as well as the oven and a minifridge for beverages. Now we just need the white microwave and the secondary countertop to finish off this part of the kitchen. I am getting very excited about it.

The schedule for tomorrow is lots and lots of flooring.

Zoe is having her daily meltdown wanting to "go home", so I guess this entry is complete.

I Know Where I Stand

2011-02-10T15:48:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all of the snow, Scott has had 5 days off work to really focus on the renovation. In that time he has made great progress on the kitchen. Yesterday we finally got to the point of installing cabinets. The oven cabinet is ready for the oven to be put in and the other cabinet is ready for a counter top. The half wall is also ready for its counter top, which means that by this weekend I should be able to resurface all of the counter tops, thus transforming my yellow kitchen into something...well, better anyway. We'll have to wait and see how it all turns out.

Ready for counter tops and an oven.

I have continued with flooring, and Tuesday night, as I was trying to fall asleep, something came to me that I really wanted to do. You know the story and significance of Acacia Acres, and most of you should know the priority that God has in my life. To remind myself to daily stand on God's promises and His Word, I felt compelled to write Scripture on the sub-floor before I put in the actual flooring. Now, pretty much anywhere you walk in my house, you will be standing on the Word at some point.

This one is on the bathroom floor.


This one is at the door to the deck.

At the top of the stairs.

In front of the pantry.

A Blizzard of Activity

2011-02-07T15:12:00.000-08:00

The blizzard turned out to be a huge blessing for our renovation. Scott was off from Tuesday through the end of the week, so we had 6 days to work on the house. (Well, in theory. Several emergencies interrupted that time, but I'll get to that in a paragraph or two.)

Scott's primary focus was the kitchen and all of the electric. He installed recessed lights in the living room and in the soffit over what will be the new bar area where we removed part of the wall. He also moved a couple of light switches and installed some new outlets to fit the updated kitchen layout. Once the electric was completed, Scott finished off the half wall and soffit. All that is left to do is the texturing, then we can install the cabinets and counter tops. We are re-using existing cabinets and modifying them to fit the new space. We found a custom cut counter top at Lowe's that someone decided not to take, so we got it for a mere $42, which was a steal. An additional $30 for wood gave us the materials we need to do the new counter and bar area. None of it matches, but I have a fix for that and will let you all in on it next week sometime when we are ready for that part of the renovation. Scott also finished the oven cabinet and got it stained. It looks great.

The oven cabinet under construction. So many possible captions, but I will leave you to your own creativity!

The new, dimmable, recessed lighting in the living room.

While Scott worked, I did quite a bit of playing with the kids. After all, all work and no play makes me cranky! We made a great sled run on the hill. It was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work. Hiking up a hill in 14 inches of snow reminded me how far from young and in shape I am!

Our sledding hill

After play time, I got down to work. I started with ceiling paint, touching up various spots and then painting over where I had repaired a crack. Once that was completed, I focused on flooring and managed to finish the master bedroom and closet. I have started on the master bath and hope to finish the upstairs by the end of this weekend. To that end, I also ripped out the linoleum in the bathroom and kitchen.

In the midst of the blizzard and our attempt to get as much renovation done as possible, we had to stop and brave the roads on Wednesday to make a trip to the vet for one of our dogs who had her eye popped out of the socket by one of the other dogs. That was an unfortunate economic hit and a time suck. The dog had to stay overnight, so we had to get out again on Thursday to pick her up. Not to waste a trip out in the ice and snow, we were given another reason to venture out. That morning the hot water started coming out brownish yellow. Upon inspection of the water heater, Scott determined that we needed to replace it ASAP or it could rupture. So, we added a trip to Locke and another big, unexpected bill. That was a very unappreciated double whammy! Keith Olbermann reportedly Tweeted that all of this chaos was caused by Sarah Palin, but I personally blame global warming.

Oreo and her eye emergency.

Undeterred from the distractions and financial hits, we plodded on and Scott thinks he sees light at the end of the tunnel. I am just to the point of even seeing the tunnel though! We came back to house #1 last night to pack up more stuff and get more supplies. Tomorrow we will head back out to do more renovations - hopefully with fewer distractions and financial surprises this time. (Well, unless it is a good financial surprise.) I think by the end of the week we can get the kitchen pretty much together except for the counter top treatment and backsplash. Appliances should arrive on Monday. The master bedroom is ready to move furniture in, so two rooms down, 4 to go upstairs. Despite all the work and craziness, we are really enjoying our new home. Maybe I do see a little sliver of light after all.

Camping out in the den on blow-up mattresses and the couch

Zoe shoveling the driveway

Zoe enjoying sledding on the hill.

A rare moment of sibling harmony

Of Mice and Men

2011-02-07T14:13:00.000-08:00

Well, another reality of country living has hit home. My first clue should have been week one when we took all of the wall plates off for painting and found this:


Our "mouselet"

In preparation for the blizzard, we decided to stock up and stay at Acacia Acres. That way if Scott was off work, we could get a lot done on the house. Turns out he was off Tuesday through Friday, so we camped out in the den on air mattresses. It was a bit disconcerting though, to hear the sounds of things scurrying across the floor in the dead of night. It was even more disconcerting when we knew for sure it was not the cat or dogs. I think it was the second night that a baby mouse came running out of the bathroom and across the den. The poor thing didn't stand a chance with 3 dogs and a cat in the room.

Over the course of our stay, we encountered 3 more mice, all of whom met their demise at the paws of a larger predator. Just to be clear, I was not said predator. While I do not relish the thought of sharing my home with mice, I don't have the heart to kill them.

That being said, now on top of researching" how to live with a septic system"; "how to protect yourself from snake"s and "how to drive a tractor", I now have to research, "how to rid your house of mice without killing them". I'll be sure to do all that after I research "how to renovate your house with twigs, leaves and no budget"! (Also known as MacGuyver Renovation".)

One final thought ... ewwwwwwwwww!

Walls Are Up, Walls Are Down

2011-01-29T20:59:00.000-08:00

Zoe's walls are up. She has decided that she doesn't want to move and has given me a hundred reasons why we shouldn't. For the past week it has been getting progressively worse. Today she sobbed and went on about it for nearly two hours. She told me we should get our money back. When we went out to the new house she was fine though. She loves her new room when she is in it, but the rest of the time her anxiety is high.

I think we all have high anxiety at the moment. The amount of work to be done is daunting, but finally the wall in the kitchen is down. Scott made amazing progress today. He extended the soffit so the oven cabinet will look right. He recycled material from the wall he tore out, between the living room and kitchen, to build the soffit. He used the studs and the drywall, so very little will be wasted and we save money. He also redid all of the wiring in that wall and installed new light switches. Have I mentioned that Scott is amazing?!


This is what the wall between the kitchen and the living room looked like "before".

"After", with the new, extended soffit over the fridge and the spot where the built-in oven will be.

The new view from the living room.

The new view from the dining room.

While Scott did all of the hard work, I finished most of the cut in painting upstairs. I am so close to being finished with the upstairs painting, with the exception of the bathroom, where I still have wallpaper to remove. I'm just glad I got anything done today. Zoe developed a fever yesterday afternoon and was sick through the night, but made a recovery by morning. If anyone is keeping track, that is malady #3 for the week. I am ready for us to all be healthy and well. There is too much work to do to be sick!

Scott's parents spent the day helping out, so we ordered pizza to feed them for their efforts. About the time I expected them to return from picking up the pizza, I hear honking out front. It was already dark out, but I could tell it was a truck rather than their car. I went down to see who it was and an older gentleman told me he was my neighbor. He then began to talk and talk and talk - even after my in-laws returned with the pizza. He told me all about how wealthy his children are; how he was raised a Baptist, but that there are over 300 flavors of Baptist, so now he is part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He told me that it is the only church built on the rock of Jesus, or something to that effect and that if I could prove otherwise he'd, "kiss my butt"! I also found out in the course of our very weird conversation that he is 81 and a widower. I just did lots of smiling and nodding, all the while hoping my pizza would still be hot when I got inside - if I got inside! After all of that, he mentioned that his son is the one who was previously grazing his cattle on the back part of our property. (The previous owners had acquiesced when they were asked permission, but told us they had regretted the decision.) Anyway, he had tried to buy just the back 10 acres, but obviously didn't get it, so he wanted our permission to graze the cattle back there. I said no. Then, I said no again, and again, and again.

So, to sum things up with the neighbor encounter...I am not a Mormon now, and I am still cow free.

Going Green

2011-01-28T13:59:00.000-08:00

I have stated before that this renovation is happening on a non-existent budget. However, that isn't preventing us from doing a great remodel. I thought that we would be keeping the weird mish-mash of appliances for a while, but thanks to my Gran, we get to replace the oldest appliances. (The almond colored cooktop that doesn't match the other white appliances, and the old range.) Through her consignment store, Consignment Exchange on HWY 69 in McAlester, Gran was able to get fairly new appliances. They came out of the local district attorney's house when his wife updated their kitchen to stainless. We will be installing a Jenn-Air ceramic cooktop and Whirlpool double wall oven, which is a huge blessing. So, we will have a kitchen full of newer, white appliances absolutely free! How very "green" of us. I am not into the politics of "green", but I do believe in being good stewards of what God has given. We get great newer appliances. They just happen to be white instead of the trendy stainless steel. White will show fewer fingerprints anyway!

Speaking of being green, I made a trip to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. It is located at 13th and Sheridan, just west of Sheridan, behind the skating rink. You can get amazing deals on building supplies that have been donated from remodelers and builders. I was hoping to find an 18" base cabinet and a countertop, but they didn't have any today. However, they had a great stock of interior and exterior doors really cheap and we need to replace a few, so Scott and I need to get measurements and head over there in the truck. They also had several vanity tops that might be a good option to replace our lovely pink one in the master bath. If you are remodeling, I highly recommend that you check them out, both for supplies and to make tax deductible donations of anything you pull from your house.

Zoe's room is another example of re-using and re-purposing. Her chandelier is a find from my Gran's store. It came out of someone's home, rejected, but it is beautiful to Zoe and the perfect size for her room. Some of the best things can't be found at Lowe's or Home Depot!

Yes, that is a slide on her bed.

As you can see from the pics, Zoe's room is pretty much complete. We just need to put in quarter round at the baseboards and find a pink shag rug for the floor. One down and too many to go!

Oh, and before I forget, since we are being green, does anyone need a blue toilet? Anyone?

It's Always Something

2011-01-28T13:28:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since my last post. That is partly due to being busy, but mostly due to Murphy's Law trampling all over me! Let's see, last Friday morning I was awakened at 3:45 am to a disturbing queasy feeling, which quickly propelled me in to the bathroom where I remained for half an hour until the heaving subsided. I had the privilege of 2 more episodes before the vomiting stopped and all that remained was that horrible nauseous feeling and the wonder ... you know, wondering if anyone got the license number of the Mack truck that just hit.

According to Murphy's Law, since I was sick, it had to be on a day when no one could take care of me in any appreciable way. (Though Zoe, bless her heart, was so good to her mama. She was able to get me water and saltines.) Scott had taken the day off work so he could spend the entire weekend working on the new house. He and Zachary camped out and worked from dawn til dusk. Thankfully, they avoided what had hit me because they weren't here, but poor Zoe got in it's path and at 5:00 am on Sunday morning her toilet hugging began. By 10 am she was fine. I wish my immune system was still that effective! I wasn't feeling anywhere near human again until late Sunday, and then it was only in short bursts.

Despite moving at a snail's pace, I did drag myself out to the new house long enough to inspect the progress. Poor Scott had slaved away all weekend and didn't get halfway through what he wanted, but got a lot done. The crown molding in our bedroom is up and the fridge has been moved, complete with the install of a new water line and shut-off valve with a proper remodel box. The old range is out and all of the cabinets along that wall of the kitchen have been removed. The cabinets that go above the fridge were cut to size and new trim was added and stained. Scott did a great job. It always amazes me that an engineer/computer programmer is also so good at construction.

If you compare this shot to the before pics in the blog, you can see what a great job Scott did modifying the cabinet.


Forgive the spots, apparently the lens on my cheap digital camera needs to be cleaned!

Monday and Tuesday I had a reprieve from illness, but was still dragging. The kids and I made it out to the house with a load of stuff and did some more cleaning. I managed to get the downstairs closet scrubbed and lined with Contact Paper. I then loaded it with board games. My dad came out later and installed a Wilson Electronics whole house cellular amplifier and antennae to boost the cell signal in the house. We went from having 1 or 2 bars to having 4 or 5 in some spots. It made a big difference. (If anyone is in a dead area and needs one, he sells and installs them. Just FYI.) We had to get the cellular signal boosted so that we could use it for our Internet access. There is no DSL or cable modem out there.

I had big plans for Wednesday, but woke up and my right eye was swollen shut. By Wednesday night, my left eye had joined the party and Thursday morning both eyes were swollen shut. I spent those two days popping ibuprofen and using ice packs on my eyes. In the midst of that I had to keep chaos at bay in the old house and did a whirlwind cleaning when a Realtor called wanting to show the house in 2 hours.

Despite all of the weird illnesses, house showings, homeschooling and the normal copious amounts of laundry and dishes, we are moving forward. We're like the Little Engine That Could!

The Pressure Mounts

2011-01-17T13:24:00.000-08:00

Can I just say that moving and trying to sell a house is a horrible, awful, stressful process that I really hate? I am thankful that I have a house to sell and that we were blessed enough to find another house on acreage and buy it - I really am - but the resulting chaos, frustration, anticipation and disappointment are entirely overwhelming!

I no longer know what day it is because they all look the same - pack something, paint something, clean something, repeat ... 1000 times! Actually, I am not sure 1000 times would even get it done. Still, I plod on.

We had our first showing of the house this weekend. I was so proud of the progress we had made and how great the house looked ... until I spoke with my Realtor and got the feedback. Apparently we are overpriced, the office still has too much stuff in it and the condition of the carpet upstairs is worse than the other two homes for sale in the neighborhood. We need people like us to look at the house - those who can imagine what could be and realize that new carpet is no biggie. Did I mention that I hate this process?

On a more positive note, we got Zoe's bed moved into her new room, which gives me renewed hope that we are indeed making progress. However, there have been setbacks too. I used painter's tape to mask off the baseboards and such in our bedroom before I painted, yet I still have paint all over the woodwork. Despite scoring the tape before I pulled it, I still had spots where it pulled the paint off the walls, so now I get to go in with a tiny detail brush and fix the paint job, plus have to sand the baseboards and re-stain them. Like I didn't have enough to do!

Thanks to my wonderful mother, I do have clean cupboards and quite a bit of Contact Paper lining them. She spent a day scrubbing, measuring and cutting for me. While she did that, my dad pulled up carpet, padding, tack strips and staples in order to prepare the floors for the new flooring. In the process, he found $9.25 in change under the baseboards, which will provide us with over 9 square feet of new flooring! (Every little bit helps.)

One thing that we don't have to purchase are smoke detectors. I think I have counted 12 in the house. Should I be worried about the wood burning stove? So far it has been nice to be able to pick up wood from the yard and use it to keep the house warm instead of the electric, but it does scare me a little. (Yes, apparently I am such a city girl.) Besides my concerns over having a fire going in my house on a regular basis, the aesthetics of the wood burning stove have me looking for other options. Can we get one that actually fits in the fireplace and lets me see the fire, while still heating the whole house? I think we can, but I need an expert on this.

The wood burning stove is not exactly an attractive addition to the room, though admittedly functional. I want a pretty fireplace!

The kids are very anxious to be living at the new place. They love being outside there. I even find myself outside a lot, despite the cold. There is just something about being on the land that is awesome. (Remind me of that when the grass starts to grow and the work really begins!) I was hoping to be living there by February 1, but am now convinced that the only way that is possible is if I revise my goal to February 1, 2012! Did I mention that I hate this process? : )

Despite all the stress, frustration and delays, I am so thankful that we get to do this. It will all be worth it in the end. Stay tuned...

What Have We Done?

2011-01-08T18:41:00.000-08:00

There are a couple of ways I can answer that question. I am going to begin with the literal. Today we managed to get the master bedroom primed and partially painted. I love the color, but can't post pictures until the room is finished. Zoe's room is now ready for furniture. It is painted, floored and has a pretty chandelier. Can you believe that is 98 cent per square foot, resilient vinyl flooring? I think it turned out great.

Zoe's room almost "after"


Zoe's room "before"

Now I just need to get outlet and light switch plates and we can move in the furniture. I am so excited to have a project completed!

The other reason I ask, "What have we done?", is that all of the realities of country living are hitting. Today Scott met another neighbor and she was talking about all the copperheads she has had to kill and how a rattle snake killed one of her horses at her other property north of Hwy 412. She was also saying how close the coyotes come to her barn and that she is worried they are going to kill her older horse. What?????

Discussion ensued about how to keep our Pomeranians safe from coyotes, hawks, owls, etc. I am not sure I am prepared for all of the critters and creepy crawlies we are going to encounter. I think all the bug bombs are going to get put to good use. I'm not sure what to do about snakes and coyotes though. We definitely can't just put in a doggie door, which is what the dogs are used to. I wonder if they would use one of those dog boxes that look like a little patch of grass. The first time I saw a commercial for one I thought they were stupid, but now they are looking like a pretty good idea! https://www.pottypatch.tv/?gclid=CMjkz_eJrKYCFYXu7QodHzv5aQ Seems crazy to have 20 acres, yet have your dogs go to the bathroom inside!

We have also realized that we need to get one of those big outside lights that are like street lights. I have no idea where to get one or how much they cost, but if I have to guess, I am going to say they are expensive. Everything else is! Somehow I don't think my Goggle ads are going to make that kind of coin! I have also decided that I need one of those utility vehicles with the little truck bed on the back in order to take out the trash. Yesterday I had to hike a block up the hill to get all the trash to the street. It is not easy to drag old carpet up a hill! At least I got a good workout.

While I am asking questions, how do people manage to move in any kind of reasonable time-frame? This is beginning to feel like a full time job and we have barely scratched the surface. Now I totally understand why people get to the point that they say they are never moving again. I am sooooooooooooo there.

You Don't See This In Your Average Back Yard

2011-01-06T17:05:00.000-08:00

We spent all day at the new house today and were fortunate to meet some neighbors. Mom and I were painting and I saw a woman walking next to a child riding a bike with training wheels. I thought he looked about Zoe's age, so I grabbed my jacket, ran up the hill and down the road to catch them. It turns out he is the same age as Zoe - just turned 5. His mom and I started talking and I mentioned that I homeschooled and her eyes lit up and she got very excited and said she homeschooled too. I told her I was part of CHEER homeschool group and it turns out she just joined at the beginning of the school year. Crazy small world.

I wanted to introduce the kids, so we walked to the back of the acreage where Scott, Zach and Zoe were gathering pecans. They became quick friends and gathered about 20 pounds of pecans before we headed back to the house. The kids then rode their bikes in the side yard, climbed a few trees and then began to dig. That is when Zoe made her archeological find. She is fully convinced that she has discovered a dinosaur!

Zoe's "dinosaur" bone

In addition to meeting neighbors and finding fossils, we actually did get some work done, though I am convinced there is some sort of temporal vortex because in 8 hours I should have accomplished more! Mom helped do the trim painting since I am not very detail oriented. The upstairs is almost completely painted. We just have a little more trim and the master bedroom. While we painted, Scott managed to make a little bit of progress on Zoe's floor.

I have a countertop refinishing kit that I am going to try in the kitchen, so I am getting things prepared to begin that project. I am not sure if this stuff will work or not, but it was only $55, so it is worth a try. If it does work, it fits well in my "Design on Less Than a Dime" budget! I have to get creative in how to work around the metal border pieces, but I think I have a plan that will work nicely. When I delve into the project, there will be a post devoted solely to project details and "before" and "after" photos.

We have not had a single showing at our old house, so I am getting a little concerned, but we probably needed the extra time to get it staged better. We have a LOT of stuff! Between dogs, a cat and kids, I have constant cleaning to do to keep it in order to show. It will be nice to get moved so there will be less pressure. In the meantime, I am torn between two homes and working like a dog. It is all worth it though!

Interior Photos

2011-01-03T17:10:00.000-08:00

OK, here are some pictures of the inside of the house. I love the spaces, but we really need some updates.

The dining room

The living room

The den

The master bath

The downstairs bath

Master bathtub - yes, it is pink!

The master bath - pink counter top - totally me!

Things Are Different Out Here

2011-01-03T08:19:00.000-08:00

Things are coming along very slowly on the renovation, but we did, finally, get some flooring down in Zoe's room, which is a major benchmark of progress. We stayed out there until about 10 last night and as we were walking out to leave, we heard a chorus of coyotes make some of the craziest sounds. It scared Zoe, reminding me of all the things that we are all going to have to get used to in our new country setting.

We are only 15 miles from our current, middle of the city, location, but once you are beyond the domain of all pizza delivery, there are bound to be some differences. For instance, we were commenting how we needed to get those deer signals to put on the front of our vehicles. We have already come across a deer and two raccoons on the road to the house. We have to remember to stay beyond alert when driving through there.

When you are outside of the city, there is no sewer system, so another new thing for us is maintaining a septic system. I try hard not to think about plumbing, sewage, etc., but now I have to think about it. Do we have to adopt Cheryl Crow's two square limit on toilet paper, or is there a greater margin of error? I don't know. This is all new to me. I have some Googling to do. I just keep thinking about some friends of the family who had septic along with signs in their bathrooms that said, "If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down." (I promise not to post any signs.)

I definitely need to stock up on flashlights and batteries, because it is dark with a capital D out there! That will be great for sleeping and star gazing. The stars last night were brighter and more abundant than I have seen in a while. Without all the light pollution it is amazing. I can't wait for a warm spring night so I can enjoy it longer. The 21 degree temperature last night was not conducive to enjoying outdoor time.

I am sure there are plenty other things I will discover that are foreign to my current lifestyle. For instance, should I be concerned that the former owners left us 9 bug bombs?

A Girl and Her Tractor

2010-12-30T16:45:00.000-08:00

Yes, I now own a tractor! It's difficult to believe, I know. Now I just need to learn how to use the crazy thing. It is apparently a classic - Massey Ferguson from the 1950's. I'm not even sure how to start it, but don't I look great on it? : ) Now I just need overalls and a floppy hat. Country life, here I come!

First Photos

2010-12-30T16:34:00.000-08:00

The back of the house

Zach climbing the cool tree in the side yard

Our 8x40 foot storage container that will soon be overflowing with all of our junk!

The pond

The house, which is built in the side of a hill

One of the many great views from my deck

The Renovation

2010-12-29T17:30:00.000-08:00

You know how sometimes answers to prayers don't exactly come how we expect them? Well, that is kind of how Acacia Acres is. Since the home is older, we have a LOT of renovation to do, and we are doing it on less than a "beer budget" so to speak. I am taking it as a challenge to see just how much I can re-use and re-purpose in order to spend as little as possible. I'm really having to think outside the box to figure out how to make things look like I want them to without spending a fortune.

Since closing, one week ago, we have painted Zoe's room pink, pulled most of the carpet out upstairs and begun to paint the dining room and living room. There has also been a transfer of several trailer loads of stuff from our current house, lots of cleaning and the application of Old English to all of the woodwork. I keep thinking we should have made more progress, but apparently we are only human!

Tomorrow the plan is to actually get some flooring down. I will take some "before" pics and get them posted and begin the running total of how little we will spend on the renovation, as well as releasing some details about the "out of the box" products we are going to use to hopefully achieve our goals.

Stay tuned...

How We Found Acacia Acres

2010-12-29T17:16:00.000-08:00

Back in June of this year we found a gutted house on 24 acres in Mounds, OK and put in an offer. It was accepted, but the deal wound up falling through when they got a better, non contingent offer. Scott was heartbroken over it and so we stopped looking for several months while dealing with the disappointment. Finally, the Saturday before Thanksgiving we decided to go look at three properties. They all had promise, but none of them was that "just right" place we were seeking. However, there was one in east Broken Arrow that had a lot of what we thought we wanted.

Scott mentioned the property to his parents, and since it was only about 4 miles from them, they decided to go see it. Because of where they live in BA, their route was different than ours, and on their way they noticed a Coldwell Banker sign for a home on 20 acres. Curious, they drove by and grabbed a flier with all of the info. When they saw the price and features, they were sure we would be interested, so they called us with the MLS#. I looked it up and was immediately intrigued. The house and 2.5 acres were listed separately from the other 17.5 acres, so it had not come up on any of my searches, which were all set for homes with 10 acres or more. The listing was also confusing because it seemed to indicate that the land and home sold together, but on separate listings with separate prices, which made it seem that they were asking twice the actual price.

So, a lot of things had to come together for us to find the place and to keep others from finding it.

Acacia Acres Finally Found!

2010-12-28T09:18:00.000-08:00

About 12 years ago, my husband, Scott, and I began dreaming of having an acreage. We have searched all that time to find something that felt right, was affordable and had the right mix of wooded and cleared areas. Over the years our idea of what the perfect place would be has changed. At one point, Scott was hoping for 140 acres! I wasn't sure how we would mange that since we can't even take care of an 8600 square foot lot to the standards of our neighborhood! As the search evolved and we had a better idea of what we did and did not want, as well as what we could never afford, we got comfortable with the idea of 10-20 acres. (Though Scott was always hoping for at least 20.)

Every good acreage has some sort of name, like the Flying W Ranch or Peaceful Rivers, so I decided that our acreage would need a name too. My mom and I would often talk of what we could do with an acreage to bless others - specifically missionaries home on furlow, or others in need of temporary housing. The idea of small cabins that would allow us to help others while still maintaining everyone's privacy seemed a great endeavor. Because of our faith, we want this land to be filled with God's love and used to bless others. Independent of one another, my mom and I both came up with the name Acacia Acres. In 1997 I had produced a CD which I named Acacia and I explained in the jacket notes why, so it seemed natural to use the name Acacia for our land. This is what the CD said, "Acacia is believed to have been the type of bush that contained the presence of God in the form of fire when God spoke to Moses. (Exodus 3) Acacia is also the wood that was used to construct the Ark of the Covenant, which too, contained the awesome presence of God. (Exodus 37) My simple prayer for this project is that it will contain the anointing and presence of God, bringing that presence to all those who listen. It is my desire that, like the wood of the acacia, we would all be filled with the fire and presence of God." I want God's presence anywhere I live, hence the name Acacia Acres for our homestead.

The past two years we really intensified our search since we were finally in a position financially to maybe, finally buy something. On December 22, 2010, we closed on Acacia Acres and are now beginning the process of renovating the house and making the place our own. The budget is very tight, so I will have to really think outside the box when it comes to design decision. I will be posting before and after pictures as well as writing about the progress and what products we use. It is an exciting journey for us and I hope you enjoy following along!

Acacia Acres is 20 acres in east Broken Arrow, OK, located conveniently to both sets of grandparents. The house was built in 1975 and one family had lived there for over 30 years. We became fast friends with the owners and had a connection that can only be described as a "divine appointment" by God. We have adopted them as our third set of parents. They are wonderful Christian people, and meeting them is actually what helped us know that this was the place for us. They had been praying that a family would buy the place and raise their kids there and love it like they did. It was a miraculous series of events that even allowed us to find the place and it was neat to see how God's hand moved in the whole thing. (I'll tell the story of how we found the place in a subsequent post.)

Right now, I have work to do! We have one house to sell and one to renovate and move to, so I need to get going.