Just About Time To....

...start thinking about things like painting, staining and color schemes! I don't remember where I found these images, perhaps the Cottage living website but I absolutely LOVE the stairway in the first photo and...don't the next two photos make you just want to curl up on the sofa and relax! This is the first weekend we didn't make a trip to our little cottage to see the progress. Saturday was spent at Floor360 to check in with Erin...probably the best sales gal ever...on carpet and bathroom flooring, then to the Benjamin Moore paint store, Home Depot and the local antique shop. I've picked up a few pints of paint to try for wall color and found the Waterlox we'll use on our kitchen countertops. All in all another productive weekend! Stay tuned!

What a wonderful way to start a Sunday. Up at 5:30 a.m. to see the sun rise from Barbara and John's boat and watch the start of our fair city's 9th Annual Ford Ironman triathlon. Over 2,000 athletes from around the world came to compete. Competitors are vying for 72 qualifying spots to the 2010 Ford Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, and a $30,000 pro prize purse. One participant made it through the swim and was heading out on his bike only to have tire problems. He had to walk/run back for parts. We had the feeling he was not going to give up!

Insulation, Countertops, Lights!

Yesterday was a busy day. It started early with a trip to IKEA in the great state of Illinois to purchase countertops. We needed three 8' pieces of beech countertop but ended up purchasing four. The price is fantastic ($59) each...thank you IKEA! We filled the car with the panels and headed to Milwaukee to BBC Lighting to pick up lights that had been ordered and 4 ceiling fans! Believe it or not, Mr. Amazing was able to fit it all into our small CRV....thank you Mr. Amazing and HONDA! A long day in the car but a lot was accomplished. Not much visual progress to see on the house. Insulation was blown in...dense pack and the garage is filled with siding. Next 2 weeks will be drywall! Stay tuned!

Windows

Windows are in! I was expecting the house to start feeling smaller as windows and drywall were installed; and I was right. It's amazing how much smaller those openings become once windows are installed. Top photo is of the kitchen. I've already decided to trade a larger, lower level bedroom window for the one selected above the sink. Middle photo is the dining room area and, though the triple window is good I WISH we would have picked french doors leading out to the screen porch. Darn! Bottom photo is looking at the fireplace wall and the triple windows on the outside wall be good. Lesson learned here is YOU CAN NEVER HAVE WINDOWS THAT ARE TOO BIG!!!! Pick what you think you want and then go a size larger! This week heating and air conditioning, rough electric and plumbing. Stay tuned!

We Have a roof!

WALA! A busy week for Brad the Builder. The heat index was over 100 degrees and there was one entire day of rain. Yet, in spite of all that...WE HAVE A ROOF (and probably a really hot and tired contractor)! September will bring the plumber and electrician followed by the really fun stuff...flooring, painting, carpeting! Kitchen cabinet order going in this week and windows should appear within the next two weeks! I've been told, once the inside work begins, I'll see progress slow down. However, the decisions on where to place lighting, what color to stain the flooring and wall paint selection should keep us pretty busy. A trip to IKEA one of these weekends is planned to buy wood countertops. I've never been to one of their stores but I'm told I'm going to want to bring a trailer! Stay tuned!

Lovely End to a Busy Day

After a busy morning doing "house stuff" Mr. Amazing helped John move his 1,000 lb. boat lift toward shore. There's been so much rain here that John wasn't able to get his boat on the lift. Barbara and I were skeptical and had Michael John not come home we're pretty sure the guys would still be standing on the lift wondering what to do next. We spent the rest of the afternoon on their deck enjoying the beautiful day and topped it off with a cook-out and a movie! What a wonderful way to celebrate our 40th Anniversary!

Brad the Builder

Just have to put in a plug for Brad the Builder! Here he is going over the plans with Mr. Amazing.

Weekly Update

Having never built a house before, I'm amazed at how quickly things move along. The lower level is framed in and Brad the Builder is capping it off! If the weather permits (and rain is predicted on and off all next week...) we could see the main level framed and roofed by next weekend!

Foundation Is In

Foundation walls are up and backfilled. We've been making a trip to our lot each weekend to check on the progress. Mikey stopped by to check it out too. This week Brad the Builder will be pouring the basement floor, framing basement walls and, possibly, capping it all off. We were off to Milwaukee last Sunday to BBC Lighting. It's in an old brick warehouse close to Marquette University. You can find lighting up to 50% off retail prices. Mr. Amazing thought we'd only be there about an hour (me laughing a lot here).....right.....try almost four hours! We darn near closed the place! We found outside lighting, kitchen lights, front hall and back hall lights. I brought pictures of the fixtures I was looking for and, unfortunately, most would need to be ordered. How can that be! A warehouse filled with lights and I like fixtures that need to be ordered! In the end, I compromised. Sigh.....yes, compromised. Kitchen cupboards need to be ordered SOON to take advantage of the company's 15% discount so stay tuned!

It's All About Compromise

I'm finding, with each decision we make, that the art of compromise plays a BIG role. Mr. Contractor is now asking for siding, window, fascia and soffet and roofing colors. Samples were brought home and many hours spent (mostly by me as Mr. Amazing says this is not his area of expertise) trying to visualize just what color this cottage should be. You see, my first choice was cedar shingles. I LOVE THEM! Mr. Amazing does NOT love them. Can I live with a green cottage, a brown cottage? If not cedar siding, what should we use? In the end $ reared its ugly head and I SETTLED. You'll be hearing that word quite a lot as we move along with this project. Since my goal is to stick to our budget, I eliminated the Smart Siding. It's a fairly new product, very nice looking and three times as expensive as vinyl. Vinyl won. It was my third choice....and it fits into the budget. I'll just have to cover it with trellis and grow lovely flowering vines! Not telling the color so stay tuned!

No Turning Back Now!

Here it is....what you've all been waiting for.....the first pictures of our cottage in the woods! Footings were poured last week so we drove out to the site on Sunday to check the progress. Though it was a very hot day, there was a beautiful breeze to cool us down. I know it doesn't look like much now...so please, stay tuned!

Phase II Completed

Phase II completed. Check. We're officially condo dwellers. During this "in between" time we're renting a condo in a lovely old complex on the Lake. It's a small two bedroom unit, newly renovated and...the best part.....it's three doors down from good friends from college! How fun is that! Barbara and John have lived in their home for well over 20 years...it's historic and sits on a quaint dead end street, a towering four story home with lots of windows overlooking one of the two lakes here on the Isthmus. They've added this incredible deck across the back which overlooks not only beautifully landscaped yards but the lake which, on any given day, is filled with canoes, sailboats and other water sport activities. I'm feeling quite spoiled and I plan on enjoying every minute of this as I know soon we will begin Phases III and IV of the Great Move of 2010. So, please stay tuned!

Harvest Moon

I could get used to this!

Refrigerator Envy

The only thing Mr. Amazing misses is his GE Profile side by side refrigerator. He LOVED that refrigerator. I've assured him GE still makes the Profile series and we would get a new one.....but you have to wonder....will it really be the same!

One Last Look

One Last Look out our kitchen window before we closed the door to our home and began the next part of The Great Move of 2010. Phase II turned out to be harder than I'd expected. First, there was the moving of furniture and boxes filled with things we will need for the next few months. A big Thank you to Mikey, Andy and Darren for working all day to help us get everything moved out of the old and into the new! Because the condo was not quite finished we stayed at a local hotel for two nights which was a lovely diversion from all this craziness.

Then, there was the closing of the house that now belongs to someone else. I held up rather well....only a few sniffles.

I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful weekend with friends and family!

Phase II

Happy, Sad, Excited, Scared.....that pretty much sums up how I'm feeling this week as we begin Phase II of The Great Move of 2010. Mr. Amazing spent a restful week in Canada fishing and is recharged and ready to get the "show on the road." This means I'll be off line for a week at least while we get ourselves situated in our temporary quarters. If all goes as planned, Friday at noon, we will no longer own our home and a new family will get to make memories, be they good or bad, at that address. Over the 21 years we've lived in our home, many neighbors became friends and so the sad part is leaving them behind. I know, I know....Christmas cards will be sent but it's not the same as being able to run across the street and borrow a cup of sugar! I'm guessing I won't get to the excited part until a big yellow digger drives to our lot and starts making a hole in the ground for our foundation! So, please stay tuned!

Found It!

OK, OK, OK.......since so many of you (thanks David and Mara) are itching to see what I'm hoping our little cottage in the woods will look like...here it is! I found this photo at http://www.houzz.com (I know there's a way to insert the link but...well, it's back to the "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" post). If you haven't visited this site.....you should, as it's filled with incredible photos of everything and anything to do with houses! The thousands of photos are amazing eye candy and help get those creative juices flowing. Though our home will be smaller, the footprint is the same. When I saw the photo, I knew it was the look I was going for--clean lines with just the right amount of character. This home was redesigned by Thomas Saxby Architect in Walnut Grove, California. It was originally covered in stucco which has been replaced with....yes....wood shingles to bring a classic traditional style to the entire house. I know we won't be using wood shingles but I'm hoping to create a similar look with vinyl shingles on, at least, the front of the house. Cross your fingers please and stay tuned!

Photo by Thomas Saxby at www.tsaxbyarchitect.com

What a Relief!

.......I KNOW WHAT THE OUTSIDE OF OUR little cottage in the woods will look like! Found a picture on Houzz and IT'S PERFECT! PERFECT I TELL YOU!.......all six of you my dear, faithful blog friends! Stay tuned!

One Down...Three to Go

There you have it. Phase One of four moves is over and all went well. The day was warm and not too humid. Mr. Amazing supervised and seven wonderful friends and family volunteered to give up a day of their holiday weekend to help us pack the U-Haul and move our "stuff" to storage. I can't thank them enough! Yesterday was a day of REST and today we've tried to finalize the "cottage in the woods" house plan.

Mr. Amazing is off to Canada for his annual fishing trip and, when he returns, we will begin Phase two of the Great Move of 2010. Stay tuned.

The Dilemma

I've got a pretty good idea of what the INSIDE of my cottage in the woods will look like, but I'm struggling with what the outside should look like....hence the Dilemma. Mr. Amazing says craftsman. I'm OK with that but it doesn't quite fit the "cottage in the woods" feeling I'm going for. SO, in between packing and working and packing, I've been googling exterior house photos, driving up and down the streets of our fine city looking at small ranch houses, checking out books on house styles from the library and spending time at Barnes & Noble in search of the right "look." I initially knew exactly what I wanted--a cottage in the woods covered in cedar shakes. Mr. Amazing wants NO MAINTENANCE and informs me that cedar shakes are HIGH maintenance. Nothing like throwing a girl a curve ball. Back to square one.

Yesterday, as we were heading for groceries, I suggested we drive very slowly through a small subdivision close to our house. Nothing inspiring......until we came to a house clad with what looked like weathered cedar shingles. And, I still LOVED the look....Mr. Amazing studied it carefully and decided it might be vinyl and, if that was the case, he thought it looked pretty nice too. So, after lunch I drove over to this darling little house, knocked on the door and was greeted by the nicest fellow EVER! His name is Dennis and he most graciously spent an entire hour talking to me about his exterior siding and....wait...there's more....his kitchen! He invited me in while he looked up the siding manufacturer and when I looked into his kitchen! Well, Heaven! His house is modest in size, as ours will be, and his kitchen is a mix of commercial range and hood (with a warmer I might add), stainless appliances, no upper cabinets (he used shelving instead.....just like I want to) and painted lower cupboards. To top it off...he'd just finished making huge muffins! I had to tear myself away from his house to attend a high school graduation party, but I can not thank Dennis enough for all the information he shared in that short hour visit. Stay tuned!

Boxes and more boxes....

Just a sampling of what used to be the dining room.....now filled with boxes. Each room in our house looks pretty much like this. I find myself wondering WHY we've accumulate so much. If I think back to the beginning of "us" it was two people (in love of course), a small VW beetle, a few boxes of clothing, books, dishes and a dog. Now, some 40 years later it's still two people (still in love....most days anyway!) no dog and hundreds and hundreds of boxes filled with stuff we apparently just can't part with! We've been culling as we pack, yet the garage sale pile pales in comparison to the things we think are absolutely necessary for survival! Less is more is our mantra yet....well.....look for yourself!

Oh The Places You Will Go.....

JUST LIKE A BOOK, our lives have many chapters. Today we ended one chapter and tomorrow we'll begin another. You see, our LAST child has packed up his worldly possessions and headed off, sweaty and tired...but happy, with his friends to begin a fun filled summer living next to State Street in our lovely university town. Mr. Amazing is fine, I'm a little sad. I really, really do like knowing my entire family is under one roof! However, I also know it was time for him to go; he was anxious to begin his own life, make his own mistakes, realize his own dreams. After all, that's what we prepared him for. He's a nice young man. Sniff...

Photo illustration Dr. Seuss

The Great Move of 2010

Mr. Amazing has put a name to our adventure....The Great Move of 2010. Our heads have stopped spinning and we 're beginning to formulate a plan. Boxes are brought home daily and filled almost as quickly as they are unloaded. A storage facility has been secured close to our soon to be cottage in the woods. We've consulted with the builder and it looks like it's possible we will be homeless until November. The words "November" and "travel trailer" don't fit well in the same sentence when you live in the north, so I'm pretty sure that idea has been thrown out. Where to live is the new big dilema! Five weekends left before the Great Move of 2010. We're feeling pretty confident we can pull this off. But then.....Mr. Amazing will be fishing for three of those five weekends. It could get interesting....very interesting!

Wherever Will We Live

The excitement of selling our house has quickly faded and been replaced with hunting for boxes, storage sheds and discussions on just where we might live for the next several months while our cottage in the woods is built. I suggested several things....this nifty RV perhaps? The Terra Wind Amphibious RV" has all the proper accoutrements for a luxury vehicle of its class, including an 6-foot swim deck, an 8-jet whirlpool, marble floors, wood paneling, leather furnishings, and a fully equipped home theater system featuring a 42-inch plasma TV, according to Uncrate. In the cockpit you'll find the instruments needed for the aquatic half of its persona to operate the submerged motors, rudder controls, bilge pumps, rudder control, and other standard yachting fare. It prices out from $850,000 to $1.2 million. We decided against this one....

We could scratch the idea of building, buy a VW Bug just like the one we owned back in the 70's and hit the highway.....

OR, maybe a tent perhaps? Mr. Amazing didn't go for any of these ideas. Other, more "normal" but boring options are being considered. Stay tuned.

S O L D

Closing June 18th.......W H A T!!!!!!!!!

For Sale

FOR SALE to a loving family. One home, gently used. Filled with memories of good times, laughter, tears, celebrations, graduations, and dear friends. It's the home we've lived in for 21 years and raised two kids, 3 dogs and one cat. Memories not included!

Mack Turns One

Our youngest grandchild turns one today! Happy Birthday Mack! I'm not sure where the time has gone! Hmmmm....that seems to be something I say more and more lately. Gone are his days of colic and crying and not sleeping.....well, the not sleeping still holds true, but the colic is gone. No one is happier about that than his mom and dad. Mack has moved on to, well, moving! Currently he doing the army crawl but it's just a matter of days before he's up on all fours and into all sorts of mischief. I only hope GB00 (that's me) can keep up with him! His birthday party was a HUGE success thanks to lots of hard work on the part of his parents and, especially, Auntie Leesa who puts on totally awesome themed birthday parties! The weather was perfect, the kids had fun in the new bounce house (shared by Carrie and her BFF, Teres,) and filled up on delicious cake from a local Bakery. I'm pretty sure everyone will be in bed early tonight!

Yesterday we listed our house with a realtor. It's time to see if we can sell this house and get enough out of it to build on the lot we purchased a few years ago. I'm excited and anxious.....so stay tuned!

Rock, Paper, Scissors

Belated Happy Easter! Over the Easter weekend I spent two days with my entire family! I love it when that happens! We celebrated an early Easter to accommodate Carrie, Darren and their boys. I'm sure you all remember how it goes when you're young with children. There are parents, in-laws and grandparents to visit. To many "folks," not enough time! Their goal was to attend church Sunday morning, get the kids back home in time to find the baskets left by the Easter Bunny, drive out to the cabin to see what goodies Buttons, Jane and Leesa (Darren's parents and sister) had for them...oh, and in between maybe grocery shop, do some laundry, feed the dog....need I say more! So on Saturday, Mr. Amazing took us out to the local restaurant for Easter eggs and pancakes! We even convinced Mikie to get up at the crack of dawn and join us! I was in Heaven!

Both Jim and I are amazed at just how much work two little boys can be. Carrie and Darren are incredible parents, always attentive to the endless amount of diaper changes, feeding, diaper changes, naps, diaper changes, feeding, diaper changes….well you get the picture! They’ve even figured out how to make the dreaded diaper change into a game. Rock, Paper, Scissors! Why didn’t we think of that way back when! Their rules are simple…two out of three wins. The game always ends with lots of laughter and the boys get fresh diapers!

YaYas

I DID IT! With a little help from my daughter...I did it! A profile picture and a post picture ALL IN ONE DAY! WHEW!

If you've read "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" by Rebecca Wells, you'd know that it's a story about loyalty and friendship between women. My YaYas initially came together as a group of women interested in stamping cards. Others start as book clubs, child play groups, etc. It doesn't matter how we find each other. It just matters that we do! My Yayas have developed a strong, lasting bond of female friendship that sees us through life's ups and downs. We're empathetic listeners when someone needs to vent, strengthened by the group's support when we're down, accepting of each others weaknesses and quirks and.....we still find time to laugh and be downright outrageous! Our group ranges in age from 14 to 62 and consists of mothers and daughters. What a treasure we have, what memories we are creating. We are blessed!