I realized after 4 years of not blogging and looking back that there are a few pictures of the house I want to show. First of all the house started out as a Dance Hall for those of you who didn't know that already. First we had to move the box trailer we had bought to store all of our items in. Yes everything we own is in that trailer while he was moving it. All furniture and clothing that we were not using at the time. It was packed pretty much to the ceiling! Since we couldn't find anyone to move it a whole 100 feet my husband moved it with his pick up and the help of a great friend Kevin. The bed was filled with blocking and yes the legs are down but just off the ground, just in case the trailer slid off the truck. It was chained but this way we knew it would only ruin the bed sides!! Crazy and I have a video on you tube!

Before moving in and the last few weddings that happened here we 

stripped the hard wood floors and refinished them.

 This is what the kitchen started out as. It was a long 3 years before we 

found some used windows to allow in some light!!

 Next step was to get the 2 stall bathroom into 1 whole house bathroom.

This is what it looked like in the beginning!

 We left the toilets as long as we could while tearing everything out no a great picture here.

 Everything out and fixing the floor and running new plumbing!!

 Flooring going down!!

Extra insulation. That is 2" foam boards!

 Getting ready for the new leach field!

 Picture above is where the leach field is. Below are my 3 kids all inside the bucket and playing in the dirt!

The days of the orphanage! All our friends that visited during this time would see the kids beds lined up and say it looked like an orphanage and it did but the kids loved it!

Finally making progress on the bathroom and able to use it at this point!!!

Starting the first remodel of the kitchen there just was not enough counter

space and not at all set up as we wanted it to be.

Late summer project make sure the north wall is insulated if nothing else this wall needed to be insulated as the house sits in a field and we get a lot of wind!

We also wanted a place to store our toys and outdoor things so we put a car port on the trailer that was also being used as storage.

Now back to building bedroom walls! This is the wall on the opposite side of the house from all the other bedrooms. 

Here is to the start of what felt like the never ending dry wall! 

That frame on the floor I build as a reading bench that was going to go in 

that corner by the bookshelves Updated picture below!. 

 Reading bench in place and bookshelves being built!

The start to daylight in the kitchen!!! This is the first window we installed in the kitchen. 

We bought it at an auction for $5 we knew we could always replace it later on

when we had the money and before we did the siding!

A year or so later we found these windows at the dump for free! MORE light in the dark corner!!

They have some water marks on the inside but just like the other one we can replace it down the road!

Here is the pantry we built with doors on it! 

I believe there is another post about building it!

These over head cabinets were making the kitchen feel closed in sooooo....

 Out they came! 

The summer of 2015 time to get this place insulated on the other walls!

As you can see there was insulation in the walls they just picked and chose where 

they put it! LOL

 Insulation all in and plywood. Before there was no plywood! 

It was amazing the house stayed as warm as it did!

This construction and more took place over 5 years. It was a long hard five years of all work and no play. We choose to complete on major project each summer and did little updates or additions inside during the winter! We have put a lot of blood sweat and tears into this home. My next post will show you what we did in the summer of 2016. 

Main wall in my house! Next is pictures!!!

Pantry I built in my kitchen!

Life

Sometimes in life you have to let the things in life that mean the most go, you have to bite your tongue and listen, you have to do things that you don't want to no matter how bad it hurts you on the inside, and most of the time you will never tell or show people that pain. Sometime you just have to walk away and start a new. The courage to do that is more then what most people have. When you just need time to clear your head and figure out where and who you want to be in life but there is no time because time changes everything and taking the time means you might not be allowed back. That time is a big leap of faith!

Half Homemade and some mobo jumbo!

So here are some things I have been doing this year to save us some money. The whole coupon things was fun while it lasted and while i was doing good at it but after stocking up on all my house hold needs i have been living a whole year off of what i stocked up on and probly have enough for another year. I have chose not to coupon for most of my food this year because I found I was buy more junk food then Healthy food. So here are a few things I have been doing with my stock pile.

Hand soap
Dawn Hand renewal Dish soap and water-----mix half and half and you have great hand soap!

Fabric softener
3 cups Vinegar, 2 cups conditioner, 6 cups hot water------ mix and use about 1/4 cup per load

Also been buying whole chickens when on sale and making like 3+ meal out of it. There are so many ways to save. We have also hooked up a new motor for our windmill that is producing more power. next step is to buy a grid tie inverter and then we will be putting power into the house!!! Also started looking into Hydrogen power for our cars we are going to build on and see what it does!!!

That is all for now i will be posting more on the Windmill and Hydrogen projects in upcoming post!!

Seeing through the cloud

Why is it that some times 

we are not strong enough to fight things alone. 

No matter how hard we try 

no matter how much we want to? 

Then with a little help 

we see the brightness and warmth of the sun. 

We feel loved and ok again in life 

and we can smile without the pain and darkness 

without the tears that over come us. 

No matter how strong you are you will fall but there 

is always something/someone there to help! ♥

When is enough, enough?

         Have you ever stopped and looked around at our ever changing life? have you ever wondered how much more we can cram into some thing so small? 
         Lately I have been looking at things different and have decided that I am an old sole trapped into a young body. Like really do you need your iPod hooked into your car radio what is wrong with just the plain old radio? Do you really lack the ability to parallel park? Do you need your car to be the computer that you are reading this on? Car's used to be basic and run fine. They used to be made out of strong metal not plastic and tin foil. ever see an accident of an old car and compare it to an accident today? There is a huge difference and back then there were no air bags that put off gasses that you really shouldn't breath. 
          I am not saying that every improvement in our life it not a good thing but some I think are just going a little to far. 
          What happened to the day when people wore cloths that lasted longer then a month and the jeans they bought were strong and didn't have holes already in them? I understand it is all about fashion and what you like but personally I like a pair of jeans that last at least a year and doesn't fall apart on me. Even right down to my shoes. I bought a pair of shoes when i was pregnant with Haily that i still wear. She is now 3. I have bought a new pair as the other ones were starting to fall apart but at least the $70 I spent on them were well worth it and i got 3 years out of them and still using them just not on a daily basis.  
        Cell phones really get me too. What happen to having a phone just to call and talk to someone on? Now your phone is everything from something to talk on to a camera to a e-mail to the web to texting to watching movies or reading books. WOW how much more can you cram into a thing that fits into your pocket before one day it just explodes?
              One thing that I do like it the fact that a TV is now no deeper then a inch and a half or so. LED TV, what more could you ask for it doesn't have that high pitched squeal an old tube TV has and it uses like no energy. That is a great improvement to me. 
      I just wonder what it is going to take for people to settle back down out of the fast paced life and money blowing to realize life can be simple. People used to have gardens and raise there own food and survive on there own they didn't depend on store and didn't have to have more and better things. What if tomorrow ever electronic in the world stopped working? Would you know what to do? Would you go through withdrawals like a drug addict? Who is really an addict? We all are in our own way there is one thing that we all can't live without we are completely addicted to it. It might be your phone your computer or an iPod or iPad. Can you put that down for a whole day and not look at it once or pick it up?
             I am sure there are many other things that have changed dramatically that i use everyday and don't think about but I do believe that somethings are better left alone. Why change a good thing? 
         Like gas? why add ethanol to our gas and make it so we are getting 2% to 40% less MPG? I am not sure if you have realized that you are filing up your gas tank a lot more then you used to but I sure have. I have a mini van that is a 1999 that used to get 400 miles to a tank (about 12 to 15gallons) now that same van is only getting about 250 to 300 miles per tank. this is a big change how is the ethanol helping our environment if we are using more of it and putting out the same amount of pollution? Not to mention all the engine problems it is causing in old cars and new ones. I have read that cars that are less then 10 years old take to the ethanol without a problem but why should I have to buy a new car if I don't want to? Is this just another way of the government controlling us? That is a whole other discussion i wont get into. But really people if you have the option and there were regular gas with no ethanol and gas with ethanol at every pump for the same price or even just 10cents more which would you choose? I would choose the plain old gas the one that got me 400 miles per tank not the ethanol 250 miles per tank. Why should we be forced to change if we don't want to? Funny how air plains don't run ethanol gas, that is because the ethanol causes to many problems in the engines to make it worth the change over. So if they are not forced to update there equipment why are we? I want to have the choice when i pull up to the pump without paying more. It takes more to make ethanol then gas so why should it be more expensive? They say ethanol is so much better and renewable well if that is the case make it cheaper. 
     So things to think about for anyone who reads this. When is enough enough for you? What can you live without? And do you want choices or just be forced to change for the good or not? Let me know what you think!

Winter Life

We have been enjoying relaxing lately. Been playing wii a lot with the kids and we are all having fun doing it. Most of the winter I spend hiding away resting up for the summer to come. The girls and I have been going to the library a lot lately and I have been reading a lot of books I have found that I read a lot faster then I ever did before. Reading about raising chickens and gardening trying to get ready for a large garden this year and chicks. Kids want to be able to go out and pick eggs and we think it will be a good learning experience for them to have chicks that grow and lay eggs. Looking forward to having a large garden to do a lot of canning all year long that way we have food all winter. Any little bit helps. Looking forward to simplifying our life a little and getting a lot done without a lot of money. I have a lot of things I want to do this year and I will be happy if I complete half of them!!!