My mom came this past weekend and helped make some much needed curtains for the house.  Luckily my aunt Cami had also sent us random pieces of fabric so we had fun making due with what we had.  We're focusing on the windows that people can easily see in. 

Mom's temporary sewing station.

Mom is a little more of a perfectionist than either of us when it comes to curtains.  She really wanted an iron to make a more definite crease - not sure the iron made it through the move.  So I insisted she use my version of an iron...my hair straightener.

As crazy as she thought it was - it worked.

Finished products -

Thanks mom and aunt Cami for making the house feel more homey.

Kitchen shelves are completed!  What an accomplishment.  David put so much thought, planning and work into these shelves and it was all worth it.  They're better than either of us could have hoped. 

To begin, the studs in the walls had to be located.  David drilled level holes into the studs then inserted these steel rods.  The important and difficult part was that the three rods had to be level and at the same height.  

After he'd set the rods in place he stuffed the holes with plumber's epoxy and Bondo.  These rods are NOT moving - they're unbelievably secure.

Next step was to drill matching holes in the boards that were to be the shelves.  The shelves will then slide onto the rods - everything had to fit perfectly.  If you're thinking this process is sounding simple, I encourage you to give it a shot (not saying I can do it either)

 Time for the test...everything fit snug and David decided it was strong enough to hold him.  Which made me quite confident to set dishes on them.

A little sanding and some Shellac and the result was....

Couldn't be more pleased with the end result.  Now the last thing in the kitchen is redoing the horrible counter tops. 

David also tiled the entryway last week.  Tile color looks very nice next to the hard wood floors. 

Probably won't have too much to post for a little while.  Our next big project needs to be our massive privacy fence - hoping to start it next weekend...but it might slow our progress down a little.

Bathroom is finally painted.  Went with dark walls and bright floor.

Our cat Wobbles hasn't been featured in the blog yet.  Here's Wobbles.

 
Also haven't had many pictures of the outside. This is the south side of the house - chicken coop and large wood pile that needs split, sorted and stacked.

The other side of the backyard is the garden and big tree we chopped down.  Haven't managed to finish cutting it up into movable pieces.  For now it provides a nice bench. 

In process of finishing up the kitchen shelves.  Pictures to come soon!

Uploaded two of the videos from the tree cutting to YouTube - the links:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CszOHsdP3E4&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh0J3DqF3dQ&context=C4993a69ADvjVQa1PpcFMJb1J8q71UAEyzb_UdAPXXcg90BFfSbts=

We've started doing some work outside.  Last week was beautiful weather - so we tilled some ground for the garden.  Was great to get outside and work.  We will have two Karenni refugee families (from Karenni State in Burma) that will use the garden space.  David ran the tiller for the first time in his life.

Came home the next day and the Karenni families had taken out all of the grass and mounded up the rows. Looks beautiful and is ready to plant in.

We had a very large tree right next to the house that was going to shade the garden as well as be potentially dangerous over the house in years to come.  The Karenni men are extremely skilled at cutting down trees - they climbed the tree in no time and started chopping off the limbs.  The men are hard to see in this picture because I had to stand back so far to get the whole tree (and to avoid falling limbs) one of the guys is a little higher than the top of our house in this picture.  They scaled the tree with no shoes or ropes and chopped down the limbs with machetes.

They did use the chainsaw at the bottom to bring the whole tree down.  We paid them in chickens and they went on their way.  David finished chopping the tree up (once it was safely on the ground).

We're VERY happy no one got hurt - I'm fairly confident we were the only ones anxious throughout the whole process, everyone else appeared calm and confident.

Not many new pictures - but just to entertain those who check at least once a week (parents and other immediate family) I'll post a few items.

David's friend Shay came this past weekend, we took it easy - worked a little on painting floors.  They painted the kitchen and bathroom.  I only took one of them painting the primer.  The floor is now a light grey - looks MUCH better than before.

The highlight of the weekend was the use of our new fireplace!  It wasn't that cold - but this week the temperatures are to be in the 80's, so we went ahead and pretended like it was freezing outside so we could use our fireplace before it's too hot.

This evening we purchased a new chainsaw.  Exciting purchase - David says we're real adults now, as if a chainsaw declares that more than purchasing a house.  We will be cutting down two massive trees this weekend. 

An example of what stores do NOT want their customers doing...

Soon we should have the bathroom painted, entryway tiled, kitchen shelves up and some trees chopped down - some exciting pictures to come!!

PAINT.  It's been a big paint fest.  Make sure you really know what colors you want before you buy them.  We had to completely change the kitchen and dining room colors because together they looked like a clown house.  After the color change - this is what we ended up with.

The greenish color wraps from the dining room into the kitchen. We will be changing the kitchen counter tops as soon as we find the right tile on craigslist.

This is before and after for the kitchen.  Still need to finish the kitchen floor - our 'after' photos aren't completely finished yet.

 



Next was the living room and hallways.  We went with a lighter more soothing blue/grey color.  Here's David with his crazy no tape skills.  He wouldn't allow anyone else to touch the walls with a paintbrush.  I found other things to do all weekend.

Hallway

Living room before and after.  Still need to finish the beams...

Tonight we starting furnishing the finished rooms.  This is the dining room entryway.  Pre-paint and refinished floors. 

This is our 'walk through' room - where we'll have an office.  David has been very obsessed with chameleon colors - colors that look different at different times of the day.  This particular photo doesn't accurately reflect what the room color ever actually looks like. 

While David was busy painting everything this weekend, I went and picked up a new goat, Buddy.  He quickly escaped from our makeshift fence and took off down the street.  I transported both he and Bell in my car to my sisters where they'll both stay until we can build a goat proof fence.

Bye for now.