Still here

It's just that the progress hasn't been very obvious in recent days. In fact, some of it's almost downright invisible. But we're really working like crazy.

But first of all, there's one main reason all this work is completely worth it. Our lifestyle here couldn't be more different from what it was inside the city -- but it also isn't suburban. It's sitting outside on the deck at night and listening to the frogs croak and the wind whir through the trees. It's taking a walk to sit on the dock at C point and watch the waves. And it's eating out back in the fresh air and the shade. We're so happy to have this pit to redo.



The focus recently has been finishing off the grading of the former pond/sludge pit. Jeff got it all filled in and smoothed with topsoil, and then planted a ton of wildflower seed for this summer at least. The sproutlets are already starting to come up -- and they're adorably cute so far. Here's to hoping they won't turn into a weed bed.



I finally finished the doors to the cabinets in the bathroom -- not exactly the easiest thing in the world because I didn't have the right blade for my table saw. When I start in on the kitchen cabinets, I'll invest in the dado.



My wonderful sister helped us out in sewing a Roman blind, made from a shower curtain to match the one we found and liked for the tub. It took a looooong time to get it all done. Things like sewing on those little loops are really a drag.

And then on Sunday I had a semi-emergency while trying to install it. Long story short: My drill bit broke and snagged the top of the shade while I was drilling through the header, twisting and shredding part of the cloth, and ripping out about ten inches of one of the seams. OK, Plan B -- build a valence to cover the ripped part, which will actually end up looking good anyhow. But with no sewing machine, that means I have to take a trip to Bonner Springs (about a half hour away) to use Jennifer's machine for literally 30 seconds' worth of work. Anyhow, it's all done. I love how the valence looks (much more finished than just the blunt fabric top, I think).




And now the whole bathroom really works together. Apart from installing the door, we're completely finished here. The colors are off in this picture (taken at night), but you can get the idea.

Then on to the big bedroom, whose ceiling needed smoothing. I'm getting better at it -- and my little imperfection tags help point out places that need a bit more TLC.



Unfortunately, the ceiling paint we're using doesn't dry very evenly, and you see the lines from the roller if you look closely. That's partly because of gravity, which works differently on a ceiling than in does on a vertical wall. Oh well -- nothing is ever really perfection.

Installed the new ceiling fan too, which is really, really wonderful looking. However -- WORST. INSTRUCTION. BOOKLET. EVER. We figured it out, with lots of wonderful teamwork. And the result is very pleasing.



Tomorrow night, the hallway ceiling gets its primer. Then painting is underway, and hardwood floors are right around the corner. That will make an enormously huge impact.

Loving this process again.

Some progress obvious - some not so much

Jeff's mom's housewarming gift to us was to have somebody clean up the yard, which was a terrible mess from many years of no raking or cleaning up the many branches left by an ice storm. The house is next to a wooded lot, so you can imagine what it was like after all that neglect.

While we're at it, we decided also to have the same guys haul in the considerable fill dirt we needed around the foundation to replace the grading that had started sloping in after many years of, again, no maintenance.

So I took part of Tuesday afternoon off to be there while the crew worked. I came home to this in our front yard.



Exciting. By the time all was said and done, they'd brought in ten cubic yards of fill dirt, 60 pounds of grass seed, an unknown number of bales of hay -- and they completely filled their entire dump truck with the limbs, leaves and other debris. Look at that stuff sticking out of the top. They had to put the tarp over it to keep everything from blowing out. They were really surprised it was so much themselves. They missed raking up one area of acorns on one side of the oak tree, but we can take care of those ourselves.



This was some of the most valuable work that's happened to the house, and was all thanks to Jeff's mom!



You couldn't even see this corner of the fence because of the overgrown honeysuckle and piles of leaves three feet deep. In fact, we didn't even realize the stacked firewood was behind fencing. It was just that bad.



Everything slopes the way it's supposed to now.



Even under the deck. So I had to screw all those boards back into place. Not rewarding exactly, but it's nice to have it done now.

We had massive winds Thursday night. Lucky for us, our straw all seemed to weather the storm just fine, and we only had two small tree limbs down in front. Our neighbors right around the corner weren't so lucky. They lost an enormous tree. Notice Half a House in the background.



This phase of the outside work being finished, it was time to start smoothing and sanding the joints in the de-popcorned bedroom, hallway and stairwell, while Jeff worked at pulling up some of the remaining tack strips from the carpets the previous owner never completely got rid of like he said he was going to.

The sanding doesn't look like much, but all that dust certainly turns me into a sight.



But that's only temporary. The smoothing will be done in another few months, and we'll never have to remove that nasty texture again. And regardless of how much work this all is, we realize it's worth it every time we walk to the front of the house to see this as the sun goes down.



We are very lucky to be here.