The new homestead…..part 1

In the interest of helping you invent a NEW AND IMPROVED NAME FOR MY BLOG…(click on that to go win yourself up to $75 in Amazon gift certificates!)

…..I have shared with you where the old name came from here. (there really IS a garage door on my ceiling)

Now, I will share some pics of where I am headed.

The new digs.

My fresh pad.

The much more modern (seems to us) mansion.

Our happening homestead.

The sheik shanty.

My au courant abode.

The fantastic fortress.

{{{{{Sorry—it’s a sickness…}}}}}}

Without further word play and in no particular order………feel free to just skim pics—the words are for my journal………blah, blah, blah….

Oh hello and welcome!! This is the entryway. I am not in love with this teal/mint/turquoise color. (kinda mental institution green--you know you want to know how I know....)They also used it as an accent color throughout the upstairs but there will hopefully be many years full of time, painting lessons and paint to fix that.

Can you make out that cut out in the ceiling? The guy was a master sheet rocker or something and this house was his masterpiece. There are more of these and all sorts of cool nooks and crannies all through the home.

That is my piano room to the right.

My old upright and new-to-me baby grand will go in here.

Someday there will hopefully be furniture too.

We have decided that we will only buy furniture with cash so it may be a long wait.

I promise the rest of the tour will not have such long narrations.

Except maybe this one.

We have to talk about these doors.

These are what captured my heart to begin with.

I want to be buried with at least one of these doors.

Can you see that little bit of closet door there on the right? Yeah, that's a normal size door.

My main floor doors are all these extra tall, beautiful, magnificent…

well…doors.

The builder had them shipped in from Canada.

Amen, Canada, amen.

What’s that? You’d like to see a close up of the door handle? Well, I just happen to have one!

I think we have all been edified—let’s move on…

This is Bean’s room—the wallpaper is still there but the desk is not. She has a cute little walk in closet.

The guest bedroom and closet.

You have to understand.

I do not have a closet in my room right now so I may or may not be obsessed with closet’s.

Next up—our bathrooms. As Jess so astutely pointed out---we can all simultaneously sit upon a “throne” at the same time! I am overcome with the sheer awe and joy that this realization brings. After 1 bathroom for all of us for 15 years---potty party people! The downside—all those potties to keep clean. Sigh.

Here are just 3 of them.

The upstairs guest bath…

A cute little half bath across the hall that I can’t get in enough to get a pic.

Then the downstairs main bath—I so love this one—needless to say, so do the kids….

And then the downstairs guest/half bath…

Then there is the master bath (tomorrow) and a half bath in the garage and a full bath in the shop/man cave. Holy toilet palooza Batman! The cost of toilet brushes alone………..

Thanx for looking—Part 2 tomorrow and don’t forget—the contest ends on September 22nd!!! Link at the beginning of this post! I’m off to pack more boxes. I have been forcing myself to pack at least one box an hour, no matter what the strain to my psyche or body. This is rough stuff people. Actually, I think I’m just going to go check if our insurance covers fire. There is always that dang accidental forest fire going on around here……………

Garage Door ON my ceiling…….

 

I thought before I gave you a tour of the new homestead and while you were all thinking up creative new blog titles for me----I would actually let you see the old homestead----so you could truly appreciate the new one.

Let me deep breathe a little……

You probably don’t even want to go here with me.

You probably should just click away.

Coming to my home is a little like going over and helping them build wells in Africa. Everyone goes home being so grateful for what they have…

I think Mom’s and wives and girlfriends all over the valley have been heard to say, “Oh yeah, well at least you don’t have to live in a garage like the B’s do!”

 

Yeah…….we’re THOSE people……..

You’re still here?

Alright then---but you’ve been warned--------

Once upon a time, over the river and through the woods and up a hill on a scary little bumpy road, in the middle of nowhere Montana—we found 10 acres of beautiful land with a partially finished garage on it.

[If you follow that little road on the left that goes up the hill at a diagonal to where it would end up at the the top---that is where we live]

It looked like this….oh yes it did!

And this…….

Wait just a minute…..I’m having mom-heart pangs, that little poppet there in front is 21 now……….pang,pang,pang………okay, moving on---

Well, we convinced ourselves that we could fix up the garage enough to live in it for a summer while we built our house up on the hill, I mean how bad could it be? A few months max? We only had 3 little girls—we could DO this pioneer thing.

We were absolutely, completely, citified fools. The end.

 

 

 

Okay, okay, not the end of the story.

But I’m pretty sure you should just leave now while you have a chance.

Pioneers everywhere have and will continue to mock me/us for even thinking we knew what it meant to be a pioneer.

 

I look back on the innocent that was me with fondness.

I said things like,

“ Let’s just roll up the garage door, not take it down. We are only going to be in here for a few months till our house is built.”

“ By all means put a wood burning stove in, it will make it so cozy and we won’t have such a high electric bill.”

“That twisty turny road is no big deal.”

“Girls won’t it be fun to sleep up in that 4 foot high loft? Just like ‘Little House on the Prairie’. Bedrooms are overrated.”

“Honey, I think I’m pregnant and by the way, it’s been 3 years and we are still living in a garage AND if you want wood chopped for the lousy wood stove you will have to do it all yourself now because I refuse to go into premature labor like some pioneer woman in the middle of nowhere Montana!!!!”

And so it went. We added a room onto one side.

We added 2 rooms onto the other side.

 

I can’t actually find a picture of that addition, you will just have to take my word for it.

That pic above is from one of our “famous” Easter Egg Hunts. When all 5 of our kids (yes we kept accumulating them) were young we would literally fill and hide over 1,000 eggs each Easter. The plastic egg company wrote me thank you notes every year.

Here are some other random Easter photos

I love how I look like I am about 9 feet tall here because for once my height actually matches my weight. I am explaining the 2 rules of the hunt to everyone. Don’t get lost and don’t get hurt. (I think that's why so many parents stayed every year.) Yes, I clung to the mullet hairstyle FOREVER. AND………

Why yes, those ARE Christmas lights hanging above my head. I keep telling you…white trash baby----white trash……….I would now be posting a pic of me demonstrating the egg roll but I think have humiliated myself enough for one post.

Now I think I am ready to give you the tour…

This is what you see when you come in the front door. This is it people. The extent of my kitchen. To the left is my washer and dryer. In the right corner, my oven. The only counter I have is my dishwasher.

Here is the INFAMOUS GARAGE DOOR on my ceiling.  I would say ignore the mess but its just the way it is with 7 people in a garage. Yes, those are open garage shelves on the left that go the length of the room. This next pic was taken about 11 years ago, when the tv was at the other end of the room.

 

On the plus side—one year we had an 11 foot tree!

Here is the most important door—the bathroom door. Yep—we have just one.

Can I just say right here and now that my new house has 3 full baths and 2 half baths indoors and 1 in the attached garage and a full bath out in the shop/man cave???!!!!!!!!!

And the final pic of the day—the doorway to the 2 other bedrooms and little computer area.

 

So, what did you think? It’s okay to need some time. I’ve needed 15 years. Just say you still love me.

Stay tuned—next up—the new homestead!!!!

Don’t forget to go HERE to help me find a new title for my blog and a chance to win a couple of great prizes!!

Here's The Deal-i-o...

It has been brought to my attention that I have a problem.
Okay, many problems, but one REALLY URGENT one.

(Besides the fact that I am out of Depends, DeNae. FOCUS.)
In all my joy of attaining my new place of residence and all the moving etc.....

I have not given any thought to the fact that I am trading in my garage door for sheet rock and shingles!
MY BLOG TITLE IS NO LONGER RELEVANT!!!!!

*GASP*

This will not do, this will not do AT ALL.

So.......

I am going to have a contest.

All you have to do is come up with the best blog title ever for my *new* blog.

It's very important you know.

I look at it every day.

Sometimes more than once a day.

It's so important that the winner gets a .............................

$50 Gift card from Amazon or any of the other cards they carry!!

So hurry up--dazzle me!! Enter as many titles as you want. Tell as many people as you want--as a matter of fact...............

If you post about this on your blog I will put your name in a basket to be drawn from on September 22. And the winner of that draw will win a...............................

$25 gift certificate from Amazon or any of the other stores they carry cards for

SO let's re cap-----title entries ---I will just be picking my fav...enter as often as you wish...dazzle....dazzle....bedazzle.....;..

Contest ends September 22, 2010

A plug on your blog=an entry in the drawing...so only one entry..just let me know in a comment so I can come see..or something like that...

I shall await your extreme talents and go finish my packing and garage and new house posts. Not necessarily in that order. UGh--moving...........

Grateful on 9/11/10

 

After 24 years of marriage, 15 of those in a garage, my husband and I are now the proud owners of our FIRST house!!!!

HUZZAH!!!

I will blog more  (read TONS MORE) in the upcoming days, but today I just wanted to say----

THANK-YOU

to all those men and women (and their families) out there who have and will give their lives to secure my rights and freedoms;

--while I spend all my time just figuring out ways to live it.

*And if you want to read someone’s blog who is real savvy about all this without going over the top---go hang out with---Pedaling—I love her style…

If all else fails, read the thesaurus…….

 

This is not a picture of my kitchen.

There are several clues leading you to this fact:

My kitchen has no counter tops

My kitchen is much smaller than this

My kitchen walls are orange

My hair has its own zip code and we are usually dressed like this and in this EXACT pose while I’m in the kitchen…

My kitchen has no counter tops

Oh, I’m sorry—did I mention that?

I am so easily confused, and distracted…especially by yellow appliances and big hair…………….

 

Meanwhile, although this is not my kitchen, that is the dishwasher I have had since my eldest was born. 22 1/2 years, 5 kids & 8 moves. It is the saddest looking appliance I have ever seen but it fits in nicely with my garage decor and has just kept chugging its little dishwasher heart out for all these years. I had been lulled into thinking that perhaps dishwashers just lived forever.

 

I am here today to tell you that this is not true.

Not. at. all.

 

 

 

Let’s re-cap shall we?

In the month of August, 2 people that we knew died. Darren—1987-2010—Gone Too Soon..

 

And my sister-in-law’s father who called seafood chowder “dead fish soup” and was my hero….I don’t have a picture

 

 

(Hence the thesaurus reference. I don’t like the word died. Seems harsh. But not after reading the alternatives. I would list some here but it seems completely disrespectful. GO look it up.)

 

Just as we are recovering from that, (READ: YESTERDAY) we had to have our faithful and sweet 14 year old dog euthanized. I know she was really ready to go—she will just be missed.

Hershey 1997-2010 Carry on faithful one!

 

Anyhoo--- (that’s for you DeNae) there I am, back at the garage with my magnificent hair and flowy yellow moo moo caftan thingie, loading my portable dishwasher and I go to shut the door and start ‘er up and………..

 

 

……………..it.won’t.shut. It won’t run if it won’t shut. The door is now held shut with duct tape. Sad, sad day.

I was wondering what that springie thingie and cute little metal rod thingie was that I found the last time I moved it over to the sink. My hair is thinking maybe, just maybe, they were something relatively important to the life span of our dearly departed dishwasher.

SERIOUSLY??!! My dog and the dishwasher IN THE SAME DAY??!!!

This is NOT me but it IS what I am doing. Minus the gloves, apron, smile and waistline.

I am supposed to close on my house tomorrow, I feel like blogging it out loud might be bad luck but I am excited! Today its because the house comes with a dishwasher---are you ready for this---BUILT IN~!!!! What will they think of next??!! Little rooms with bars across the top to hang your clothes---it just takes my breath away…………

Gone too soon……

“Darren Montgomery, 23, of Bozeman passed away unexpectedly on Saturday, August 28, 2010………………

……While there, he met the love of his life, Taelor Bishop. They complimented each other in every way……”---from his obituary

That is where I have been. My oldest daughter’s boyfriend, that she had been living with for the past 3 years--has died. It has only been one week and it feels like a life time. She called us Saturday morning and we left immediately and stayed till the funeral on Wednesday.

I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I believe in Jesus Christ, although I am deeply ashamed to admit  that I do not always behave as though I do. In all, brutal honesty, I have struggled to understand and accept my firstborn’s life choices and the young man that came with them. My arms and words have not always been open and welcoming-- and at this time that brings me a bitter mix of grief and guilt. Don't get me wrong, I still do not approve of their life choices and my house is still rated PG and LDS. But given a second chance-- I would find a way to keep my standards and honor the love that they shared and love the young man—not his choices.

Thankfully, I also believe that death is not the end and that he has just moved on to the next step in our journey. Darren was a very kind soul. Never once, while in my presence, (despite my sometimes less than stellar behavior) did he ever say an unkind word or do a mean thing. So I am hoping that wherever he is---that he knows my weaknesses and judgments for what they were--- and can forgive me.

I am in the process of putting together/editing a slideshow/movie of his life for his family and then I am moving on and have some HAPPY/OTHER stuff to share but I needed to write this out and give my thoughts some kind of order and shape.

I have been looking high and low and I cannot find a manual for this particular situation. If you took it—give it back…I mean it…now already!!!

If there is none---write it already people!

A little bit of Summer Mambo 2010….and a HUGE reveal……

Ladies and Gentlemen,

this is Summer Mambo 2010…….

{Kind of loses something in the translation, doesn’t it?}

I randomly came across the Disney version of this song today and it annoyingly stuck itself deep in my psyche and so I thought that perhaps a blog entry {{{covering my lack of summer posts}}}using the lyrics might get rid of it.

Umm.. just a little FYI…the “real” lyrics are not even close to the Disney ones.

Note to Disney..swapping out alcoholic beverages with ice cream…is like swapping Angelina Jolie with Snow White—shame on you.

So, no mambo lyrics here today but I’ll bet you anything I got that tune stuck in YOUR head now. Your welcome.

Here is a little summer recap—maybe one of these days I will find the time to write more about each one---but probably not. [deep, deep, deep sigh]

Photo shoot for Natty’s cosmetology portfolio that morphed into “school” photos that morphed into photoshop class try-to-learns.

Beanie!

Kelly!!

Milan!

I don’t know what came over me but I planted flowers and tomatoes and peppers in pots on my patio.

{Oh, that is just begging for 5 times fast}

And, I planted a garden using the square foot method—it has been ridiculous how much I have enjoyed the whole thing…….

This was all back in June—here is a more recent version—kind of like Gardening Upgrade 2.0---

I don’t think my critters are getting enough “something” in their current critter food..???

We adopted a new dog, named Obi, and I may or may not be obsessed with taking pictures of his front end and his “hiney” end. I don’t know why… I think it’s because it reminds me of a turkey ready to eat… which then reminds me of Thanksgiving… and that makes me smile.

And last but certainly not least, the thing that has really been keeping be from blogging……………………………………….

We are in the process of trying to buy this house. Our closing date is September 1. I think that is a little optimistic. But just to give you a little idea of the HUGE deal this is in my life---I am going to do a HUGE reveal…………………………………………………………………………………………………..

As my blog title says—I truly do live under a garage door and have done so for 15 years—here is the proof--

Can you believe it??!! I'll let you go digest this all. Don’t forget to come back….I’m still working on it too….