Closing today!

Today we are closing on the sale of our house. It's the final step in what has been a relatively easy process. I think it was nice to sell to someone we know so there was no pressure to get all of our stuff out at any set date. We still will continue to get the rest of the garage and polebarn emptied this week. Steve and I will be in the Anoka area until Memorial weekend, continuing to work on Sadie and Mike's house. Several people have asked me if I'm sad about leaving the house Steve and I built and raised out family in and I can honestly say that I'm not. The house is just boards and bricks like any other building. It's the memories of all the great times I had raising my family there that I'll own forever...no matter where I live. I'm hoping to build more great memories with my ever expanding family at our next home. I can only hope that the new owners and their kids in our old house - and Sadie, Mike and the kids in my Mom and Dad's house - have as great a life on Blackfoot Street as I had for the past 41 years!
This past weekend we hauled another load up north to the "new " place in Barnum. I'm using quotes because it's not really new-in fact it's quite a sight. We call it "The Burned-out House" if that gives you any clue as to it's current beauty. Before we bought it, someone tried to burn it down but only succeeded in filling it with smoke. We gutted it and it is now down to stud walls and isulation. The plumbing was disconected when we added an attached garage last year, so my bathroom is a port-o-potty at the moment. My kitchen stove is a propane camping burner and my kitchen sink is a dishpan and a 5 gallon pail. When I want to take a shower I just heat up a bucket of water on my burner, haul it outside and ladle it over me while I stand on the pallet next to the Johnny! It sounds ridiculous but I really think it's kind of funny and if you know me at all...you know how frickin' fancy I am! Sitting right in the middle of the construction zone is my Select Comfort bed which I am looking forward to most when we finally move up here. I continue to see it how it will be not how it really is - probably a defence mechanism to keep me from going insane! I'm sitting in what will be the sunroom as I type this and noticing that it's starting to feel more like home to me - the first time I really felt that way. Thinking about all the projects and months of work ahead of us, I feel very excited and can't wait to get started!

Busy, busy, BUSY!!!

Well, where to start? Last weekend, Steve and I took the rest of our belongings up north to store at the Barnum house. That's not realy true. We still have to empty out the garage, polebarn, and move the office of Steve's business! Meanwhile, the new owners of our house have moved in and are getting settled. We will be spending the next week and a half living out of suitcases at Sadie and Mike's new house while we renovate the kitchen before we "officially" move up north and they move in ...all of which needs to happen by Memorial weekend at the end of the month. Whew! In the mean time we are trying to run the business from a folding table in the middle of a construction site! I can do this...I can do this...I CAN DO THIS! It's only for a couple more weeks, and Sadie's kitchen will be fabulous when we're finished! Once I get up north to my dandylion/mosquito farm, I'll probably start missing all this mayhem... but maybe not right away!
ps...Weigh-in Wednesday has been postponed until further notice...my scale is missing...it disappeared about the same time I had that dream about eating a giant Thin Mint cookie...I remember waking up feeling bloated yet strangely empowered!