IT'S OURS

We went to 209 right after the closing where we signed our life away. Hubby is taking a picture of me.

I am taking a picture of Hubby at the same time.

We all have writers cramps from signing 50 million times. Had extra papers to sign and the electrician found that he couldn't use any of the electric so besides the mortgage for the house, the rehab loan we had to come up with more out of pocket.

By time we finish (FINGERS CROSSED) it will be another $125,000 out of pocket and slightly over $391,000 Good thing we budgeted $400,000.
Even so, the new truck and new car will be postponed until I have enough saved up again for them.

Right now our money is making over 10% so we are letting it make the payments instead of drawing the cash as the mortgage is 4.5%. That way we are still earning 5.5% on that money.We will have to pull the $125,000 as needed. Our contractor said he would pay everything out of the loan hoping that we can save in the other areas and not have to draw so much cash at the end.

We meet our Amish neighbor as he saw the car and came over to make sure who it was and since it was us he introduced himself , he is the brother of the seller. AND he owns the little strip of land to the south of us along with his home north of us. So we worked out a deal that he would take care of the 3 acres behind us so that's off our shoulders and he said any area we don't want to mow he will let his calves graze to keep the grass down (we have an acre to the south of us) and the house sits on an acre. He will help us redo the one section of the barn roof. He is also the person that helped the Englisher that built the house 20 yrs ago build the house. He helped the Amish family that bought it from the Englisher as it was his wife's brother, then the seller was his own brother. He had a lot of details that you usually don't get until you have lived in the area for 3-6 months, sometimes never about the house. He told us about the widow that lives the next house over south of us. AND we now have the seller's address so they can show us where the 100 plus asparagus plants is. The rhubarb is under the grape harbor. I need to get some neem oil as Brandy as The Prudent Homemaker uses on her grapes.

We go over Monday,okay we will probably go over every day just not sure if it will be both as we need to put the fence up for the dogs... anyways side track there, the electrican is coming in Monday to make sure where we want outlets,switches and boxes for ceiling lights as we will be doing the actual installation ($$ saved) of the light fixtures.

dinner needs made
Blessed Be

Planning to be frugal

Usually I post how I have been frugal...this one is how I intend to stay frugal as we start driving 2 1/2  hrs a day to work on 209 . Part of the time we will be taking the dogs and that will allow a longer work day if we both go. Charlotte, white dog which is the 9 month old puppy doesn't hold her potty

after 7 hrs so we really try to not push it with her at this time. Rascal 5 yrs and Wilbur  soon to be 8 yrs are good for up to 12 hrs and that's more than we like for them to go (9 is about where I get antsy). I will take food and water for the dogs also.

TO stay frugal as we will have high fuel bills with driving that distance I have chosen to do the following...

Take a trash can with trash bags to 209...and bring that bag when full home to put off adding trash service. One month of trash service is $17.

Fix bfast sandwiches or bfast burritos the night before to eat on way over taking our own coffee (thermos until we get electric in then we can take the spare pot)

Water cooler that we can fill with ice and water that we can bring from home (have a black trash bag of paper cups given to us so construction crew can have water also) for on site.

The outhouse will be put back on the septic to be used until the bathrooms will be put in (save on port a john and outhouse connects to the septic tank so no messy hole to deal with when we remove it.) but until it is I am borrowing a bedside potty from Daddy and will put it in an area that can give some privacy. We can dump it directly into septic tank.

Lunches of tortilla wraps with lettuce, lunch meat,with cheese with a fruit and some veggies etc will be fixed the night before to be packed in morning into cooler.

I will make 2-3 different snacks to pack the night before as I have to eat something when I take my meds.

A pillow and blanket incase I need a nap in the truck.

Dinners will be either casseroles that can be fixed in microwave or slide in to oven while we shower, crock pot  and  meals that are ready in 30 mins without lot of work to get it done.

 I will be making a list of Emergency meals  (GoodCheapEats.com https://goodcheapeats.com/2012/08/meal-planning-101/) so I can check to make sure we have everything already here as I don't plan to have any major grocery shopping to do for at least a month if not 3 months. I would like to think I could fix a big meal on Sunday and make plan overs but I really don't think I will be up to it but I will make that list also.

Hubby "cashed" in some of his Speedway points for a fuel card to help pay for the $100 of gas. He has been "racking" them up for 5 yrs.

I have enough Kroger points to get 30¢ off a gal.

We know it will 10 gals to drive over and back in the truck. Gas prices are up ato $2.56 but the moving budget is set at $4/gal. I figured worse case scenero... $4/gal for gas 1800 miles of driving every day for 180 days(6 months) is $7200 TO help that it will be take what ever we can while driving over to work on it to bring that amount down. THIS IS NOT taking in discounts from Krogers or the Speedway card.

 We will need to get a discount card from the local gas station at 209 because they don't have Speedway.

We close today so I need to get around. 

Blessed Be

update on 209

We close Friday at 2 pm and leave with keys in hand.

We paid for the house ins a year in advance , pretty big bite but we were expecting it as our ins agent warned us before we made an offer on the house.We have a vacant policy to be in place until we get moved in which is also expensive but covers things just encase the worse happens.

We will make a stop to check on everything but the main thought is to figure out how to fence the dogs in so they can get out but can get in the barn and not get loose until we get the major fencing around for their area because we want to take them with us when we work on the house .They can't be in the house with contruction crew etc. Plus we need to decide what is going to be their area. I want the gardens blocked off from them as Wilbur is well known for using garden plants to hide his business in.Not the type of manure I want in my gardens.

I fell coming up the outside steps to the back door and I broke my big toe in 2 places...the base is where I had a stress fracture 2 yrs ago... LUCKY it was Sunday the day AFTER we did the massive move for Daughter2 and maybe if I stay off it a bit it will be healed enough when we start working hard on the house

This is our land. YES it looks like big foot has stepped there.It's the pond(fenced according to insurance) with everygreens planted around it. The back 3 acres is still unknown about what we are going to do with it. It's planted in hay. Hubby is going to ask the Amish gentleman that is selling us the house if he would like to harvest the hay in exchange for mowing if for us this year since we aren't doing anything with it and don't want to have to start mowing it to keep the weeds down.The barn looks to have a white roof. We think there is part of a fence south (bottom of picture is south. Driveway is north, barn west and pond east) of the barn that we could finish off that would let the dogs run but let me use that area for gardens outside that fence ... and then when we move in just connect the fence to the fence that runs to the side of the house.The thoughts right now is letting the dogs out the back door or patio doors and keeping them south of the driveway and only in the back and not in front so when someone is coming up the driveway  to deliver something I don't have to hurry to haul them in or have someone worry about Rascal clawing up their car like we do here.

 I plan to read OLD WORLD FARM GARDENS Raised Row gardening (Jim and Mary Competti) book that I bought and is on my kindle on how they did their gardens without using a tiller. Something to do to keep me off my foot?

I measured the cabinet area of the china hutch I bought last year and need to refinish and fix. I have a 2 tier organizer for my plates now and want to continue to use it. I found I can use a 2 tier on the bottom and 1 tier on the top of each of the cabinets of the top part of the hutch. My silverware drawer is built in here so I also  measured what I needed to replace for the silverware. I ordered what I needed from Amazon using the last of my swagbuckes and Pinecone research gift cards. NO out of pocket

 The Hoosier cabinet I will have to refinish will have my mixing bowls and the baking pans I use the most.

I know there will be areas I will need to figure something out... I know I am going to have to find a cabinet for my spices and herbs.Those might be stored in the mudroom in a cabinet there when I find one.I do have a shelving unit Hubby built that could be enclosed (I keep my spices and herbs in the dark) with little or no cost. I need a place to my oils and vinegars and I plan to make a shelf out of the porcelian table top I got when I bought the Hoosier.

We went back through the to do list of extra projects and decided what needed to be done BEFORE we move and what we actually could do later or even next year. SO we are on the same page. I have a lot of furniture needing refinished, fixed, what ever LOL , that is going into this house so it's a priority that I need to list and then start on what is the most needed...like china hutch and Hoosier.

Daughter2 gave us some twin beds for the loft bedrooms, one of them needs fixed and it's a simple fix plus matresses . She thought I might want a place to take a nap while working .

Back to propping the foot up

Blessed Be

moving day for daughter SORT OF

The sort of is the person that lived there more like stored stuff in the rental but lived elsewhere did NOT have the water on so instead of reading a meter and transferring water to Daughter2, they have to come out and turn it on at the street  and read the meter and make sure the meter is working etc which is a different dept.So she won't have water until Monday or Tuesday (WHICH IS NOW WED and there is still NO water) which means she can't stay there without working bathroom though thankfully there is a gas station within 3 blocks of her we used while moving her stuff.

But it ended up a dump and go type of move as she really couldn't put anything away before it was cleaned and couldn't clean until the water is on... BUT the weather was going to turn nasty this week so it's was do it now. Now her OCD and depression are running full force, we all just keep reminding her to think about WHAT is done and not what is left to do. As of today Hubby was helping her remove appliances (Daughter4 taking) and a cabinet (us to convert to "closet') and the trash to the garage where landlord is going to have it hauled away next week... she's okay with where the stuff is as long as she gets the water on by tomorrow.

This is 1/3rd of the 26 ft truck we rented which thankfully had a lift so we aren't hauling stuff up a ramp. This is also 7 hours of us ...Hubby and me, loading her stuff that was here. She still have the stuff in her bedroom but if she is sleeping here there is no point moving it yet.  Hubby picked up all her stuff in the 10X20 ft storage unit and part of the stuff at Daughter4s before he ran out of room. I went in the pick up and got the vacuum Son2 was holding for her and the rest of the stuff from Daughter4s. Bad enough dealing with a 12 inch curb and stairs EVERY WHERE in the house.


What have we learned so far...to keep in our minds when we go to move.

A dump and go only works if you are really super organized like Daughter 3 (4 kids also) Daugher 4 (3 kids) and Son2 (single, no kids, his computer crap makes up for at least 1 kid LOL)

Make sure the 2 wheel cart is in good shape. Last move of Daughter2 in downpours and tornados around us the old cart broke. I had my small folding one that wasn't the best but we were down to boxes so it worked out okay.New cart was a blessing.

DO NOT count on anyone to show up and help. 4 friends didn't show up, two of her sons had other things to do and had to leave after a couple hours and then SHE had to leave to go get one of the sons because her ex's wife got sick (flu) and was in the ER. END up just Hubby and one grandson and myself for the last 3 hrs...he asked how we could do it as he was struggling to keep up...mentioned something about us pushing 50 and then we let him know we are pushing 60. He almost fell .. except he was already sitting on the floor exhausted.

 Rubber maids, sturdy plastic containers for decorations etc instead of cardboard boxes.

Trash bags are great for blankets, bedding, pillows as you can fill in the empty places with them. BUT paper grocery sacks and trash bags for breakables NOT good.I ask who packed it and my darling Daughter2 admitted she did and which I made it clear she was NOT packing anything of mine except CLOTH items. HEAVENS.

MEDIUM cardboard boxes. Large ones weigh too much if you fill them up (unless with soft light stuff) and are bulky to lift even with light stuff and your entire body will let you know it the next day.

You don't don't need every single keepsake your four kids have had since birth.You also don't need to find what you gave them when they moved out back in your storage area buried under your own stuff which I shoved right back into her home because I found it before I left to go to her house.She hasn't spoke to me in two days even though she is still living here which is actually Sleeping here.At least we are not fighting which was her teenage mode so she has matured ?? LOL

You don't need 20 pairs of pants (actually there was 50)and 50 shirts (100) when you wash every day and basically wear the same clothes during a 2 week period. NOR do you need 60 pairs of shoes,especially the ones that are missing it's mate...all of this was just ONE SON.Grandson not really happy with his Nonna (ME) at the moment but he did love it that he could find his favorite clothes right off the bat when he was looking for them. AND I put his dress clothes on hangers and hung them up and the rest that he does not even wear was left in the bags for yardsale this summer by his Momma. AND she told me she buried them under other sacks for the garage sale as he is not one to go dig for ANYTHING ... LOL

LABEL LABEL LABEL... I even have color coded the labels. Unless I flip the purple color for the dining room and blue for the bedroom the colors match the rooms, you will be able to look at top or sides of boxes and know which room it goes to.She had nothing labeled where the boys did label all of the boxes they packed for their rooms. Guess whose stuff is already put away and who is digging through the rest.

PUT THE CELL PHONE AWAY. Check it on breaks, not everyone should take a break at the same time unless it was meal time. Breaks are less than 15 min not 30 when you get sucked into Facebook, snapchap etc

Have food and drink... lots of water Daughter2 did get a lot of pizza (had coupons and lunch time special combo) had 2 slices left but I didn't eat at all and some chips for the kids but didn't have enough drink. Grandson grabbed more when he went to gas station to potty and we even ran out of the water again. It was in the low 50s so it's wasn't really hot.

March groceries 2.24.2018

PLAN TO BUY

milk

heavy cream

half and half

sour cream

cottage cheese

Greek yogurt (we don't eat enough to make it worth my making myself)

lettuce Romaine for sure possible living bibb as it last longer than others for me

lunch meat (on sale and with coupon)



MAYBES

broccoli

celery(if we finish what we have)

whole chicken if below $1/lb

AND ON 2.25.2018 my main 26 cubic ft frig took a crap. The good news on this is I caught it before I lost all that was in it's freezer but lost a lot out of the frig. Two and half hours of working on it, ice was at the fan and had stopped the fan from circulating the air. Something that had happened three times with this and the last time we had a friend who makes his living doing appliances repairs show me how to deal with it. SO we dealt with it... then another 2 1/2 hrs to cool it back down and put what didn't get tossed back in (2nd frig and 2 coolers loaded to save what we could)

Today I went to the store armed with grocery list, coupons and sales.
$257 later I have restocked with saving $68. 25 in coupons and $15 by buying what I could at Aldi's before going to Krogers.

I got
DAIRY
milk, heavy cream, half and half, cottage cheese(coupon and sale), sour cream(couponand sale), chip dip(coupon and sale) and yogurt(coupon). I got 2 free cheeses also(coupon and sale).

MEAT
ham lunchmeat (Aldis save $1.20)
turkey lunchmeat(Aldis save $1.20)
frozen chicken breast (Krogers 3 lb bag normal price $9.99 on sale for $5.37 and had $1.25 coupon)

PRODUCE
apples,pears(coupon and sale),asparagus (sale),spinach(coupon and sale), mixed baby lettuce(coupon and sale), bibb living lettuce, romaine lettuce,roma tomatoes(sale), avocados, cherry tomatoes(coupons and sale), lemons(sale), limes(sale), cutie oranges(coupon and sale), mushrooms (White and portabella) (coupon and mark down)baby carrots(coupon made them free), celery, colored bell peppers,strawberries,bananas,broccoli and a free Nourish bowl of brussels sprouts mix.

FROZEN
Icecream (coupon and sale)
potstickers (coupon and sale ...that night's dinner)
eggrolls (coupon and sale ,,,that night's dinner)
fried rice (coupon and sale , that night's dinner)
2 stirfries (coupon and sale, that's night dinner )
caulflower (coupon and sale)
corn (coupon and sale)

DRY GOODS
4 cans of corn that normally are 89¢ a can and the 4 pack was $1.99
bagels(coupon and sale)
English muffins(coupon and sale)
potato chips, fritos and puffed corn (on sale and coupons)
granola bars for Daughter2 to carry in her purse for when her sugar drops so she doesn't have to get fast food and me to carry when we start working on 209.

I knew if I didn't buy something at the store we would be ordering out or eating out and the Asian food not only did that night dinner but lunch for the next day (okay I ate eggrolls for bfast, Daughter2 ate potstickers for late night snack) and dinner tonight. I might have enough to mix together and put in freezer to have in a couple weeks.

Blessed Be

Staying frugal

This is my old wringer washer that I finally replaced with an automatic as I was down with my Crohn's and looking at surgery(which did not happen) I kept this washer...yesterday Hubby pulled it out of storage and rigged it so I could use it BECAUSE he has dumped garlic buttter sauce from 50 wings ALL over his good coat,good jeans and new shirt...I feel like I have to remind him like a child to change into "play"clothes. SIGH... I had washed the clothes and coat 4 times with stain remover and nothing got better. In one last try before they got replaced, I used the wringer washer. No pretreatment just regular homemade laundry soap and hot water and IN WATER for 45 min and it was out. The water looked like yuck so I washed a another time in the wringer which the water looked "clean" and tossed it in the automatic to drain and spin as the coat would not have went through the wringer. BUT will not be replacing the coat and clothes and I will be telling Hubby to change in to play clothes LOL.Savings is $275.

I did not go to store and I am not planning to going this weekend as Daughter2 might be moving out by next weekend (figures are crossed).She was planning on this weekend but the owner couldn't get her stuff out due to the down pours of rain. Which we won't be moving Daughter2 in pouring rain...did that and not going that way again. Daughter2 did research for a moving truck *Hubby has CDL and thought she found the best. Hubby saw a moving truck she had not mentioned checking so he did and we can get 3 days at this place instead of only 1 day where she was going to rent from for cheaper than the 1 day.PLUS he didn't input our AARP discount.

We ordered the appliances for 209 at Menards today, all was on sale plus they have their 11% rebate so we saved almost $1000 between the two.

I did swagbucks goal 4 times this week.

I did 2 pinecone surveys.

I used the drying rack every day as Daughter2 is starting to wash some stuff that was in storage that she will need in her house.

I shut the furnace off the day it was 70 outside, aired out the house. Closed house back up when sun was sitting, closing curtains and such. Realized the next morning when it was chilly I had forgot to turn the furnace back on and Daughter2 said she hadn't turned on the space heater either.

We had to take Wilbur and Charlotte back in to get their stitches out, Charlotte had one get a little infected but instead of giving her pills the vet suggested we clean it 3 times a day, use people antibotic on it and then a coating of vaseline... 3 days later no infection, Since we were in there we had Rascal's nails clipped.

I have been coughing since the beginning of Feb when I was sick with what I thought was a cold or allegry attack... went to the doctor, Nope I was getting over the flu.... he was surprised I wasn't down in the hospital thinking it was a Crohn's attack (I was nausated but never threw up) ANYWAYS... I am ran down HA HA from it so I now have meds for the cough and orders to rest or I won't be in any shape to work on 209 in a couple weeks. If the cough doesn't improve in a week I will be back on steriods (SIGH).

 In exchange of some work Daughter2 is doing for me I am stocking some of Daughter2's pantry from mine. She is working on getting the "dry" goods before she moves in and then the persishibles when her frig is up and running.I know I am getting the better end of the deal as I priced out gettting the work done and the lowest bid was $200 and she's not "taking" $200 worth of pantry. She said it's worth it to her as she won't have to spend time going to the store.

The dreariness of the rainy days we are having to turn lights on, so we have taken to trying to sit together in one spot to only have on 1 light.

I have been looking to replace the white 10 inch cornelle plates. The last of my set from 30 yrs ago just shattered. Even though I have a set of 4  Iris cornelle I miss the 10 inch white ones.They fit my serving bowls as lids besides being my serving platters. I've been without since last Nov and just wasn't willing to pay the price I was seeing. I found them on sale onsite, had a code to save even more, got swagbucks and ebates also and got four including the shipping for 50% off, 4 for the price of 2 I can handle.

I bought Daddy a new cane using my Walgreen points to pay for it.

I filled out the survery for Bob Evans after taking Daddy there and got another $4 off if we use it in the next 30 days. Which we will of course.

I have done the normal routine, open and close curtains, turn furnace down (or off LOL), printer and computers turned off when not in use. Power strip to coffee pot off when not in use. . Sensor used on dryers or drying rack instead of dryer. Cold water wash with homemade laundry soap and white vinegar for softener. Water added to shampoo,conditioner, body soap,hand soap, dish soap, lotions etc.Use scrap paper from mail, paid bills  etc. Make sure I do my Krogers and Menard receipts so I can get my points from Krogers for fuel and the rebates from Menards. I've also been uploading receipts to Receipt hog for credits. I try to remember to look at Ibota and checkout 51. Mobisave doesn't work for me.When we get out meds from CVS I make sure Hubby uses the CVS card as I have the pharmacy rewards on my card. My fitbit is connected to Walgreens so I get points for walking and sleeping, two things I do anyways. Washed baggies , foil and bx inserts.

My tomato plants I started from seed I saved from last year are still alive. Some look decent while others I wonder when they are going to just die.  Still ever one that grows and produces a tomato is a freebie.

Can't think of anything else at this point .. Need to start writing it back down daily like I have in the past.

Blessed Be

209 update

We have the appraisal back...that was about $10,000 more than we thought it would be let alone needed it to be.

We have the house inspection back and we had actually covered everything needing done when we went over it with the contractor. SO nothing added there.

The underwriter had some questions (they always do) and I already had that paperwork around incase they asked so that was dealt with within 30 min...

Now it's just sit and wait 12 days for the closing.

We played a bit and plugged some things into the program Hubby is using for free. The door to the left of the green door is the east front door (or house 2)

The green door by the stove is actually a 4 x 8 green pegboard I hang my pots and pans on . The program didn't allow just green boards LOL. This is the south side of the kitchen and it going to be the cooking center. The little table is a 24 x 30 inch porcelian top I just found that I will make into a table to be by the stove. Hallway goes to the bedroom(blue)bathroom(orange) and laundryroom (lime green)The gray cabinet with white top is suppose to be our French door frig and the dark box is a blue metal cabinet that was my late husband's grandmothers. While looking at this I noticed I will need to have something to hang the onions and garlic from by the stove and a shelf for the hot pads.

This is looking at the west wall that is the kitchen and dining area. Outside those French doors will be a deck and a huge red barn. The Hoosier cabinet we hope will fit here , the round table will actually be my retangle porcelian table (we made it round because we only could do round and square)that was my parents that came from their landlord's family when my parents married. This is going to be my "baking center". The cabinet on the far right of the purple wall is my china hutch (I know it fits there because the lady that lived there had hers there), square table is our dining table...the door at the china hutch goes to the mudroom.

First door which is actually the middle door of north wall goes to the staircase. The other door going to the red room is the front room. The purple wall is on the east side. I might put a bookcase between the windows to hold my cookbooks. Microwave and the roll cart it sits on is at the end of the penisula that my white kitchenaid mixer is on (blue one is also with a blender but doesn't show well) The roll cart holds the Lifetime wear cooking pans my Daddy bought Mother for Christmas after they bought their house...and two weeks later he was laid off when the company he worked for closed.They remind me that even in really hard times it can be okay.

This is the east wall. The dishwasher might be moved to the penisula since I am not willing to go without it and the contractor was having a issue getting it in the cabinet with the Crane sink. The penisula will be my prep area. I can see us eating breakfast and lunch there if it is just one of us.Hubby said it might let him be in the kitchen with me without me telling him to get out of the walk way LOL.  It can go unsaid that this is the cleaning area of the kitchen. I am thinking of hanging this on the wall where the coffee pots are sitting (on dishwasher).

I might put a bar like this also by stove for hotpads...something to think about.I am pretty sure we have dowel rods in the garage here.


I already got the curtains for the purple area(I did have to buy 1 set as I had 2 sets but they were half price so that was fine) I have a couple different curtains I can use at the sink if I feel that need as the porch is right there and it is roofed so I might not need one. I haven't figured out where to put the trash can but if Wilbur is still with us I am bungie cording it to the wall as his late mommy the beloved Weebles taught him to knock it over and take the lid off so she could eat the trash as she wasn't big enough to do it.It's not something we have gotten broke completely with him.

Tomorrow we go to Menards and order the range,frig,dishwasher and a dryer since everything is on sale AND they have the 11% rebate. It will save us over $1000. By ordering it, it won't be in until after closing so we don't have to deal with it sitting here amongst Daughter 2's stuff.

She was suppose to be able to start cleaning her new place this coming weekend but due to pouring rain the owner wasn't able to get all her stuff out. Not sure how that is going since owner is getting married out of state on Saturday. Frustrating on this end for Daughter2's family and us but can't blame the owner for not wanting to get her stuff soaked as we did when Daughter2 moved out of the last place.

Blessed Be

update on 209.

This is a Hoosier cabinet. Hubby has decided to build me one some what like this one. Our contractor actually ran across a flour bin in the trash and snatched and is GIVING it to us with the condition he gets to see the final cabinet. I'll be having it sealed to make it food safe.I don't think it's an original and neither does the contractor but still. Porcelian tables are not made any longer (I have an actually table that is about 100 yrs old) so Hubby is going to do butcher block of the table part.Hubby is looking to put cedar inside the cabinet to help keep pantry moths at bay.

I've been looking at kitchen layouts from 1900-1930s . I found the following pictures at kitchen apartment therapy. https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/   I love this site.

1929 apartment ... looks like yellow and green are common kitchen colors through the decades.

1920s kitchen. yellow and blue. Love the china cupboard.

This is Hubby's favorite as it has the Crane sink and the large Hoosier style cabinet. 1929 back to green and with yellow and orange in the flooring and accents on doors

1900-1920... this reminds me of what was there when we first looked at the house and its my favorite
the bump outs remind me of 209, it's the reverse of ours but still... Some green and orange in this one.

Being frugal with dealing this house (even if we didn't have the money going out for electric, heat, plumbing etc we would be frugal) is time consuming at times. I research for the best deals from my need to buy list, get used or on sales or with rebates. Tracking what we buy is necessary for when we sell it (or the kids do after we die) to lower the capital gains tax. We are pretty much at the point of having to wait to we can start working on the house (after closing). We also look at this as a 30 yr investment and already had set the payment with taxes, ins etc to be BELOW what social security would pay if we took it early at age 62 so we wouldn't be stressed about paying medical ins and the house or having to go back to work like several we know.Some are thinking we are nuts with what is going on with the stock market and being retired and then spending a small fortune on a home but we planned for this expense 10 years ago and still are remaing under budget (shock there). A close friend said something about being on a fixed income and I reminded them that they were working and on a fixed income as they are on salary AND could be laid off tomorrow without benefits. Nothing is certain ever except we live and die.He went home and told his wife he was retiring out and they needed to figure out what to do to stay in the home when they got older.

The home inspector has went through and the HUD appraiser also has, so now it's wait for the paperwork and the final amount we need for down payment and closing costs.

Sometimes it is overwhelming with appointments and shopping and decision making, other times it just drags forever.

The new expensive clothes/frugal/dogs

Daughter 2 took this picture for me, right after she cracked the joke she plans to inherit this hoodie in about 20 years.  Definitely warm as I only had a tank under it and didn't need my coat with it being 10° outside and I ran around without a coat.

This is the skirt, really comfortable. The only negative I found was I had to carry a lint brush with me as Charlotte's baby fine white fur stuck very well to it.  I wore it when we went to Basil's on Market for our Valentine's day dinner. Early but we got the all you can eat crab legs with house salad and truffle french fries for $30/each . It's not a meal on their menu.  Each time they brought out more crablegs for us( we ate 4 claws (4-5 "fingers") each their brought out more truffle french fries... I have enough french fries for a meal for the 3 of us if not more.Top it will chili, sour cream and cheese and call it done.I did notice that even though you could order a drink, appetizers etc plus the special. every single person that was getting the crab leg special was only ordering water to go with the meal.

We decided since there is Valentines day and our anniversary(I made reservations for this meal at Basil's on Market) and we wanted to eat out at a nice sit down restaurant we would not get any fast food this month .We will be taking Daddy to Bob Evans but we have a coupon and gift card for that and Daddy pays the tip.

We have been eating from the pantry, have not been to the grocery store since Jan 31s Someone is going to have to stop and get milk/ half and half/ heavy cream probably Monday.I used all the half and half and the heavy cream and custard pie is on the menu as I use a 1949 recipe.

Daughter 2 got excited as I opened the beef veggie soup I had canned last fall. She is the only one that eats it in her house. She got a new place and will be moving March 1st. I will have to vacuum my own floors SIGH  well I won't when we move in new house ... HA HA.  Next time I can Veggie soup, I'll can some pints for her.

I see empty spots in the pantry and freezers which is good though part of me wants to refill it...not doing that so don't have to move it.Lots of sales right now and I just started pitching the ads directly into the burn trash so not to even think about it.

I washed baggies, box inserts,and foil.Daughter 2 brought home some plasticware that someone had left at work and didn't claim. She washed it out and brought it home. Hung delicates on drying rack, washed heavy clothes first so if they weren't completely dry they went in with second load for dryer. Cold water, homemade laundry soap and vinegar for the softener.

Mixed water with dish soap, hand soap, body soap, shampoo and conditioner. Used orange peel vinegar to clean floors.

Turned off coffee pots, laptops and printer when not in use. Daughter 2 said she is down to running heater in her room 6 hrs if that.

Reloaded the medications, toilet paper, paper towels and dog treats from storage in upstairs.

Reloaded dried fruit and M&M s from storage upstairs.

Didn't go anywhere as Charlotte and Wilbur got fixed from Wed to Friday...Vet said she wasn't pregnant as I had him make sure before surgery, yes that was an unnecessary expense  but I feel better about the choice of surgery at this time. They are doing fine, Charlotte is recovering faster that Wilbur due to her age even though her surgery was more than his.

Her favorite place to sleep even though she thinks she's hiding (under a glass dining table) and is now too big to curl in the middle.

Wilbur was goofy. He slept most of the evening and then got up and did this

Yes he is totally asleep standing with his head on the couch by Hubby. Hubby picked him up and laid him on couch.

I transplanted the tomato seedlings I had started.

Blessed Be

Feb goals/ 209 update

First 209 update. We signed loan papers as our mortgage guy held them when he found FHA was increasing amt allowed and he redid them...COOL .Him doing that saved us $5000 down payment and over $20,000 in interest in the long run.FHA home inspector is being scheduled along with HUD appraiser so closing is going to be close to March 6th. We spent 3 hrs with our contractor today going over the project binder I put together for him that will also be at the site.It was great to hear I love this, I am so happy you did this repeatedly as he said it will make his job a lot easier.. He had salvaged a 1950s Crane sink and is going to have it refinished for me. He will be either building a cabinet or reinforcing a boughten cabinet which ever is cheaper plus he helped me pick out a counter top that is more into what I am looking for that can handle the heavy sink.We set the budget for what we have on the have to buy list for the house and are looking at Habitat restore shops. Charlie (contacter) is also going to look through his warehouses to see if he has somethings that he savaged that is "Cheaper" for us and suggested I let his crew paint our ceilings as I am still having issues with my arm. Gave us the price with us buying the paint and supplies.  We stopped on the way home at one Restore home and got a fan for half the price it would have been new and it works.

Grocery... after seeing the % of what I bought in dairy in Jan I have decided to keep the $250 as the Food money for Feb BUT lower what I bought of each. We eat a LOT of cheese. SO if I am keeping with having snacking cheese , then the cheese in the food needs to be  lowered. I can increase the milk or yogurt.as we use cheese to replace protein at times. Junk food was higher than normal but that's because I bought Daughter's 2 Pepsi as it was on sale. I bought corn chips ( I can't eat corn chips) for walking taco's and tortilla chips for nachos bellegrande .Daughter eats tortilla chips with guac as her breakfast and late night snack. More guac then chip and she buys the guac.

I did get some black bean hummus that I will like to make from scratch. I have the list of ingredients that was in the mix to play with.

I am waiting to see what the electric bill is with Daughter 2 using a space heater to heat her bedroom. She's good about keeping it turned low or even off once she gets the room warm. This past week she's had to keep in on all night due to having one of the dogs with her and us having to shut the staircase door which stops heat from going up at all from propane furnace due to Charlotte being in heat. We know that Wilbur doesn't spend the night HOWLING if he sleeps with me and Charlotte sleeps with Daughter 2. Charlotte whines a bit with Daughter 2 but she's not a barker or howler and snuggling her will calm her down to sleep. Rascal sleeps with me or on the loveseat in the front room.

I have to sit down and figure things.

Blessed Be

Jan grocery budget results.

The tracker I uses goes for Jan 1st to the 31st. So even though we only get paid once a month around the 15th. We will be running the grocery budget by month  instead of half months.

I set the budget for Jan at $420  with the goal to come in closer to $250.

Shelf costs of food bought       $437.19


coupons                                    $ 14.13



discounts                                  $194.55



total savings                            $208.68 (47.73 %)



Out of pocket                         $228.51

30 % is fresh produce, 50 % is dairy and the other 15% is a mix of ingredients for special meals,5 % junk food as I also bought Daughter 2 pepsi since it was on sale.


Out of this  amount I spent in Jan ,$160 I just spent the 31st for the month of Feb.


SO I decided to set Feb budget for $250.

update on 209

Okay , this picture shows where the 2 front doors are. Hubby doesn't have the 2 front porches on this but they are at the front doors. The door in the green room is the back door. We will be installing the French doors in the yellow room(kitchen) and then the deck by the end of summer if not sooner.The area on the front of the house were the double windows are do not have a porch.

The deadline we have given ourselves to be moved completely to 209 is Sept 6th. Our landlord doesn't care if we go pass that date and as long as we give him 30 days notice of us being completely out he is fine.That's the date were we will start stressing of making double payments of rent and mortgage. Can you tell we have done this before?

We have changed the laundry room(green room) to be in the closet (top left sliver mist room) and we will put Baby (7cf chest freezer) in the mudroom which is what we are calling the green room ...the colors of the rooms will be flipped to the closet being lime green and the mudroom silver mist. I plan to put a door in the closet where the window is because the clothes line is right there in a couple years.. You can barely see the top of the window in this layout in that room. I would rather have my laundry in the closet where I can immediately put clothes away than at the door where everyone comes in and out. Also it's easier to clean the dryer vent with it in the closet as it will go directly through the wall of the house and NOT through the crawl space and thourgh the foundation.Less chance of wind freezing pipes also due to air from vent coming in.

Our mortgage guy, Rex called Friday morning and asked us to connect with contractor,Charlie and finalize the items for the house. Rex is at step 4 which needs the final bids. This is about 3 weeks ahead of schedule.

Got a hold of Charlie,our contractor, who was stressing a little until I made it clear that  we understood he probably wouldn't be able to start early but we had things we could to that would help him like remove the line closet where the bathroom door needs to be widened and remove the shelves where the wheelchair shower will be.SO we are meeting this week to finalize the items to keep the FHA loan moving along. The more we pay cash for, the less we will owe on the loan so the less we will pay in interest.

ON the frugal side, we bought part of the general paint supplies, the track lighting for over the kitchen sink, a double shower rod for the orange bathroom, a 3 arm rack for the kitchen sink dish cloths, 2 entry rugs for the porches, 4 new exterior door hands with dead bolts to put on AFTER the work is done and a Keysafe so we don't have to be there to let workers in at Menards with 11% rebate.

I have bookmarked items on sale at Home Depot that  I want as soon as we meet with Charlie to make sure he can't get them cheaper as that sale goes off first part of March so I will order them if I need to.

We started pulling items we have stored from houses we have lived in so we are "saving" the money
So far we have found for the kitchen... 8 light chandelier (actually I have it hanging above me right now as we took down the ceiling fan that was there) saving $217.80 and a 3 light hanging pot rack savings $398.99. We have found a wooden medicine cabinet for orange bathroom saving$44.98 and a white medicine cabinet (needs a bit of work of fixing door to stay shut) saving $39.99 for WC bath (WC stands for wheelchair). Add the 7.5 % tax we pay that's a savings of $1,070.44

The only piece of furniture I know for sure we will be buying is a recliner  for Hubby.

I will continue to shop Habitat for Restore, Goodwill and auctions. I wished it was yardsale season LOL

Blessed Be

Last week of Jan

One of the "plates" I have made from our dinner and shoved in frig for Daughter 2 to eat when she gets in around 11 PM. She had bought a white wine with herbs marinade for chicken which we loved so I picked up some more of the packages that were on sale and made this porkchop with OJ which was an option. I might try chicken with pineapple juice which is another option listed on the package. She is now splitting a lunch with the server that works with her so she's not bringing leftovers home and both are saving money.

Hubby had bfast with some of his old co workers and used a gift card he was given when he retired.

I went to the store for odds and ends after our chiro appt(all errands at same time) and used the gift card that was bought for Dec/Jan groceries....still have $50 on the card and ALL of the money set ($420)aside for Jan/Feb(we run bills from 15th to 15th since that's when we get Hubby's retirement check)

We have washed plastic bags, foil, bread sacks and inserts to boxed food(not many of those).

We ate from the pantry until Friday night when we ordered a extra large pizza that has fed the 3 of us all weekend (added salad, fruit etc) since both Hubby and Daughter 2 was in and out with things that meant they weren't even home during the night. I thought I would get a quiet night.. nope dogs decided they needed out ever 2 hrs and since Charlotte isn't completely potty trained I wasn't going to just tell her to go lay down. One of them always pottied but the other two must have just went along.

Curtains are open to sunshine and closed with it's dreary and with windchills.

We no longer open the staircase to upstairs until Daughter 2 texts us that she is coming home. Told us to not turn on heater unless the windchill is below 10° as she has noted when she really needs to have it warmed up otherwise she will turn it on when she gets home and gets around for bed. As she has sever curvature of the spine we don't want the cold to trigger pain which is why she focused on when she needed the heater turned on sooner. She's paying the difference between what we budget for electric and what it costs so she's really trying to keep it down.

She started using the drying rack for when she doesn't have a full load of laundry. She has also tossed some of our laundry in to make a full load in the washer, side benny I don't have to do our laundry. 😉 when she does that.

We turned the furnace down 2 ° during the day when there is sunshine and 6° at night when we aren't getting the windchills.

We are buying items for 209 and keeping a  running budget. We went to Mendards for their 11 % rebate( after chiro appt also) to pick up some of the items. I stayed focused of general items that I know we will need like paint rollers, shower curtain rod, that kind of stuff. We meet with the contractor this week to finalize the plans so the mortgage guy can move to the next step of the rehab loan of 2 different inspections...things are moving a little quicker than planned according to the contractor as he had planned to have this meeting mid Feb so that's okay with us even if it means he won't actually start until mid March as he had planned as there is plenty of work for us to start on and not be in his way.

Daughter 2 was given a name of a restaurant that has all you can eat crab legs on Fridays until the end of Lent for $30/person...She KNOWS I love crab legs so she passed the info along to us as our anniversary is mid Feb and we were looking for a different place to eat out at.

She is also bringing home boxes and pieces of cardboard to use to separate the canning jars so won't have to buy so many speciality boxes for my 1000 plus canning jars....more on that on the 209 post.

Not frugal but definitely will save my sanity ...might be frugal if I don't have a break down over the work load LOL... I am putting together a project binder for 209... printing off things we need the contractor to do (kitchen sink, cabinets, countertop, what lights etc)so it should help eleminate part of the "got to call and ask" Need this answer etc. Put everything on hold until we get over there (an hour away and yes we have the gas budgeted for that for daily trips for 6 months). Gathering things we have in storage we can reuse in the house.

209 ... the new house

Hubby has been playing on a free program he downloaded  and made a layout of 209 which is what we call the new house.This is the first floor plan and the layout of the kitchen and the color of paints we think we want. Vibrate is the word LOL.

Starting left bottom...is master bedroom is sapphire blue or it maybe be a powder blue but the program didn't have that shade. Room in upper left corner can be used for a closet is silver mist, we might make it into a sewing room/office and just build closet in bedroom like the other 3 bedrooms.
Orange room will be standard bathroom with tub/shower comb. Yellow is the hall and the kitchen "area". The one wall of purple (other side is purple also) is what we call sitting area/ office/ what ever.There is a wall at the base of the stairs to the upstairs...we will be taking the built in hall tree out to open that up so we can get a full size bed box springs up those steps. Both sets of staircases have beautiful wood for walls. Red room is Hubby's favorite red and is the front room. This is also the red we had when we were raising the kids on Church st. Lime green is mudroom/laundry room and the pale lilac is the wheelchair accessible bathroom.  We are now matching those colors to paint chips we have and having 3-4 different shades of the color and will tape them to the walls when we start on the house. All woodwork will be glossy white  There will be a deck off the kitchen through the French doors and we will be redoing the porches on the front also.

Menards was having their 11% rebate this week so we started picking up things we know we need to starting buying for 209. This is the light we are putting over the sink.

We have had this chandelier for over 20 yrs and decided to clean it up and install it over the peninsula in the kitchen since the ceilings are only 8 ft , that way no one bashed their head.

This pot rack we also have had over 20 yrs, will be cleaned up and used over what ever new LP gas range I get.

I've had this ceiling light for over 30 yrs. I am not sure where it's going its going . Hubby said he could rewire it so it's like a hanging swag light.

My Pop gave me this light after he found it at a yardsale because it reminded him of me. I wasn't living where we could use it. I told Hubby even if it doesn't go in the house , it was going in the barn...which would fit Pop to a tee as he has several of old lights hanging in his barn for light.

This is the sink we have chose.

I think I would prefer to handles instead of this one but this is what we saw so priced it. I can deal with not having 2 handles.

 I bought paint rollers, paint plastic tray liners, paint guards to keep paint off floor, double curved shower rod (only bought one as I can't remember if I need one for wheelchair shower) and I bought this.

As Daddy suggested I get this for the kitchen so I can hang not only my dish cloth but a rag for other stuff to get away from paper towels.

More later..right now I have to work on the binders.

Blessed be

Rambling... new clothes .

First this is what I bought...from J Peterman as my birthday gift for myself.

This is definitely my style though way more than I usually spend. I can tell you it will definitely keep me warm in the cold months as it is lined and the lace is attached to the liner.  I can take tucks in the waist if I ever lose any more weight ( I really hope to stay stable there as if I lose more weight and have a Crohn's attack I will end up being underweight with in a week) another bonus, is I could make a simple pattern from the skirt.

This is close to the hoodie I used to borrow from my one grandson. He passed it to me after he out grew it and I wore it out after wearing it 5 more years. I wanted something more dressy than a sweatshirt type hoodie Once again, more than I usually pay.

Awhile back I bought jeans on sale with a couple gift cards that I had been given... Faded Glory boot cut and a couple pairs of this that has became my favorite jeans

Levi Strauss Signature curvy boot cut... (this is the model for Walmart)

I already checked I do have plenty of warm weather clothes so won't need to be buying anything. I do hope HA HA to have time to do some sewing of skorts and aprons but with doing the house and everything I am doubtful of that being done as I will be making curtains for the house warm weather first and cold weather second.

I already bought "summer" shoes when they were on clearance at Walmart. I got winter dress boots at Goodwill.

Now on to 209

Not Frugal but worth the price

Jan 15th... Monday .we had ham (from son 2 in exchange for part of the prime rib we had Christmas Eve) sandwiches and broccoli cheese soup...using up one bag of cheese that we really don't care for but was given. Worked well in the soup. I met my Swagbucks goal PLUS got 100 more for a survey that I did while BORED and didn't want to just surf the web or social media. NOT FRUGAL.. I ordered a skirt and a hoodie from J Peterman catalog...if you are not familar with this company I can tell you the clothes are expensive...some vintage or in the style of vintage. I ran across this company while reading Simple Abundance several years ago and have looked at the catalog for YEARS as I read Simple Abundance each year as a devotional . I saw a skirt and hoodie that I LOVED last year...but thought as a bit too much ...okay A LOT too much for my style of living...but every time I checked the catalog that was what I looked for.. It went on sale for 50% off...My birthday is in a few days...I have my spending money allowence (we give ourselves $50 a month for what ever we want) for Dec-Jan and now Jan - Feb....I have $25 in change saved.... I put in on my credit card ...knowing I HAVE to have it paid off in 3 wks... It was just under $200 with shipping. That's not frugal SIGH. Hubby said if I wear it like I have my winter coat ( 10 years )and my little black dress(now 30 plus years ) My demin skirt (20 plus years) then it's not a bad buy.Since I just got rid of the hoodie I wore when the Daughter 1 was in Jr high (she's 46 this year) I think I can wear both long enough to not regret the money spent.

Jan16th  Tuesday .Having leftover ham slices, mashed potato patties from leftover mashed potatoes , green beans from pantry and biscuits. I woke up cold this morning due to Wilbur

He must have gotten cold through the night and took ALL the blankets on the bed to make himself a bed. I woke up with a flannel sheet and Charlotte curled into me trying to stay warm herself. Thankfully since I am not willing to fight a boxer (LOL) over blankets I had a couple fleece throw blankets at the top and covered Charlotte and myself up.  Back is definitely not happy with having been cold through the night.

Jan 17th..Wednesday.We spent the afternoon measuring the rooms at the new house (209 is what we call it as it is on township road 209) , Ate lunch at Arby's over by the house since I didn't plan to be there nor had anything to pack to eat before or after being there. Thankful for the Amish family that allowed us to come in (didn't have to because closing isn't until March) and our realtor that took her lunch time to let us in.We had scalloped potatoes and ham casserole for dinner using the last of the ham.

Jan 18th... Thursday. My 59th birthday. Hubby asked what I wanted to do and I chose to go see my Daddy. Best birthday present ever was/is having Daddy as my dad and I made sure he knew I felt truely blessed for having him. Hubby bought 3 -4 piece chicken dinners from the local restaurant for dinner so I wasn't cooking as Daughter 2 didn't get in until 11 after her youngest ball game.

Jan 19th ... Friday, I caught a charge on bank account that shouldn't be there .. a bank fee so the bank told us to come in on Monday so we can sit down as they know what triggered it...Hubby only gets "paid" once a month instead of weekly and software didn't regisiter that he had more than enough to go in to NOT have that fee...they also think they have a better account for fit our needs. Daughter 2 vacuumed the house, I swept the bathroom and kitchen and Hubby did the dishes. Daughter 2 also did our laundry when she did her own so I could focus on starting to put the binders together for working on 209. We had summer sausage /pepperoni , cheese and crackers for lunch and leftovers for dinner.

Jan 20th... Saturday. Daugher 2 straightened up the frig (she has OCD so I ignore it when she straightens something as I have seen her pick up dog toys and put them in order of size where I toss the toys) and then since her boys were all at friends or doing something with their stepbrothers she went to have a PJ party at a girlfriends house... She borrowed a few DVDs and took some creamcheese with dried Italian salad dressing and crackers. She will roll the creamcheese in the dry dressing. Plus she took some yogurt and Grapenuts to make parfaits for breakfast. All what we had here. Hubby and I worked on drawling plans, making lists and starting 2 sets of project plan binders..one for the house the other for here. We ate leftovers and basically snacked.

Jan 21st Sunday...Heavens, Charlotte

went out this morning and got mud(and cow poop) from her chin to her tail. Looked like she laid in it, might have crawled under the gate but what a mess. She got a bath...not thrilled but at least it wasn't a fight to keep her in the tub. Tub got sanitized and I then got a bath and everything got washed. Frugal part was I had kept the oatmeal soap I used on Miss Kira so I didn't use blue Dawn which is what I use on Rascal.

We had friends as us to meet them for dinner at Hong Kong today, but Son 2 wanted to go also and wanted it to be for lunch since he is furloughed and that was the cheaper meal. They were willing  so we are going for lunch instead. I have a coupon that we were going to use for us and decided to let Son 2 use instead. We will have bacon Sandwiches for dinner tonight. 

I haven't done any grocery shopping this week.

Blessed Be

Retirement Mid Jan

Okay, I would have to say flipping to retirement ins has been a lesson in having patience for companies that do not have things in place BEFORE it's needed. We are still waiting for the money that Hubby's company gave him for medical, still waiting for our insurance to show I am covered and not just Hubby. I just want to bang my head on the table when I keep getting excuses as why things are still messed up after 6 wks of dealing when it was suppose to be only 4 wks..

Glad we put back 3 months of costs of ins in savings since we are having to use OUR money instead of the money the company gave us for that.

Glad We put back the FULL amount of out of pocket/deductible also because we are using it to pay medical bills because they keep saying Hubby is covered under family plan but I am not the family...I'm the only other one besides him on this insurance.

Glad we had 3 months of household bill amts in savings so we weren't late in paying the bills when it took 4 days to transfer his monthly amt from his 401k to our checking...don't seem to have even a 1 day delay when it comes out of the checking for bills so I don't understand the issue of it going in to the checking. BUT still at least our bank warned us to not count on it for 5 business days.

Glad he isn't driving to work every night during these winter storms that keep hitting every 3-4 days.

Paying bills once a month is kind of yucky... but I found we actually save more money when worried we won't have money towards the "end" off our month, which is actually the middle of the month now.

We are more focused on what we can make do with now to have money when we move which we priced out at $4000 not counting someone to pack it in their boxes, just load it and drive it and unload it.. We plan on FREE boxes except for my canning jars, just because we have dealt with broken canning jars of food. Daughter 2 thinks some of the boxes they get in would work for canning jars boxes also so she is going to bring them home if I ever can get her to REMEMBER as she is leaving work LOL.

Blessed Be

Update on new house

This is one of the 3 upstairs bedrooms. Two of them are this size, the 3rd is a bit smaller.There is one area that isn't finished that we are debating on making attic storage or another bedroom.Probably will be storage as it has NO windows and unless we put in skylights there is not another option for a window. Might be just me but I have problems with rooms without windows.Beautiful wood...BUT I am not a fan of total wood BUT I don't want to remove it or paint it either... A friend suggested I leave the ceiling part wood and make a "quilt" railing to hang fabric from . Then I could change the "colors" as I wanted and not mess up the wood. Might work...I could even change the fabric due to the seasons.

Since the central air will not be in this area we decides on this style of ductless AC

None of the bedrooms have closets. Two of the are open lofts with no privacy at all.

We thought about doing something along this line, this is a partial wall

and it also being the back of the closet. . Daughter 2 lived in a house that had these type of sloping ceilings in the bedrooms said they put in drawers on the lower side and the double bars on the higher side and it worked decent for her sons, one that has more clothes than his mother LOL.. Still in thinking stage as this probably won't be done until next fall/winter.

The well has been chlorinated and flushed and tested so that's off the list. Still waiting on getting the septic tank cleaned that the septic tested but the winter storms rolling through has been an issue.

Contractor is having 2 antique sinks refinished and I get first choice to look is I want one of them for the kitchen... If not I have picked this one out

The top faucet is probably what I will buy as it is the style I have used for years and does well with my large pots.

Hubby liked this type of shower head for  the showers. Son 2 has one and it does well for handicap also.

We both thought this style faucet would be good for the bathroom sinks and tub.

or maybe one with two handles for the water but same style.

We don't know if we will have ceiling lights but we are looking to see what we like. We also know we want an outside light at each door but haven't found "the one" yet. We have a chandelier,pot rack, 2 ceiling fans and 2 old copper lights that we could reuse.

This is the color (cherry cocoa) and style of the kitchen cabinets I chose. I don't want my kitchen to blend in since the dining room.family room and kitchen are one room. I would love to have a granite counter top with shades of green and rust(copper) in it but I can't afford granite so our contractor is looking to see what he can find in our price range to give me the same look.

Appliances will be black

this in black with brass handles would be my dream stove...not sure that dream is going to happen because it is the last thing we will buy.

We have to replace our French door with freezer on the bottom frig as our repairman said it was dying . He's repaired it four times already and it's on it's last legs. Guess 10 yrs is the best you can get now days. I have a smaller second one so if it goes out before we are ready to replace it.

I hope the microwave doesn't crap as it's on the "old" side also.

We have to start thinking about furniture also as somethings we have too much and others what we have needs redone or replaced.

Enjoy the day
Blessed Be