IT IS A WONDERFUL LIFE

I know I said we were going to take day 27 and 28 off, but our plans fell through and we ended up working part of each day, but today was the most productive.  Our goal is to have a master bedroom and living room by Christmas. My favorite movie of ALL time is It’s A Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed.  As we work on this house I feel more and more like Mary Bailey fixing up their old house!

Hubby has been trying to move forward in the garage and saw some serious headway today.  Here is the before picture.

Here is the after picture.  Hubs has made serious progress!

Unfortunately, the front half is still full of “STUFF” that needs to go. 

As for me I worked in the master bedroom.  We had filled the majority of the room with our boxes from the move while the foundation people were here.  Now that they have finished we had to move things back out of the master bedroom so we could begin the work on it.

Here is the before picture from 2 days ago.

All these boxes as well as the ones in the walk in closet behind them have been moved elsewhere and then I “emptied” the attic above of all the old “treasures”.  You know what they say, one man’s junk is another man’s treasure only in reverse in this case! I found my uncle’s foot locker from Vietnam era, old wood, broken fans and calculators, carpet rolls, linoleum, and my mother’s vanity from childhood that everyone wants her to have, but she wants to see go away forever.

Here are the after pictures from when I quit for the day earlier.

Treating the concrete to neutralize the smell is our biggest issue but we are getting there.

The carpet you see on the floor is actually not there, I just did not get a last picture evidently.  It has all been cut into pieces, rolled and tied for the dumpster.  Then I showered for an hour and burned my clothes. Okay so I didn’t burn the clothes, but the did get washed IMMEDIATELY!

Chronicles of a MisGuided Cousin Update – Day 27

Day 27, 449 combined hours (that does not include the hours spent on our own things getting moved in or moved around for the foundation people) and we still haven’t seen the end or the bottom of the mess we committed to.  We ARE committed to this project, but honestly would have turned around and headed back the moment we stepped into this house day one and saw how bad it really was if we hadn’t spent a small fortune to get here and traveled a week with aging animals.

This is trash day 8 since we arrived.  The backyard is full of the larger items waiting on the dumpster and and the garage is still 1/3 full of things to go as well as a loaded, locked and heavier than hell 6 foot freezer.

We have spent a small fortune in beer and soda to keep the trash guys happy.  Fortunately they come twice a week. $45 a week adds up fast – $325 so far which would have paid for half a dumpster so after Thanksgiving we will bite the bullet and order the dumpster for $625 and start getting serious about wrecking out the kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities and ALL flooring!

The driver is always a really happy guy, I’m sure because he gets to ride with the beer!

One of the hardest parts of this all for us is that there isn’t a surface, fixture, faucet, floor or wall that doesn’t need to be wrecked out and replaced or have major repairs so we can’t even unpack!  1700 square feet and we’re living in less than 200 of it. And I’m still cleaning up after the idiot foundation people from last week.
 
I was working in the living room today and could no longer handle the smell of the front foyer so started “removing” the carpet and padding only to find 2 layers of OLD tile underneath.  Evidently the foyer is where the cat boxes were and as my uncle would say, “her cats were not disciplined”. After removing each layer the odor got worse and worse.

Hubby came to help and between the two of us we finally removed all 4 layers and the base board and were able to treat the area so you no longer need a gas mask to walk through it.

So our conclusion is that we need some time away from this ALL and will be playing tomorrow and Thanksgiving.  We will start up again on Friday!

HAPPY HOMEMAKER & MENU PLAN MONDAY

WEATHER OUTSIDE
Our weather has turned quite chilly for here, but I’m loving it.  We are supposed to see some more rain on Thanksgiving.

TO DO FOR THE WEEK

  • Write formal complaint letter to foundation company.
  • Move boxes from bedroom to living room.
  • Empty Attic.
  • Remove carpet, padding and tack strip.
  • Treat foundation to remove odors.
  • Remove old moldings and prep new.
  • Strip wall paper.
  • Prep walls for paint.
  • Change out old ceiling fan for new.
  • Paint.

CURRENTLY READING
I have been too tired to do much more than fall in bed after the 10-15 hour days of serious manual labor recently, but am hoping to finish this book soon.
Alison Kent’s The Comfort of Favorite Things #5 Hope Springs

TELEVISION / DVR

LOL who has time?  We also can’t get internet and TV until after the foundation work is completed this week so have seen a few DVDs in the little down time we have forced ourselves to take. 

HOUSE PROJECTS

I will have to keep you posted on this category.  There is so much to do that we are still trying to make a priority list for after the bedroom! 

LOL this category is HUGE right now, but I am hoping to get my new range by Christmas!

MENU PLANS FOR THE WEEK


MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
BREAKFAST
YOGURT & FRUIT
SCRAMBLED EGGS & CHEESE
FRUIT SMOOTHIE
YOGURT & FRUIT
MAPLE OATMEAL & RAISINS
Bacon, OVER MEDIUM EGGS & TOAST
OUT


LUNCH
FRUIT & CHEESE
SOUP & CRACKERS
SANDWICH
OUT
MEAT & CHEESE
??
??
DINNER
Stoved Chicken
Tomato Honey Chicken
C.O.R.N.
Thanksgiving at my Uncle‘s House
Baked Chicken w/ Shallots, garlic & fennel
Hunters Chicken
Pork & Potato Hot Pot
DESSERT







HOMEMAKING/COOKING TIP
A small bowl of apple cider vinegar on the kitchen counter will attract fruit flies and eliminate them for you.

ON MY MIND
When did saying NO become an open door to  sales pitch? Why is it that so many stores are trying to guilt you into accepting their charge cards?  The cashier at Target yesterday actually asked me what I had against saving money that I wouldn’t want their card.

THINGS THAT ARE MAKING ME HAPPY

  • To do list is coming together and even seeming more manageable.
  • Being together and moving forward side by side.

FAVORITE PHOTO FROM THE CAMERA
We’ve been working really hard to clean up the mess left by the worker’s last week.  I’ve always thought I could have lived in pioneer times and this week Laura Ingalls Wilder keeps coming to mind as I function in limited space with no range.  The refrigerator at least came last Friday and I’m so in love with it! This poor kitchen area has been moved 3 times to accommodate construction.

INSPIRATION
I think my favorite movie of ALL time is Frank Capra’s, It’s A Wonderful Life.  Hubby and I came here expecting one thing and were presented with something so much worse.  BUT, as we work through this I keep thinking about the old place that George and Mary Bailey made a home and realize that anyplace with the right person is GREAT!

Be sure to link up with Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom for Happy homemaker Monday and with Laura at I’m an Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.

RAUL LIED

This week’s work hasn’t gone quite as planned.  The foundation work was set to begin on Monday and be done by Wednesday.

Monday began fairly well.  The crew showed up and began digging while Raul came inside to show us where they would be jack hammering.  The original estimate included them moving whatever was in the way, but we felt that if we helped it would save a bit of time.  Since we just moved in everything is still in boxes so moving things around was pretty easy.  We were also told that they would spend an hour making plastic drapes to protect our things from the concrete dust.  The promise was that we would never even know they had been here when they were done.

On Tuesday we had a HUGE storm with tons of rain and the crew was called off because of the weather so we were anxious for them to show up on Wednesday and begin the inside work.

Wednesday comes and Raul tells us the plans are that they will be doing more (9) inside holes instead of the (5) holes he told us on Monday.  More holes that forced us to kennel (not in the original plan or the original budget since they now had to have regional shots not necessary otherwise at their age at a large cost) our dogs because of the additional locations.

While we were gone kenneling the dogs the crew began the inside work.  When we got home we found that they had been jack hammering for 2 hours and NEVER bothered with the plastic drapes.  The tarp and sheet you see here we put up over more sensitive items.  When I asked Raul about it, he said they’d just taken it down! I DO NOT like bold faced liars! After a bit of discussion he did go buy the plastic that was supposed to already be in place, but I already had a 1/2 inch layer of concrete dust EVERYWHERE!  I will be rewashing clothes and linens I just washed for days and days!

To top off a long week, they managed to break the water main AND the washer drain too.

While this is a fixer upper, it IS our home and we DO NOT appreciate being disrespected by workers being paid to do a job, but acting as if our home and things are disposable.

No Turning Back Now

The foundation work began today on our house. Unfortunately they did not get as far as they originally intended and with the storm expected tomorrow they are predicting that they will not be able to get far tomorrow.  As of now the 2-3 job is expected to take 4 or so.  :SIGH: We will see.

It is amazing how hard these guys work and what a great job they are doing.

So we’re covered and hoping the storm doesn’t fill the holes with water that will need to be pumped out.

HAPPY HOMEMAKER & MENU PLAN MONDAY

We are closing in on 19 days since we arrived. To date hubs and I have logged 332 hours. We have found the house and there is only one LARGE piece left in the house to be moved and we found most of the side yard this weekend while preparing for the foundation work that begins tomorrow, but we have yet to find the garage!

We are beginning to see the light AND the potential again, but we ARE overwhelmed to say the least.  We knew it needed work, but until we got here and were able to get her things out we, including my uncle, had NO idea how much work.

We have decided that as soon as the foundation work is done we will do the master bedroom and bath first.  At least that way at the end of a hard day we will have a place of respite where we can close ourselves off from the rest of the work to be done.

WEATHER OUTSIDE
I noticed last night that I could see the stars to the east, but the clouds were beginning to shroud the moon to the west and then this morning the clouds are thick as mud so I think I believe them this time that there is a serious storm headed our way – right along with a tornado watch.

TO DO FOR THE WEEK

  • Shift furniture and boxes as needed for the foundation crew.
  • Try and find a few necessary cooking utensils I’m still missing.
  • Start removing carpet in manageable pieces where the non-carpet flooring will be installed.

CURRENTLY READING  
I have been too tired to do much more than fall in bed after the 10-15 hour days of serious manual labor recently, but am hoping to finish this book soon.

TELEVISION / DVR
LOL who has time?  We also can’t get internet and TV until after the foundation work is completed this week so have seen a few DVDs in the little down time we have forced ourselves to take.

HOUSE PROJECTS
I will have to keep you posted on this category.  There is so much to do that we are still trying to make a priority list for after the bedroom!

KITCHEN WISHES
LOL this category is HUGE right now, but I am getting my new refrigerator on Friday!
 
MENU PLANS FOR THE WEEK
Since it will be awhile before the kitchen is up and running I went looking for my cookbook box, more specifically for the cookbook box with the slow cooker cookbooks in it. We tried one last night that I am now calling Italian Ham and potatoes. LOL I had to adapt it though. Despite the title of the cookbook, Slow-Cooker Cookbook, I found after I bought the ingredients it was actually a recipe for the oven.  I was a bit more careful in reading the recipes for the rest of the week.


MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
BREAKFAST
YOGURT & FRUIT
SCRAMBLED EGGS & CHEESE
FRUIT SMOOTHIE
YOGURT & FRUIT
MAPLE OATMEAL & RAISINS
TOAST & YOGURT


AVALON DINER
LUNCH
FRUIT & CHEESE
SOUP & CRACKERS
SANDWICH
OUT
MEAT & CHEESE
??
??
DINNER
GARLIC   CHICKEN
BRAISED HORSERADISH BEEF
C.O.R.N.
BOSTON BAKED BEANS & PORK
SLOW BAKED BEEF with POTATO CRUST
CHICKEN IN SMOKY BACON SAUCE
APPLE & CIDER CHICKEN & VEGGIES
DESSERT






THINGS THAT ARE MAKING ME HAPPY

  • Working side by side with hubby to make a better life.
  • Seeing potential in the house and backyard.

FAVORITE PHOTO FROM THE CAMERA
The neighbor’s cat just loves sunbathing on the roof and will spend all day in the same place.

INSPIRATION

Be sure to link up with Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom for Happy homemaker Monday and with Laura at I’m an Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.

UPDATE TIME – BYE BYE BUCKY

We’re at the 2 1/2 week mark of this new adventure and it feels more like 2 1/2 months.  Hubs and I have a combined 315 hours invested and still have not completed the removal of my cousin’s and gramp’s “things” from the house, attic and garage.  I even found my great grandmother’s financial and funeral records in the attic. 

Bucky was my cousin’s first hunting kill, but relax the deer was eaten for family food.  Bucky hung in the same place for so long that he has a permanent tattoo from the Mardis Gras beads that hung around his neck forever!

As you can see from these globes we will be purchasing a new ceiling fan and not even trying to clean this one!

On a REALLY happy note we did buy a new fridge today that will be delivered next week after the foundation work is done and we are extremely excited. It’s 28 cubic feet with all the bells and whistles and we were able to get it in white without an extra fee!  I’m so excited that we won’t be living out of a dorm fridge any longer!

I am going to be able to salvage gram and gramp’s head board for the spare bedroom.  It will look better than ever when I’m done. And trust me when I say EVERY piece of wallpaper in this house will be going away!

This is load 5, 6 and 7 of donations and trash with no end in sight!

While the house is now cleaner and free of all of her things the piles have now been replaced with our things from storage.  We put the furniture into a spare bedroom and the boxes are stacked in the living room and master bedroom. We are not going to unpack any more items until after the foundation work is done this next week.  We have 3 really large pieces left in the house from my cousin that we hope to get to the garage tomorrow for my uncle to arrange for their removal.

THE FIRST 2 WEEKS

The first 2 weeks were tiring to say the least! Hubby and I clocked almost 300 hours just trying to make this place livable while we do the work.

I’m almost embarrassed to show you these before pictures, but it is what it is and the after pictures will be so good.

This is the master bedroom after 8 hours, but before vacuuming.

The master bedroom needs EVERYTHING! The paint on the walls is flat and at least 20 years old.  There are cigarette burns everywhere in the carpet and the electrical is all original except for the jerry rigging everywhere else. I’ve already blown out 2 plugs just plugging in the vacuum. I am cleaning the nicotine layer off the head board and able to salvage it for a spare bedroom.  It is my grandparent’s from the early 1930’s.

I use a Rainbow vacuum (water canister based) and after pouring off the water this colander holds the debris from the floor of the bedroom.

This room doesn’t look too bad – until you look super close.  I won’t even tell you what all was found in this room.

There was “STUFF” everywhere.  How any one person could stuff so much into one home is beyond me. After 12 days I still have more to send to donation and have used 78, yes I said 78 thirty gallon trash bags. It also has cost me $45 in beer and soda to get the trash men to take a little extra each time.  Fortunately they come twice a week.

The kitchen is usually my favorite room of the house…until now!  The kitchen also needs EVERYTHING!  The cabinets are coated in nicotine and food, and are also dry rotted, the floor is chipped and peeling.  No appliance is in the least bit salvageable including the kitchen sink.

There were fire ants all through the pantry and the refrigerator had become an overgrown science project.  The construction dumpster gets here Thursday and EVERYTHING goes!

The water heater and AC are all that can be saved.

HAPPY HOMEMAKER & MENU PLAN MONDAY

As you know hubby and I have been very excited about buying my grandparents house and our cross country move to rehab it to bring it up to date.

My cousin had been living here since my grandfather’s death in 1993.  Sadly, she passed away in 2014 and the house had been sitting here empty (or so we thought).  We thought from what my uncle said that the house was virtually empty, that he had been cleaning it out the past 6 months.  Sadly, that too was not the case.  I am so shocked by the state of the house.  My cousin was the creative type and I knew she wasn’t the best of housekeepers, but I am seriously shocked and appalled by what we found here.  Honestly, if we hadn’t had 3 aging animals traveling with us and spent a small fortune to move here, we would have turned around and gone back after what we saw that first day.

As you read this hubby and I have put in a total of 287 hours over the past 12 days and it is barely livable. The house is virtually empty (now), but the garage is still full. There is not a fixture, cabinet, faucet, wall or appliance that doesn’t need replaced or majorly repaired at the very least including the kitchen sink. The dumpster will arrive Thursday and then the fun will begin. I will post pictures soon to keep this chronicle up to date.

WEATHER OUTSIDE
Looks like the weather will be all over the place this week.  I’m looking forward to some cooler wet weather.

TO DO FOR THE WEEK

  • Unload moving trucks.
  • Empty garage.
  • Wreck out ALL of kitchen and ALL appliances.
  • Wreck out carpeting.
  • Peel wallpaper from 3 rooms.

CURRENTLY READING
Read? Who has time to read? LOL I read every night as I fall asleep. This week is book #5 from Marie Force’s Green Mountain series and book #9 from Barbara Freethy’s Callaway series.

TELEVISION / DVR
No internet yet so we’re catching a few shows on stream after the fact.
 
CRAFTS & PROJECTS
I do hope to get some crafting for the holidays in after the worst of the clean up is done.

HOUSE PROJECTS
WOW Where do I begin?  

  • EVERYTHING!

KITCHEN WISHES
That the kitchen fairies show up while I sleep and help make this nightmare become a glorious dream.
 
MENU PLANS FOR THE WEEK


MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
BREAKFAST
YOGURT & FRUIT
MAPLE OATMEAL & RAISINS


FRUIT SMOOTHIE
YOGURT &  FRUIT
MAPLE OATMEAL & RAISINS
MAPLE OATMEAL & RAISINS
OUT
LUNCH
FRUIT & CHEESE
SOUP & CRACKERS
SANDWICH
OUT
MEAT & CHEESE
~~


~~
DINNER
S#*% on a Shingle
C.O.R.N.
DESSERT







I may not have a kitchen, but I will have my hot plate, griddle, waffle maker and crock pots.

THINGS THAT ARE MAKING ME HAPPY
On the upside I have lost 15 pounds from all the back breaking work this past 2 weeks.

FAVORITE PHOTO FROM THE CAMERA
We bought a small dorm sized fridge, a hot plate and added the only surviving furniture and voila we have a makeshift kitchen dining area.  I’ll add a slow cooker, griddle, waffle maker and we will be fine for a few weeks.

INSPIRATION

Be sure to link up with Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom for Happy homemaker Monday and with Laura at I’m an Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.

My cuts have cuts, My bruises have bruises – The Chronicles of a Misguided Cousin and Rehabbing Grams and Gramps house

As you know hubby and I have been very excited about our move to my grandparents house and rehabbing it to bring it up to date.  My cousin had been living here since my grandfather’s death in 1993.  Sadly, she passed away in 2014 and the house had been sitting here empty (or so we thought).  We thought from what my uncle said that the house was virtually empty, that he had been cleaning it out the past 6 months.  Sadly, that too was not the case. 
As you read this, hubby and I have put in a total of 287 hours over the past 12 days and it is barely livable.  The house is virtually empty, but the garage is still full.  There is not a fixture, cabinet, faucet, wall or appliance that doesn’t need replaced or majorly repaired at the very least including the kitchen sink.  The dumpster will arrive Thursday and then the fun will begin. I will post pictures soon to keep this chronicle up to date.
My cousin was known as the Aji Queen, Lady Savory spices and her pepper seeds were sought after from around the world.  Unfortunately she had chile peppers everywhere and everything was peppers from her dishes to her Christmas ornaments.  She had no less than 300 bottles of collectible hot sauces. Each bottle had to be wiped down and packed up.  She was also an avid collector of Barbies.  Let me just say if I ever see another chile pepper themed knick knack or a designer Barbie doll, it will be too soon.