Andrew's Realty Website

I realized that I have neglected to shout out Andy's realty website on my blog. Many of you already are aware of his blog but some have only heard me talk about it and might enjoy checking it out for yourself. I enjoy his website for a good peek inside homes, which in this case is quite encouraged and legal. Check it out HERE.

His pictures load super fast too.

I will post his blog on my side address too.

Paneling

This is the kind of paneling I'm talking about for the DR & LR. It will be 5 feet high and the grids will be quite a bit closer. The LR & TV room will have the carpeting removed and a cherry laminate floor will take its place. That will probably be the last step in the entire remodel but one that should make a big difference. Things are happening fast so we're hoping mid October to be finished, it's ok if it takes longer too. This is the last post of the day-thanks for checking in!!!

A Girl Can Dream

I'll take this one, please.

Inside Remodel Phase 1

Framing for a door-goodbye green curtain!

The green and yellow portion is the future laundry room. The laundry room wall will be bumped out to the big window you see on the right. The bathroom will be in the red section. The yellow part was the mystery space that revealed itself to be the closet. We also learned that this entire space was probably a front porch at one time.
This wall will help form a walk in closet and a door will be installed to the left so that you can go upstairs from our living room. Door will go off the stairway upstairs.
Original closet door that was unearthed-will be enlarged for the laundry room.

The worst part of a remodel. What will I do with all this #$%&!?

I guess there might be some good stuff in there. :)

All the windows will arrive next week. I can't wait for them to be installed! This Wed or Thursday they will start the paneling project in the dining room and fireplace room. That will make a big difference too.

Busy Days

My days have been busier than I have been used to! Last week, workshop days went well, but were a little hectic as usual. I am really enjoying my down time this week and it's working out great that the construction started inside the house today so I can be here for questions. We had 5th grade orientation today. I then picked up my 1/4 beef in Hoffman and headed to Elbow where I returned my book The Compassionate Carnivore. It might sound like an oxymoron but it is not. Kind of ironic that my due date on the book was also when I would pick up the beef. It was a very good book and I have a few things I hope to pass along through my blog at a later date. For now though-don't throw away your meat! You would be astounded by the number of animals that are killed every day and never even consumed. This ties in with my wasted food post earlier.

Okay, back to the remodel. Today the guys are tearing down and building new walls and door openings in the vicinity of our bedroom. There was a mystery space behind the craft (junk) room and it was a closet that was boarded up. WHO boards up a closet? We could have used that space all those years. Oh well, it will be part of the future laundry room soon. It's very noisy here but after all the roofing even the cats seem to be used to it-besides Maisy of course. I thought the noise might make me anxious today but it just feels good that progress is being made and in good time too.

We had a nice weekend in the cities. I relented and let Dan go back on his promise not to play in the state senior tournament. They lost both games but the guys had fun. I attended the Sunday game-it was a beautiful day. It was nice that it was at noon so we could get home earlier. We met Charice and Sean on Friday night downtown. We ate at Hell's Kitchen for breakfast Sat morning-very good food but we still prefer Keys which is now conveniently located in the old Foshay like the W. I hung out on my own most of Saturday after Dan took off. I hit Marshalls, spent a lot of time at the public library where I researched bathrooms and found many good cheap books for my classroom at their used book store. Spent some time at B & N researching bathrooms again.

So, now you are all caught up on my happenings in the last week. I might post a remodel picture after the guys are done working.

Random Pretty Photo & Thoughts

I did not take this picture-just a lovely one I found, must be from France-don't you think? My coworker showed me pictures from her dream trip to France today-she said she cried when she left. At least she made it there-very happy for her.

Last weekend, Mom and I had a very nice weekend in Keewatin. The weather was beautiful, Shari was cooking fresh garden produce for us and cheesecake, all town rummage sales in Hibbing, a tour of the neighbor's beautiful new home, dinner at a new Mexican restaurant, and time to relax and hang out. Ellen, I enjoyed our bike ride too! We had great luck rummaging-a wide variety of items such as many classroom books, a fish tank, tennis rackets, hang loose foam hands(Shari's), Hagar pottery, a gorgeous flouncy apron, figurines for Shari's classroom collection-including one in pink, and oh so much more. Fun stuff. Kept us busy all Sat morning. Plus, Shari picked up some free magazines that were fun to browse through sitting out on the deck that afternoon. I must add that Carly was a great rummager and found a few new purses and used her own rummage sale money-so proud!!

Remodeling Update-They are still shingling and probably another full day yet.

School News: Workshop Day 1 is over. Tomorrow, we head to Morris for meetings, speaker and grade level sharing. My group is carpooling and the driver needs to drop off items at S Army on the way home-don't mind that one bit-a nice way to end the day!

Final Item: I planted fall crop lettuce for the first time ever. I pulled the old stuff out of the long planters and sowed new seeds this evening. It was a gorgeous evening. I did my rough draft schedule sitting outside on the deck-much better than doing it in school.

Classroom Progress

I put in another 2 1/2 hours in my classroom this evening. This is one of two bulletin boards in my room. My desk is a couple of feet in front of the computer so I have a nice little work station here. I was VERY excited to see that the gray boards are magnetic!
I love this John Adams poster that the post office dropped off (among other items) for teachers to take. I nabbed it last spring, shortly after I found out I would be teaching language arts and social-the quote is perfect! The movie was great too! I haven't read the book but my mom loved it.
My goal today was to organize this shelf. There are no open bookshelves in my room so I have to use my counter space. I realize it's a bit busy but think it will be okay as there is almost 2 feet of counter open and I will keep the doors on the shelves clean too.
This is the science corner of my room. Live plants and my fish will live here under the skylight.

Another shot of the science corner.

Here's the student computer and part of the Mn corner. I will show that later when it's done. Jen, I am using the moose you made for me in my classroom. He looks great with the Mn stuff!
Here is the other bulletin board in my room. I covered it with an old atlas that was in bad shape. I got it (25 cents) rummaging in Hibbing on Saturday with Shari, Mom, & Carly. We had great luck-more on that later!

Remodel Post Two

The new fireplace was completed on Thursday. We are very happy with it and it was cold enough on Thursday evening to test it out for a couple of hours. The roof is about one third finished and we are happy with the color that Dan picked out. The whole crew will be here on Monday and they should come close to completing it. I think the paneled walls are the next phase. The Thermo Tech windows should arrive in a week or so and then they can go in. The Andersons will take a bit longer to arrive.

Day One!

Our remodel began today. This is a picture of a HGTV Dreamhouse-am I expecting too much?!!!! We are doing a fairly small remodel in the grand scheme of remodeling but I am still overwhelmed by all the decisions. It's exciting to have it happen and very scary at the same time. Today, they started working on the roof as we are re-shingling and putting new gutters in. The window guy came and did the final measurements-that was VERY scary. Do you know how many choices there are for windows???? I'm just glad to be finished with that.

Tomorrow, the new fireplace will be installed and the floors will be measured in the living room, TV room, bedroom, future bath, laundry, and upstairs bedroom. It would have been nice to start this project a couple of weeks ago but we were waiting on the estimate so it coincides nicely with the beginning of a new school year. ;) In addition to packing and unpacking 76 boxes to date at school, I am now packing boxes at home. I'm not really complaining, it's just a temporary thing and will be worth it in the end.

We're going to turn the junkroom on the main level into a master bath and separate laundry room. No bathtub, but a tiled shower and two sinks!!!! No more spitting in Dan's shaving water. The space near our bedroom will be a big closet. All my crafts/Christmas/junk will move upstairs. I will take some pictures along the way and try to keep you up to date.

Larson Weekend/Flekkefest

Grandma & Gracie snuggle.

Grant is such a honey!

Dig in, Joey!!

Ellen, Gracie & Kayla

Dad & Paul

Look at those baby blues!!!

Serious fishing!

Shari, Nancy and David ran the 5K for Flekkefest and enjoyed it. They especially enjoyed their shirts!

Dog Days of Summer

This week I am looking forward to doing little more than reading-I am woefully behind my goal of three books per month, or was it two? I am shocked to look at the calendar and see only 2 full weeks 'til workshops and then a one week reprieve until school officially begins on September 8. Don't get me wrong, I am excited to start a brand new school year in a brand new (to me) building, but the end of summer is always sad. Like EB White wrote in Charlotte's Web the crickets are chirping "Summer is gone, summer is gone, summer is dying-dying." Or something like that. Damn crickets.

I managed to finish reading Julie & Julia. I almost set the book down about a third of the way through but stuck with it and finished it today. Next, I am going to read My Life in France, which got rave reviews compared to Julie & Julia. Thank you, Shari, for lending me that. Next on my list is The Compassionate Carnivore and the author will be a guest speaker at our library in September. So, my goal is two books this week. Wish me luck. Have you read any good or bad books this summer that you would like to share on my blog? Please do! Happy reading and Happy Summer Days. Enjoy them to the end.

Wheat Windrows

Thank you Ann and Anonymous for giving me the correct terminology for this picture! As Jan and I were finding our way back home from the Cottage Tours near Lk Miltona, we enjoyed some gorgeous farm country scenery. This was taken near Millerville and Evansville.

Fun Weekend with the Deegans

Last weekend, we had the Deegan family up minus Charlotte but Chris had his friend Alex along. We had a very nice time with them and when the weather wasn't quite up to par, we set out exploring the countryside visiting Inspiration Peak, the Seven Sisters and had a great lunch at Zorbaz on Ottertail-wonderful pizza!

If you have not been to the top of Inspiration Peak and live in Mn, what are you waiting for? The view is amazing and the only season I haven't viewed is winter-maybe that is a good goal for 2010. Click on the picture of Charice and I and get a good view of the beautiful farm and lake country behind us.

Alex & Chris

Vintage Cottage Tour 2009

I posted most of my cottage pictures on Facebook but thought I'd better put a few on my blog. It was a wonderful tour-probably the best ever. Lots and lots of great inspiration including windows and bathroom which I am hoping to do something about in the future.
The cottage above was the favorite for Jan and me. Jan loved it so much I thought she was going to cry.
Have you ever seen a structure like this before? I think it's fantastic!
This red house was quite new and I loved the windows and bathrooms here. We definitely need improvements in those departments!

This little gem was my favorite on the outside!

My Birthday!

Good morning, everyone! I decided I'd better do a birthday post since there will be scores of you heading to my blog today to wish me a happy one. :) Just kidding! It looks like it is going to be a lovely day. Dan took me out for a birthday dinner last night. We had some errands to run and he bought me a cute pair of sandals at Target-Charice you know which ones-the red stones. They were only 50 percent off in Alex though. Yes, I am a low maintenance girl. He actually had no choice as I threw them in with the toilet paper and cereal. So, we were going to go and sit outside on the patio at Bugaboo, but typical of the weather lately, a big storm blew in and we went to D Michael B's instead. We picked up an ice cream cake at Dairy Queen for this weekend and to keep the birthday celebration going decided to have a Snickers Blizzard-yum! They need to add another size called half of a small. I ate it all though. :)

Today, I am going to drink coffee much of the morning and read in Julie & Julia-which I am not enjoying that much but hope it will improve. I would like to see the movie so that motivates me. Later a couple of friends are going with me to the VINTAGE COTTAGE TOUR!!! That is one of the highlights of my year so I might have a few pictures for you later. My batteries are not holding up well so I will have to be selective. Dan is needing to work, so I have to sign out.

My Prettiest Iris

Kris gave me this iris a few years ago. It blooms near the steps down to the lake so I don't get a chance to enjoy it as much as the ones that are closer to the house. I decided to take close-ups and possibly frame them. My photography skills with my new camera are sadly lacking but it turned out pretty good.

Wild Turkeys

Around 7 this morning, I looked out the bathroom window and spotted this family of turkeys poking around our yard. Sorry about the window glare. The young turkeys were about the size of a chicken and there were close to 20 of them and 4 adults. Neighbors have been talking about them, but this is the first I have seen of the young brood. They were in our yard for about 10 mn then a car scared them away. Hopefully, I'll get a bear picture for you. Preferably, the picture someone snapped already that I'm trying to get my hands on.

Working at School

I'm posting from my new classroom right now. Just a taking a little break from unpacking and orgazinizing. My pile of boxes has really dwindled. My new box count is 65 unpacked and it looks like 11 to go. I plan to finish unpacking today and get back home in an hour or so. Dan saw my new classroom for the first time today and he thought it was great.

The fireplace guy will be here this afternoon to measure and make sure the one I want will fit. We're not using Heat & Glo this time, we're going with Cozy Heat, if you have heard of that. It beat H & G in every area I cared about and is about the same price. Thanks, Becky, for recommending Alex Brick & Stone.

We had a great weekend with Charice, Sean, Chris and his friend Alex. I have a few pic's from Inspiration Point that I plan to post when I find my batteries. I'd better get back to work. Have a great week, everyone!