Someone said after reading our Christmas letter than our life seemed so exciting. That may be true, but exciting also means exhausting. I also have
some plenty of anxiety which always adds to the chaos... Nothing a little ice cream after the kids go bed, denial, and some Netflix "therapy" can't fix. 😉
There were too many projects to count in January...new carpet in a few rooms, painting ceilings, walls and refreshing the white trim upstairs and bead board in the back hallway, cutting down trees, and the list continues. Add in a companion for Polly horse search, trying to do some school "book work", a cute, but menacing toddler, and someone should come lock me up! I do it to myself, but I can't seem to stop!! Send help, medication or alcohol...quickly!!!
Above: We had one day of a tiny bit of snow which was definitely not enough to do any good sledding. Brooke decided it was a great day for the hot tub though.
Our office got new carpet and new paint. We are getting close to being ready to hang stuff on the walls. When I do, I'll post the "after" pictures so you can see how it all turned out. Hopefully, that will be soon.
All the office stuff went into the dining room which is always interesting. The dining room lost the watermelon boarder, got fresh paint and a new light fixture (not pictured), of course.
Mark took down this odd bookshelf in our upstairs hallway to make room for a more functional piece of furniture and a reading nook.
Stinks for us that the former owners put in hardwood around the awkward bookshelf.
All Mark needed was a little encouragement from our friends that burn just about everything, to drag the bookshelf, old carpet pad, our Christmas tree and boxes down to the pasture for our first ever bonfire.
But first, he had to get across the very full creek...
Never fear, the mighty Kubota was up for the task.
The photographer walked across and was not in anyway harmed in the making of these photographs. Oh, and I always wear my boots like a good girl unlike my husband. 😁
This was a rookie mistake, because it was really too wet to take the tractor out in the pasture without tearing it up some. This would have been better suited to a dry evening, but then, who knows what might have caught on fire if it really was dry?
Do not try this at home unless you let the gasoline vapors evaporate for at least 15 minutes, so we were told by our fire loving friends. Now we really look like rednecks!
While we waited for the vapors to evaporate, Mark got to work taking down the fence in preparation for taking down a giant ash tree the next morning.
OK, everyone stand back...
Clark (Griswold) Mark's got everything under control. 😏
This was a fire to remember for sure. It did die down to a more normal size after a little while. I'm sure this will not be forgotten anytime soon.
The massive tree in the middle is the one Mark took down with his chain saw, our friend Josh lending moral support, and only 3 other trees cutting experience. It was probably good I wasn't there to witness it!
I wish I had pictures of it coming down, but I was inside on child watch with Ellie and our friends' two littlest girls. I could hear the cheers from the house, so it must have been magnificent.
The aftermath sure was impressive!
I told you!! It was no joke! And no one died or had to go to the hospital!! Thank you, Jesus.
In the middle is one of the fence posts that was just pummeled into the ground. That's on the short list of future projects.
After Mark felled the tree, he rented scaffolding to paint the foyer and to change out the lights. This was a much anticipated project for me so we could finally say good bye to the ugly brass fixture that was screaming to be replaced. In all honesty, that could have been the voices in my head because I am crazy. 😭 The scaffolding was rented and at a good price too...$18/day.
Both Mark and my dad worked hard getting this big job done so we could pay for the fewest days on the rental possible. I think they finished in 3 days if I remember correctly.
Gone are the creamy, yellow walls and in its place is a warm gray. The natural woodwork is tricky. I've found certain grays work well and blues, but I didn't want blue in my foyer for the next decade.
I got the new fixture from Wayfair and the old one is still on the front porch if you want it. 😏 It was a non-negotiable that the light would not have dust collecting glass. I just know that I will NEVER clean the glass so that wasn't even an option.
Mark also removed all of these lovely lights in the hallways for...
these! I wanted something other than dome lights since we are going to live here forever because we are never moving again. Ever.
Our Polly Girl is always a dirty little monkey. Not only does she sleep laying down on the poop in her stall at night, but she also rolls when she goes outside in the field. This is normal horse behavior, just really inconvenient with a more white than brown horse. I think this is going to be a life long struggle. This day, Polly wanted to feel fancy, so I braided her mane. It made the dirt and dried poop look prettier.
I'm sure my dad has a permanent neck injury because he painted every ceiling in our house except the kids' bathroom and the laundry room. It was a beast of a job and he never gave up!
Our kitchen in on the list for a face lift. I am waiting on a quote to get the cabinets painted, new counter tops and back splash and new hinges and hardware. I just don't want live with wood floors, natural wood trim, wood cabinets, and dark counter tops for the rest of my days.
There were roman shades in our "breakfast nook" bay window. My mom helped me take them down with the intent to replace them with something more my style. After they were off, the windows let in much more light and I was sold on naked windows. It also doesn't help that the kitchen in north facing so no bright sunlight ever shines in the back of the house. Gotta take all the help this dark kitchen can get!
This is the beginning of our reading nook. Notice the carpet under my consignment store dresser? 😒 I had the idea that I would get a dresser to paint, but then I found this solid maple one that I loved as is and that it fit perfectly too was the icing on the cake. I use it to store a lot of our linens. Don't worry, I got a rug to hid the flooring issue. It's coming along nicely. Photos to follow at a much later date.
This is just a picture...the movie is below. ↡
My friend, Laurel from the barn where we boarded Polly posted on Facebook that someone (me!)
was looking for a small horse/large pony that would be a suitable for a family to take lessons on. As it turns out, a sweet woman contacted my friend with just such a horse. Enter...Echo. Echo is a 13 year old Arabian that in his previous life was a lesson horse at a nearby barn before joining the family that sold him to us. My other trainer/friend, Kevin went with me to look at Echo so we could see if he was right for our family.
Kevin rode him first and almost got off because this little horse did not want to trot. Thankfully, Kevin stuck it out because he is a gem and when I rode him with a crop, he was just fine. Kevin and I went to lunch afterwards to compare notes and we determined that Echo was exactly what we were looking for and at a great price!! After he got caught up on his shots and cleared by the vet, he was coming home to us! He is perfect, cute, calm, trained and we love him!! Enter panic mode...
I freaked out because A) we were paying for full board for Polly so that we didn't have to worry about the day to day care of cleaning stalls, feeding and turn out while we got used to being horse owners and it is expensive B) boarding two horses at the full care rate would be very expensive and C) I was super anxious that if we didn't pay for full care how we'd be able to clean two stalls per day with Ellie when Mark was on a trip. Nothing seemed to make sense so that's when Kevin suggested we bring Polly home and get a friend to keep her company while we keep Echo in Polly's old stall at the boarding barn down the road so that we have access to a better riding facility. It was complicated, but sorted itself out in about 3 days.
It took about almost 2 weeks for Echo to be ready and in the mean time we picked up some miniature horses and brought Polly home. That's a story for February...😊
The end of January brought my niece's baby shower. It was held at her house which seemed like a nontraditional choice at first, but they had a new house to show off and she didn't want to have to haul all the gifts home. It was a genius plan which also got me out of hosting at our nutty, work in progress house.
Isn't my mom cute? Doesn't seem possible that someone so stylish could be a great grandma, does it?!! She's sitting at the table that Stephanie's handy hubby made. It's an awesomely huge and inexpensive-to-build farmhouse table that is to die for. I am trying to get him to make one for our screened in porch, so I'll let you know how that goes. 😜
One of Stephanie's friends made this adorably clever diaper cake with blankets and champagne in the middle.
Brooke and Stella also came along to the shower. Stella was the unofficial helper. She was a pro!
I think she liked the front row seat best!
Brian and Stephanie got married, bought their first house, and are having a baby within 14 months. That's what I call efficient... and poor! 😃 Maternity shoot is tomorrow so stand by for darling bump pictures soon!!!
xoxo,
Katie
