It's Gonna Be a Pretty Penny

Hey y'all... it's been MONTHS since we have had something to post about.  Our ideas on our farmhouse have evolved into a house that currently looks like those houses you built as a kid with Popsicle sticks... there's nothing to show about the current farm situation... other than that vision... but I've got visions a plenty for you.... because it is the visions of beauty I see in my head that doesn't make me faint every time I walk into the Popsicle stick home we own.

Bill has been complaining lately that the farm has been trying to kill him.  About a week ago I read somewhere in some magazine on an overnight in some city... that someone else had complained that the house they were renovating was trying to kill her, and a friend of hers told her she needed to name the house and tell the house that she was trying to make her pretty... and then things would start going well... I decided that was a damn fine idea.... Bill and I bounced names off that were somewhat old fashioned and time appropriate... until we came up with the perfect name.  Penelope.  We figured that since she was gonna cost us a pretty penny that we could tell our Penelope she'd BE a pretty Penny.  He says his sweet talking her isn't working... I'm thinking I may have to come in with burning sage or something... because y'all know Bill's idea of sweet talking is rather unique... Case in point... one of the first times he told me he loved me he said and I quote "I'm horrified at how much I love you..."  I took one look at him and rolled off the bed unable to breathe because I was laughing so hard...  never had anyone been horrified to love me before... But I digress... I'm gonna have to help him be very sweet to our prickly Penny...  She doesn't understand that in between the f bombs and the gosh darnits that he's telling her he loves her and he means it...  I may have to go explain to her what she just isn't getting... She just doesn't understand what any good southern woman understands... a face lift hurts like hell but is worth the lifetime of youth and beauty after...

We've got upcoming surgeries scheduled for Penelope... Mid January she gets a sump pump installed.... as soon as that happens she'll get new plumbing... including a tank less heater... on CITY water... yes, she's no longer dependent on a well... that well will take care of the plants in her garden... Her floors will be reinstalled and shined... As much of the original hardwood will go back down....  Bathrooms are getting grey slate tiles.  February she gets insulation, electricity redone and a new HVAC... cuz no southern woman wants to be seen perspiring...  If all goes well... she should have drywall up by April... and that's when I'll be joining Bill again down there... because I can actually help paint... or just stand in the way planning his next thing to fix.... By our anniversary we should be finalizing what cabinetry and counter tops we want in our kitchen.... Around that time I'll also need to go out to my mom's to figure out how to ship my grandfathers banquet table out here...

Now we've come up with some really cool ideas while we have been staring at the sticks we call our farm...  We've decided since the front door has a transom window, we'd carry it all the way to the back of the house down the hallway, with three other antique transom windows we had shipped down here from Bill's hometown... Bill has also been saving what can be salvaged of any wood he's needed to cut out and reframe Penny to code...  there's a few beautiful beams that aren't going back up... that he's promised to make into to our kitchen island counter... and the pantry barn door...  they'll be stunning re-purposed.  We also bought old Indian doors that are going to be our master bathroom doors... and this is what actually lead me to blog today... the tie in of looks across the house...

Hang tight while I back step a minute...  Penny has three fireplaces... We have one original mantel that we're keeping and reusing... the other two were put up by people who didn't understand Penny's age and class...  So we're bringing her from a gawky youth of 113... to a stately, timeless, age appropriate grande dame...  when mom was out in July we found these amazing antique British and French transfer ware tiles... and a vision started forming... actually it may have been me foaming at the mouth and seeing all the old fireplace mantels I've ever seen and drooled over in my lifetime... here's two to help you see my vision...  I simply can't wait to get these up in our living room with a bad ass honey made mantel/surround... right next to my hidden wine closet... two things of beauty next to each other that will make me grin daily...

Anyway, in case you think I've digressed too much... there really is a point of me leaping from Indian doors to English tiles... We found the tiles for our master yesterday... oh Lord thank you Jesus they're the cost a box that one of my beauties were priced at... the more I see invoices for the January February work, the more I get realistic in my dreams... well as realistic as an only child can be....  but look at these closely... they'll be a muted version of the living room... but similar mantel... and if you turn them just soo.....  they look like a gate or a door... kinda vintagy like the Indian doors that will be on the opposite wall... right?  The heavens opened up and we sang hallelujah at $1.97 a tile... yes please and thank you... the box is in the garage waiting til... um.... June babe?

But wait there's more...  in looking for this tile for this blog... I went and looked at more tile online.... Ohhhh yeah baby...  I've got to go see this one close up... cuz I'm thinking the Master bathroom may need it...  Fire place surround?  Or in the shower egress/nook for the shampoo?  That with the grey floors and calsomethingcutta marble look counter tops?  Sigh... Can you catch what I'm putting down?  It's inexpensive too... run with me babe on this while I'm thinking pretty and cheap... before I run off with mom on another junkin adventure that leads to $20 tiles...

As I come out of my daydreaming of days to someday come... I realize what Penelope's problem is...  honey... You are in danger... just because Penny is country, that doesn't mean she's not a respectable southern lady... she's quite proper and doesn't like her knickers being down... better get her dressed soon!!!!  Or maybe we should post pictures on her exposed beams so she can see what she has coming for her... I CAN see, but she can't...

If that doesn't work... tell her after we've made her pretty we're gonna build a nice strong barn for her... and we've already named him... Buck...

The Wrath of Kudzu (Part 1 of the Kudzu Wars)

Well folks this is going to be a short blog today, but fear not, it's at least the first blog in a trilogy... maybe more.

For those of you that don't live in the Southern United States... kudzu is like English ivy on steroids.  It's an invasive vine that grows about a foot a day killing everything in its path.  In the late summer kudzu has beautiful purple flowers similar to wisteria blooms but that's all it's good for in the eyes of most Southerners.  Supposedly you can eat its leaves, make baskets out of its vines and other miscellaneous purposes desperate people have spent crazy amounts of time trying to find uses for a nuisance of a weed...  Most of us though, spend a crap ton of time trying to kill it.  I've read up on what to do, which methods might or might not work... and the number one thing all articles say is that you've got to find the root crown and cut it off from the roots.  Simple right?  I'm gonna need y'all to look at exhibit one.. 'The Cut'...

The Cut isn't a small 'cut' like the picture the name brings to your mind when you hear it.  It is the portion of land in my back yard that once held part of the 102 mile Southern Railroad Line.  This line became defunct in 1948 when they paved the street that our house is on.  Sometime in the past 70 years the rail ties were removed and all that was left was the indentation in the property through which the trains traveled... "The Cut".  Some people have filled their 'cuts', others haven't.  Our's isn't filled but our plan is to kill the vegetation in "The Cut" and then fill it.  It's a huge undertaking considering it spans the majority of our back 418' of property and is approximately 15-20' wide.  You do the math but it's something like 1/10th of an acre.

Now consider that size and the fact that the property has been empty for 2 years.  The homeowner behind us has been putting herbicides on it- we could tell when we bought the farm that someone had done so as the kudzu wasn't as rampant as it could have been.  That doesn't kill it completely though, it just stops the current growth.  You still have to find the crown.  So you still have to get under that growth (remove it) to get to the root of the problem...  Not to mention there's 5 acres next to us that is undeveloped... The kudzu on that property needs to be controlled too.  The scope of this undertaking is almost larger than the house.  In the house I see a defined time line that should take a year.  The kudzu.. it's probably going to be a 2-3 year battle... This years battle will be the most arduous though...  we need to drop a nuclear bomb (herbicides) on it then bring tanks (commercial sized bush hogs) to tear up the land and clear it.  Then maybe, just maybe we can find those naughty little root crowns and lop off their heads.

Now if we already lived on the property we could get goats and have them graze on the kudzu.  Cherie's goats were thrilled when we brought them over for our project yesterday.  They acted like I would if someone was throwing boxes of See's and Godiva in front of me... Almost a jump for joy but more of a 'here, hold my beer' and they went to work eating what we were pulling.  So yeah, that could work but it needs frequent grazing over 3 to 4 years to ruin stands... I told Cherie to grab a drink and a book, pull up a chair and bring her goats over daily while she's on her medical leave...  Let them do the work... and she called the neighbor that has a bush hog to see what he can do for us.  He told her to get an industrial bush hog as his was too small for the task.  So... I've left two containers of herbicide in Cherie's shed for Bill to dump on the Kudzu while I'm gone... and Bill has a number for a company he needs to get a hold of asap as the kudzu is already creeping onto our cleared property.

Are you tired yet?  I am and I've only just started grasping the full scope of this part of our farm beautification process.  In the mean time, I've ordered 4 different type of native blueberries, 2 pawpaw and 2 fig trees... we'll get those mid September... we should be ready to plant those then... right?

Hope you all are having a blessed beginning of summer... With love from our farm... xoxo

All Around The Mulberry Bush

Summer is here...  My kids are both done with their school year and are happy sleeping in.  Our home garden is going wild - it's lush and filled with different blooms daily.  On the farm we're learning what we have as we bought it during the winter.  Some things were obvious, like the gorgeous large magnolia tree we have in front of the house.  The smell of the blooming flowers wafts as you cross the front yard.  It gives me visions of many years to come of sitting on the porch with friends and family, sipping tea (or a mint julep) and smelling these fragrant blooms in the humid air.

Summer is here... as mentioned in my last blog, we found a blackberry bush in our back yard.  Yesterday I took Katie to finally see the farm and we picked a ton of blackberries.  My heart sung as I smelled the delicious tang of warm berries in a bucket.  I haven't smelled that glorious smell since we moved here 16 years ago.  I explored a couple of feet down from the patch we were picking from and found another patch with bigger berries.  I started hacking at the weeds around it and ate/picked berries to my hearts content.  I even kept picking when it started to rain... with no one watching me but a donkey or two...  I figure we have about 50' x 12' of blackberry bushes and I couldn't be happier.  I even laughed as my arms got scratched up from the bramble.  It's a badge of honor.

Summer is here...  Cherie realized while I was working last week that Bill and I have a Mulberry tree on our farm.  The conversation
   C "Hey you've got a Mulberry tree on your property"
   H "You mean bush?"
   C  "That's what I thought too, but they're actually trees.  Who knew?"
This was the same conversation with everyone I had after that... everyone thought they came on bushes lol!  Most I spoke to knew about mulberries but had never actually SEEN one.  Anyway Cherie did some picking and testing of recipes and got me excited to get my butt back to the farm to try baking with these myself.  I've gone from having to be happy with just blueberries annually to now having three types of berries to bake with in the summer... Oh Lord, mama is gonna need a diet between summer and Christmas cuz I'm not going up another pants size...

Summer is here... when you have an abundance of berries it's best to share... Berry picking is really meant to be done in groups... everyone laughing and having a good time.  This is a rite of passage for kids...  Those warm summer days with dripping berry juice everywhere.  Purple hands and chins.  So Cherie put the word out and a couple of our new friends brought their kids.  More mulberries were bagged and blackberries picked.  Kids ran around playing with the cats, goats and donkeys...  It's our new normal and I couldn't be happier. I love the simple country life where 'just so' southern living isn't a thing... where neighbors share and delight in each others gifts.  Where instead of going to the store for a bar of soap or a slab of bacon... you call the person who makes amazing goat milk soap... or the guy who raises pigs.  Supporting your local farmer and the organic lifestyle.

Summer is here... I spent the morning making a blackberry pie and a mulberry pie - so my family can do a side by side comparison.  Are they the same... similar... or completely different?  I'm so excited to be having fresh blackberry pie with a slab of vanilla ice cream on it tonight that I have to keep from pinching myself to ensure it's really happening.  I also made mulberry scones that Cherie recommended.  They're divine... I'm going to freeze whats left for my work travels after my family devours a good portion first.

Blackberries are harder to harvest but easier to work with.  You can rinse and cook without a lot of damage to the berry.  Mulberries are ridiculously easy to harvest (shake the branch and pick up what falls on your blanket) but they make blackberries look like granite in comparison with their fragility.  You can leave the mulberry stems on when you cook, but I just couldn't bring myself to do so.  I figured out if you freeze them overnight and then clip their stems while they're defrosting, they survive the de-stemming process easily.  After that, the semi frozen berry can be handled pretty much like the blackberry.

Summer is here, which means Bill and I will be working more... but I'm so ever grateful that we've somehow found a little patch of heaven that we could have days like yesterday on.  We're blessed.

Summertime and the livin is easy... mulberries are dropping and the blackberries are high...  :)

Life Repeats Itself

Earlier today my mom and I were talking about the farm... she said I was repeating history... that I'm doing exactly what my grandfather did in the 50's... he built a house in Mill Valley (which WAS country way back when)... and then sold his "city" home (in the town I grew up in) and moved... it put him in a new home with a comfortable life and no mortgage... Sound familiar yet?  I laughed because I've always been more like my grandfather than my mother when it comes to money.  #theartofthedeal... but I could kind of see what she was saying.

We had this talk as I was planting plants I had purchased for our house porch... they were beginning to fade but they were perennials (hydrangeas and lilies) and I knew if I planted them they'd be fabulous next year.  Enjoy now... enjoy forever after later.  By the time our farm house is done I will have transplanted every plant I love from our house garden into our farm garden.  The goal is to have an "English Country" garden in front of the house... and American COUNTRY everywhere else.

Speaking of everywhere else... the majority of our property was mowed this week finally.... After a few long weeks of burning and chipping everything that had fallen on the ground we were able to get our guy in to make our property look respectable again.  There were a few areas that he couldn't do... the "cut" (the railroad bed), under a couple of trees that we hadn't trimmed up to get someone under, and a section near the red head's property that we forgot to grab some huge branches from.  As we were walking along the back half of our property, towards the red heads... I saw something that made me scream with surprised joy...  can you see it???  I made Bill jump into the bramble to grab the few ripe bits of fruit I could see... real fruit... not teeny tiny dried bits I'd seen in my attempts to grow at the house we're currently in... and truly... not the jumbo sized dripping marvels of love that I grew up with... but edible... and more importantly.... cookable... BLACKBERRIES.  OMG this California girl's heart grew two sizes larger today.  I'd given up on my summer tradition of blackberry pie.... I've been making blueberry pie since I moved here... semi content with the replacement but always yearning for the pies of my youth.... for me, nothing says summer more than blackberry pie with vanilla ice cream.

Now I know my moms side of the family that's reading this understands this and is nodding their heads as they read.  It was a summer tradition for us all to converge on my grandfathers house in Mill Valley and walk the neighborhood picking BUCKETS of berries.  Scratches on your arms were badges of distinction.  We all made sure our large buckets were overflowing.  I always took enough to make one pie... and the rest went to my mom for jam.  I'm hearby declaring the tradition reinstated.  All I need is ONE pie Cherie... the rest you can make jam with...  Two California girls happy with childhood memories.

I had plenty of things to do today on the property.  But what did I do???  I liberated the berry patch from all the weeds.  Most of the people I know would consider the blackberries a weed... But when you have just under 2 acres... you can have a 12x5 patch of childhood goodness.  I went after that area with more energy in this Georgia Spring day - 85' or more... and worked my way around the patch so we could see the berries as they ripen, and more importantly REACH them... I stood for a few moments trying to decide if we'd need a "grab em stick" and had a few testers to ensure they were worth propagating... moaning in pure ecstasy with each sun warmed bite.  God I've missed a good blackberry.  Store bought is not the same.  As I was eating my last wee handful I had an epiphany.  My mom was right.  I AM doing exactly what my grandfather did, and he wanted me to know it.  These blackberries are mana from heaven courtesy of Grandpa Mackin.  As I kept attacking the weeds I started singing "Talking about Mill Valley, Mill Valley California that's my home.. that's my hooommmmeee"... Sing it with me my family!!!

Now for the rest of you just waiting for an update on the house renovation... while I was in the back 40 today, Bill gleefully attacked the built ins that are in the bedroom that will become our master bath.  We are getting closer to seeing exactly how big our shower area is going to be.  Bill said that this area was actually the best built of all the interior of the house... "you could park a truck on these things" (not completely verbatim but edited to make safe for work).

So a wee bit of gardening for me.. a wee bit of demo for him.  All in all a great day being on reserve... with my hub that is home for a few days only... I'll take it... and thank you Gramps... 

Corvus Brachyrhynchos Roost

While I'm reflecting on the past week of activity around our new old farm house, it seems only right that I take a moment to reflect on the past two years... or should I go further to 2014 when I told my childhood friend's Facebook friend to bring me coffee in Richmond...  that day brought me to April 23, 2016, which brought me to today... watching my now husband working feverishly on our future home together... It's Spring and the Crow's are roosting... and I'd like to say simply... Thank you Bill... for all that you do for us.  Happy Anniversary baby... here's to many more projects in the future to keep you alive... and me happy... :)

This week has been a trying week for three old bodies...  Cherie, Bill and I worked daily from 9 am to 7 pm... by the time we finished dinner we could all feel EVERY one of our 50+ years.  We're... TIRED!!!  We're looking forward to doing NOTHING tomorrow.  I'm really not sure where to start to describe everything we did and our progress.  We pretty much touched every corner of our property and every inch of our farmhouse.   Ok... I've got it!  I'm going to start with what should be common sense but apparently isn't... Weekend warriors that don't know what the heck you are doing... Yes, you know who you are... Put down the damn hammer and walk away.  Do NOT start/complete a project unless you know how to do it RIGHT.  Covering shit with shit does not fix shit.  Consider yourselves the keeper of your house... the conservator... assume that one day your kids will inherit and will have to fix the shit you didn't fix... Don't have kids?  Think of the next person that is going to have to uncover your layers of junk.  They will be partly joking about what a half assed job you did and partly cursing your name.  The shit we've uncovered in the past couple of days made me shake my head so much I'm pretty positive my neck needs an adjustment by the chiropractor.  Plywood over paint, over paneling, over 3 layers of wallpaper... Plywood over live outlets... Pine flooring over plywood... over vinyl tiles... over oak floors... over... are you getting my drift?  For the love of all things holy... DON'T DO IT.

Ok, rant over... let me talk about one of my favorite things... gardening.  The first two days we had at the farm last week we only had 5 hours a day, so I grabbed Cherie's chipper shredder and started hacking away at what we had left of the cedar tree that had fallen last year.  That and the dead pine next to it NEED TO GO.  I want to get our garden guy out there to mow and do a first overhaul of the property.  It's been 2 years since it was done right and I'm doing what all women do before a 'cleaner' comes... I'm cleaning.  You can kind of see the progress in the picture to the left.  The top two are before and the bottom two current.  We still have a stack of cedar to shred, what we've shredded already is in Cherie and our flower gardens "free" cedar chips.  The pine tree needs to be cut down, but that we'll do in a few weeks... that said it has dropped a gazillion limbs that scattered in a 20' diameter around it's base... those were all picked up and burned this weekend... while Bill screamed obscenities in the house, we dragged the pieces to the burn barrel and surprisingly quickly, got 90% burned... We have one good burn left and one good day of shredding to do and the gardener can come... (Insert me doing the cupid shuffle happy dance here)... We also removed the bushes from around the house and planted some free plants in both of our gardens... I was on reserve this weekend... and have a new tan to show for it... Gotta love it when the company gives you extra days off... :)

Bill was in the house for the most part but was lured out to do some gardening when he was presented with a shiny new Stihl Farm Boss chainsaw... as Cherie said... it was the happiest she'd seen him in a while.  He was chopping everything he could get his hands on and even started chopping a 60' tree that had dropped this past week.  Well we thought he was happy... and then he met the neighbor that owns the farm behind us... Bill took a break from working that 60' tree to say hi... and the guy made a comment that he could hear him swearing OVER the chainsaw...  bwahahaha it's only right Bill sets the tone right from the start... what's even funnier was we mentioned this story to Tiny today when Cherie and I went over to buy bacon and eggs from him... and Tiny made a funny grimace, laughed, shook his head and said "Yup"... I GUFFAWED and said "That's my hub, he sounds like a bear but he's a big softy"...

Bill and Cherie did the most work in the kitchen and dining room as I tended the garden... we each know where we are better put to work lol.  The walls are down and it's amazing how much light is in the kitchen now.  I can't wait til we get the bay window in the dining room.  This whole space is opening up.  I'm loving the flow.  The ugly pine floors are up, the insulation is out and dead animals removed.  It's time for me to look for the window for the kitchen - it's going to be MUCH larger.  I want 6 over 1 windows.  Craftsman looking... I know that era started about 10 years later but the house can handle it.

We think we've settled on an AGA Elise (48") in Scarlet for our oven/stove, a double farmhouse sink in white and stainless steel appliances.  I squint just a wee bit and I can SEE it.  We need to decide on cabinet style... but that's a bit down the road.  First we have to get plumbing and electricity brought up to THIS century...

Speaking of plumbing... the spare bathroom was completely gutted too.  The floors are a hot mess because whoever worked on the water heater last didn't connect the overflow valve to the tube that vents it outside... In other words, hot water has been spewing in this area for god knows how long and the floor is rotten.  One of the reasons I want my tank less water heater.  This room we're removing the window and moving the tub/shower to the back wall, the closet at the hall is removed instead you'll open the door, walk by our linen chifferobe and an antique chest will be re-purposed for a vanity.  I've decided I don't want a pedestal sink like I originally thought I wanted.  I want our guests to have room to put their toiletries.

One of my favorite changes of the week though... is the widening of the hallway entrance.  It used to be the size of a doorway.  It now matches the size of the french doors at the beginning of the hall.  Less warren-like... did I mention I love that it's only one floor?  I told Bill it was only going to take him 14 steps to get me coffee in the morning... I may be underestimating that number but he won't be climbing up the stairs anymore... and at our age, that's a blessing.

Oh lord... and here's something else that is troublesome at our age...  Women my age... you're going to understand this, shake your head in agreement and then make sure no one saw you... because we just don't TALK about this sort of thing... especially in the south... but Lord save me...  I'm going through a half dozen panty shields a day doing this work... You know what I'm talking about... every time I pick up something heavy or throw myself into demo... I pee a smidgen.  This shizzle is a pain in the ass.  I've looked up how to stop this...

   *  Do daily pelvic floor exercises...  (Exercise???  Yeah I gave that up for Lent)
   *  Quit smoking... (Ok this one I got... I don't smoke.  DONE)
   *  Do the right exercises...  (are there WRONG ones?  I must be doing them!)
   *  Avoid lifting... (yeah um... no can do... I'm renovating a damn house)
   *  Treat constipation promptly...  (who said I was constipated??? I'm regular thank you)
   *  Cut down on caffeine...  (and people will die... can't do this)
   *  Cut down on alcohol...  (WHAT????)
   *  Drink plenty of water...  (Doesn't this MAKE you pee???)
   *  Eat the right food...  (Is there a 'makes women not leak' meal??? I'm in.  Does it have chocolate and pasta???)

I've decided to give up and buy stock in Energizer, who apparently bought the feminine hygiene division of Johnson and Johnson... am I the only one that is laughing so hard that I'm peeing... yet again... at Energizer owning feminine hygiene products???   Me thinks they should buy Pfizer as they own Viagra... but that's wayyyy off topic now.

Let me go back to topic to say one final thing about this renovation... for anyone looking at us pulling off what looks like vintage details and shrieking in horror... I felt guilty for a half a minute until I spied the UPC codes on the back of the trim.  Now this shizzle started during my lifetime... so NONE of this work we're tearing out was done prior to 1974.  It's our goal to redo a lot of this trim with better products, to ensure it lasts for many a generation after us... and makes these following generations truly think they're looking at wainscoting from 1910.

For now that's it folks... I'm heading back down mid week to work on the cedar one last time... and Bill is off to work mid week for a week.  The next few days is down time... I don't expect to lift a finger with the exception of perhaps calling a waiter tomorrow for dinner...  In old lady terms... it should only be a one panty shield day tomorrow and the next day... Thank the Lord for small blessings.

From our house to yours... have a fabulous week!

When Roger Supervises... aka When Bill Leaves His Wives Alone With Tools...

The past two weekends my husband has been gone - he's working in Panama - yeah he sucks... we're freezing in Georgia and he's in a toasty place with water views... sigh...  Alas, I've been on reserve both weekends.  Miracle of miracles, I haven't really been called.  Unless you can say two round trips in 13 days is working... but I digress...

Last Saturday, I took Bill down to The Farm so that we'd both be closer to the airport.  Me if called, and him for his 5am flight on Sunday.  We went junkin with the red head when we got there Saturday, killing a few of my hours of waiting.  When we came back I needed to feel like I wasn't wasting time.  Reserve can do that to your mind...  So I quietly walked away, grabbed Cherie's pruners and sneaked onto our property to start chopping down a massive cedar that had fallen months ago.

You'd think Bill would look for me when I disappear... Like a kid or a puppy, it always means I'm getting into something.  After I got a nice pile started I sent a text to Cherie and told her to send Bill over with her chipper shredder... I could hear him grumbling about the 300 pounds of metal he was pushing all the way to where I was working... but he did it... and after a rough start... he actually kind of... wait for it... ENJOYED it...   We worked for two hours probably and got a good amount chipped up for Cherie's dog kennel... waste not want not in the country...  All that work was oddly satisfying.

Easter Sunday I drove Bill off to work and fully expected to be called to work also... and wasn't.  After a wonderfully yummy brunch with neighbors we came back to the house.  I looked at Cherie... and grabbed the pruners again.  We worked on that cedar for three more hours until there was nothing we could prune without a chainsaw.  There are HUGE piles of branches waiting for Bill's return to throw into the chipper shredder... neither the red head nor I are certified for THAT kind of power tool.  For the record, our neighbor across the street offered his chain saw but I'm smart enough to know we aren't qualified for THAT kind of power tool either... I like us having all our limbs and fingers...

Yesterday, after working an overnight to Mississippi, I went back to the red heads to show my other bestie our new property.  Then spent the night because it made more sense to stay close to the airport again, as I knew I would be called today (I was wrong- mark today in the history books folks).  By 11 am we were both bored sitting in her living room.  I looked at her and asked if she felt like taking down some wall paper.  Can I tell you how much I love this woman?  She is happy to jump into any project that needs to be tackled.  We are Thelma and Louise... without killing men or driving off canyon cliffs...

We spent 4 hours removing wall paper... when we were done with wall paper we went to trim... when we were done with trim we went to shelving... and when we were done with shelving we went to the spare bathroom and attacked it with a feverish gusto.  We both agreed that we understood why Chip Gaines loves Demo Day... it's oddly satisfying to destroy and demolish.  I kept sending texts to Bill to tease him with each part of the house we started to attack.  I know he sat there in Panama second guessing his brilliance in leaving tools where Cherie and I could find and use them.  I'm pretty sure we saved him lots of time in our fervor today, and I'm also confident that we didn't destroy anything that we shouldn't have.  Really.

By the end of the day we had the wall paper removed from the dining room, kitchen and master bedroom.  I can officially tell you which rooms have plaster and which have sheet rocked walls.  The kitchen no longer has baseboards or crown molding, neither of which are a loss.  They were put on horridly.  I guess at this point I should mention that I think Bill and I have finally come to a design plan for the kitchen.  It's been a struggle to figure out how to lay it out and get everything we want in it.  After Alex left yesterday, I took her input to heart and started re-configuring the design on paper.  I'm pretty excited with the current plan.  First step... get the pull off dumpster and toss everything that is piled in the middle of the kitchen floor lol...

The spare bath we gutted as much as we could without Bill's help.  The cheap wood wall paneling was smacked off piece by piece.  I love Bill's mallet and crow bar... but I think my right wrist and arm are going to hate me tomorrow.  That shizzle is HEAVY.  We're still working on the configuration of that room.  I think I have a "new" plan for that.  Bill is trying to keep up with changes I make daily.  He needs to blame the company for not calling me.  The more time I spend laying around looking through This Old House magazines the more ideas I get for our house... As Bill put it today, when we are done we will have a nice NEW old house.  What I DO know is the things that were done half assed will be fixed to stand the test of time.  I'm all about do it right the first time, which is half of our conversations...  "We can do x..."  "How much would it just cost to replace?" "A couple hundred and be easier to do"... "Well duh, lets do it right"...  I guess in this respect, I AM my mothers daughter.

While we were attacking each room, Roger, Cherie's "feral' barn cat followed and watched us.  The noises didn't scare that cat.  We've decided he's the project mascot and overseer.  He's going to be very sad when a very large Tank moves in.  Roger has already claimed our property as his too.  You can see how helpful Roger was today.  Criticizing over our shoulders.  He's quite a hands on manager.

Roger agreed with us that the wall paper we uncovered today was not something that we needed to recreate to bring the house back to what it was originally.  Some things just need to be left in the past.  Green checked paper was found in the spare bathroom.  Looks like there was tile on the bottom half of the wall before they decided to take a Folk Victorian and try to make the interior look like a cabin in the northern Georgia mountains.  We also found a yellow paisley? paper in the dining room.  Apparently that room has been a green floral and yellow paisley.  With the orange and green patterned paper we found in the living room I can see the 50's-70's and I'm having flash backs that no one should have to experience.

It's time to end this blog and this week.  I'll leave you all with some pictures from our demo of the master bedroom and spare bedroom... and because people noticed my little gold shoes when I posted pictures on Facebook last week of our pruning job... I thought I'd post a picture of the flip flops I wore today.  Yes, I agree... neither were appropriate for the jobs I was doing... but I really thought I'd be called to work.  I've made a mental note to leave a pair of old jeans, t shirt and tennis shoes at Cherie's so I don't have to worry about my feet or clothes lol...

Happy April y'all... may Spring really come to your house... and may the weather stay ABOVE 60 from here on out...