NO BOOTS!

Things are getting rough: in order to keep my sanity, it has come time to enforce two new rules that I've been putting off for awhile. Here's the first one:


I made this nifty little sign and taped it up on the door between our entryway and kitchen. I couldn't think of a better way to get the point across!

The second rule is no dogs on the couches. We never let them on our bed but love to cuddle with them on the couch. However, I want this to be a nice house and it isn't very nice when the couches smell and shed like dogs. I'd love to show you a picture of our two new (used), dog-free couches but they won't fit in our door so right now they sit in the shop. I'm thinking we may try to bring them in through our big bay window. Oh the joys of farmhouses with narrow doorways!

I am looking forward to not having dirty floors (or at least not as dirty). I have tried for a long time to keep shoes off of our nice wood floors but we didn't care about the linoleum until now. I just can't keep up and I'm sick of trying.

What's the shoe policy at your house? Any exceptions? How do you enforce it? I'm ready to be rued if I have to - I'm so sick of the mess!

Git 'Er Done 2009

As many of you know, Brian & I bought his family's farm around Labor Day of 2007. We've been working on the house and yard since the early spring of that year, even before we bought it. Things are far from finished as we start 2009, and I don't want to deal with this again in 2010.

I've made a detailed list, room by room, of what projects need to be completed this year. I first posted about all this work in this post. I wanted to share my list but wasn't sure how to set it up. After reading over at Green Resolutions I really like the way she sets up her checklist and shows updates. I've decided to use a similar format for my project list. Thanks for the inspiration GR!

I'm going to title this segment "Git 'Er Done 2009". This will mostly be for my benefit, to keep me motivated and accountable. I'll try to include some before and after pictures and maybe even offer some good how-to advice. I avoid debt like the plague so these will all be pay as you go projects.

Feel free to read along. If you would like to join in, go ahead and grab the doodad, link over here, and post your updates whenever. I'll be doing most of my work on Saturdays. I started out working all day Sunday too but got burnout very quickly. I would recommend limiting yourself to one full day per week or a few hours here and there. You don't have to renovate your whole place, maybe you just have one small project you want to stay on track with.

In any case, I hope this is a valuable addition to the blog!

Okay, here's my master list. Red = done last year. Black = to be done. Blue = done in 2009.

Bedroom:
New bedding (received as wedding gift)
Paint walls & ceiling
Move closet (tear it out and rebuild in a different spot)
New TV (flatscreen - eliminated stand and gave us more floor space)
Mount lamp on wall
New trim
New curtains
Add 2nd clothes rod in closet
Cover hole for access to pipes (we cut this when changing plumbing in bathroom)
Rewire (and new switches/covers)
Decorate!
Curtain on closet
New light fixture
Headboard
Paint window frames

Bathroom:
Paint walls & ceiling
Eliminate old rust stains
New faucets/hardware
New shower curtain & rod
New curtain over window (in shower)
Curtain around base of sink
Refinish cabinet
Get a quote for recoating the tub
New trim
New lighting
Replace mirror (or make it look better)
Decorate!
Rewire (and new switches/covers)

Office
Find Brian a desk
Get a deal on a desk chair
Organize/rearrange
Paint walls & ceiling
Decorate!
New lighting
New curtains
Rewire

Kitchen
Removed wallpaper/patched/painted (Thanks Mom!!)
Refinished cabinets/rearranged them
New countertops
New trim (started)
New stove
New (used) dishwasher
New faucet
Paint window frames
Curtains in front of sink/trash
Finish trim
Baseboard for long cabinet
End caps on countertops
Paint baseboard on sink
Paint fridge
Hook up range hood
Rewire
New lighting

Back Room (entryway):
Paint walls/ceiling
New trim
Paint window frames
Refinish cabinet door
Build/buy a bench/shoe rack
Coat rack
Rewire
Clean off/organize stair shelf

Living Room
Paint walls & ceiling
Refinish trim
Decorate!
Have floor refinished
New area rug
Furniture
New light fixture
Curtains
Rewire
Make slipcovers for couches

Rabbit Room aka Guest Bedroom
Paint walls & ceiling
Furniture
Reorganize
Move rabbits out
Fix window screen (where rabbits chewed through it)
Touch up paint on trim
Decorate!
Rewire

Basement
Start cleaning/getting rid of everyone's junk
New washing machine
Buy laundry tub
Build corn storage bin
New corn stove
Finish cleaning
Install laundry tub
Install shower
New cabinets/tables/shelves (build or buy)
Dust/vacuum rafters
Clean out cistern (Baxter thinks it is his litterbox...gross)
Curtain @ base of stairs
Paint?
Rewire

Outside
Landscape around 1/2 house
Plant 2 pear trees (one died already)
Create garden
New porch roof
Tear our overgrown bushes
Repaired bad spot in shop roof
Built lean-to on back of shed (burned)
Get rid of lots of junk/scrap that is filling backyard
Install fence/plant pasture
Finish landscaping
Plant more fruit trees
Paint foundation of house
New exterior doors on house
Shutters?
Farm sign/flagpole/strawberries?
Flowers by mailbox/along road
Repair shed fire damage/build new
Finish/repair fences
Tear down little red barn
Paint new OSB on shop ceiling
Paint small shop door
Tear down garage?
New stonecrete in driveway?
Better plan for black walnuts (help!?)
Plant corn & pumpkins
Improve pasture
Poultry tractors/fence

I put question marks next to things that I'm not sure we'll get to or things that need more thought put in to them. I'll try to add links to specific posts as I go. You can always click on the above doodad on my sidebar to pull up all related posts.

Thanks for putting up with these long posts. I think this will really help me! I'd love to hear about your own home improvements.

Spring cleaning

Sometimes it is really important to take a step back and look at the big picture...

especially when zoom works this good!

We took the screen out of the window to toss some boxes out so Baxter decided he wanted some fresh air. Now that the upstairs is cleared out I need to move all the boxes from our extra bedroom downstairs up there. Then we will actually have a guest bedroom that people can use! It is hard to stay inside and get things done with so much going on outside. Tomorrow we have a busy day planned. Here is our to-do list:

• Build a pen for the chickens (they are outgrowing their makeshift brooder boxes)
• Divide up the horse pasture to allow for rotational grazing. We barely got the perimeter fence up last fall so now we need to finish the job. While we're at it there are a few shorts that need to be fixed.
• Spread a few more loads of pig manure on the fields. A friend is giving us all we can use but it takes a little over an hour for each load by the time we fill the spreader, pull it home, and apply it.
• Get the youngest group of calves outside. We having been weaning them gradually and tomorrow morning after they get their last batch of milk we will take them out of their individual pens and put them together. We buy Holstein bull calves from a local dairy and finish them for beef. There are 5 calves in this group. We have 3 more that are a couple months older so we'll have to see if they will all get along.
• If there is any more time I would really like to work on the garden. I've been digging it my hand using the bastard trenching/deep bed method. It takes a long time but I think it will be worth it. I might break down after this section and use the rototiller but next year I'll make another section in to a deep bed and so on. I'll go in to more detail on this in a later post.

Looks like plenty for one day. I doubt we will get it all done but any progress made will be great! I'm looking forward to having 2 day weekends again soon instead of working on Saturdays like I have been!

Not sure how many people are reading this yet (if any) but feel free to offer any input or share what projects you're working on. :)