Kitchen Backsplash!

We've been working on the kitchen renovation again lately. The main things that have gotten done are some electrical work and the tiled backsplash.

We started on the back wall here with a 2x2 mosaic. I really love how mellow it looks, and the undercabinet light provides plenty of lighting under there. This upper cabinet is where baking supplies live, with bowls and mixer (etc) in the drawers below. So having plug-ins and good lighting here will be a big treat!



Then around the corner we got a little more elaborate above the stove by insetting a decorative focus. Originally I'd planned a 2x2 copper tile to use as a border, but it was discontinued before I could order it. This gorgeous piece of slate, cut into strips, makes a lovely accent. At least I think so! This backsplash was hubby's first ever tiling project, and I think he did a great job.



There are still a couple things to do at that end of the kitchen, such as the light rail. But we'll turn our focus to the other end next, I think. More photos someday when we get another chunk done.

Oh, do note my FlyLady style shiny kitchen sink! :) I consider it clean if the only visible dishes are clean and in the dishrack.

Kitchen Progress

So from time to time folks ask what's up with my kitchen. We started renovating it last spring just before my nephew got sick and my mom had a stroke, and didn't get as far along as we'd hoped before summer hit.

(Aside: Steve made a complete recovery. My mom spent three months in the hospital and then was transfered to a nursing home's temporary bed. She just got permanent placement and will move on Tuesday to the other nursing home across town. She's in *moderate* condition, and I'm looking forward to seeing her again next weekend.)

So. The kitchen.

What's done? All the base cabinets are in and have been since spring. Also in spring were my new lino, countertops on two sections of cabinetry, sink and stove moved/ hooked up.

This fall hubby has: installed the dishwasher and built-in microwave/convection oven (both included running electrical wiring.) Half the upper cabinets are in--the ones that are against a wall instead of dangling from the ceiling over peninsulas and such. The kitchen ceiling has been torn down (a mousy mess, I assure you) to make way for more electrical work, in this case pot lights. Everything wiring is a big deal in this house as most of the walls are concrete block.

To accomplish before the kids come home for Christmas holidays: install the under-cabinet light under the run of uppers that's up, install the range hood (I'd not say no to a plug-in or two...), build and tile the peninsula countertop, tile the backsplash. The tiling is my job, not hubby's, but he has to build and prep the countertop.

After Christmas: install remainder of upper cabinets (and their under-mount lights), put up a new ceiling, complete electrical work (remainder of plug-ins), kick boards, light rails. We've lowered the ceiling enough--required for the pot lights--that there won't be any crown molding space above. I'd rather have decent lighting! Then a couple minor things will remain: tilt-outs at the sink, racks on some cabinet doors, etc.

When we get done with the kitchen, there's plenty left to do to the rest of the house. I think the front entry/ porch is next on the list, though I'm really wishing for a second bathroom. I'd like one for Christmas as we will be seven people for about a week. Ain't happening!

So this week the mess was the ceiling coming down. Everything in the kitchen/ dining room/ living room (basically that is all one 16x24 room) was covered in dust and stuff. Lots of mouse turds in the ceiling. I was totally grossed out. I know we have trouble with mice and every once in awhile the great white hunter cat earns his keep and kills one. But to see the evidence of 30 years was...disgusting. So when hubby drove back up to the mines I had one job and one job only--to disinfect and tidy and CLEAN that space. Two and a half days later I'm not afraid to touch things anymore. However, I did find one very small dessicated mouse behind the couch and (even worse) a flat dessicated mouse under a couch cushion. (Yep, laundered and bleached the slipcovers...)

This space is now pretty darn clean, if I do say so myself. I've even done a wee bit of Christmas decorating. But I have to say I'm paying for it with sore neck and shoulders tonight.

In other excitement this week the water pump on the car went. There is no end of ways to spend money on vehicles. Parts are on order and hubby will fix next days off. Which takes time from the kitchen again. Oh well. Life goes on.

And on.

Photos

I'd actually forgotten to upload these photos from my camera last week after our visit to Hanna and Craig's. Must be that we looked at them on their computer and somehow my brain figured I was done? Dunno. At any rate:

We went for a drive and came across a flock of bighorn sheep along a narrow road. Hubby took a few photos out the truck window; this was the best one.


A little further up the road, hubby found the trail head for Tulip Creek Falls, all covered with autumn leaves just waiting to be kicked around!



As we approached the falls, we came across this mushroom covered rock!



Typical autumn picture along the creek, with so many leaves fallen in:




Definitely worth the short hike in to see these falls!



This weekend we've spent a lot of time working on the kitchen cabinetry. About half of my upper cabinets are now installed and looking oh-so-good :D I'll do photos of the kitchen again after the next phase...getting close.

Kitchen Update

Some of you have been asking about the kitchen renovation and how it's been going. Well, it hasn't been going as quickly as we planned--surprise! We've made a few too many trips over the mountain to see Mom on our days off to make serious progress. However, all the base cabinets are in as you can see in this photo. This one's a little dark but shows the general layout.

The dishwasher is in place but not installed yet. I've been without a dishwasher for a couple of years so that isn't actually my top priority (until we have company!) When we get it hooked up we'll take the front plastic protector off. It actually is stainless steel. Behind the dishwasher run of cabinetry is the living room. The sink is around the corner on the left beneath the window.

This photo shows the peninsula, which lives where my kitchen table used to live. The hole in the cabinetry is for the microwave and needs adjusting to fit. Also some electrical work needs to be done before we can put the mike in place. This peninsula will have an overhang on the far side for a couple of 24" stools and is the only countertop not completed. It will be tiled. At the moment I just have some boards on it so I can set things down.

This corner also won't be quite the same when everything is finished. For one thing, the beautiful microwave/ convection/ grill combo will be moved into that base unit on the peninsula. This wall also will house most of my usable upper cabinets. The whole works of THOSE are currently stored in an outbuilding and quite likely will stay there until September. Things are reasonably functional for the interim (once the last countertop is in place). The kickplates still need to go in and I need to stain the countertop edging to match the cabinetry.

I quite like the layout, so far. The fridge is still on the far side of the kitchen but will be moving closer at some point. There really isn't room in this tight space for it right in the cockpit. Yeah, that's how I feel: like a pilot in a cockpit. Everything is right at hand. The best test it's had so far was one day in early May when my two nieces helped me make dinner and hubby carved the ham...and there was room for everyone.

These cabinets are rustic alder with a slight stain and suit the farmhouse feel. Handles are wrought iron (or probably a reasonable facsimile of same!) with a subtle leaf detail. Arborite is called Madras slate. Yeah its greeny and coppery...my fave combo. Any other obvious stuff I've forgotten to mention?

Health stuff...and other stuff

First off--Steven. He is doing very well, though the road from my last post to this one hasn't been smooth. He managed to yank out his respirator tube on Thursday so they had to re-do it and kept his sedation lower again for a day or two. Now, however, he is unsedated and understands to leave the darn thing alone. They are planning to remove it today and if things go well with that, he'll be out of ICU soon. Recovery will still be a long process, but his fevers are down and the antibiotics are doing their job. So that is a HUGE answer to prayer and I thank you very much. Steven will too! And I know his folks and grandparents are in awe of how many people have been praying for Steve.

Meanwhile my mom had a stroke so my focus has swung in that direction. Jim and I drove over Friday afternoon (she landed in hospital 90 miles away Friday morning). She'd been sent to the regional hospital for a CT scan and had just arrived back when we got there. The scan showed that she has bleeds on both sides of her brain. Just to complicate things, she also has a clot. This means they cannot treat either condition as it will speed up the opposite one. I'm thinking it must be unusual to have both kinds of pressure building in the same head. She's been on coumadin for a long time which is a blood thinner. It's supposed to prevent clots if I remember right. So it hasn't done that, and she has bleeds so they've had to discontinue it. Right now it is anybody's guess how long it will take for her to have another stroke...and which kind it will be.

The official words are things like *fairly significant stroke* and *the prognosis is poor*.

She can speak, but easily loses where she was going with a sentence. Then she gets frustrated while she tries to figure it out. Then she'll move her hand, her face will clear, and she'll say, "Never mind, it doesn't matter." Her right side is fairly paralyzed: she can lift her arm if asked to but not move her fingers, for example. Her right leg is equally uncooperative. Her left side has also been affected, but less so. Watching her left hand try to hold a fork and chase food around her plate is difficult, but she is shocked if asked if she needs help--and refuses it. The one time I did hold her knife up to the edge of her plate so she at least had something to run her fork up against. She glared at me but made use of it and the meal went better after that.

Every day it seems to be news that she is in the hospital, that she had a stroke, that she spent hours in the regional hospital Friday waiting for the ambulance to be free to return her to the local hospital. She knows us but is surprised that family is starting to gather from a distance. I believe she knows why, but then forgets.

Her doctor is on the hunt for a local extended care or nursing home bed for her as it is clear she cannot return to her apartment. She's managed the past few weeks (since I was there in March) with a live-in caregiver but that day seems to be passed. And of course we don't know how long this stage will last either. Could be a day...or a month. It isn't likely to be much longer.

Should we feel sorry for my mom? No. We should pray that God will take her quickly. My dad died almost 9 years ago now, she is 84, she has loved God and followed him for most of her life. It has been her biggest fear that she would lose her mind and waste away in a nursing home. She is ready to go. It would be a mercy if God took her soon.

The journey is hard, even knowing that heaven awaits her. It's been an emotionally wrenching couple of weeks around here and I appreciate your continued prayers for Steve, for my mom...and for me and my family. I'm home (and at work) at the moment but I know the phone could ring at any time and end this little lull I'm in. If all things stay even I plan to go over Thursday for a few days. I'd like to see Mom again...and also the clan is trickling in and I haven't seen some of them in a few years. It is silly to even try to make plans but hey, I'm human.

So, Chris asked why I was having company (in comments). Here's what happened about that. The company was my nephew (my mom's grandson) and his young family who are missionaries in Mozambique. Because of mom's stroke and us going over there, we visited with my nephew there instead of at home, which also gave him more visits with his grandma. We popped in to see her one last time Sunday morning at 8 o'clock before leaving for our place, where my nephew preached in the main church service. I took them out for lunch (remember the disaster in my kitchen!), then went over to friends' from the church who had offered to host a casual time for folks who wanted to visit my nephew's family. From there they left for Spokane.

Thus I managed to avoid having overnight company and even avoided having anyone over for a meal. While Jim and I were over seeing my mom, my in-laws moved the gas line and reinstalled my gas stove so that is a huge blessing for me. (My FIL was a gas-fitter before his retirement.)

Jim did go to work for his night shifts this weekend and is on his way home now. The cows have wrecked part of the fence so he does have to concentrate on fixing that before he goes back to work on the kitchen. His folks (and I) are tired of herding them back in! Of course, all our plans are dependent on what happens with my mom.

Writing? What's that?

Oh yeah...and the kitchen

Just because there is nothing else to think about these days, my entire house is a disaster. Jim is frantically working on moving the gas range today and putting in at least the sink countertop and sink. More countertops would be nice but I'm trying not to be picky!

Every single room of our house--which is barely over 1000 square feet anyway--has stuff stacked all over. And there is a fine layer of sawdust overtop of all the boxes and junk. We're eating out way too much but trying to make even something basic like fruit salad and toast takes forever because nothing at all lives where it ought to and I can't remember where it is. Because it changes every time I DO find it to use it. Because there's never any place to put it back down! And because, if I don't get a sink hooked up today I'm gonna have to take a whack of dishes over to my mother-in-law's house and wash them, because there isn't even room to put out my camping wash basins any more. And a stove would be nice.

Did I mention I'm getting company on Saturday? My nephew Phil, his wife, and two kids ages 7 and 4. So yeah, I need to find the spare bedroom, too. Guess what I'm doing evenings this week? Racing the clock...and the calendar.

And an early renovation photo:

So here is a photo that shows a bit what the new cabinetry looks like and the new lino. Of course the toe-kicks aren't in place yet. It occurs to me that I never mentioned on the blog that we changed our mind about which cabinetry we were buying. The price of the Home Depot hickory cabinetry that we wanted came in at nearly double these alder cabinets. I decided I liked the alder ones pretty well after all! They're built to very nearly the same standards--and we're not a household with 8 kids who slam cupboard doors so I expect these will stand up just fine for as long as we care. The main thing we like about these is the rustic graining which was also a draw on the hickory ones. Of course the grain in alder is different than hickory, but that's okay. We just don't like the fancy select-and-better wood with boring grain. And we're totally NOT an oak household.

Today we're headed out of town for a few days: Jim has his appointment with an Irlen specialist in Calgary Friday morning. We also expect to do the rest of the shopping for the kitchen: the dishwasher, range hood, combo microwave/ toaster oven/ convection oven, drawer pulls, sink and faucet, lighting, etc. The countertop arborite should arrive here while we're gone.

So, in theory, when we get home Monday we should have everything we need to install the countertops, sink and faucets, and then run the new gas line to move the range. Have a good weekend!

Half a Kitchen!

Of course the new kitchen isn't far along enough to post photos yet, but Jim and I spent most of the weekend completing the rip-out of the old kitchen (the sink cabinet and the gas range had remained to the end). We laid a sheet of thin plywood over the kitchen area and began installing the new base cabinets. The ones that can be are already leveled and bolted to the wall. This morning one of my boss guys came to install the new lino, which he and Jim both assure me looks wonderful...I've been at work and haven't seen it yet.

Jim leaves tonight for his job. The status is: base cabinets all in place. No countertops. No kitchen sink. No range. However, I'll join him for a weekend away on Thursday and when we get home Monday, we expect to get those 'minor' details taken care of before his next round of workdays (next week he leaves Wednesday evening). Then we'll have company for the weekend, so I'm sincerely hoping to have an operational kitchen!

So far we've left up the one main upper cabinet and don't plan to take it down until after the company has been and gone. Then in go the uppers and the electrical (which I assure you is fun with concrete block walls!) I'm hoping there's light at the end of the tunnel. At the moment, the entire house is a disaster and the cat is seriously annoyed with us. And I'm tired.

Back

Thanks for the prayers and well-wishes this past week. I got home Sunday evening from seven solid days at my mom's. I'm happy to report that she is doing better than I would have thought possible. Her health has been sliding since October or so and then they changed up a bunch of her meds a few days before Christmas. Some of these really didn't work out well and created more problems. She had a crisis in early January and then again a few weeks later in February. She's complained more of being light-headed and dizzy and I know for a fact she spent 99% of her day either laying in bed or on her sofa.

With Mom in hospital for five days after her tumble the doctors were able to finetune the meds again and I'd say this time things are much more in line. Even with all the stuff going on after she came home, she still felt better than she has in months, sitting in her rocker sometimes and even wanting to play Rummikube with me one evening. And when I say *all the stuff going on* I mean sorting out her apartment from one end to the other and clearing space in the second bedroom so that a care-giver can stay there without feeling claustrophobic. It was very disruptive and I was (am) not popular for doing it; she didn't see the need. However many things she needs on a daily basis are now much more accessible and a lot of junk (that she helped to sort) is gone out the door.

We had a long term care assessment done Thursday which had been scheduled for several weeks. At that time we'd believed that Mom needed to get into full-time care asap, but with the new meds seeming to be better balanced (all 16 of them) I think she has bought more time to live at home with some help from Home Support (such as bathing). Meanwhile a family friend is arriving today and plans to stay for a couple weeks and see how things go. (I hope she appreciates the cleaned out bedroom!) As far as the assessment went, Mom is fine mentally (which we knew) but has physical challenges. The results should be available later this week; I'm curious to see what the government will kick in for.

So I caught a doozie of a cold (again) while I was over there and of course Mom caught it too. I'm a bit worried about that but there was nothing I could do but keep going.

So. It was a long and tiring week and I'm glad to be back home. I missed my hubby (saw him Thursday evening to Friday afternoon) and my kitty. Jim hung a new front door to the house while I was gone; I'm glad that's done but some cleanup remains. And of course I came home to a mostly ripped out kitchen as well. The cabinets will be arriving in about a week.

Meanwhile at work, the guys had just locked the door for a week. As near as I can tell, there wasn't even a sign saying when we expected to re-open. So I'm having a Monday morning times ten at work.

Book Tour -- Renovating Becky Miller

A few months ago I shared with you all about how blog buzz encouraged me to buy a certain book, namely The Secret Life of Becky Miller by Sharon Hinck. Though the days of being a young mom juggling pre-schoolers is way behind me, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and was thrilled to have an opportunity to review the sequel Renovating Becky Miller on its debut tour this February. I have to admit that one reason I'm keeping an eye on Sharon Hinck is that she has a fantasy trilogy coming out this year as well. I love her writing voice and I'm excited to see how it will translate into a fantasy setting.

That doesn't stop me from finding much to love in stories about Becky Miller in the meanwhile. In this second book, Becky and her husband, Kevin, decide that buying an old farmhouse and fixing it up will be the therapy they need to get out of the rat-race a bit and slow their lifestyle. These people are crazy! But some of us have thought the same thing...and then learned how much work renovating a house will be. Along the way, Becky discovers a few areas of her personal life that need renovating as well. Not everything is as easy to fix as a house, though. In fact, there are things she can't fix at all. Learning to depend on God (who CAN fix it) is a great lesson for Becky to learn. And it's one of those that I keep on learning, over and over again. Does that make the book a heavy read? Not in the slightest. In great mom-lit style, Sharon demonstrates the laugh-yourself-silly method of showing deeper truths.

Hubby and I renovated a house in the late 90s, then promptly sold it and purchased our current place. We bought it for the forty-acre property, not for the house. We couldn't face renovating again quite that soon after the last one, so we've been making do and are just now embarking on the Big Remodel of the farmhouse. Reading about Becky and Kevin's experiences made me wonder about Sharon's background in renovating, so I asked her.

VRC: How extensively have you renovated a home?

SH: My husband and I got in training for the real event by doing fix-up work at various apartments we rented over the years. When we purchased our first home, it had been a rental that had been on the market a long time. It was amazing how much work a tiny little house could create. Our first plan was to add a closet to the main bedroom – so Ted set about happily knocking out walls. But soon we realized the whole house was infested with fleas, mold was a problem, and huge slugs kept creeping under the back door and into our kitchen. What we thought would be a “cosmetic fix-up” in the bathroom ended up being a complete rip-out and re-do when we discovered all the walls rotting behind the tub-surround.

At our second home, we put walls and ceilings and floors into the unfinished basement, completely ripped out the kitchen, and put in a new kitchen one cabinet at a time as we were able to get them from a “scratched and dented” cabinet warehouse. We tore out a wall to create a pass-through into the dining area. We also re-roofed that house ourselves.

Our current home had a dark narrow kitchen with one wall completely brick. The weekend we moved in, Ted took sledge-hammer and crow-bar to that wall and pulled it all down (with an earth-shaking crash) and begin installing a completely new kitchen. He learned the wood floor in the rest of the house DIDN’T extend under the cracked old linoleum, so he also ended up installing a wood floor to match...one board at a time...in the kitchen.

Have I scared you yet? Just remember Becky’s renovating rule of budgeting the gross national product of a small country – then doubling it.

And of course, everyone knows the rule about remodeling projects taking three times as long as your longest estimate. :-)


VRC: You say home remodeling takes three times as long as the estimate. Our rule of thumb has always been double the expected cost, and multiply the timeline by ten! There are just so many surprises when fixing up an older house.

Sharon, I must say you've done it again. In The Secret Life of Becky Miller, I totally didn't see the last few chapters coming. Once again in Renovating Becky Miller, there were surprises. Not the kind of surprises that didn't fit the story, but just not what I thought I'd seen coming. Do you have any tips for writing unpredictable endings?

SH: I’ll let you in on one of my favorite secrets. Sometimes when I’m writing a novel, I let family members (especially my husband) read each chapter as I get it written...then I ask them, “what do you think will happen next?” I want to see what they expect as an “obvious” next occurrence, and then I brainstorm different directions to go. Not to “fool” the reader...but just to keep from becoming predictable. And I love watching for “God surprises.” They happen so often in my life, I want to reflect that in my novels, as well. Where a character sees maybe three possible choices, yet God has in mind an option better than all of them combined...but DIFFERENT.

VRC: So you're telling me that you don't extensively outline the novel ahead of time? How can that be? Is it LEGAL to not outline? I'm in shock!

SH: Illegal, immoral, and reprehensible. That’s me.
When I do careful outlines and plot out scenes, it feels too much like writing a term paper. I have a B.A. In education, and a Masters in Communication (Theatre/Journalism) so I’ve written TONS of research papers. I don’t want to write that way anymore. :-)

I confess that I often have a general arc in my mind – a sense of where the main character is going – but I LOVE the discovery of letting a story unfold and take zigzags. Sometimes something will be in a scene – I just know I’m supposed to mention it – but I don’t know how it will become important until much later. Then, sure enough, a character reveals something that makes me realize WHY I wrote what happened many chapters earlier.

Instinctual writing is much scarier and messier, though. If you CAN work happily using outlines and plots and character charts – go for it. You’ll avoid ulcers.

VRC: Because we're jumping into our second extensive renovation ourselves, I feel for Becky, but I fail to see how she ever thought renovating would be easy for folks who weren't already avid do-it-yourselfers. Yet we all tackle much of life in a similar way: with rose colored glasses on, seeing things the way we want to see them. Optimism seems necessary just to get through daily life, but it's how we react when optimism isn't enough that really proves who we are and what our foundation is.

SH: Wow! Well said. I think that’s exactly right. Nothing wrong with being a bit of idealist (Becky sure is, and I confess I am, too). But what happens when things don’t go the way you expect? For example, Becky’s faith is very vital to her. But some of the things she experiences lead her to feel confused and hurt. “Hey, God! I’m doing all this for You. Can’t I get a little help here?” LOL!

Like Becky, my faith-life is central to me, and I’ve had to wrestle with disillusionment when I thought I had God all figured out (blessing my little agenda) and things went a different way than I expected. Illnesses that don’t heal, problems that aren’t fair, relationships that hurt. I’ve had honest questions for God. Honest tears. But never felt chided for asking them.

Also, just like good-hearted Becky, I told myself my excessive efforts to serve were coming from deep devotion-- wanting to show my love for God and others. That was part of it. But actually my motives were more tangled. I wanted to feel needed. I wanted to know I mattered. I’ve spent too much energy in my approval addiction.

Now I’m trying to rest in the truth that I’m precious to God – NOT for what I do, but because He chooses to love me. I’m still not always wise about saying “no.” I’m still a muddle of genuine compassion mixed with dysfunctional desire to fix everyone. I don’t always get that sorted out very well. :-) But that’s okay.

VRC: How many books did you have written before landing that first sale? You have, what, six books coming out in under two years? What are your future writing plans based on?

Good question. People don’t realize I’m a rather slow and meticulous writer. The Secret Life of Becky Miller was my fifth completed manuscript. I had it finished (along with a good start on Renovating Becky) by the time the contract was signed. I also had three finished books in the Sword of Lyric series for when I signed that contract last summer. Of course, a completed manuscript is only one step in the process of revisions and honing. Right now all these manuscripts are completed and turned in, but I have plenty of work ahead as each is at a different stage in its life-cycle. I was HUGELY aided by both publishing houses being accommodating and supportive in laying out a schedule that worked for everyone.

The Secret Life of Becky Miller (Bethany House - June 2006)
Renovating Becky Miller (Bethany House - February 2007)
The Restorer (Book One in the Sword of Lyric series) (NavPress - May 2007)
The Restorer’s Son (Book Two- Sword of Lyric series) (NavPress - September 2007)
The Restorer’s Journey (Book Three – Sword of Lyric series) (NavPress - January 2008)
Key of Mom (Bethany House - February 2008)
Penny’s Project (Bethany House - September 2008)

My future plans?
A long nap. :-)

Okay, okay. I confess. I’m doing a little new writing on a manuscript... Too soon to know if it will go anywhere. But it’s fun to play.

Thanks SO much for inviting me to visit, and for your interest in my slightly off-center “stories for the hero in all of us.”
Hugs, Sharon

If you are interested in reading other stops along Sharon's Around the World Blog Tour click here. She's been a busy gal this month, visiting with so many of us, answering questions, sharing her joy and delight in life. You'd think that after 26 stops, questions and comments would start to repeat themselves. I've been following along (though rarely commenting, sorry...) and I've been really surprised how little overlap there has been. Thanks so much for stopping by, Sharon! Need a throat lozenge? (Or a finger massage?)

Stress

There's always the chance that my lack of sleep is related to stress. I don't really see how, though. There isn't much that's shockingly different about this month as opposed to other recent months. I'm not worried about jobs or hubby or money (for once). I doubt if I'm losing sleep over the upcoming renovation, though I finally placed the order for the kitchen cabinetry a few days ago. Even the farm hasn't been all that stressful. Five of our fifteen cows have calved thus far. The first had twins and we lost them both. Twins are unusual in cows and so losing them isn't a huge shock. The other four calves are strong and healthy and running through the snow, their little tails flying high like flags.

Is there anything stressful in my life? Only if you consider the upcoming contest that I've been preparing Marks of Repentance for. While the first 25 pages certainly still need some work, they're not due any day soon and I still love the story, so I don't really see the contest as a huge stressor. However, if stress is the problem, then this is about the only thing that could be causing it.

Shrug.

So I found it interesting to read these verses from The Message, a contemporary English version of the Bible:

So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life--and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. (Romans 12)

"Here you go, God. Have my sleep (or lack of it). Have all of my ordinary life. What you do for me is better than anything I can do for you. So be it."

Kitchen...

The house we live in was an accident. It was never meant to be a house, really. My in-laws built it almost thirty years ago as cheap as they could because when their house up north sold, they were going to build their dream house. Meanwhile they had spent the entire summer living in a holiday trailer (with 5 kids), waiting. Come fall they realized the house wasn't selling and they needed something before winter, so got to work. This building (that we still call home) was originally called a *well house* on the building permit. The house up north didn't sell for years, and when it did, they didn't get as much for it as they'd hoped because the main employer in that town (a pulp mill) had laid off a huge percentage of its workers and the housing market was below flat. So they added on a little to the front of the well house so it had an indoor bathroom and changed the designation of the building to *house*.

It's now 36 feet long and 16 feet wide and shaped like a barn. The main floor walls are made of concrete block; it has minimal height ceilings throughout, and windows and doors that have outlived their usefulness as they all leak air. (This week that's pretty noticeable as it's well below freezing.)

In fact, it took a lot of years for my in-laws to install even the most basic of kitchen fittings: a countertop with shelves below it. Not one drawer in the space, other than a couple of old bedroom dressers on the far wall.

Fast forward from 1977 to 2000. Jim has always loved this forty acre parcel of land, so when his dad decided to sell and retire, we made it happen. I'd been hoping we could afford to build a brand new house, but that hasn't happened. Anymore, even though he has a decent paying job now I don't really want to pay for the additional mortgage a new house would call for. So, renovation. It's been an interesting process trying to figure out where to start...and where to end.

Almost two years ago I blogged about my kitchen here, with photos of the *cabinets* and the drawers that Jim built for me. And may I say what a huge difference those drawers have made? Incredible. You should just imagine a kitchen without any drawers at all. Go ahead. Try.

So here we are nearly two years later. We're finally ready, mentally, to start dealing with the issues of this house and there are MANY. And bless my dear husband's heart, he says, 'Let's start with the kitchen.'

The thing is--really honestly--that I have a very talented husband. He can design, build, or repair almost anything at all. It's just the timeline. We've talked on and off about him building the cabinets, and I know he could do it. I also know I'd get impatient and naggy and we'd fight. Sorry, but I've had 26 1/2 years experience with him (plus a previous full house reno) and I know how this would go. Yes, it would save money, but our marriage is worth more than money! So I'm content to pay for cabinetry.

We got a really good deal on custom cabinetry at our last house ten years ago as the economy was slow and the guy really needed the business. We now have the opposite economy and there's no way we can afford custom. So we've been looking at cabinetry options through Home Depot and Home Building Centre. Our favorites (yes, we AGREE!!!) are these hickory cabinets from Thomasville through Home Depot. I've been fine-tuning the layout and should have final pricing back in about a week. We've done some ball-park pricing already so hopefully it won't be too nasty a surprise!

The website says a 4-6 week waiting period, but all of western Canada has a booming economy so I wasn't surprised to learn that the actual waiting period is currently 10-12 weeks. That puts installs into April or even May, but with luck will be before the spring farmwork takes over all Jim's spare time. He does have the electrical work to do and the installation, plus countertops, and there's no point in getting carried away with the electrical until we're in rip-out mode. With concrete block walls, electrical is pretty hard to hide. The sink stays in the same place so the plumbing won't be an issue (though the dishwasher will move). His dad is a retired gas-fitter and will move the gas range for me; he's already said my new location will be easy enough, and because he did all the original work, he knows where all the runs are and how best to alter them.

We're still debating whether we're going to replace appliances at the same time. The dishwasher is junk; it needs to go. My microwave is 18 years old and needs replacing. The fridge is plain jane, but hey, it works fine, and the gas range was top of the line in its day and I don't have any complaints about it even though it's probably 15 years old or more. I'm guessing we'll see where the cabinet pricing lands and that may sway the appliance decision.

And working in flooring, I have already bought a roll of lino for the reno! Got a steal of a deal, too. The laminate we want in the living room will be below cost thanks to supplier to employee direct discounts, and same with ceramic tiles for backsplash (and the upcoming bathroom reno).

So it'll be an interesting time frame here. Looking forward to getting things rolling.

Possibly good news

Our septic system was approved and inspected when it went in 29 years ago, and again when we hooked up a second septic tank (for the mobile home across the yard) in 1985. Now to find out if that qualifies us as currently approved. Or not.

Farm

Calf number eleven is a bull calf and looks healthy. So far so good.

At noon I bumped into a friend who is a realtor and picked his brain over our thoughts about fixing up the farmhouse. He says regulations have changed and that if we do ANYTHING to our house, even if we don't tamper with a single water line, we will have to have our septic field analyzed and probably upgraded. The tune? Likely twenty thousand dollars. Just for...what it's already doing for free. However, if we DON'T pay to have it professionally inspected but instead (for example) sell the farm now the way it is, we are legally liable for anything that goes wrong with that septic system for as long as we both shall live.

Hung if we do, hung if we don't.

He also says we are more likely to get our money back out of a double-wide than out of renovations.

Hubby will be tickled pink to hear this news. Trust me.

On cost of housing and renovating

Hubby and I did a fact-finding mission on Saturday regarding the pricing of modular housing. We had already decided that a fairly small and inexpensive two-bedroom unit would be adequate as we could install it over a raised basement for added square footage. It had been about five years since we'd priced these units and (surprise) they have gone up considerably.

The good thing is that with Jim's new job at the mines we could probably swing the loan to do this. The better thing is that we don't want to spend that much, even if allowed to. We have spent enough time in our marriage *poor* that we don't want to go there again, even if it means a nice new house. We'd rather eat out when we feel like it, upgrade our car in a year or two, and start thinking of travel destinations.

Having said that, our current home is still inadequate. Not only in space but in the fact that so much needs fixing, as I mentioned awhile back in a post on this subject. The large addition that we contemplated earlier will simply stretch us too far as well. Now we are looking for ways to alleviate two key space problems: the congestion in the central core of our home (where a 12x16 room contains the kitchen, dining area, stairway, and the *hall* to the living room), and the fact that there is no bathroom anywhere near the bedrooms.

We are going to have to spend some money on this house regardless. We can likely put it off for another year or two, but there is no particular benefit to doing so indefinitely. We do, however, have the time to decide how to get the maximum value for our renovation dollar.

Happy Valentine's Day!

That's me, a day late and a dollar short.

Hubby's missed this entire set of working days due to a bad cold that has settled in his chest. He started out with a couple of days of sneezing before deciding that the cough was the more powerful weapon. It's easing off some, but he's still wiped. Now he's back to days off until the weekend, so maybe he'll have recuperated by the time he needs to head back up-country. That would be good.

On the one hand, though, it's been good to have him home for the opening days of calving season. We're up to five babies now, out of something like eighteen expected. Just tagging their ears has been the max work hubby's been up to, though baby #5 was a bull calf which adds a bit of work in the de-bulling department.

The weather has been great for calving, crispy cold overnight and sunny most days, or at least it hasn't been pouring rain or dumping snow. We won't count the couple inches last night that melted straight off.

In other news, we're examining the option of tearing down our existing house all together and replacing it with a modular. At least it would be done all in one go. It's hard to know what will make the most sense down the road, so the research isn't over yet.

About adding on

So a few weeks or so ago I mentioned that my hubby thinks this may be the year of the addition to the house. I was a little dubious at the time, but he's starting to convince me its doable. I, in turn, have convinced him that fall would be better than spring if for no other reason than that it usually rains less in fall and we will have to rip half our roof apart. Besides, I'm not ready just any old day now.

Our house is not so much small as awkward. It wasn't ever meant to be a house. It is 16 feet wide and 36 feet long with a barn shaped upstairs and no basement. It is made of concrete block. The ceilings are low, the electrical is inadequate and the windows aren't sealed anymore. It was built as cheap as possible 30 years ago and it shows.

Truthfully, I would rather take a bulldozer to it than fix it up. I dream of larger windows, maybe even french doors. We live in the country after all. I dream of vaulted ceilings and...and AIRINESS. This isn't airy by anyone's definition.

Some rooms are adequately sized. The front 12x16 on the main floor consists of a 5x12 bathroom (the only bath) and a mudroom/laundry room/junk room. In reality, everything that *should* go in a basement is in this room, and it's the only entry. I'm not into comparing myself with the Joneses to be honest, but this is a depressing way to enter a house. The second 12x16 module is the kitchen/dining room. It also contains the sort of spiral staircase, and of course you have to walk through it to get to the third module, the living room.

Upstairs, there are decent sized bedrooms on either end and a smaller one along the hallway in the center. And a linen closet beside the stairs. The severe wall/roof angles make furniture placement upstairs challenging. Total square footage: 1152 square feet. It's not a big house by North American standards.

I shouldn't complain. Hubby's folks raised SIX kids in here through their teenage years. Two boys in the little bedroom, and four girls in the *big* end room (a bunk and a double). So when I consider that, I feel pretty silly for wanting a bigger house for me and a halftime husband!

Part of it, however, is that the house really doesn't help to make the farm saleable. Not that we're planning on selling any time soon, but still... If we don't go crazy spending money on the reno we should be able to enjoy a nicer house now and reap the benefits at resale down the road.

It occurs to me that most of the cramped feeling of the house would change if the living areas were more open to each other, had a higher ceiling, and took advantage of the great view (once you look past our cows...) The current house is to protect from the elements, not to ease indoor/outdoor living. So...what if we added a section to the east side of the house approximately doubling the current footprint? What if the current living room became the new master bedroom; the smallish window and low ceiling would be just fine in that case. The current kitchen could become the new master bath; the plumbing's mostly there already. And upstairs we could either leave the three bedrooms or turn the small one into a third (luxury!) bath. It would be directly above the new master bath so again the plumbing wouldn't pose a serious detriment. On paper, it all looks good.

I turn my attention to the new space. How should it look? Well, it should contain a main entry for company. The mudroom we now have is perfect for a farm entry but it shouldn't be inflicted on anyone else. I really dislike the current core of the house: the kitchen/ dining room/ stairway/ walk-through-to-living-room space. My ideal is a kitchen that people don't come into unless they're helping. Through traffic drives me bats. (Yes, I know, that's easily done.) So it seems logical to place the kitchen at the south end of the new space, with the dining room and then the living room flowing north from there. It puts the new kitchen back to back with the current bathroom and near the electrical panel, both of which will save some money. Another nice thing is that if the dining room and living room are more or less one room, you can expand the table as much as you want when you have dinner company; just shove over the sofa a bit if needed. The spaces can borrow from each other.

I designed it really nice that way. A great 13x10 kitchen that has many of the bells and whistles I would like without being extravagant. I was mulling over the design while I made dinner a few nights ago, thinking through the steps I would take to prepare this in the new kitchen.

You know what? I never used to watch tv, but I've started to with hubby gone so much. In our cramped space, I can stand at the sink OR stove and see the tv clearly, and I've been doing that for the past five years without really thinking of the significance of it. When hubby is watching those law and order shows with the stalkings and the bloody murder investigations, I wish I couldn't see it or hear it, but honestly, I've gotten used to the tv being right there.

I mentioned this to hubby and he nearly split a gut laughing. "The first step to curing an addiction is admitting you have a problem," he says between chortles. Thanks, hon.

I wonder what the addition plan would look like with the kitchen in the middle? I shudder. I want open space; I don't want walls. Can you build a kitchen without upper cabinets? I sharpen the pencil again and create a multitude of new sketches. (I live for sketching house plans; this is not a hardship.)

Tonight I came up with a plan (about the fifth one...) that I think I could live with. In fact, it has some fun features that I kind of like. It would be very open, although the dining room table definitely can't borrow space from the living room. But how often do we have ten people for dinner? Aprroximately never? It's more important to plan a house that works for the two of us, that would work for the mythological family with two and a half kids (maybe we should leave the small upstairs bedroom for that half kid) that may buy the farm from us in ten or twenty years.

I'll show the sketches to hubby when he's next home and if he thinks it has promise, I'll start on the detail sketches. Those are always fun! I can get a lot of entertainment mileage out of this project yet.

More of same

Writing wise, I feel like a hamster on a wheel. More working on False Perception's revision plan; the novel is approximately half analyzed. Which isn't quite the same thing as half planned, unfortunately, nor the same thing as half re-written. See, I'm still complaining about it!

I'm also still complaining about trying to keep Jhonal and the rest of the cast from my newest novel, Puppet Prince, from taking over the world. Something brand new and unsullied sounds so fun right now, compared with trying to repair the obviously imperfect. Even telling myself that this one won't be a perfect first draft either does little to dampen my enthusiasm. I don't KNOW it won't be perfect, after all. Perhaps seven is the perfect number, and my seventh novel will be perfect. It's still all possible. In theory, anyway.

In other news, my hubby seems to think that 2006 is the year of the addition on the house. I'd thought we were a couple years away still, but he wants to start getting quotes and analyzing costs in hopes of a 2006 project. So I'm buckling my brain down to drawing plans, one of my favorite past-times. I'm not sure I actually believe him yet! We've talked some rough ideas over the five years we've lived here (in Canada's ugliest and least designed house and almost the smallest), but now we need to make sure we're on the same page as to what functions the new area will be best used for. I *am* excited, even while I try not to be, but then he tells me I CAN be...I'm confused, but drawing!

More words!

It's been easier to justify all the writing I've done this weekend with the fact that it has been pouring cats and dogs. It certainly wasn't conducive to yard work or anything like that.

I believe this was the first Easter sunday in our history where we didn't go to church. Jim had been up til past one Saturday night finishing the drawer glides, which didn't want to run smoothly, and by Sunday morning we were so low on water in the cistern from two days of NOT hauling, that he had to get a load. It was the oddest feeling. In the meanwhile I put the second coat of sealer on the drawers and began the move-in. *Nice, happy drawers*. (We've got a stack of t&g pine that we plan to use for drawer fronts and doors, but that's the next phase. We need to lay in a supply of hinges and knobs before we go and get all carried away with that.)

Later in the afternoon we went over to one of Jim's sis's homes for dinner, which is always fun. At least that part was normal for Easter.

Today Jim went back to work, and I still had time off, so I hooked up with Mar and others writing online and went for words again. Over the four day weekend my novel has grown from zero words to over twelve thousand. March Madness is still on at Forward Motion till the end of the month, and I'm hoping to keep the daily average up for the next few days before being quite thankful for half that much, five days a week again. Meanwhile, I am comfortable in the story and am past the dreaded opening scenes and into the early middle. Yay me...

Behold the transformation!

Before 


After