It's April!? Our family has had 3 farm trips since I've last blogged.
Here is my excuse: In between the 3 trips, we celebrated 5 birthdays (including Naia's 5th, which is a big deal), completed inventory of all our staging items while I prepared for a vacant home stage in Prior Lake, we sent Saryna off to Texas for military training, continued our day jobs & have kept busy with our own home improvement projects!
We moved Sydney downstairs with a new room (as previously seen on FB), we moved Naia into the bigger room (that Sydney had vacated) with décor cut out for a 5 year old...
We then converted her old bedroom into an extremely comforting den- where I am currently sitting with my feet up, typing this blog. It's my new happy place. In our den I'm surrounded by plants, green walls and typically, including currently, a snuggled up baby girl & a dog or two. It's almost done, I'm waiting for the pièce de résistance: a large hand made Macramé' wall hanging that I've commissioned from a friend to hang over the sofa. Hey, I'm a 70's child, I cherish anything Macramé and well.. green.
"Mommy & Naia go green!"
Not to mention, my husband has been creating beautiful wainscoting in our lower level. It took me 2.5 months to decide on a wall color downstairs, but I'm so happy I took the time and had paint swatches taped all over my walls for so long, because I'm in love with the new color. The winning color, you ask? Tattle Tan, by Paramount Paints (Gotta love Menard's 11% rebates!) I will share more on this in my next blog. :)
But the Truth: the reason I haven't felt like blogging about the farm is because it was over the winter, after the holiday buzz wore off & besides we weren't really biting off big project bites at the time. Looking back now, we've benefited and truly enjoyed the (sometimes subtle) updates.
So here I am 'catching up'...3 trips in a nutshell...
JANUARY 2021
With the laundry room functioning (Yay, Nakia), I took some time getting more organized with a new sturdy storage rack (the old one was tilting a little too far for my comfort)... and of course found more treasures to hang up on the wall.
Nakia finished installing the carpet on the uppers stairs and other important fixes and repairs.
Scrubbed & painted the bedroom closet, and brought the bed linen's etc. up from the laundry room to it's new permanent home.
Sydney did school work the entire time.. sometimes with her little sister sitting on her shoulders... and the Dogs.. well, you see how helpful those guys are.
FEBRUARY 2021:
Grandma came to pick up Naia on Friday, while I spent the entire day down in the basement (9 hours to be exact), cleaning and organizing. I didn't see any mouse carcasses, no major spiders, a small amount (surprisingly) of mouse poo, it was the years and years of dirt and dust and spider webs that I was tackling. Here's some before and after's:
After the several trips up the rickety old stairs with all the trash, I suggested that we re-build our basement steps sooner than later. We have some heavy work to get done down there over the next year, so we might as well prepare for that and be safe... that became our main project for our March trip.
For Valentines Day, my lovely husband finished the dining room floor for me. (It was driving me crazy!) He truly knows the way to my heart, I'll give him that. He also made his girls heart shaped pancakes. He's simply the best.
We got an amazing deal on a 9 x 13 rug for our bedroom that (almost completely) covers the floor and looks perfect.
Nakia spent a large portion of the trip replacing the sink and toilet of the upstairs bathroom. Okay- so I guess that was a pretty large project - He installed a new toilet & a smaller pedestal sink on the adjacent wall to allow for more knee space/ and function overall. A fully functioning bathroom upstairs is especially appreciated at 3 am. Thanks again, honey!
Naia, with Grandma's help, made Nakia and I the sweetest Valentine's Day card. She also taught herself (& Grandma), the fine art of selfies and still life photography.
MARCH 2021:
By the time we got home from Pie Day at the American Legion one day, Nakia was almost done installing the new basement steps! He would still like to add another stringer to the middle, but what a difference! It's so nice to not have to worry about crashing through to the floor or tripping down the old steps any more. Since the new stairs are not as steep, he did have to cut out more head room...
< Before & After >
He also started to build out a wall in our upstairs bathroom. For now, a curtain hangs to cover the doorway, but no more having to sing on the toilet! We have privacy! I hung a mirror over the sink and added a table for the lamp & extra TP.
While he was working in the basement and all over the rest of the house, I spent time in the 3rd and final bedroom upstairs. It was the only room of the house that hadn't had the "deep clean". It had been gone through, surface cleaned and repaired here and there, but we had been using it to store materials, and just kept the door closed. There is a big hole in the plaster that needs to (someday) be repaired, along with new windows (or a terrace if I get my way) need to be installed. I'd like to sand this floor while the windows are out because they are gorgeous and haven't been painted like the rest of them... and since I've gone through the growing pains of sanding the farmhouse floors, I know what I'd be getting myself into. I have a vision for this room. It doesn't seem like a lot in the photo but it was a lot. trust me.
Since March was upon us, we got a chance to get outside- not only to start yard clean up but to enjoy our land in all its splendor. Last fall we had a large tree cut down that was threatening the delicate integrity of the garage. Us girls spent the entire day cleaning & burning up all the branches and stacking the logs. The little girls even helped out!
I'll leave you with a funny dog story: Nova heard a coyote howl while out on her final potty break before bed. It was pitch dark. She jumped, turned to run back to me and ran into the side of our trailer, fell over, stammered her way to the deck, and hid behind me with her ears back.. terrified... all within seconds. It was hilarious since the girl thinks she's the baddest of the bad when we're at home, in the city, growling at all the squirrels, birds and other creatures that dare touch our yard. Such a city dog.