Moving and Life with the Mangos

Our family is not early risers.  In order to get the children started early on a day with much packing, I told them they could have waffles if they were up by 8 AM.  This was a challenge to them.  5 of the 6  got there on time.  Poor Thomas, missed out.

T-Bob got busy and made some peach sauce from some frozen peaches we had.  It was yummy!

They worked together and

ended up with this yummy morsel.  Yes, they are gluten free and as good as any normal waffle.

 Thomas is growing quickly and prefers his sleep.

We also cleaned out the garden and found a lot of eggplant and basil left, that we didn't want to go to waste.

We made pesto from the basil, which is one of our favorite foods.

I have been substituting pumpkin seeds for the pine nuts or other nuts, primarily for financial reasons.  It tastes really good too.  One uses olive oil, fresh garlic and sea salt.

We even  had enough to freeze!  Yeah!!

We packed boxes the entire day!!!  My friend Kathy came over and worked with us for 6 hours, helping us pack boxes.  We still have way too much left to pack.  There is no end to our book collection!  The bedrooms are getting emptier and should be OK.  The china is packed and some other kitchen items are packed.  We are hoping to be down to mostly furniture come Saturday.  We have managed to put enough food in the freezer that we should only have limited meal preparation for the next 5 days or so.

There is much taping

and labeling of boxes.

Tonight our Boss friends came over after prayer meeting with their two large vehicles, and my DH took our big beast van and we loaded up most of the stuff we had packed the last couple days.  Things are coming along.  My DH still has 2 garage-fulls  of stuff, and his office and other hidey holes to pack, but he is planning to do it in stages, since he will have to come up this way to work anyways.  He has been super diligent on getting the house ready for us to move into.  We are blessed with many friends to help us.

Farm/ Moving Update 10/30

My DH at the farm

We are busy packing.  We plan on moving on Friday and Saturday.  Don't have a lot of time for writing blog posts.

We are spending a lot of our evenings at the farm getting the final details ready so we are able to move in.  There are a lot of little details.  Back at the house we are also working hard.  Paul has the front yard all empty of vegetable beds.  No more vegetable gardens in the front yard.

Paul has been such a blessing to our family in this move.  He has worked hard, without complaining.  He has put in many long hours to get the farm ready for us as well as working on the house.  He has been diligently selling off the firewood from the old house.  We won't need it anymore as we heat with gas.  We had about 7-8 cords sitting around in the back yard.  He has been my right hand in getting everything done!

Elizabeth doing the 'wild child' look.

We still have LOTS to pack up!  We are still discarding as we go along.  No sense moving stuff we don't want or need.  But the books... They are needed and so heavy.  Some are being sorted and discarded, but there are still thousands left.  Definitely need more boxes.  I want to be all settled in by Thanksgiving!

Here is what we see as we drive back and forth from the house to the farm.  Autumn and her glory is finally and truly here.

The soybeans were harvested yesterday.  Hip hip hooray!  Now it feels like it is really our property.

There may be a few gaps in my postings as I am rather busy.  Also we are still trying to figure out our internet provider for the farm.  Thanks for following our journey!

Farm Update- 10/27

This past week I was down on North Carolina at a Camp.  I will tell you all about that very soon.  Today I went over to the farm to see what had been done while I was gone.  It looks so nice!!!

The counter tops are done in the kitchen.  I really like how they turned out.  They match the cabinets very well.

We are still missing the faucet for the peninsula sink.  This pretty close to how it really looks.  The granite was called Ivory fantasy, but this particular piece is a little darker than ivory....

Here's how we fit the counter around the stove.  This week my DH is going to build a wall behind the stove.  Eventually we will redecorate the eating area, but it can wait until later after we move in.

The living room and dining room floors look amazing.  For being almost 100 years old, they  are in great shape!

This was the view today from the family room into the kitchen.  We have protective paper down for now, until we move in.  This will give the finish time to set up and protect it while everybody is carrying things in from outside.

This is a better picture of the floor and gives a truer sense of the finish.

We had a different fella finish the floors in the bedrooms.  He used different finishing technic and it looks different.  They are very shiny while the downstairs are more of a matte finish.

The soybeans have still not been harvested.  I hope the farmer gets to it soon.  For those who wondered, this is what soybeans look like when ripe and ready to be picked.

The leaves are starting to turn color.  This is such a late year for that.  It is like a month late.  There were actually snow showers this past week already, although nothing stuck to the ground.  There were ducks on the pond this afternoon when we arrived.  They flew away before I got close enough to photograph them.   

We are planning to move in on Saturday.  It will be a busy week with lots of packing.

Farm Update 10/14

We have been working diligently on getting things done at the farm so that we can move in as soon as possible!  It is work that doesn't show as much, like skim coating walls and sanding.  So here is our latest project update...

The dining room and kitchen walls were painted today.  It is a shade lighter than the walls in the dining room at our old house.  It is a warm color and not dark.  We will be putting up a small crown molding along the wall.

It looks good with the wood in the cabinets.  I think it will be OK with the floors in the dining room and living room.  The floor finishing project has once more been pushed back until NEXT weekend.  It is better to get the painting done before you finish the floors.

I think we will paint the family room the same color.  That will make it feel more unified and open.

 My DH got the back on the peninsula cabinets and the supports in for the counter top.  It will have a 12" overhang so the supports are needed.  The dishwasher will go in on the other side of the peninsula in the middle.  There will be a sink on the kitchen side on the end.  The granite counters should be ready either the next week or the beginning of the following week.

Another project that we would like to get done is to take this big tree down.  It has already had one big branch come off during a storm and knocked the chimney down and came into the house.  No need to have a repeat on that.  The roots are also pushing against the foundation and pushing up the basement floor.  That's not good either.

We keep learning more about our property from the neighbors.  Apparently, we have a cistern right behind the house.  We will have to check into that.  The wet spot in the back is a spring, not a well. We had kinda figured that, since the water is lying on top of the ground.  It is so nice being on the farm.  

October 9, Farm Update

Today was spent working at the farm.  Things are moving along. Here is what was accomplished today...

We had dug up a bunch of irises and bulbs from our sundry gardens in the front yard before returning them to being a boring grass yard.  We transplanted them to the south side of the barn.  They will get good sun there and be happy.  Working there did let me realize that we REALLy need to replace a bunch of the battens on the barn siding.

Our friend Tom got my office painted.  We went with 'Comfortable green' .  I think it looks nice.  He also got the ceilings all done.  Now for the trim and doors...

One of my projects today was to scrape the boards on the porch and repaint them.  I was cruising along until...

a bunch of yellow jackets got unhappy with me.  They are making their home in the post at the bottom of this board.  Not even sure if there's room for much of a nest in there, but that's where they are entering and exiting.

Tom was working hard on the kitchen ceiling when we left.

 He had finished the drywall and had sanded it and was just beginning to paint it.

The pond has really filled back up after all the rain on Saturday.  It is at least a foot higher.  It looks a lot bigger!

The sky was so blue today.  It was really beautiful.  The high temp was about 70 (that's 21 degrees C).  You can see the late autumn as many trees still are very green.

The soy is almost all dried and is ready to be harvested any time.  I will be glad to see it go.  We are having such a beautiful fall.  I love this cooler weather!  Every day is a blessing, especially on the farm.

Farm Update - moving along

There has not been too much to update at the farm.  But here's what's happening...

The trees we planted seem to be surviving.  The deer have left them alone, so far.  Two of the raspberry brambles are toasted.  One just died on it's own and the other is broken off.  I am also not sure that my honeyberry bushes are going to make it.  They look a little sad.

 Our friend, Tom, has come along side to spend three days getting the walls prepped for painting and then painting the ceilings in what time he has left.  He is concentrating on the office, kitchen and skim coating the dining room.

Here is what the office walls look like now.  We have picked a paint color.  That's progress.

During the storm on Saturday, a good size, but rotted, branch came out of the tree and was across the driveway.  I got it picked up as well as a number of smaller branches.

Today, the gentleman from the countertop people, came out and made the template for our new counters.  I hope we made the right decisions.  We will have a breakfast bar at the peninsula.  We need some extra counter space there at the 40" height so that my tall gals will have a comfortable place to work.  The dishwasher will go between the cabinets.  We are putting a nice sized sink in the end cabinet.  I am really happy with how it is turning out.

The drywall is getting done.  I like the can lights.  My DH put them in over all the work surfaces.

The last picture I took of this wall showed only studs.  Now it is getting done.  I will select a paint color after the granite is in.

The panelling is getting a skim coat so that it will look good when painted.  We are leaving the wainscoting natural.  The floor in the living room and dining room is all sanded.  Now it only needs a top coat of finish.

I know that the work getting done now isn't really dramatic, but it is so necessary to do well so that the final stages look great.  

Big Progress.. Cabinets and Painting

Yesterday was a really  busy day out at the farm.  A lot was accomplished.  Just look below...

Thomas worked hard at getting his walls ready to prime and paint.

Michelle started painting the girls' room.  

Some friends came up to help with the doings.  Michael and his Dad helped with the carpentry

His sister Olivia worked on painting in the girls' room.

The cabinets went up.

The drywall in my office was finished and is looking well.

Paul worked at getting the mower working up to his standards.

The girls got the room all painted.

Thomas got the walls in his room primed.

The cabinets were all installed.  I think they look so nice.  We are going to go pick out the counter tops today.

Paul worked in the kitchen too.

The stove was set up in it's new place.  The guys got it hooked up and running before they left.

 The peninsula was laid out.  The sinks are bought and ready to install once the counter tops are ready.  The kitchen will be ready to use when we are ready to move in.  Way to go Sweetheart!!

The farm is coming along!