Windows and Doors

I have windows in my sun room!

It was amazing how fast they were installed. Now they are working on the doors.
It really is an exciting day!

Fall is here.

The leaves are starting to change and there is still so much to do to finish our house.

The weather here is still comfortable during the day and the evenings are getting cooler. I have been told it is a great time for planting flowers and trees. Our work on the house has slowed a bit the last week since we were waiting on the doors and windows to arrive and had to locate wood siding to match the true log part of the house. By tomorrow evening the garage and added rooms should start to look like what they are intended to be instead of ply-wood shacks on each side of the house.

We are almost finished with all the big decisions and only have a few more things to decide upon. I am so tired of going to home improvement stores and walking the aisles searching for something or trying to decide on an item. It really is exhausting to design, plan, build, and make all the interior decorating decisions for a home.

Not to mention the outside-landscaping, gardening, etc. Because we had so many trees removed, and had to have new grading done to keep water away from the house now that there are less trees, there is lots of landscaping to do. Just spreading grass seed and covering it with straw and keeping it watered has worn us out this week.

And we also built a walk out of stepping stones and landscaped around it this week.

And there is always the mowing and weed eating. My Daddy has graciously mowed and cut weeds all summer for us which has helped us out tremendously. He has really been wonderful about it and does such a great job.

Tracy was offered the job he interviewed for today. We are a bit excited and the timing is ideal. It seems like it would be a great job and one he would enjoy. He would be traveling some but he has done that our whole lives so that is not such a big issue.

I know my blogging has been very sporadic this summer and it probably will continue to be until the house is finished. It is exciting to be this close to finishing it.

We are finally starting to feel at home here and the girls are really enjoying their classes a the Community College. Sarah played the harp and Anna the piano at the Chamber of Commerce breakfast this month. They did beautifully and made some contacts in the community. I think they like the small town feel here and they are really appreciating the change of seasons this year.

Seasons changing

Today is the first day of school for the local children. Half of August is gone and time is whizzing by. Sarah and Anna start classes at the Community College on Monday. We have kept them busy all summer painting, staining, cleaning, nailing, building walkways and being gophers (oh my-those daily trips to Lowes).

There has been SO much accomplished on the remodel/addition in the last week. The concrete was poured in the garage and breezeway, the grading is finished and we can actually park in the driveway again, the roofers are finishing the shingles today, the steps and walls are up in the back bedroom and mostly complete in the 'apartment' over the garage. We ordered doors and windows, the new kitchen counter tops are coming today, half of a lovely paving stone walk is complete and we got some landscaping done in front of the house by the steps.

Shew--it makes me tired just to type all that.

It has been a stressful year so far and there as been little rest for us. Living in a construction zone is not fun, especially because everywhere you look something is in the partial stage of remodel.

Tracy interviewed for a job working with wounded soldiers in a mental health setting and was offered the job. On the same day he was also contacted by the company he really wants to fly medical evacuation with and asked to interview.

So...he turned the job offer down and is pursuing a position flying. He seems very excited about that and I just want him to follow his heart and be happy in whatever he ends up doing.

We are almost adjusted here but we still have no church and that is hard. We have visited three and one seems like it could work but it is big and farther away than I would like.

Fall is in the air, it won't be long until the trees start to change color and the flowers start to die. The stores are starting to sell Chrysanthemums-a sure sign of cooler weather. I am anxious for Sarah and Anna to see the fall color of the blue ridge and to experience fall in a farming community-the apple festival, the tobacco festival and apple butter making!

More pictures......

From the back of the house.

Where the swing and climbing tree used to be. We were sad that the swing tree was cut down. When it fell it broke the limb in the tree beside of it that we were going to hang a new swing on.

Rear view again and we are really anxious for the grading here as well.

The new bedroom.

Finally.....Pictures!

Measure twice drill once. That is the new microwave/convection oven combo that we are in love with in the foreground. It should have been an easy job to install it but we didn't have a cabinet over it. Tracy built a makeshift one that will do until the new one is ordered and delivered. Did I mention that we absolutely love the new oven?

This was just so pretty I had to post it. Hydrangeas from my Momma's flower garden.

Anna's newly painted nightstand. Sea glass and yellow, a lovely combination and the colors she has decided on for her new room.

What will be the sun room when the windows and doors are installed. Right now it is a great tool shed. Even though it looks terrible I am very thankful for it-and to have those tools out of the living room.

The front view of the house. We love the steps and have really been glad they were built first since the other doors are in construction zones. Notice also how brown the grass is turning. That is in part because we have been parking in front of the house on the grass and we really need rain. It has been extremely hot and humid here and miserable for working outside.

We love the new screen door. It is wonderful when we sit on the porch in the morning.

Front view of sun room.

Garage with two walls built. Hopefully it won't be long until we get the grading finished and can get some gravel to cover the nasty red clay. It can be a mess after it rains or in the morning when the dew is on the ground and the dogs walk through it.

Garage.

There are still lots of trees to be cut up for firewood and the brush cleared. It has just been so very hot that no one has wanted to work on that.

Garage and new master bedroom from the back. Like the sun room the bedroom has no window holes cut yet.

Behind the house. There used to be many trees here.

This is at the back of the property, deep in the woods. It is where all the stumps are buried.

I saw this tree on my walk through the woods--a pileated wood pecker made the holes.

To be continued..................