Slog Along Day

Both of the human inhabitants of this homestead slept poorly last night. Papa Pea developed a stiff neck late yesterday and it kept him from any kind of comfortable sleep during the night.

After having a WON-derful night's sleep night before last, I woke at 1:50 last night for a potty stop and when I shuffled back to bed found that even though I was tired, I couldn't fall back asleep for love nor money. (Insert frustrated scream.) WHY does that happen?

So the outcome was that we both looked and felt like something the cat dragged in for most of the day.

My main aim today was to get all the fall/Thanksgiving decorations taken down and put away and the Christmas decorations up. Needless to say, there will be no decorating in the living room area this year, but I will do what I can to make things look festive in the kitchen. I also do a little decorating in the bathroom and bedroom.

Did I complete my task? Nope, but I'm about 80% done. I should be able to finish up tomorrow and still have time for other things.

I'm thinking I'm not going to put up a tree this year. (Papa Pea is not happy with this idea and when Chicken Mama hears of it, she will throw one big, royal hissy-fit.) No way can one go in the construction zone of the living room. There is only one safe (far enough away from the wood stove) place where I could put a very small tree in the kitchen.

It would be on the closest end of the above cabinet in the southwest corner of the kitchen. The phone and answering service are on the opposite end of the unit and need to stay there. (You can see the unfinished door into the living room area on the right of the picture.) Strings of lights, usually put on the tree, are resting on the top of the cabinet. If I don't put up a tree, I'm thinking about figuring out some way to string the lights around the windows so we can have them on in the evening and early morning. Although I must admit, at this moment in time that, too, seems like a lot of work.

We've lost virtually all the snow cover we got a little over a week ago. Outside it looks, and smells, like spring. However (dum-da-dum-dum), the forecast is for a mixture of snow and freezing rain (oh, joy) starting at midnight tonight and continuing until 6 p.m. on Saturday. The snow we would welcome, but ice is not nice.

I meant to take a picture today to show how much the gardens look just as they do in the spring, but the daylight slipped away from me a little too, too fast. Don't know what the situation is in all of your various locations but come 5 p.m. in our neck of the woods these days, it's durn close to pitch dark. And in a couple more weeks, it will be 4:30. So, so different than in the summertime!

Miscellaneous Thoughts on Thanksgiving

Hubby and I will be alone for most of the day today. And that feels just fine. We're actually looking forward to it. A day of not doing anything we don't truly want to do. Sleeping in and feeling okay about having a lazy day.

I'm going to start the day sitting with my morning latte at the kitchen table making a list of all I have to be thankful for. My list will be long. I may have to have a second latte.

Often on Thanksgiving when we are sharing the meal with others, we go around the table and each person says why he or she is especially grateful on that day. Sometimes what a person says is surprising.

My husband always thanks me for each meal I prepare and set on the table for us. Every day, no matter what the occasion. That's a big something for me to be thankful for right there.

My father-in-law could not have been described as a romantic or sentimental man. He and my mother-in-law were married on Thanksgiving Day. He never could understand why they couldn't celebrate their anniversary on Thanksgiving each year. He thought that would have just been so much easier than remembering the exact date.

Helen and Scott Nearing, early back-to-the-landers striving to live a self-reliant life style, always marked Thanksgiving Day by going on an apple fast; all they ate all day was apples in protest of what they called the gluttony by so many people who over-eat on the holiday.

When I was growing up, my folks frequently hosted Thanksgiving at our house for our big extended family. We ate around the dining room table on mom's best dishes and white tablecloth. As many card tables as necessary were set up in the corners to accommodate the younger generation. Our meal was always at noon and everyone stayed the rest of the day. One thing I remember that seems odd to me now is that when mom and the other female relatives cleared the table after the main meal, all the leftovers were spread on the table in the kitchen and we snacked on this food the rest of the day and then pretty much polished it off for our evening meal which was eaten before everyone left to go home. Nothing was refrigerated for those five or six hours. 'Tis a wonder we all didn't wake up dead the next morning because of food poisoning.

I wonder what would happen if we all made this Thanksgiving the start of a more peaceful, content-with-what-we-have holiday season? Rather than participating in the Black Friday frantic frenzy of shopping for shopping's sake, what if we all stayed home and savored the day? We could take a leisurely walk or hike, work on a craft we love, read a book, simmer a huge pot of turkey vegetable soup, make a holiday wreath or two while spending the day with holiday music playing in the background.

The holidays are what we make of them. I personally want to make a real effort to handle them in a way that is more enjoyable, less stressful and brings me more joy and fulfillment. Sounds selfish? Well, I can't change anyone else, but I can change myself. In theory that should make it better for everyone around me. Certainly something to work toward.

One last Thanksgiving thought: I'm very, very thankful for all of you I've gotten to know to one degree or another through the magic of blogging. Years ago I used to participate in our community playhouse productions. I think the thing I enjoyed most about my involvement was that I got to know people that I never would have in my primarily homebody-type life. That's much the same way I feel about blogging. It brings all of you into my life.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

Is This The End Of The Week?

Even though it's only Wednesday, it feels like we've put in a whole week on the remodeling during the past three days. Tomorrow we're giving ourselves the whole day off which is much needed and will be greatly appreciated by these two (feelin' kinda weary tonight) home owners.

We got the wall covering of the living room stairway finished today.

This is the wall from the living room side. The horizontal slats on the right are the "pocket" for the pocket door. Doorway (without door) is farther on down the line. I have to set up in the garage (now that we have a break in using the saw to cut in there) and get the finish put on the door so it can be hung.

We have stairs! Kind of. We got the three stringers up but had to reinstall the old treads temporarily because I need to put a finish on the new treads (cut and ready) and the risers (which aren't cut yet) before installation. But at least the crude ladder access is no more.

From the living room we will take a step up onto the landing at the foot of the stairs. The door you see straight ahead leads into my quilt studio. Turning immediately left on the landing takes you up the stairs.

Big glitch encountered today . . . we found out we're not going to be able to use the ceiling material we had decided upon. Long story, but not interesting enough to take the time to relate. It simply means we have to go back to the drawing board to find another material we will use.

Here I thought we had the ceiling, wall and floor materials all figured out so time and effort could be put elsewhere.

During this remodeling, I've found that I don't enjoy the process of picking out materials. I know what I like and I know what I don't like but spending the time researching, shopping and deciding isn't my cuppa tea. I'm so much of a concrete person (my husband has intimated on occasion that the "concrete" is in my head) that I want to get on with the DOING and being able to SEE the efforts of a day's work.

So, we're back to coming up with material for the ceiling that we both can live with (let alone actually be excited about) and that fits into our budget. We'll find something. In the meantime, there are paaa-lenty of things we can do to keep the forward momentum going. AFTER tomorrow's day off, that is.

From Bad Stairway, To No Stairway

It was hard, but we finally settled on the specifications of the new stairway going up to Papa Pea's office.

The basic problem we faced is we don't have enough space to fit in a "made to scale" stairway. Literally the only place in the living room we could possibly put the stairway just doesn't allow a long enough run for the standard measurements. The room we're working with is a smidge over 15 x 15' but in that space there are four doors and one whole wall of windows. Put in the stairway (somewhere, somehow) and we have a room 15 x 11-1/2'. Not large, but lots bigger than we had before!

Papa Pea and I tried but couldn't figure out a satisfactory way of building the stairs. Okay, call in the big guns. B measured and figured and erased and measured again and finally told us we had two choices.

We could build the stairway with treads this size and risers this size or treads that size and risers that size. Those two options were the very best we had. We made the decision and the work started.


Above are Papa Pea and B taking down the old (temporary) stairway.

This is a view of a stairway you don't usually see. I'm taking the picture from the bottom where the stairs will start going up to the second floor.

The inside of the stairway will be finished with bead board. When I took this shot I was standing in the living room looking through the outer stud wall of the stairway with the wall of bead board we got up today on the opposite wall.

Here's the way we're getting upstairs tonight. After this, any stairway will be an improvement.

We did also get the three stringers for the stairs cut today so with luck, by tomorrow night we'll have easier access!

Wall Up, Kindling Done

Lady Carpenter Extraordinaire, B, was here today lending her professional expertise in getting the wall up in the living room that will close off the stairway going up to Papa Pea's office. It was a little tricky because 1) getting anything squared up and level in this place is challenging to say the least, and 2) the new wall will have a pocket door in it.

This is the temporary stairway we've been living with before work started.

Here's as far as we got today.

After lunch I was told my services were no longer needed (waaah!) and to go find something else productive to do.

Well. I knew where to go. To the kindling bin! Prior to today, I'd put in one long session and one short session in an effort to get it filled up for the heating season.

Here's the picture I posted last week . . .

. . . and here's what it looked like when I staggered back into the house late this afternoon.

I did misjudge how many bundles of cut-to-length slabs I'd need to completely fill the bin. I could have used two, maybe three, more to legitimately call it filled to the brim.

But I split all I had and even though it is a scant bit short, I'm pretty sure it will last us through this heating season with no problem. I think.

More work in the living room scheduled for tomorrow. It sure does help keep the enthusiasm going when one can actually see progress rather than the seemingly endless work on all the necessary stuff that doesn't show. Maybe we'll get to the new stairway tomorrow?

Project Apron: Done!

Okay, Susan, you tough task master. You made us all sign on the dotted line and commit to getting our aprons done by Thanksgiving . . . and I'm glad you did.

I choose a very simple design, loose and easy to wear but one that should do the job of saving the front of all my classy (ya, right) homestead outfits from stains and splatters. (I really should make a set of sleeve protectors to match because the cuffs of my shirts seem to suffer also.)

The fabric I used is a winter-ish pine bough and holly accented with red berries. I bought it a few years back to make winter pillowcases . . . but that never happened.

The back called for a single button closure at the top but I took the lazy way out and used two snaps instead. (This picture looks like I was told to go stand in the corner for some transgression.)

Wanna know the best thing about this apron and why I may wear it all day, every day until it self-destructs? When my hubby was taking the pictures, he said, "Are you losing weight?" Heck, no . . . and if I were, how could he tell under the shapelessness of the apron? But if it gives that illusion, I'll wear it to cover up my belly, bumps and bulges from now 'til the cows come home.

Thanks again, Susan, for organizing this fun project. Can't wait to see everyone elses creations!