A new Door Opens!

I know I should be doing a year end wrap up post, but dang what a bummer that would be. Instead of talking about what I did; I'm gonna talk about what Im gonna do.  I had a difficult year.  It did end well though and I just have to get my head around "what's next". 

So I ended up buying my x's share of the old place, its right next door to where I LIVE now.  We had already split the land up between us and my Mom and I had added to my Mom's house and am living here..but I just didnt want to let go of that land next door so I traded 4 acres of wooded land for some cash and added a bit to it and now I own the old place...its in bad shape but it can be made nice.  NOW The big question is WHAT TO DO WITH IT? I  could sell it and have it moved off the land....or tear it down and sell it for salvage,  or rent it out or just keep it for my son...

I showed you the house in snow in my last post, here it is in summer..

SO now the clean up will start, 13 yrs of neglect to erase and spruce up and on my beer budget that means a LOT OF DIY projects.  Im no stranger to hard work...but dang Im getting up there in age and although we all like to think we can keep right on doing what we did at 40 at 60 but the truth is WE CANT!!

So anyway....the first order is to tear down the old tool shed it had a potting shed on one end, and its all too rotten to replace so I plan to tear it down, salvage what I can of the timber and tin and use that to start roofing over the old barn.  The backside of the barn has a 3 ft x 24 ft area that was used to store feed and hay when we had horses, so that will become the new tool shed for the big stuff...I plan to add a lean-to shed at the back for the lawn equipment...and KEEP the barn stalls for critters that I plan to adopt!

NOW Ive made some progress, I tore the old roof off the barn a couple yrs ago, and Ive been keeping the pasture mowed so most of that brush is gone...

Before ....

after...

Now even the old rafters are gone, I took those off on a different weekend...so this old block barn is 24 x 18 feet it has 2 barn stalls with a wall separating the two stalls, and a wall separating the storage area from the stalls.. It will cost less to put a roof on this old barn than to start over building a new tool/storage shed.

I moved my martin houses back to the middle of the field and I am very hopeful I will get martins since the neighbors who used to house the colony sold their house and they took the martin houses with them! SO When that colony returns they will find their home is GONE..but mine is right across the road SO I hope to get all sorts of new life into this old house! 

I hope to include some of these projects in the blog, as time goes on... so stand by for more...

in 2013 !!

PEACE

DixxeLand Christmas Wish

We have no snow for Christmas, but here is some from times past to wish you a Happy Holiday from ME here in DixxeLand!!

For anyone who wonders where and what DixxeLand is, I shall explain!  DixxeLand is where I go inside my mind when I want peace and tranquility. It comes expressly from my imagination, and its  that comfort zone I turn to when I need solace and when my spirit needs to be refreshed.  ITS my special place to commune with my  friends real and imagined and its a place where ALL my Dreams DO COME TRUE! So wont you join me in DixxeLand? You can be anyone you want to be when you're there and you can enjoy doing anything--- you are only limited by what you can imagine!

IT is my virtual reality and my sanctuary when times are hard.

A bright spot that I can carry with me no matter what!

...cause whatever burns on the inside, shows on the outside...

hope you can find your way to DixxeLand when ever you feel the urge!

No matter who you are or what you're facing it can be made better, in DixxeLand!

Y'ALL COME 

PEACE

12 Days Till Christmas!

OKAY the world didn't end today...

Oh yeah that's next week DUH.. so if it does, all this hard work we had done in our house was for naught..

I got nothing of interest to blog about but figured I would  update anyways...I know you're probably saying "oh' you shouldn't have" HAHA

..We did survive the Renovation from HELL, its only a bad memory now...lol   We're are happy we got this job done it was an absolute necessity...

The kitchen, the entire floor sub floor, joists, and one large main support beam had to be replaced...due to OLD termite damage! They literally torn out the entire FLOOR we could see the ground!!!  We designed it to look retro "70's!! LOL  NO we did NOT...its the REAL thing no retro here...this is our 1970's kitchen it's almost coming back in style, maybe in another 10 yrs?  We had hoped for a brighter color on the floor but this is growing on us..

The Living Room had carpet over old worn out hardwood it was unsavable! So we went with laminate wood flooring in there, a red oak color...we love it..we still have to get some area rugs for the dogs, for now we are using the old ones we've had.  I think I see Mom's feet in this shot..HA!

PHOTO?

                                

                     Lucky for us, it didnt take a month, the time it did take was long enough!!!  Meanwhile now its a week till Christmas...IM so busy at work I can barely take a lunch break....I plan to ask for Wed, Thru, and Fri after Christmas OFF cause I really need a break. HOPE she will give it to me...if she does I want to go somewhere!!

I 'fixed' up these little bags of goodies for my coworkers..all 4 of them!

                  

Hope you're all set for Holiday Cheer, and if not you got 12 days to get your act together!!

  

PEACE

this old house...

No this is not our house,  but it feels like it at the moment if you recall we are having some renovations done....I have no photos of the renovation because its just too CRAZY! I will however take some after shots...maybe when I get over the shock of it all...they used 3 1/2 inch baseboards where they should have used 4 1/2 inch ones...SO they have to redo part of what they did----DUH, Im no carpenter but I think I WOULD know better than to do that...

SO they show up earrrrly, like  before 8 am, they hammer, saw, bang and drill  all day...Poor Mom, looks shell shocked! THE dogs are crazy barking constantly at the strangers in the yard and house...

I  cant sleep decently never knowing when they will come knocking on the door, as they never tell us what time they will arrive...we have both been very stressed out...

They told us they planned to finish Friday...

But they didnt, so they promised to come today, Saturday, they didnt..

We have been living like an episode of Hoarders this past week.  Everything from the living room was split up between my bedroom and Mom's bedroom, and everything that should be in the kitchen is now on the screen porch! SO we are unable to cook, good thing we love to eat raw veggies anyways..we ate out this evening...

They nailed our satellite connection wire underneath the floor so we cant hook up our satellite dish, so we are back to watching antenna, which is a blessing for a dull evening, kinda, well tonight is IT's A Wonderful Life.
... meanwhile we decided to take our laundry to the laundromat since our washer/dryer is now on the screen porch...and wouldnt you know when we arrived the laundromat was flooded with 2 inches of water covering the floor..SO we washed but I just didnt want to stay and operate a DRYER with my feet in water.....so now we have wet clothes hanging all over the place with all the rest of the chaos!

What a week!!!

PEACE