Category Archives: Future Plans

Jun8

So this is paradise….(?)

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Our new house is disgusting.

There is really no other way to put it at this point it time. Seriously fowl.

Husband and I are to the point where we just laugh every time we find another hole or access point for mice.

The good news (ha) is that it SEEMS that the entry way is the main place they are getting in and we are kind of sure that we can remedy that situation.

We’ve been ripping down walls and making plans up as we go. I am really excited to see how it will all turn out – when I think about what it can become, it takes some of the sting out of what it is right now. (which is a stinky mess)

So, we will continue to fight the good fight and hope for the best. We actually do quite well flying by the seat of our pants. :)

Sounds like we might have some reinforcements this weekend which will be awesome! Hope to have some pics of the progress posted soon.

Have a wonderful weekend – sounds like it will be WARM up here!

May29

Moving on…and rhubarb

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Well I am ready to get back into some more regular blogging. Hubs and I have been quite occupied with a variety of things lately. The largest of those being the purchase of a new house/property and selling our current home.

The great news is that we have buyers for our home and I am just about 100% sure that they are going to LOVE it here as much as we have. It is truly going to be a bittersweet move for us. We have put a lot of ourselves into this house and it is going to be hard to leave it behind. BUT we are moving to an awesome new place. Well, it will be awesome once we get done with it!

Like this house, our new one is structurally sound – just needs to be updated and whoopy doopied. :) (totally a verb) We are making all sorts of plans in our heads as to what we are going to do out there – move some rooms around, open it up. First things first though – CLEANING and PAINTING. Oh the joys…will put up pics of the new place soon. We are scheduled to close FRIDAY!

 

Being busy has largely kept me out of the gardens – which makes me grateful that I have taken a super low maintenance approach to the landscaping and gardens around the house. They look great – especially after the last bout of rain we had. At any rate, the rhubarb has been left to grow wild and I haven’t harvested it. I was telling everybody how big the leaves have gotten, but it is hard to actually get the point across so hubby and I took some snaps with a few leaves in the backyard today after work. (He is such a good sport – and a real cutie pie too!)

giant rhubarb leaf

 

rhubarb2

 

Are you impressed with the size?

Surely you must be.

They are really gigantic rhubarb leaves! Ginormous. Humongous. Extraordinarily large. Exciting!

A few summers ago we used rhubarb leaves to make some stepping stones in the garden. The veins on the leaves are really big and veiny so they work really well.

I am looking forward to starting new gardens at our acreage…we should be able to squeeze some plants in somewhere on our 24 acre plot of dreamland, right?

 

Apr17

If this was my backyard…

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would you be jealous?

view

Hubs and I went out to that property yesterday after work. The acreage was amazing. Beautiful views in every direction, and the wetlands were awesome. We walked out a ways and there were all kinds of birds. Pretty much the whole wetland area is included in the property. FUN. Think of all the wildlife that is probably around out there. Exciting!

The bad thing about the acreage was that it was full of junk. Everywhere.

junk

Around all of the buildings, in the trees, on the lawn.

I am talking very serious amounts of crap. (Uncle Don, might be too soon for you to quit scrapping, we could have a fortune on our hands for you!)

But look at this shed – can you see the potential?

gardenshed

Oh look,  random pieces of junk laying in front of it.

Look past that and the falling down siding, broken out windows, overgrown daylilies, etc etc.

OH EM GEE it would be so freaking cute as my gardening shed! I want to fix it up RIGHT NOW!

The house was in pretty rough shape kind of- I think it would be a total gut and remodel job. It is a split level which I have mixed feelings about, but I think the bones of it are probably good. Ok, I have no idea if they are or not. All that I can tell for certain is that the house smelled strongly of stinky (not to be mean or rude, but old people stinky) and has not been updated in a very very long time. But I could work with it.

So between completely renovating the house and the humongous tasks cleaning up and fixing up the yard and outbuildings, I feel like a crazy person for even considering this property.

But it’s 24 acres.
And it is in a nice location.
It has it’s own wetlands.

So what do you think? Should we make an offer and move in next week?

Apr15

Getting my Garden Nerd On

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It was “Gardening Saturday” in Grand Forks yesterday and I made the trip with a friend from Master Gardeners, the other co-chair actually. She has a blog too – The Dirt. It’s pretty funny and full of good information on gardening.

I actually had not been to a garden day as a participant before, only as a worker bee so it was fun to be there and not have any pressure! Their keynote speaker this year was the famous (at least with the gardening crowd) Paul James. I actually didn’t know who he was before my friend told me about him. He had a gardening show on HGTV for about 15 years I believe. At any rate, he was very funny and knowledgeable about gardening.

The day was beautiful and we actually skipped out after lunch to head home – we were both anxious to get out and do some gardening. As much fun as it is to go to garden days, it is more fun to actually garden. :) It was really nice to have some girlfriend time though – husband and I usually spend our spare time together which I love, but it was really nice to have some time away. I didn’t realize how much I missed it!

While I was up there hubs and FIL went down to their lake place and put in the docks and lifts. Sounds like it was a lot of work but I know they are happy to have it done!

Tonight was the start of another round of dance classes – we have two classes of social dance this time around. The first class is SO good – we are going to be able to cover a LOT in that class. The second class is HUGE – 16 couples and it will be interesting to see who is left after the 5 weeks! My legs are tired after all that dancing, but it is a lot of fun.

Tomorrow we are going to look at another property about 25 miles from town. The house is ok, but it is on 25 acres and it has a pond/wetland on it! HOW AWESOME! Fingers crossed it is a good one!

Everybody have a great week! I have tulips blooming now – woohoo!

 

Mar12

A bright future

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I haven’t started my new job but I am already in love with the company.

Last week I got an email from the lady I interviewed with – it said this
Just checking in to say hello and tell you we are excited to have you on the team!! Seven days and counting!

Isn’t that nice? I mean, seriously, how many corporations have people like that working for them? Just that one simple email was enough to ease any apprehension I had about taking this new job. Well, there really wasn’t much in terms of apprehension, but any that I did had quickly faded away. And it didn’t just end with her – I also interviewed with one of the Senior VP’s of the company and he said he was refreshed after the interview – in fact he went over to the building I will be working in and picked me out an office right after I left the interview…before I had even been offered the position! How do I know this? The lady I interviewed with called me just to tell me how excited he was after I left! That would NEVER happen where I work right now.

My excitement is just bubbling over! And it isn’t their business philosophy or anything, but it totally could be.
Say nice things. Let people know they are appreciated. Get excited.
Honestly, I haven’t started there yet but I want to do the very best I can and make them all proud and happy they hired me. I want to live up to all of those wonderful things they are thinking about me. I want to help the company be better and more successful. How wonderful to be a part of that.

I can’t wait!

ALSO! They run a really awesome program where they give hotel rooms for free over the Thanksgiving/holiday season to people who are visiting loved ones who are in hospitals, treatment centers or nursing homes. This past season they gave over 340 rooms! Isn’t that awesome? It makes me feel proud and I am not even a part of it yet.

Don’t you want to work there too? Only a few more days…