Couldn't remember my password

Here I am staining our cheap but

functional mantle.

Here are a few pictures. I just

realized that I haven't downloded

any new pictures into our computer.

This pictures shows how dirty

the light asscussions were before

we painted them. Yuk!

It's been so long since I've blogged that I just spent the last 20 minutes trying to remember by password. What a good use of time. We are spending the night at my in-laws, who have high speed Internet, so I'm trying to send a shout out to those who may still care what is happening at the "Mansion".

Between dial up Internet and an aging computer my blogging efforts have come to a stand still. Homeschooling and Mr. Fix-It's new job have also taken up a lot of time and mental energy. Unlike my dear Sister-In-Laws, writing is not a gift that comes naturally to me. It takes a lot of energy and hard work to produce a reasonable and readable article.

Anyways....We have been busily working on our house and trying to button things up before the Long Hard Winter sets in. These projects include but are not limited to, putting a French drain in our front yard, hauling wood into our basement, so not to freeze during the winter. And laying gravel in our driveways to assure our visitors that our parking area is indeed intended for parking and not for mud bogging (a very popular past time in Upstate NY).

We have made some progress on the inside as well. The kitchen / living /dining area are almost done. We have the details to finish up, but we usually like to save those projects for when we know we are selling the house. Having a For Sale sign in the front yard is a great motivator. We have also painted Isabelle's room. I'm going to post some pictures (when I download them). I hope to have a better Internet system before the end of the month. Mr. Fix-It is working out a deal that I can pay for the increase in Internet if I do some paper work for him at home. I hope I'm qualified for the job! I encourage all you are enjoying your high-speed Internet. It's not a privilege that everyone in our country gets!

Excuses

I'd like to apologize to anyone who has attempted to follow my blog for my blogosphere disappearance. Life and a sick computer have temporarily sidelined any blogging. Aside from my Internet being horribly slow, I believe my computer has a little cold that is making it sluggish. Not knowing anything about computers and not having the time to learn, Mr. Fix-It and I have patiently endured each Internet session. We bring a book to read when we know we're getting on the Internet. It gives us something to do when she is "searching". The computer is getting up in years and needs a little more time to do it's job. She's been a part our family for 5 1/2 years now and we feel she's going to have to go into the shop for a little tune up. But please keep this a secret. We don't want her to know we're sending her away and have her get mad at us and run even slower. I hear electronics and appliances have a tendency to do that sort of thing. We've already had to fix the fridge.
Important things like vacations, new jobs, and home education have been infringing on my blog time. We went on vacation in Western Mass. and had a wonderful time avoiding reality. Mr. Fix-It has a new job (Yeah!) and he has been traveling out of town to take classes in ordered to get some required licences. This is an exciting but busy time for us, so unfortunately with the speed of our computer blogging has not made it on the to do list. Writing the To Do List is still on the to do list.
On the home front; we have painted the walls in the upstairs bath and the school room. I really like the colors and I'm looking forward to getting the trim put up in the rooms putting on the finishing touches. I hoping that we will have a satellite Internet by the time those rooms are done, so I can share pictures. The contractor finished his two week job in jus under 5 weeks, so things are really starting look up. Apparently the contractor we hired only works 20 hours a week. I guess he thought the U.S. had switched to French work week. Darn, I must have missed that memo.
Since I'm sure it's mostly my in-laws who are reading this. We all say hi! and love reading your blogs!
I hope to be back soon!

I've got the dial-up blues

I honestly didn't know how hard it would be to have dial up Internet. It seems to have gotten worse since we've lived here. I've tried to down load pictures on the blog in the last week and I just couldn't stay up longer than 45 minutes to wait for them to download. I really wish I was exaggerating when I say it did not download in less time than 45 minutes.
I feel like I know what the Laura Ingalls must have gone through during the Hard Winter. This dial up think is really tough. I feel like I've lost half of my brain power. I never realized how much I was on the Internet during the day, getting directions somewhere, checking the weather, looking up some interesting fact, comparing prices on anything from jackets to toilets, ordering school books, ordering anything! Now I debate if I really should connect because I might miss a call. In addition not having cable we are also are out of range for voicemail and we get little if any cell phone reception. The isolation is killing me! It's almost more timely for me to hitch up the horse and buggy and go to the library to use their computer.
Oh, it's really not that bad . Well, it is, but I'm trying to approach it with a more positive attitude. I guess I have more time to do fun things like change the ice in the coolers my food is stored in since my brand new refrigerator broke down. Good thing we kept that receipt.
To those of you with high-speed, cherish it. You don't know what you have until it's gone.

Little Bit of This Little Bit of That

On my last post I talked about having marriage therapy. Well, it turned out that our therapists needed therapy. The first guy who was supposed to help out (we'll call him Joe). Ended up needing a more supervision and help than my husband or I could offer. After taking two days and $280 dollars to make our back porch worse than it was we figured it was time to let Joe go. We both felt bad because he worked really hard to mess up the porch.
The next person who was supposed to help (let's call him Ted). Didn't show up the first day. When we called to find out why, we received a pretty reasonable explanation, so we figured we'd give him another shot. When he didn't show up the second time we received an out of this world explanation that we're sure was a complete lie, but we still figured we'd give him another chance since we're really desperate to get some work done on the house. Ted failed to show up a third time and we found out that it was because he was in jail. That explanation sounded not only reasonable but likely sowe decided just to let it be. If he does happen to show up I'm sure we can find some work for him to do.
During all of this I called a "handyman" from our local paper. Mr. Fix-it was very leery about having Handyman Ron come to the house. I told him that his two fellas had not worked out, so he should give my guy a shot. He begrudgingly agreed and it turns out I can pick a pretty good handyman. Ron was able to actaully accomplish work today. Not only did he show up on the day and time he said he would, he was able to start and finish jobs with out a parole officer by his side. It just doesn't get any better than that. We now have doors on all of the bedrooms and shelving in three of our closets! In addition to Handyman Ron (not his real name), we had another contractor and his helper come and rescue our back porch. We praying that he is the miracle we asked for. We called him on Friday and we knew it might work out when he actually called us back when he said he would. A couple of jobs have been postponed for him and he has a few weeks available. We will gladly fill up any time he needs filled. I have a railing on my back porch and he says he's coming back tomorrow. House renovation has never been so easy.

Marriage Therepy

My husband and I are seeing a marriage counselor. Our counselor uses a few different tools and techniques than the typical counselor. When he comes to do a session he brings his ladder and drill. This type of counseling is very effective for us. Actually, he's not a counselor but a contractor, but I assure you these sessions are transforming our marriage one project at a time.

We do have a couple of people coming in and doing some work for us. This is a HUGE step for my husband who is so stubborn, focused , and frugal that hiring help is against his morals on many different levels. But my own determination (and the Lord's divine intervention) has helped my husband see the light. The stress that has been relieved by this decision is immeasurable. I see the money we're spending as an investment...in our marriage.

Enjoy the updated pictures of our kitchen. It isn't done yet, but it's a lot more functional. We still have to paint and put our knobs on the cabinets. Notice our butcher block counter top on the island. It's the one from IKEA.

The Vehicle of Super Heros

My husband wears a tie to work and sits at desk for the better part of the day, but on his lunch break and after work he turns into a super hero known as Mr. Fix-It. He has a great disguise and his super hero vehicle rivals Bat-Man's car. When in super hero mode he trades in his usually ride (a Nissan Altima) for the more powerful Dodge Grand Caravan. The Caravan has amazing capabilities, it's almost like a pick-up truck in disguise. The Caravan allows Mr. Fix-It to work among his peers without his true identity being revealed. They have no idea that after work he goes home and transforms his persona and his house. Just the other day, in a little less than 1 1/2 hours, he was able to get materials to transform both our yard and our deck into a more habitable and enjoyable spaces. He did all of this and was able to return to work and save the world by selling an annuity to a retired couple. Yes, folks he really is THAT good. Enjoy the pictures that show a glimpse into my husband's secret identity.

Holding Pattern

I am a bit (no I am extremely) frusterated at our lack of progress. It's not that we haven't been doing things on this house. It's that we haven't been doing things that can be seen. I am so tired of having my toaster in my living room, and not having a toilet downstairs, and not having a sink upstairs, and having frogs in my pool (yes I am still working on the whole pool thing).
Mr. Fix-It spent this weekend and the first two days of this week putting up gutters in the front of the house. I realize gutters are very important to keep moisture away from the basement, but they don't improve my quality of life. I want shelving. I want paint. I want knobs on my kitchen cabinets. I want a TOILET!
Well, I will stop complaining and go help my spouse put up some shelves in a made shift pantry. Sorry about my rant. I just had to get a few things off my chest. I promise my next post will be more uplifting. It may be a few months before I write one, but it WILL BE more uplifting. I hope you are enjoying a dry basement. I pray I will be in a few weeks.