Celebratory lunch together on September 9th, right after we closed on our new property. I say property because the house on it won't feel like home for a while yet. In fact, we're not even living it. We're living in my mother-in-law's camper on the property right behind the house, just going in to take care of the cats who are barricaded in one room and the bathroom right beside it. Both the house and the property have been pretty neglected and need quite a bit of TLC. But thankfully Mike and Matt and Matt's father-in-law run a business for just this sort of thing, so I'm trusting in their vision and hoping the main things won't take too terribly long. I can say, though, that I can see a whole different side of Mike come out here already, seeing how much he needed space to move, breathe, work outside, and just play around. And space is definitely going to be our new friend here, at least outside of the house.
We've only had possession of the house for four days, and we've already accomplished a LOT. Here are a few pics.
The second thing I wanted to do was paint over that hideous green wall.
And that yellow and red kitchen.
Mike couldn't wait to tear down that old chicken coop.
And we couldn't wait to get that first fire going to start throwing everything left on the property on it. They had cleaned a bunch out, but we've found so many things buried in the brush and vines on the land they had neglected for quite a while.
Who knows how long this swingset has been there, but the vines have completely taken over it and have it trapped now.
My nephews were pretty excited about the treasures they found, including a Lightning McQueen car, a dump truck, and a Razor scooter.
Matt and Chrissy showed up with dinner the first evening so we could enjoy exploring the property together. Then they came right back over the next day with tools in hand to get to work.
First ride up one of the trails to find where our property ends and where the neighbor's begins.
Just one of the junk tractors found buried in the brush.
Coming back from that first ride.
Meeting the neighbor on the second ride, who showed them where the property lines were and how to find them.
Chrissy's boys having a little fun on the trampoline left on the property (the one that is going to disappear very soon either by selling it or burning it!)
Mike and Matt finding the spot that marks where the property ends.
The purple flowers that mark the property line, at least for now.
Walking back to the house. Our property is on the left from about where I am to take the picture all the way to the top of the hill past their heads.
The dry-for-now creek that runs on our side of the street. At this point there are no trails leading to it, but we'll clear a trail sometime soon.
The creek that runs on the other side of the street across from our driveway.
A new way to relax in the evenings, (and keep up with all the clean up around here) at least while the temps are nice and it's not too wet or cold.
Another find as Mike was cutting through the vines and clearing more land behind the shed. They chained it to the truck and pulled it right out of there. An old John Deere tractor that I'm sure they'll fix up and get running again someday.
We went back to New Song to sleep on Friday night, but Saturday afternoon we packed everything up, cats and all, and drove to our new "home". I can't say I'm excited to live back in a camper and to leave our beautiful accomodations at New Song, but it does feel nice to know we're parked at home now and won't be moving to any new locations besides inside the house.
Little 5 year old Wes came over on Saturday ready to work. Chrissy was ready to help me tear that kitchen apart so we can start the painting and remodeling as soon as possible!
Mike and I went out Sunday to start picking out different cabinet doors, sinks, counter tops, and appliances that we liked. Matt decided that we probably should tackle the kitchen first since it's the first room you walk into in the house. I agree. It will help me see their vision and not feel so overwhelmed at the rest of the house.
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Just another old junk tractor found buried in the brush.
There sure are a lot of places to play around on the four wheelers here.
Wes just decided he wanted to hang out on the rock crawler to finish eating his chips after dinner.
Within 24 hours after we took possession, we got all those ugly bushes yanked out!
Wow! You can actually see the house! I have visions of a nice, wrap-around deck eventually. We'll see if that will happen yet this fall between all the other projects. First we need to tackle those windows and the ugly pink door. Yes, I did say pink.
Monday night it rained, so we got busy putting primer on the walls in the kitchen. It was so satisfying to see that green, yellow, and red start to disappear!
As you can see, we've got our hands full with lots of projects going on. But it's definitely a satisfying feeling to see things get accomplished every day. The chicken coop got torn down already and now is a covered area to park my nephew's four wheelers. Mike has cleared a bunch of land around the shed/campfire area. We've burned a lot of brush, old logs laying around, and trash. We're hoping to be living in the house within 6-8 weeks, a house that my brother and sister-in-law tell me is going to look and feel completely different. Since this is what Matt does for a living, I trust him. I'm not going to say I'm not overwhelmed, though. This is way out of my comfort zone.
But the cutest comment of all was on Saturday evening, a day after we took possession of the house, when my little nephew said, "This house already looks so much better than when we bought it!" I guess it really is a family project, and WE are all in this together. Stay tuned.
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