Monday, May 23, 2011

Beauty Among Trashes

Our new yard is "swimming" with so many
splendid flowers!
My idea of flowers at my current home has
been limited to tulips and day lilies!
But at the Provision,
we never know what will come up next!
Pink
Purple
White
Dark Red
Yellow
and
even Peach,
The colors are vividly stunning!


Even the weeds are pretty!
And the best part about these flowers.....
We get to enjoy them with every trip to the dumpster!

Have a great day!



Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Long Overdue Updates or a Long Update

First
I have some good news to share....
we are...
Thank you for all your prayers and well wishes
for the sale of our current home!
In this economy, we are truly blessed to
be under contract after only 3 1/2 months.

Second,
It brings me to a long overdue update on my
week at "Camp Provision"!
For those just visiting for the first time
we are in the process of renovating our new home
which we have named
"The Provision"
We "played" in the sand!
After knocking it (the walls) down..
We would load it up into buckets..
Aren't you digging my camp uniform?
While gutting the upstairs we
had the opportunity to use our camps
own version of the "Stair Master!"
Buckets were then dumped in the wheelbarrow.
The wheelbarrow then was taken out the front door,
down the ramp and out to the dumpster
at the side of the house!
At "camp" we studied nature...
Unfortunately, this "nature" was of the
destructive variety in the form
of termite damage!
I want to take a minute to explain the sand.
Our walls are, according to our neighbor,
made up of three to four layers of different
material.  Nailed to the studs is a 1/2 in drywall
lath board, on top of the lath is a 1/2 in layer of sand,
next comes a 1/8in layer of plaster...
finished with a coat or two of paint.
In the corners, embedded in the layer of sand,
is heavy gauge chicken type wire.
All this to say...
the pieces of wall are heavy!
Poor Wayne has been stuck with wire
removal in the corners.

I wanted to also share some
 before/ after photos with you!

 What will be Madison's room before!
Door looking into her bedroom.
Same door with the walls removed.
Same view, minus the closet and scary bathroom!
I was so excited to see the bathroom go!
The small door on the left side
goes to a small room that
will be framed in and become
Madison's new closet!
Another change I love is
the removal of the closed in banister!
The kids bathroom will be built in this wing
to the left!
We are also hoping to have the stairs
reversed, making the window
where the top of the stairs come up to!
We will then add a new open banister to finish
the stairs!
Working your way down the stairs
you come to the side door
and this room....
Before
Same room and view after!
Same room, view from the front door!
This room will house our washer and dryer
and a wall of storage and closets!
Moving next door to the Living/Dining room
we removed the mirror,
or lets say that we played 1000 piece pick up!
Down came the closet across from the front door
and the stone fireplace surround,
Since then, the fireplace wall has come down too!
Before- Bedroom Suites
We are taking out two small bedrooms and
a bathroom to make a Master Bedroom, Bath,
Guest 1/2 Bath and Master Closet.
Here is the same view from above,
minus the closet and walls.
This is the same room before from the hallway.
 
Same view after walls are removed.
We decided to remove all outside walls,
when we discovered none of them were insulated!
The back bedroom - before!
And after!
We even found the old window opening,
 in the same room,
which was used prior to the addition!

All I need is a pitchfork
and we could pass for a modern day American Gothic painting!

Since I end each update with a photo
of trash, why should this week be any different!
Dumpster One -Full
(we are currently 1/2 way done with #2)
Have a great day!

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

More Obsession

My pup has a problem....

Remember this post?
it was all about Caribou's obsession with our hamster Cubbie!

Well,
 he seems to have a new "friend"!

This little groundhog lives under the patio at the new house!
Caribou spends hours watching and waiting for him
to emerge from his hole!
The funnier thing is ...
our little groundhog can spend hours
watching Caribou too!