Side Trip on Moving Day

Since we had used the horse trailer to move and I really didn't have anywhere to park it (my driveway is only one car deep but 3 cars wide), Austin and I decided to run it back over to the barn where it's usually kept.  Since we were there, we had to visit our ponies!

Mata Hari had been busy snoozing in front of her fan, covered in hay!

Chancellor was outside in his evening pasture but came to see us as soon as we walked through the gate.  

Austin is allergic to horses/hay but he does love our girl.

Moving Day

I've only moved a couple of times (as in a full house move) and each time I swore I'd hire professional movers the next time.  So of course this time I hired Austin and his friend Jim.  I really didn't think I had all that much.  I was wrong.

The two biggest and bulkiest things to move were the washer and dryer.  They managed to get them unhooked after we made a huge mess because we didn't turn off the water first!  LOL!

We had borrowed neighbor Jeff's appliance dolly which was a huge life saver. Even if we had it hooked up all wrong.  He came over and set us straight.

We were using the horse trailer to move most of the stuff so while the boys loaded the back end with the big stuff, I took advantage of the hooks in the front to hang clothes.  By the time we were loaded up, both front and back were stacked nearly to the ceiling!

It took a long time to load but unloading went pretty quick.  Getting a bed set up so I had a place to sleep that night was high on my priority list.  Austin and Jim went to work and had it back together in no time.  This is actually Austin's futon and will move to his room as the floor gets done.

As the piles of stuff started to fill up the living room, it got a little overwhelming.

Dining room was getting crowded and I hadn't even brought over my table yet!

While I stood turning in circles trying to figure out where to even start, the boys took time out to set up the TV.  You can see them on the far right side of this picture.

And it works!  No cable for me.  I have Netflix and Amazon Prime which should be plenty since I really don't watch all that much TV anyway.  This nice SMART TV does it all I guess.  That gorgeous (ICK!) coffee table got left behind by the previous owners so it's stepping in to do duty as a TV stand until I get one.

Master bathroom

It's not actually done yet but I have a good start.  The master bathroom was mostly "white" walls with this one hideous brown wall.  I'm loving this Behr Marquee paint - it really does cover in one coat - even another color this dark.

Austin was over to help me take down this mirror so I could paint behind it.  Surprise. It was GLUED to the wall!  We were being so careful trying to hold it after we had unscrewed the little clips that we thought were holding it and then had to pry the damn thing off which of course cracked it.  Now I think I understand why the other bathroom mirror is cracked - they probably tried to take it down when they painted that bathroom and failed.  New mirror is now in the budget.

With the two glass block windows this room is never dark.  Even at night.  There's a street light in front of my house so I'll never need a night light in the bathroom!  Those window did require some serious caulking though.  I still haven't figured out what to do with the window sills. They are some sort of plastic composite and are in rough shape.  Some sort of paint I suppose unless I can use contact paper cut REALLY carefully maybe?

Looking better painted.  Light bulbs are on the list...

Three weeks until the flooring goes in...the rug just doesn't do much to hide the particle board floor, does it?

Making it mine...

Moving is never easy and it's especially hard after being in the same house for over 20 years.  It hasn't made it any easier doing it in little bits and spurts while I remodel the place.  But slowly, I've been bringing in MY stuff and making it mine.

Not sure why I felt so compelled to install my box wine in the fridge when I'm not sleeping there yet and I won't drink and drive but...there it is, in the place of honor on the top shelf!

I'm not even sure I remember the story correctly about these little ceramic dutch shoes...we either got them on a trip to Holland MI as kids and were my mom's or maybe my grandparents brought them back from Holland?  Either way, they've been fixtures in my life for a long time.

Nothing special about these canisters.  They were in the cottage when we bought it and I like the colors.  

This counter is holding the three staples required by any woman doing a remodeling project.  Her screw gun, caulk gun and coffee pot!  

I'm dying to paint that green wall in the kitchen but priorities necessitate the order.  All the closets needed to get done first so I have places to actually PUT stuff that is up off the floor since that is getting done last. That includes painting the laundry room since that room will also be a big closet temporarily. Unfortunately, the floors will be put in about 2 weeks later than I had hoped messing up my schedule somewhat but so goes the best laid plans.

Master bedroom and bathroom came next and are done since I'll be "living" in those rooms for a couple of weeks.  Austin painted his room but I still need to go back and do the trim.  Madison's room will be after that is done unless she does it herself.  From there it's on to the living/dining room.  Those rooms will go relatively fast and I should have them done before the floors are put in - especially if I'm living there and can work at night.  LAST is the kitchen since there's very little that needs to be moved but it's all smaller spaces and can be done in sections without much worry of keeping a wet edge.  So for a while, the green and red kitchen will stay...

Paint

After painting SIX closets which also meant removing all the shelving and then reinstalling it all, I moved on to painting walls.

Master bedroom closet.

Linen closet

I started with the master bedroom.  One wall was chocolate brown.

The other 3 walls were "white" but the people were smokers.  You can sort of see how the top half of the walls were much more yellow than lower down.  The white blob is where I started painting.

I think I have a problem.  Getting this room painted all white made me so freakin' happy!  I mean, like seriously deliriously happy.

Putting the kids to work

The kids have been showing up to help with the new place now and then.  Austin came to install a new door knob/lock.  Total fail.

He did a little better taking down curtain rods.

Madison and Mitchell took down a light fixture to install a ceiling fan.

But apparently we didn't have screws and washers so it's still on the floor.

Why?

In the "learn something new every day" category, apparently when they build manufactured homes, they put the linoleum down first, then build the walls.  This is the linoleum coming out from under the walls around the bathroom.  And stopping 12" into the dining room.  WTH?

The entry way had carpet everywhere except that little rectangle.  How it stayed flat under the carpet is a mystery. As soon as we pulled up the carpet, those edges started curling up.

And you put linoleum in only half the bathroom?? Why??

The lino from the bathroom even crept into the one bathroom.

And plastic came out into another bedroom. Where the heck is that coming from?

New Ride

We'd been looking for a car for Austin for a while.  The Excursion was dying a slow death and at 12 MPH, the gas was killing us.  Since Austin was going to be starting a new job this summer for the DNR in Pinckney, it was time for some new wheels.

Madison happened to see that her friend Paige was getting a new car so we quickly called her dad about her old one.  Mike is a engineer for Ford and keeps a SPOTLESS garage.  His cars are the same.

We have a happy boy.

The fun begins

When you buy a house that pretty much needs paint everywhere and all the flooring replaced, you have to be strategic if you also want to start moving stuff in at the same time.  I have 30 days.  To paint, replace the flooring and move.  Get ready, start, GO!

First step was buying a screw gun that is "Michelle sized".  Love this little guy!

Next step, remove all the wire shelving in all the closets to paint.  These closets will become "off the floor" storage places until the flooring gets done.

Painted white.  Of course!

And then to put all the shelves back in.  Took me a few tries but finally found an "easy" way to do it.

Voila!

Baseball

Austin started the season on JV but WLHS is such a small school they couldn't support both a JV and Varsity team. They already had half their JV kids playing on both teams so mid season, they combined the two teams.  The JV team hadn't had much success and the varsity team was off to a slow start and had issue with the coach but by the time regionals rolled around, they were on fire!

The team pulled it off BIG.  Austin is 2nd from the right on the bottom row. While he didn't get to play, he was as happy as if he had just won the World Series!

He was one happy and dirty kid!

Is it a jump or a horse?

We went out to Metamora to school cross country with Holly and she introduced us to this jump.  From a distance, it's a log.  Up close......

She tells us this jump freaks out almost every horse as they get close to it. Mata Hari was certainly interested in this curious thing.  And she did refuse it the first time going to jump it.  Second time she cleared it with no issue.  Whew.

Claire

This pretty mare is named Claire.  She came to the farm about a week ago. Dan found her online - she's an Oldenburg and quite fancy - and fat.  

She has a beautiful face!

Yeah,  a little chubby and sweaty.

She was broke to ride but just barely.  First time riding her, she backed up.  A lot. And fast.

Madison likes her but she's a bit spooky.  She was NOT a fan of the gator and the woman driving it.

The third time riding her went better.  She's starting to relax.  Madison loves riding her in racing gear!  LOL!

She was really curious seeing her reflection in my car - "WHY is there a horse in there???"