Wednesday February 15

We are getting ready to continue our remodel again. When we bought this place it was for the land and definitely not the house. It was bank owned and run by field mice and rabbits. The smell alone almost knocked us out when we came to look at the place.  We have been working hard to make it a beautiful place for us to retire in.  We are still young at heart and that strengthens us. 

Here is part of what the home looked like when we moved in. We lived in one room and gutted the rest for over a year.

We used beetle kill pine for the siding and had to hand stain each piece. Surprising results. 

We gutted and remodeled the kitchen... well, Dude did one long weekend I was stuck in Denver during a snow storm.  He joked he had been a little busy while I was gone. 

This was a bedroom. We took out the wall and made it our dining room. 

Today, Dude got working on plans for a front and back porch so we can finish the roof and some rain barrels. He is making the plans and calculating the cost. 

I finished quilting one of the bee quilts. Binding goes on tomorrow morning.  I loved this morning. After chores we worked together and listened to music. Very comforting.

Food

Monday's Fish Dinner I wanted to try something different. We love fish and I had two meaty pieces of wild caught cod in the freezer that was begging to be baked. I wanted this to have more of a Scandinavian taste to it.  Here's how I did it. 

Preheated the oven 350*.  In an 8x8 pan I melted 2 tablespoons of butter and spread it in the pan. 

Then I placed the fish in the pan. Pour a tablespoon of lemon juice over each fish. Salt and pepper the fish. Grate 1/4 of a cup of muenster cheese and evenly distribute over each fish.  In a small bowl mix a cup of milk and a teaspoon of yellow mustard.  Then pour over the cheese covered fish. Top the fish with Italian bread crumbs - I sprinkled a handful over both. Bake for 20-30minutes. Half way through I spooned the sauce over the fish and bake it until done. 

Here's how it turned out. 

Dude said the only thing wrong with it was... there wasn't enough of it.  Score!

Time to hit the sack.

peace

Canning shelves

When we first bought this home is was horrible. It was a HUD home and had been empty for a while.  It was overrun by field mice in the house and rabbits had made their home underneath the house.  We have been slowly remodeling and making it ours, kicking out the mice and rabbits.  This room was the only room we lived in while ripping up the rest of the house for a year.  This week we remodeled the room again - going from a spare room of storage to now putting in the canning shelves. I love it. I can see what we have and don't have . You can tell our corn, green beans, and tomatoes are missing due to being hailed out last year. Those will be priority for me this year. 

The closet:

Remodeled closet - bigger stuff and quilts will go up top.

Starting to fill it up -each row has about 10 jars per row.  There will be another canning shelf on the other wall as well.

That's it for today. We got a lot done this morning and had breakfast with Dude. A good Friday morning.

peace 

Organizing canning, donating hats

This year we are purging and organizing!

I have a problem. We have no storage, no garage, no basement and little closet space. Our barn and new room will go up this year but for now I need to do something.  My canning is all  over the place.  I need to make it one place so I know quickly what I have.  I have some here in the spare room in the bookcase. 

I have a pantry full of canning... (oh, and don't buy that canned crap meat... it is nasty). Now, I do have some of my own canned chicken that is splendid, if I do say so myself - smile. 

And I have some in the dining room shelf.  It is just a mess! So, I need to make one central place for my canning, my canning pots, supplies, my empty jars and whatever else, so I can find everything easily. 

So I started cleaning out the spare room "closet" and asked Dude to make me some shelves. We were using this room for storage. Our thinking lately is, if we don't use it, get rid of it. 

Yep, it's a mess too.

But we got it all cleaned out.

Then Dude said we had to much wasted unused space in the ceiling area so he decide to do something about that today. For now, we are using what we have and spending as little as we can to get it done. 

That's as far as we got the last two days before work. I will keep you posted. 

We  have been knitting and collecting hats for the homeless. My sister and I did a few and were getting ready to deliver them to the Craft Box who will hand them out in Denver this weekend. It can get mighty cold in Colorado and we want to help in the little ways we can. Not all are fortunate to have a place by a warm wood-stove, we are.. so we give back.  The baby hats go to a different donation. 

Here's the classic we are listening to now. 

That's it for now. We'll keep you posted on the Homestead. 

peace

More remodelling pictures.

As I have said before we bought our place for the land not the house. It was horrible. We tore down walls, cleaned out mice and ripped out floors. 

Here is the master bathroom before and after.  I have no idea what the people before us had in mind for this area but here it is...

Before:

After:

We made the entry way an arch instead of the square entry. I would love to put in a barn door here some day, maybe even as a pocket door.

We aren't sure we like the paint yet but it was extremely cheap as the store was discontinuing it.

We still have a lot to do but we do it as we get money, save supplies or find deals.