Preparing for a Move

Well, let's face it - we've been preparing for a move for 7 months now, BUT we are actually getting CLOSE now! The list of things we have LEFT to do is actually shorter now than the things we've gotten accomplished. The children's bathroom, boys' room, girls' room, living room, laundry room, and kitchen are all complete now! What remains is the master bedroom (installing carpet and baseboards) and master bath (take out old shower, replace flooring underneath shower as needed and possibly sheetrock behind shower, install new shower, paint, replace broken mirrors, install vinyl flooring, and replace countertops/sinks). I'm sure we will discover even more than needs doing in this bathroom, but that's our list for now. We also found a good deal on a steel frame, metal building that we will be using as a storage shed. What a load off my mind to have storage! The biggest stress for me living here was going to be lack of storage; glad it will not be a problem. The neighbor behind us does concrete, and he is having his trucks stop off at our house to pour concrete on the way to another job. He is able to give us a good deal that way. We are getting the best quality concrete because of the job he is doing on the way, and we are getting the highest storm/wind rated building in the hopes of using the building as a storm shelter as well. Our neighbor was just telling us about a tornado passing right over our homes a week or two ago! It went back up and caused no damage to our homes, but he could hear the roaring of it passing overhead. That is the second tornado this season that has passed so close by us. Thank the Lord for his protection! We are but dust, and our lives so fragile, yet He cares for us. We know that we will not leave this earth one day sooner than our appointed day, so there really is no place for worry. We know we are in His will doing what we are doing now, and in that regard, we are in the safest place on earth.

Now for our week at home

It's funny to call our current house "home" because, really, they are both home now. But that is where we are this week. I think we've figured out that a week here, then a week there, then back here for a week might be a good, less stressful, more productive system. I can plan a week's worth of meals, a weeks worth of clean laundry, and then we can stay somewhere long enough to get more accomplished. Well, that's the plan anyway.

I hope I don't bore everyone with details, but I'm also hoping that someone who may one day be in my shoes will benefit from my experience. So, here it goes...This week I planned to make more homecooked-from-scratch foods, since last time's experiment with all the packaged stuff failed. So, I found a store more than 30 minutes from the property that had organics. And I went shopping there. Definitely an option if I'm totally out of some things that aren't sold locally. And, aside from the whole "organic" thing, there are very basic foods in my cooking, like coconut oil, that organic or not, are just not available (except at this store)! I'm always amazed at the rows and rows of different brands of "vegetable oil", but the utter lack of true variety. At Wal-Mart, if I want something other than "vegetable oil", or olive oil, I am out of luck (at least at this one). What about sesame oil, peanut oil, coconut oil, flax oil, etc.? Anyhow, I digress. I also drove to the farm (about 30 minutes) which has milk and other milk products (yogurt, kefir, etc.), cheese, eggs, beef, chicken, and even things like salt, grains, etc. It is operated by a lovely Mennonite family who are so friendly, and we always have a good visit. I was able to test the limits of my little dorm fridge and get a reasonable amount of food in there for the week. Things went well this time: I didn't spend much time in the kitchen and I felt significantly better health-wise.

My productivity is waning, as is the list of jobs that I can actually help with now. However, I had HOPED to get the laundry room painted this week. I thought it was totally doable, since the laundry room is the size of a large closet. As I swept the floor after dinner one night, I realized that, once again, I would not get to paint that laundry room. I just had to give that desire up to God. I've started working off a list of priorities each day, to make sure that the most important things happen everyday, and I had done that this day, and the laundry room was not more important than educating the children, spending time talking with them, and making sure that everyone had healthy meals to eat. So, I went to bed in peace that night, knowing that I'd accomplished the important things, and that God would take care of the rest. I just kept thinking of the verse, "Seek ye FIRST the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and ALL THESE THINGS shall be added unto you." I saw it happen this week. I saw my two little boys dragging all the things, HEAVY things, that were stored in the laundry room, out to another room in preparation for painting. This was something I'd planned to do but just didn't have the energy, but they did it for me. When God says that children are a blessing and a reward, he means it! They really are. My children are doing for me things I cannot do right now in my big, pregnant state, and I am so thankful to them for that.

The week's agenda includes (starting Monday): the week off homeschool for the boys, and a big house sort/cleanout! Our current house is bigger than our trailer, so we have to prioritize and decide what we can really live without, and what we truly need. A big job. Hope I finish. Then, toward the end of the week: off to house #2. Pretty soon I will have to carry my birth kit in my van for "just in case". :)

Preparing to Stay Again

I enjoy going to stay out at the property, and I also like being at our current home. But I don't like packing and preparing to go to either place! It is exhausting. It is like we are packing for vacation - but we do it every week, sometimes twice a week! And it's not like I can make a list and that will be my once-for-all packing list, because things are always changing. We're always thinking of things that need to go to one place or the other. And finding things that didn't work last time that we need to change for this time.

Aside from all that, it really is FUN to get to go! We get to, little by little, fix things up how we want them, without too much pressure. I get to contemplate where I want to put each thing, and design how I want to configure the closets, etc. I was telling Jeremy, though, that I wish we could move things to the new place one room or one little bit at a time instead of moving the whole house at once! I just remember moving day to this house, where we had lots of boxes of STUFF that we just had to find a place for or else step over them constantly. Not a lot of time to decide where to put things, or if it was actually WORTH it to KEEP certain things. I think I'd rather have my house clean and tidy and easy to keep that way (everything has a PLACE and not too many things trying to be shoved all in one too-small place - like they seem to be now).

Along those lines, I have been noticing for a while that the boys are having a hard time keeping their toys put away and sorted into proper bins, etc. So, I just dumped a whole bunch of toys into a box, put them in the garage (after reassuring them I wasn't actually getting rid of them), and decided to let them play with what's left. I have a theory that they will be happier because 1) They don't have to listen to me constantly telling them to pick up toys, 2) They don't have the frustration of trying to put too many toys back into spaces that are too small (I can relate to their frustration) and 3) They can appreciate and find the toys that are left, that they possibly couldn't even FIND before. What I really want to do is clear their room of all toys and only put back ONE box of toys (like trains). When they manage that well, I'd add another box, until they reach the point of being unable to maintain it all, then I'd take it back a step. It's nice at the property because they only have one big tupperware container of toys. When I say, "Clean up" they know that all toys go in that box. Finding parts that go with each other is easy enough because the box of toys isn't that big. And they aren't any less happy with life out there, nor do they bemoan the fact that a certain toy isn't at the trailer. That's why I think my theory will work. :)

I also love how I only acquire things at the trailer once I've seen an actual NEED for them. I think I've discussed this before, but I think it bears repeating: it is so freeing to know that everything in your house is there because you have RIGHT NOW found a specific purpose that nothing else could serve. I think in our homes we acquire things that people give us, or things that "might be useful someday" or that we "paid good money for, so I can't throw it out" without even realizing that we really would be happier just giving it away. Oh the people we could serve, the things that we could do for God that would REALLY count for eternity, if our lives weren't spent shopping for things, storing, repairing, and organizing things, and eventually deciding to part with things. I'll try to remember that the next time I want to buy something.....

Nutrition and More Work Accomplished

We've decided recently to start staying out at our property during the week more, to try to get more accomplished. The frantic loading of everyone on Sunday mornings to stay the day there is exhausting, and we seem to not get very much done. As Jeremy headed off the work this Thursday, I began preparing to meet him out there after work. The kids and I ate breakfast, finished homeschooling, ate lunch, and then packed everything into the van. It is surprising the heavy bags that those boys can load into the van! They like doing it, and it helps me a lot!

I've also decided to stock the pantry/dorm fridge at the property so that we aren't trying to pack up loads of food for our stay out there. I've been going shopping just as we run out of food, which seems to be often, since that fridge doesn't hold very much. I tried to plan meals around foods that didn't require refrigeration, and I was successful in that we did get meals fixed and didn't eat out, but the processed foods and minimal protein started taking its toll! My hands were swelling, which they hadn't done in a long time (only a handful of times this pregnancy, and I'm now 32 weeks), and one night while walking around Wal-Mart getting some things we needed, I got really nauseous and faint feeling. I was adding up what I'd eaten on that (very busy) day, and it wasn't much, esp. not in the way of protein. So I went straight to find snacks, paid for them, and then walked around finishing our shopping while consuming everything I'd bought! I soon felt better. Yet I didn't feel completely better (as in, no swelling and not hungry all the time) until I got home today and could eat our usual foods. I'm so surprised how much difference the right nutrition makes, esp. in pregnancy. I bought a box of Nutrigrain bars, and I seriously could eat at least a half box at one sitting and still not feel full, probably because it just doesn't provide the kind of nutrients my little growing baby is needing. Next time I will be bringing my Bosch so that I can make homemade bread and smoothies! I have to eat twice (or more!) as much store bought bread as normal bread to get full, and it doesn't have all the nutrients. And it is hard to find healthy, tasty options at Wal-Mart sometimes that don't have refined grains and/or extra sweeteners, and there aren't too many close shopping options besides Wal-Mart. So next time I will bring a cooler, too, if need be, and just cook my normal meals so that I will feel well, and save the pantry stuff for emergencies. At least now I know.

As far as work on the property, we got some transition strips between the different floors installed, a threshold and some trim around the door to make it look so much better, a deck partially installed (I'm SOO thankful that THAT, as it was getting really hard to make it up our temporary steps), and the carpet cut and laid down for our bedroom. We don't have the carpet pad yet, and it isn't installed, but at least it is down, on the floor, so that we aren't getting that particle board dust all over our feet, beds, etc., and now the roll of carpet is out of the kitchen! One less thing to trip over. :) And while the kids were napping one day, I painted our bedroom (yeah!!), and Jeremy helped finish it up when he got home. And then we proceeding to scratch it up with the carpet "installation". Oh well. Another repair for another day, I suppose.

I was so excited to find a great thrift store not to far from our property, too. I'm going to miss that about where we live now - tons of thrift stores with lots of great stuff, all not too far from our house. Yet having one good thrift store will help, with some others a bit farther away. I was able to find a wooden highchair for Faith, and we negotiated the price to $12. It didn't have a tray, which I didn't care too much about, since we were planning to just slide it up to the table, and it was wobbly, which Jeremy fixed with some wood glue. Clothes were half price that day, too, so I was able to find a few things for the children for $1 each. And we found some great Bible story books for my nieces birthday party that weekend! The neat thing about thrift stores is that they have things that typical stores do not sell, and for a fraction of the cost of the things that typical stores DO sell. For example, we bought a last minute shirt for Jeremy since the weather was colder than we thought, at an outlet store at 75% off: total price - $12.50. I told him that the shirts at the thrift store were 75% off of that store's 75% off price! Maybe I'll convert him to my thrift store ways someday.

Enjoying the Simple Things

Since Jeremy had president's day off, we decided to stay Sunday/Monday at the property to get some work done. The weather was soooo beautiful! We still have no AC hooked up, and we haven't been too worried about that, since it's been so cold, but this weather warming up has made us start to think about it. One of our first projects was to buy and install some ceiling fans in the living room and bedrooms. We went with Hunter fans for the bedrooms - they are just SOOO good! We have one in our bedroom now, and all you can hear is the sound of the air moving. We've slept in too many rooms with noisy fans to go cheap on them. Some cheap things are worth the savings, but not fans, in my opinion! The ceiling fan installations were a team effort: Jude handed me fan blade parts, I assembled them, while Jeremy did all the wiring and attaching to the ceiling. We went to bed pretty late that night, since they seemed to take a LONG time to install, esp. on funky mobile home ceilings!

We also had a wonderful friend who came and helped install the drywall in the bathroom, and what a blessing that was! It is finally finished! The drywall, that is, not the bathroom - we are still a long way from that, it seems. :) I'm now 7 months pregnant, and I'm no help when it comes to carrying heavy sheet rock, and not much help with anything involving bending over (esp. the getting back up part of bending over!) or lifting. The master bedroom now has a coat of primer and we have the paint purchased for it for next time we are out.

I decided that I was tired of all the packing and moving practically our whole house in order to stay out there any length of time, so Seth and I went on a little excursion to purchase lots of these items. We got the cheaper quality stuff (hello, Dollar Tree!), since we don't need it to last forever, and while I was against getting duplicates of things at first, I now think that if we got them cheap enough, we can just donate them to people who need them when we are finished with them. No more loading up the entire van; problem solved (mostly!).

I also decided to get some food while we were out that would be healthy, but last at least a month, just in case we weren't able to come out there for a while (if some of us were sick, or something like that). So, our little dorm fridge is packed with food! I'm glad it has a little freezer, too, so I can keep some meat out there. Packing food is the hardest thing for us, so that will save us some trouble.

It is amazing how much one appreciates simple things after doing without for a while. For example, I kept forgetting to bring a spare pair of scissors out there, and oh, the many things that are made more difficult by not having pair of scissors! Sure, one can sometimes substitute a knife, but scissors work so much better. :) Not only that, but we are really learning what bare necessities are for us. We don't typically bring things out there unless we have noticed a lack, so that the things we have out there are things that we specifically decided that life was better with them. I know that I have things in our current home that we probably wouldn't notice too much if they were gone, so it is nice to enjoy a little simplicity.

Lately I've been enjoying reading Habitat for Humanity's "How to Build a House" by Larry Haun. I definitely recommend that book to anyone interested in home building! It is written for the average Joe who knows NOTHING about building a house (yep, that would be us). If you think about Habitat for Humanity for a moment you'll see why it's a great book: they utilize lay volunteers (folks who don't know how to read a tape measure - yep, that's in the book, too), so the book is very detailed, yet simple to understand; they are building low cost housing (that's right up our alley); and they focus on simple to build, small homes (in reality, that is what we want, too). The book is very easy to read, and the author seems to have as his purpose convincing everyone that they can ACTUALLY build their OWN home - and I'm convinced we can do it! Good thing, too, since that was our plan from the beginning. :) The main difference we want in our home that most homes don't have is a bigger laundry room! Our family is really growing, and we already do lots of laundry, so I want space for more than one washer/dryer if we need it, places to fold, iron, sort, etc. But other than that, I don't want our house to be very big. I like how close our family is in our little mobile home we're preparing to move into. I will definitely want more storage space in our house, though, than the mobile home has!

New Floors Put in & Other Progress

So, I'm way behind on my blogging! No surprise there - 3 children, right now feeling the "tummy gymnastics" of our fourth due in April, and maintaining two homes - I'm a little bit busy.

To sum up our week spent at the property - we had a toilet overflow, on the particle board floors (what a nightmare!). We need to replace that toilet because even a normal amount flushed down that toilet is too much for it, not to mention the large amounts of t.p. that toddlers tend to flush! The kitchen is now painted a lovely butter yellow (I did the whole thing myself).
And, the biggest accomplishment of that week is that our trailer now has skirting - which means it is now insurable. We were able to buy used corrugated metal (like barn tin) for the skirting - giving us a durable product and saving us tons of money, but the downside - it takes a LONG time to custom cut it into trailer skirting. But it is done. Praise the Lord!

Since then we have finished painting the living room, which was wall paper, but is now brown, with a darker shade of brown on the bottom, and white trim in the middle. Baby girl's room is now lilac, and the living room, hallway, and baby's room are now done with this vinyl plank flooring called Allure that we got at Home Depot. It was advertised as the "easiest floor ever", and I've not installed any other flooring, but this stuff was pretty easy. It consisted of vinyl planks with sticky strips that overlap each other, and it is supposed to be waterproof - a big plus in our decision to get it. It looks great, and I'm so pleased that we got it! The baby's room also now has baseboards, and oh, what a difference it makes!

We still have flooring left to do in both bathrooms - sheet vinyl, kinda nervous about that, and in the master bedroom - carpet, which we got for free from a neighbor, but we've never done carpet, so nervous about that one, too. The hall bath still needs sheetrock to be hung, painting, the vanity, toilet and tub (including tub surround) to be put back in; so pretty much everything! and the master bath needs a section of flooring to be replaced, the shower needs to be replaced (and who knows what else will need to be replaced once we pull the shower out), and the aforementioned overflowing toilet needs a replacement. In also needs painting and mirrors replaced, and probably a new vanity before it's all over with, but I guess we will see! The whole house needs baseboards. We need a deck built/rebuilt, because the makeshift stairs leading up to the front door are inadequate - the last step before going into the home is not tall enough, and my pregnant self almost can't make it! Especially not while carrying a child. There is just so much left to do, and not much time left before the baby is due. All in God's time, though; all in God's time.

Our Week at the Property: Day Two

So now we have sleepy people and stinky laundry! And, we have a nice list of things we need to go into town for, so after breakfast and dishes, we head into town. We, of course, stop at Home Depot, as we do almost every time we are down there. We need more paint and other supplies for the house. Jeremy got in touch with a guy we know who rents out mobile homes to ask his opinion on skirting for the trailer. You see, the insurance company will not insure our trailer until there is skirting up, so that is priority one on the to-do list. As it turns out, he will sell us some used metal , which happens to be the most sturdy material we could probably get for this purpose, for much, much less than we could buy new. So we pick up some miscellaneous materials needed to put this skirting up (or rather, we have McCoy's deliver it), and then later on, Jeremy and his dad (who arrived later that afternoon) pick up the metal. We stopped at our favorite local taco place, Taco Shack, for lunch. Then I trek to Wal-Mart with just Seth to pick up some things we needed there (and Seth picks up a birthday gift for his brother!). I ended up having to go BACK to Home Depot with a very sleepy Seth to pick up something that was forgotten, and by the time I got back, I was so DONE with shopping for the day! We wrapped the gift for Jude, and the children got to open some of their presents from their grandparents. After dinner, the last of the gifts were unwrapped and we had a nice stack for the burn pile, and lots of toys floating around. The men had accomplished some work on the skirting. We put sleepyheads to bed and enjoyed a nice bath in our only working (garden) bathtub. This night's sleep was much better!

Our Week at the Property: Day One

So last week my husband and in-laws took the week off and we all stayed at the property so we could work, work, work! We were going to just head out Monday morning, but since we already had our game plan, we just started packing up the van on Sunday. It's probably hard to imagine what a family of five (plus 2 in-laws) would take to stay out at a trailer that has practically NOTHING in it, but I'll give you a "short" list:
1 dorm size refrigerator - which was taken the day before, or else we would have been strapping even MORE things to the top. This held the most perishable things like meat, milk, yogurt, cheese, leftovers and any produce we could squeeze in. Probiotics and Bentonite in case anyone got sick because Wal-Mart doesn't stock these things. Faith ended up with diarrhea, so it was a good thing we brought them.
1 very large cooler, along with a smaller one - these were refilled almost daily; the bigger one held the least perishables, like eggs, some produce, bottled water, etc. And the small one held only ice for drinking purposes.
Linens galore: kitchen towels, sponges, washcloths, bath towels, shop rags, sheets for 3 beds (including extras for the little ones), and pillows.
Cleaning: soap, shampoo, dishwasher detergent, and everything to hand wash dishes as well, including a dish drainer.
Food, Prep Utensils, and pots/pans: I had to think through every meal we would have and what would I need to prepare it: a can opener? knife & cutting board? Spoons to serve it with? We ate out SOO much at the beginning of this pregnancy because of morning sickness, so now I'm trying to stick with eating healthy. I feel much better and have more energy when I eat like I should. Of course it would have been easier to just bring cereal and sandwiches, but we've been down this road before, and this just isn't the kind of food that satisfies working men and a pregnant mom! I don't regret the time I spent cooking, though it does mean I accomplish less around the property. It is a way to bless my family, esp. my growing baby.
A weeks worth of clothing for five people
Some vinyl flooring strapped to the roof, and some tools that weren't already at the property

All of this adds up to one VERY full van! We couldn't open the back door when we arrived, we had to carefully unload, piece by piece, from the side doors. We arrived somewhat late, so we had to air up the inflatable beds and set up the baby's playpen while trying to unload the van. The children were already asleep! Then we had to load all the food into the refrigerator, and try to find places for the kitchen stuff amidst dirty cabinets. Yuck. Eventually all the beds were made, and most things put away, and the kitchen counters cleared of most of the tools. And then we finally settled in to sleep. But neither of us slept well. Unfamiliar noises, plus a night-potty-trained 3-year-old who awoke us early in the morning because he wet the bed! So we had to take down the extra sheet we were using as a curtain to put on their bed. And Faith woke up with diarrhea, and of course we were using disposables, that of course leaked (people think cloth diapers leak, but it is very rare that we have even diarrhea leak out of our cloth diapers). So we immediately had lots of laundry to do. I brought supplies to hand wash, and we have a clothes line, but of course it would be cold and rain in the forecast! Thank God for nice neighbors who lent us their washer/dryer. I'll continue with my next post to let you know how the rest of this second day went....

Electricity and a Sprained Ankle!

We got an early start last Saturday to meet the guys we hired to help install the utility pole. The pole had already been delivered and everything was ready to go. It was our turn to go pick up milk, eggs, cheese, meat, etc. from the farm for our church's co-op, so since we had a very busy day, I volunteered to drive out there. It is always a pleasant visit at the farm: a sweet Menonnite family with 10 (or is it 12?) children, most of whom are already grown and moved out of the house, but those who are still at home are always so helpful. One of the daughters is very good at organizing the milk into coolers, making everything fit. This time we went home with a cooler on loan, since we had about 20 gallons of milk, 10 dozen eggs, and other meat, cheese, and dairy products. That was one full van!

Upon returning, I learned that our hired help did not show, would not return calls, and had disappeared with our copper piping from our metal pile. We had discussed him taking metal, but the WHOLE thing, not just the copper. The copper is, of course, most valuable, and the main reason why someone would even come to pick up the load. Later on in the week they came back for the rest of the metal, but still never called to talk about not showing. So disappointing! Fortunately, a good friend, who is an electrician, spent the WHOLE day out there, working out of the kindness of his heart, helping Jeremy hook everything up, rent an auger, hoisting that 16 foot pole (along with our neighbor) into the hole, and working through all the kinks with us. We finally got it all done. We just needed to get have the electric company come out and hook it up, and they did on Monday.

The plan on Monday was to come out and see how everything was working. The children and I prepared a nice meal ahead of time (just in case there was a problem, we didn't want to depend on the stove working!), and brought it out there to meet Jeremy. When we arrived we saw lights in the house - a good sign! Then we could hear the heater going! We had nice hot water - stinky and black at first, but eventually usable. It feels more like home now....well, all except for the nasty particle board subfloors with no flooring! And the rooms that still need painting....oh, and the gutted bathroom...but you get the picture. We're getting there.

Wednesday our front door arrived at our current house (for our mobile home, that's just how the delivery worked). You see, up until this point, we had a busted door that didn't close right, and that had to be WIRED shut! Yes, you read that right. The door didn't actually LOCK, we just had a piece of wire wrapped around it to keep the thing from flying open. And our light switches required the use of a screwdriver to operate, so the mobile home dealer delivered new switches, too. Jeremy came home early and helped strap the door onto the top of the van, and we took dinner out there once again.

The little ones were fussy and kept stepping on and/or losing small but vital pieces to the door, so I decided, after dinner dishes were washed, to take Seth to Wal-Mart (not too many choices out there) to get a few things we needed, and put Faith to bed in the playpen in the trailer. While we were gone, Jeremy fell from the latter and sprained his ankle. He was in a lot of pain this morning, so we took him to Care Now to verify that it was, indeed, NOT broken, but just a bad sprain. So, no work for us this weekend! We will take a much needed break. But our new utilities mean that we can stay for the weekend whenever we want now. We are going to try to finish the boys' room and put the carpet squares down so that we can bring an inflatable mattress and "camp out" in there. Much better than the dirty particle board. You just can't clean that stuff!

Home in Place, Septic & Water Hooked up

Today was a very productive day out in Terrell! We woke up at 6 AM (EARLY for Jeremy!), loaded everyone in the car, and headed out. In the chill of the morning, Jeremy began digging up the water pipes that used to run to the old house, to see how much work needed to be done to make them trailer-ready. We were trying to get some things accomplished while waiting for the mobile home guys to move our mobile home to its permanent spot.

While he continued digging, a truck with a couple guys pulled up, and lots of talking was taking place. Baby girl and I were waiting in the warm car, since there wasn't much for us to do anyway. The guys got out of the truck and started helping Jeremy dig, so I just assumed they were some of the guys helping with the mobile home. Jeremy came to the car to ask me to get something out of the trailer for him, and he explained who these fellows were. One of the guys lives down the street, and they just happened to be driving by and saw Jeremy working and asked if he needed help. They work on mobile homes for a living, so we agreed to hire them (for not much money really) to help us find out what was going on with the old water pipes and also to hook up the septic pipes once the mobile home was in place. You see, Jeremy can do all these things, but with these guys helping, we knew for sure it would get done today.

Next to arrive was the mobile home dealer who was ready to move our mobile home. And he was definitely ready! It went very fast! Our sweet neighbors have a garage converted into an apartment (bedroom/bath) with a separate entrance, and they offered to let us come and go to the apartment as we needed for the day. So, by the time I got the baby's playpen set up next door and had her down for her nap, the truck was hooked up, and the home was in motion! I wasn't sure if I wanted to watch or if I didn't....but my curiosity won over my nervousness. I was amazed! They calculated their plan and got it all done in one move. I figured with all the obstacles we had, that they'd have to back it out, pull it forward and reposition several times, but it only took once and it was perfect! I can't even park my minivan on the first try sometimes! I did get a little nervous a few times as the back wheels on the truck spun, and they appeared to be stuck, but they knew what to do. No mishaps; it is now in place! We ate lunch while the guys leveled and transferred it to the cinder blocks and removed the axles. Not long after returning, Seth, Faith and I went next door to take a nap, and when I woke from our nap, the water and septic had already been hooked up! We discovered a slight leak, and some faucets that are broken, and some really dirty, smelly water (perhaps that had been sitting in the long-unused water heater?), but overall, we are SO thankful to have flushing toilets and at least SOME faucets that work! And with the home in place, there's no more bouncing floors and swaying with the wind, and we can hang pictures and move some things in. It feels more like home, and we are so excited!

We are paying those same guys to install our utility pole. Can you believe the electric company doesn't install the poles, even if you pay them? Again, Jeremy could do it, but by the time he rents an auger, etc., we are coming out cheap by paying someone. This will hopefully be done this week or the next.

There is still so much to be done, but we made big progress today. The most crucial things are getting accomplished. I have a feeling it will go fast after this point.

If You Rip up Old Flooring...

Ever read any of the children's books like If You Give a Pig a Pancake or If You Give a Moose a Muffin? Well, the last couple weeks have reminded me of that....

If you rip up old flooring, you might discover the subflooring underneath is rotten. When you dig up the subflooring, you might find that the insulation is rotten, too. And when you go to replace the insulation, you might find that the plumbing needs work, too. And if you are going to replace the plumbing, you might as well rip out the tub and tub surround as well. When you rip out the tub surround, you might find that the walls need to be replaced too. And as soon as we rip open the old walls, I'll probably have more reasons why...

if you believe ignorance is bliss, and you just happen to buy, say, an old trailer on blue light special, you might just want to leave the old vinyl floors in place. And the carpet, too. :)

Septic Ready and Horse Drama

The boys room is painted, and they love it! We can't quite install the carpet squares because we need to replace some of the plywood. This is where electricity and power tools would come in handy, but we'll just have to wait for now. It is so nice to have a room almost finished....OK, so we have a lot of rooms almost finished, but this one is the closest, I suppose.

My lovely kitchen curtains do, indeed, look lovely, except that they are too short. I was convinced that the directions I had were incorrect, and I did it my own way. Well, she ended up being right, and it still makes no sense to me why. If you measure a curtain to the length you want it, and then you want a six inch hem (plus a 1/2 inch to fold under), why does that mean you have to add 12 1/2 inches of fabric? Oh, well, I guess I'll settle for a 3 inch hem.

The septic guy was out today, and our septic is done! The only thing that remains is for him to come back out in the morning with a different piece of heavy equipment that will pack down and smooth out the dirt. Then, we'll have the mobile home guy come back and move the home into place. I'm a little nervous about that. It only has to be moved a short distance, but lots of maneuvering in a "tight" space must be accomplished for that to happen. Praying for everything to go smoothly!

The septic guy was so nice to give our little boys a ride on the backhoe! They loved it and will be talking about it for weeks, I'm sure. He even let them pull the levers and lower and raise the bucket. Fun times! In the process of moving the gravel to the leach line site, the septic guy was having to come in and out of the pasture with the backhoe. Well, the horses decided to make a run for it out of the open gate, and we were nervous! The septic guy was throwing dirt clods at them and trying to shew them back in the gate, but they instead got scared and ran the OTHER way! Our neighbor, the owner of the horses, was not home at the time, so Jeremy and I came running out to help. We were looking for peppermints (the horses' favorite), anything to lure them back in. We finally found some apples, and Jeremy was able to lead them back over toward the neighbor's pasture. They soon returned, probably looking for more apples, and Jeremy manned the gate, opening and closing each time the backhoe came through. The younger horse, still a "toddler", stubbornly kept by the gate, in spite of Jeremy pushing on him and throwing dirt clods, so Jeremy suggested the children and I take the remaining apple and try to lead them over again. Well, that didn't work so well. Once the younger horse discovered I had the apple, he constantly had his face right by my face, no matter where I went, and had his head right on top of Seth's head, sniffing for food I guess. He kept opening his mouth, and setting his teeth on top of Seth's head (sniffing maybe?), and it was scaring me! I'd never seen a horse act that way before, so I threw the apple, and the two horses fought over it. Then, they were back again , doing the same thing! Jeremy was encouraging me to just keep walking and lead him over to the neighbor's pasture, but when an animal that large is butting you in the back with his head, and breathing on your neck, and not leaving even an inch between you and him, and you have small children with you, you want to get away NOW! Sometimes, maybe out of fear of the backhoe, he would even start to run a little, and I wondered if we might get trampled. Either way, Jeremy was able to lead them away from me, and they acted normal around him - maybe since they figured he didn't have food? Maybe one day, like the chickens, I will get used to the horses and not be concerned over them, but for now, I like being on the OTHER side of the fence, petting them from there. At least the chickens I can kick. :)

Progress...

The septic repair guy was out there today working with his backhoe, which the boys thought was awesome! Good news: both tanks are in and the line that will eventually go to the trailer is in. Bad news: leach lines are in very poor shape and will be costly to reinstall! However, it is still much cheaper than a new system, so we are thankful for that. We called our mobile home dealer to let him know that our date for the trailer's final move is quickly approaching, and that we hadn't forgot about him. We thought maybe HE'D forgotten who WE are, too! He said that he had one guy call 4 years after purchase to say he was finally ready to move it! He estimated that it would be 6 months before we called him, and it's been two, so not as bad as it could have been. :) I'm hoping this septic system will be finished within the next week or two so that we can move it, but we'll see.....

Today we finished priming the living room, and washing and filling nail holes in the hallway, and washing some of the walls in the kitchen. We spend about the first 15 minutes of our entrance into the mobile home every time killing wasps! Lots of them. We thought they were yellow jackets, but to my relief (sort of?), they are actually just yellow and black wasps. If the temps will ever stay below freezing for a while, we won't have to contend with them any longer! Which is good because they creep me out. Anyhow, the living room looks sooo different now, and so much more like home. That dirty wallpaper that wasn't my style at all, made it feel like someone else's home, but now, even with just the primer, it looks so much better.

I'm convinced that the former occupants of this trailer never cleaned. Ever. I have 3 children 4 and under right now, which means two things: 1. There are lots of messes, and 2. I have less time to clean them, and actually a third: morning sickness means I get behind a lot, too. Yet my house has never been that dirty. Lots of food splatters in the kitchen/dining, lots of dirty, dirty wall paper in the living room, entryways, you name it, and lots of other things I don't want to think about on the walls, toilets, showers, tubs in the bathroom. So, when you come to visit, if I tell you we scrubbed the place from top to bottom, you can rest assured that we are not exaggerating. And not because I'm a clean freak, either.

Never thought I'd care so much about septic...

Today our septic system got its second tank installed, and the next step is to have the leach lines fixed/installed. Our move in date is highly dependent on this getting accomplished! The area where our mobile home will be is so very close to the septic system, that it just makes sense to not have the home moved until it is done. So, the waiting continues. We are still fixing up the mobile home in the meantime, but we are having to do a lot of commuting in order to do so. With no septic, it isn't reasonable to stay out at our property. Once our mobile home is moved and we get running water to the home, along with septic and electricity, we can stay out there, even if the home still needs lots of repairs.

A while back I read a couple little mini-books by Renee Ellison at homeschoolhowtos.com. One was called 10 Extraordinary Stories of Ordinary People Who Got Free of House Debt, and the other was called Money in Your Pocket. These books were, I believe, under $5 each, and immediately downloadable as an e-book, and they were GREAT books! In the money in your pocket book, she writes a letter to her nephew, giving him advice about what they would do if they were young and just starting out. She talks about acquiring a piece of earth, debt free, at the earliest possible moment, and making that his highest priority, even before college. She was saying live in a camper if you have to, then upgrade to a bigger camper, or a mobile home; if the Israelites lived in tents, we could, too! She was, of course, saying that would be easier to do when you are younger and don't have a family, but it was this kind of thinking that got us spurred on in our journey. We thought about all the possibilities of dwellings we could live in, and about all the things we could really live without. Most people enjoy camping for a short period of time; some love living in their campers or RVs even for a good portion of the year. Something about the simplicity draws people. So we looked at every improvement over that as a blessing! We are learning to appreciate the simple things in life. Since we had decided we could live without 2 bathrooms (only HAVE to have 1), finding a mobile home in our price range with 2 bathrooms was a blessing! We decided that even a house with a yard slightly bigger than ours (that we could own debt free) would be wonderful; imagine our joy to find that we were getting 7 acres! God just really changed our perspective on things, and I'm glad He did. It's so much more fun to appreciate things, no matter how small, than it is to be unthankful and discontented with a lot! That's not to say we don't complain sometimes. When we try to go in that trailer and there are about 30 yellow jackets waiting inside to greet us (it's not air tight right now, since it has shifted from the move, and is still waiting to be moved yet again), and I feel like I can't even eat out there without them buzzing all over us, yeah, I get a little irritated! And the no flushing toilets thing is getting old. But we have a goal in mind, and we're getting there. And when it's all over, I will be SO thankful for our septic system!

Fixing up the Mobile Home

I can't believe it's been so long since I've updated! Life is so busy, of course! Where do I start...

The old house is gone, along with the huge dumpster that holds its remains, burned or otherwise. So, with the exception of a pile of metal we still need to recycle, nothing is left of it. The neighbor behind us came with his bobcat, took some dirt from our next door neighbor's land, and leveled off the old home site to make way for the mobile home.

Now, LOTS to do in the mobile home! One huge blessing God has provided for us is that our neighbor is giving us some carpet he's not using. It's probably enough to carpet our bedroom, which is the only room I'd want carpeted anyhow. The mobile home had old green carpet, very dirty, but I told the Lord I'd try to be happy with it, if that is how it has to be. Thankfully, he provided another way. The rest of the house we plan to do in a combination of laminate wood and vinyl flooring. I'm thinking attractive, yet easy to clean, with the focus on easy to clean! We just went through a bout of stomach virus in our house, which definitely reminded me, once again, why carpet in a house with little ones equals disaster! Too much poop, puke, and pee in our house, and now that we are moving to the country, add dirt, mud, and animal poop to the list, and you can see why I need something that can be mopped. I'm very much looking forward to our UNcarpeted dining area (that, of course, adds food to our dirty equation).

Speaking of animal poop, we now have 2 horses, 1 longhorn, and 3 calves grazing on our land. Not ours, but the neighbor's! We get to enjoy the animals without having to actually own them right now. I'm very glad to actually be able to do something for our neighbor, however small, since he has been so kind to us. Jeremy told him that he's the best neighbor we've ever had, and it is so very true.

Back to the mobile home. We've ripped up carpet, swept up all the dust and dirt from THAT, washed the walls in the living room, and now, we actually primed the walls in the living room. So much left to do, but it is progress. Last weekend I scrubbed and scrubbed until I was sore in the kids' bathroom. It is probably the smallest bathroom I've ever seen (well, except that in a camper!), yet I've never scrubbed for so long in a bathroom! It is clean, though. The good news is, about 10 or so of those vinyl tiles should cover the whole bathroom floor, and a sample quart of paint (or the leftovers from painting the bathroom in our current house) should take care of it. We just need a new tub surround (who thought WOOD would make a good tub surround?), and a new sink (the plastic sink is cracked). We found a new sink for about $16, so it isn't setting us back very much. We could superglue the crack for a while if we had to, but the sink is so cheap, I think we'll be able to just replace it. The bad news about pulling out the carpet is we found some rotten plywood from leaks that we'll probably have to replace. We got some of that Thompson's waterseal, and we're planning to coat all the exposed plywood with it, so that we have no more rotting floor problems. I'm really surprised that the floors are made of plywood that hasn't been treated, and just covered with carpet. Plywood seems to buckle at even the slightest hint of water, and yet nothing was protecting it from the water, not even in the bathrooms. Strange.

We were hoping to maybe be moved in by Thanksgiving, but I think we've scratched that idea. Now we are hoping to be moved by Christmas. We have to basically paint the entire house, and replace all the flooring, except that in the kitchen/dining/laundry room, so that's a lot of work to be done still. We're painting over wall paper, so we're having to do primer (more than one coat), and possibly more than one coat of the actual paint. And we've never laid floors before, so we don't know how long it will take us.

It's all fun, though, in spite of all the work and the driving. We are making memories that we will never forget. It's fun to work together to accomplish goals, and it's fun to trust God and watch Him provide. And He is definitely doing that.

Lots going on

It's been a while since I've blogged, I know. So much has been going on. Life is a whirlwind, and it's hard to keep up sometimes, but it's all been good things.

To begin with, the guy with the backhoe who was going to help has a full time job, and he just hadn't been able to get out to help us, so we decided to do it the old-fashioned way - brute force! Well....and a little help from chains attached to pickups and such. :) In one weekend, we had the thing as leveled as it could get (only 1 interior wall standing, surrounded by debris. Then began the massive job of sorting out the stuff that could be burned and carrying it to the burn pile, and putting the rest into the big dumpster we rented. What a job! Shingles had to be scraped off roof decking, insulation had to be pulled out, carpet, toilets, bathtub, sinks - just anything you could think of that comes in a house that isn't wood. Still, lots and lots of burning as well! Last weekend a neighbor came over with his bobcat and helped push everything still left together into a pile that can be burned in one big massive fire. His help was a great blessing, except for one thing...he accidentally ran over the septic tank and crushed the lid. Thankfully, the neighbor across the street says the same thing happened to him, and he was able to make a fix for it. The only thing regulated in this county is septic. Our septic is the old-fashioned kind with a leach field, which the county will allow us to keep, provided the repairs don't exceed a certain dollar amount. In that case, we would have to replace it with a new aerobic septic system, which is more expensive and more costly to maintain. We are praying that doesn't happen.

Speaking of septic, life without one is difficult. For a while we've had the use of a friend's camper, which has a holding tank we can empty from time to time. Right now they are using their camper, and we are feeling the lack of septic! We found a cheap camping toilet which utilizes plastic bags (fun, fun!) that we have set up inside the mobile home (remember, no utilities in there!), and that is working for now. It sure does make us appreciate the little things in life, like flushing toilets and being able to take a shower!

And that brings up another topic...water. We finally have it! Jeremy got the idea (being desperate makes you creative) to disconnect the pipe from the water meter to the house (that is no longer standing) and install a water spigot right at the meter. And that brings up all sorts of redneck ideas....like taking a 100 ft. hose that wasn't quite long enough, and attaching it to a 25 ft. water hose, and attaching THAT to the camper. Voila! Running water. Well, except right now we don't have the camper....so we wash our dishes the REAL redneck way - in the front yard with the water hose. :)

The visit to the water company was an experience in itself. OK, we live in a city of 360,000 people right now, and we are moving to a town of 13,000. The water company boasted of now serving some 1,300 customers, and consisted of 5 employees. I'm not joking - 5! Only 2 of the employees are the service technicians that do repairs and such. So, one of those 2 guys came over to the property to unlock the smallest padlock I'd probably ever seen, and remove it from the meter so that we'd have water. Jeremy offered to save them time and just cut the thing off, but she smiled and said we'd get in real trouble for doing something like that. :) Water is expensive out there, too - all the more reason to conserve, I suppose.

I also learned how to patch holes in the walls. Jeremy was working on another project and gave me very brief instructions on how to use the tape and the joint compound for the mobile home. Folks, I had NO idea how much of that stuff to put on. But I figured it had to look better than the holes, so I ended up using up the whole container (we had lots of holes!). Fortunately, our neighbor, who turned out to be a painter, came over about half-way through my job and fixed what I'd done, and did the rest for me. So, no more holes in the walls!

A Camper at the land

Every weekend something new at the new homestead. This weekend: a very generous friend loaned us a camper, and a generator! The weather was so beautiful that we didn't need the generator this weekend, but what a blessing to have the option. Most importantly, one pregnant mom and 3 little bitty children now have a bathroom to use at the property! That means we get a lot more accomplished now. I brought our battery-powered vacuums and vacuumed out the mobile home until there was no juice left in them (still lots of "junk" on the floors, though). The vacuums at least got most of the broken glass up off the floors. I also got to clean one of the bathrooms a little, but the shower was pretty smelly (I think a vandal used it as a toilet), and I could only handle so much with my pregnant tummy! Outside, we got some limbs and brush that couldn't be used for firewood and made a huge fire pit...yep, we roasted hotdogs and marshmellows, too, and had some fun with it. We got part of one side of the house torn down, since it was close to the power pole, and not too safe for a bull dozer to get in there. Windows and anything else that we can't burn were also removed. We have no running water at the property, so we have to bring clean water to clean with/wash hands, plus drinking water, and we use pond water to flush the potty with! Our cooler is our refrigerator for now, unless we want to power the generator to cool the little camper fridge, but for now, no electricity is the least of our utility worries - we can always substitute with batteries, propane, etc.

Pics of our Mobile Home - Part 2

Here are a few more pics. The first is of one of the kids bedrooms. I'm not a fan of the teal carpet, but it is much better than the burnt orange of some homes we've seen! Other than it not being my fav. carpet, it is in decent shape, so we can clean it, and replace it as we have the cash. The next picture is of the walk-in closet in the master bedroom. Next is a picture of the master bedroom with a built-in that we may or may not keep. The doors are still there but just need to be put back on somehow. After that is the picture of the pantry, which is inside the laundry room (the last picture). Not planning on keeping the cow print shelf liner. :) Our current laundry area is in the garage, and I do tons of laundry, so not terribly convenient. I definitely plan to have a nice big laundry area in the house we build - right off the kitchen, like this one is. There is also another bedroom and bathroom that I didn't post pictures of, and of course the outside, but you get the idea. Maybe I'll post "after" pictures once it's clean and we're all settled in.

Pics of our Mobile Home

Blogger apparently does not want me uploading too many pictures at once, so here are a few! The first is of the hallway/front door, and part of the living room. The next is of the master bath; if you can't tell, the mirrors are missing over the sinks, and the mirrors over the bath are broken. This trailer is a blue light special people, so we have a few repairs to make! The good news is that we didn't pay extra for mirrors that we probably wouldn't like anyways. :) The next picture is of the sliding glass door in the dining area. No, the view is not of our property; these pics were taken before it was moved from the trailer park in Hutchins. Then we have a picture of the kitchen, where the fridge will go. We have an enormous fridge that I love, so I'd rather sacrifice some cabinets than have to give up my fridge, so which cabinets is TBD. The last picture is of the kitchen where the oven will go. This trailer was vandalized before we bought it, and some of the appliances were stolen; ironically, the appliances that were stolen were the ones we already have. We just replaced the oven in our house for when we sell it, and we held on to the old oven because, although old, it still works! We almost sold it on craigslist but we're so thankful we didn't. We can always upgrade later, but for now, it meets our need. The only appliance that wasn't stolen is the dishwasher, and that is the appliance that we don't have. I don't know if you can tell from the pictures, but the kitchen has an island - that is where the sink/dishwasher are, and there is a prep area next to the oven, and one next to the fridge.

We have lots of cleaning to do, replacing of mirrors, painting, and a few repairs to some cabinets, but all the important stuff is in good working order. I like the floor plan and that it has lots of windows!

Our Home Made it - In One Piece

This was a busy weekend at our place. Friday Jeremy took the day off and spent almost all of it taking down the neighbor's fence to make way for the mobile home. Jude helped Jeremy, and I spent most of the day sitting under one of the trees on our property, SWEATING (though not as much as Jeremy!), and keeping the 2 youngest entertained. Our nice neighbor, again, came out to help. Once that was finished, Jeremy had to cut down some limbs along the street, and I and the littles helped drag it into a pile or two on our property. It was REALLY getting hot and muggy, and the pastor's wife invited me in to put the baby down for a nap, while the boys played in her front yard with her grandchildren's toys. Not long after, Jude comes in to tell me that Jeremy took the van, and I assumed he went to meet the movers along the route. I found out that they have to post their route along freeways with the Department of Transportation, since it is a slow-moving vehicle, but once they were on the county roads, I guess no one was concerned with what route they took. There were two possible routes, and there were a few last minute changes. Unbelievably, it started raining! I'm so glad I do not do this for a living. I can barely park my minivan. I'd be sunk. But they were able to back this thing down the road about a mile and a half, until they got to our street. Then they had to swing wide through the neighbor's now de-fenced property (over the ditches and everything) and try to make it through all the tree limbs that we apparently did not trim enough! So, very slowly they went, while Jeremy and the neighbor cut down limbs as they went. It was stressful watching them drive through the neighbor's land, hitting the ditches, with the mobile home leaning one way, and the truck leaning the other! I wanted to watch, but I DIDN'T want to watch! The trailer's axles were exactly the width of the street with (small) ditches on either side, and then of course, the trailer itself is wider than that, so it was a tight squeeze. And we live on a dead-end street - so one way in, one way out! One of the neighbors actually drove up behind the trailer, and of course, couldn't go anywhere at that point, but fortunately the home was minutes from being out of the way. Since our home is to be moved again, once the house is torn down, it was just sort of parked where it landed - all the skirting and air conditioner still inside the house, the deck disassembled, and the cinder blocks still stacked on the property. It's hard to have it there and not be able to do anything with it (clean it, get it ready, etc.), but I know that will come soon.

One thing I know, my trips to the property are going to have to be fewer! As much as I hate missing the opportunity to be out there (it is so beautiful and peaceful), all the driving is really increasing my nausea. That and the long days (past 8 PM is a long day for my pregnant self!) means that I come home just so miserable! But, usually, once the nausea passes, I accomplish more during my second trimester than I do even when I'm NOT pregnant, so productivity is on its way! I'm really hoping we can be moved in and settled in to have our first Thanksgiving and Christmas in our new home, but I guess we'll see how things go. Next year, I want to raise our own Turkey or Goose for the holiday meals!