Happy Thanksgiving

We had our first major holiday since we've moved home, and we loved it! Seth went pheasant hunting with my uncle and cousin in the morning. Then we were able to eat with both sides of the family; and at the end of the day, we only had a 20 minute drive home. We certainly don't miss the 3 hour drive from Hastings! We do, however, miss all of our friends from the cities - so now that we're settled in, feel free to come and visit.

Four Generations
My sister, Maria and her fiance, Eliud

Elena & Cousin Frank

I've got a few more pictures of the house. My brother-in-law's mother-in-law (sorry I don't know how to state that simply) came over to help us hang pictures and arrange our furniture. The place is really coming together. Below are a few more before and after photos.

The Laundry Room

The dining room

Master Bedroom (we added a bathroom)

More living room pictures

We're Home!

Well, we finally moved into our home on November 1st, and we've spent the last few weeks settling in. The house is not completely finished, but we've been tying loose ends and adding minor luxuries gradually. We only had to go a week or so without a bathroom door (and we should be getting bedroom doors this weekend!).

The basement is also in need of cleaning. Just as we were ready to move in, the electrician was checking out the furnace and tried to clean all the soot out of it using our shop vac (which didn't have a filter). He ended up blowing soot all over the basement - every square inch of the place is covered in soot. Luckily, we didn't have anything down there other than a dehumidifier (which he replaced). I never realized how difficult soot is to clean up, but it's almost impossible to remove. My guess is it will take a good 4 to 5 days of cleaning to get it all up. He also tracked soot around the house when he went upstairs. We did our best to clean it off, but we ended up having to repaint a few walls and railings. We ended up having to buy a new furnace because there was a chance that if we turned it on, soot would be blown through the entire (freshly painted and newly carpeted) house.


The whole thing has been quite the project. I'm pretty proud of all the great work Seth did on the house. I didn't realize just how much of a handy man he is. For example, we needed a new staircase. Seth says, "No problem. I'll build one."
"Have you ever built a staircase before?" I ask.
"No, but I'll figure it out."
And within a few days, we have a new staircase. We also needed railings for the stairways. So in one day, he designed, built and installed four railings. And they looked great. Maybe that's not a huge deal to someone more skilled in carpentry, but to someone who took an entire 9 weeks of shop class to build a crooked CD rack, that's pretty impressive.

So without further ado, here are a few before and after photos. I will post more later. I've also included a Halloween picture (Elena is the pea pod on the right) and a video of Elena doing her Ray Charles impression.

The Living Room

The Bathroom

The Kitchen

Elena's Room


Halloween