In the past month a lot has happened. The plumbing was finished, touch ups happened, and on June 1st - after 125 days of construction - I was issued an occupancy permit. I think my mother was the most excited, because that meant she was going to finally get half of her house back, including her fabulous closet! You would think I'd be set up by now and livin' large, but this hasn't gone without hiccups.
I was not surprised to find my belongings in the storage unit were a little worse for wear. After nearly three years, the mice had done quite a bit of damage. They had used nearly every exposed surface as a toilet, and in a few instances had chewed into bags of clothing and bedding and made nests. Everything was transported to my basement, where it still sits, waiting to be gone over with a fine toothed comb. Which brings me to the next hiccup.
So, I still don't have propane tanks. No propane means no hot water. No dishwasher. No de-mousing hot water washes in my washing machine. No soaking in my Pat-Boone-Made-Me-Buy-It tub. No propane means no clothes dryer. No propane means no oven or stove-top. No propane has really stalled my efforts to put some semblance of organization in place with my stuff. It's coming, I just need to be patient. Hopefully by July 7th I'll have my tanks in place and be able to start my sanitation process.
In the meantime I've put the finishing touches on my entry door.
I've started working on my island project. All that's left is to finish the counter top and attach the legs.
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| I stained the legs to match my dining room set. |
I've moved 85% of my stuff out of Mom's house, but I keep finding more things tucked away in drawers and cabinets. I've set up a temporary living room upstairs, and a work space in the dining room.
I had to purchase a new futon mattress, as the other one had been defiled by the mice. For the first few weeks I slept on the futon, but I have since purchased a new bed frame. Unfortunately, I have not purchased a new mattress for it, so I'm still sleeping on the futon mattress. Not the most comfortable thing, but it'll do for now.
What you don't see is the piles of boxes and storage bins and bags everywhere. I haven't even started on the downstairs rooms. My refrigerator finally showed up, and I love it. I'm still looking for a decent hood vent, though. I've borrowed a knife, fork, and spoon from Mom to use until I can sanitize my own flatware, and I'm eating off of paper plates, but it's all good.
I've also done some outside projects. I finally buckled down and created some holding beds for my shade perennials and got those planted. They were very happy to be out of pots for the first time in nearly three years. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough room for the hostas, so they have to wait for another bed to be created.
The veggie garden is coming along nicely. I've already pulled the radish and have been harvesting lettuce, peas, and strawberries galore.
I had our guy Corey come by with his tractor a couple times so far. Yesterday he moved the deck frame (which we have the go-ahead to use as a deck off the back of my house) and my soaking tub into my back yard area, then I had him spread some of that massive topsoil mound around to soften the lines of the lower driveway area.
I also had him pull the tree out that fell in my fence area on the mule track, and cut down the nasty cherry tree out back that had been damaged over the winter. It was right behind where the tub is now.
I've planted some creeping thyme in the back yard, but I don't want to do any landscaping out there until the deck is on and I have a fence up, which might not be until next year.
I still have the mule track to work on, and the tiered garden bed project is completely stalled. I definitely have enough to keep me busy right through until snow flies, that's for sure!
