It’s crunch time!

Right now it’s 30◦ out with a 17◦ wind chill. It’s November, so what do we expect? That’s all fine and dandy, except we are STILL in the camper. :(  The camper is heated underneath, but it’s still basically just a trailer and it’s getting harder to keep it warm. 

So that means that it’s crunch time for the house.

All of the rooms are painted and ready for flooring.  The tile in the shower and bathtub are done. Tomorrow the floor tile in the bathrooms will be laid and ready to be grouted. We got the floor tile donated to us from an overage of another job, so we had to just match for wall tiles. This was harder then we thought it would be on a strict budget, though. It would have been just fine if we could spend whatever we wanted, but harder to match colors cheaply. We lucked out and found a wall tile for only $0.69 each for one bathroom that worked perfectly, and $0.99 for the other.

The Assistant Park Ranger’s dad had a 100+ year old barn that he was tearing down that had 8”x8”x18-22’ beams. We took them to a sawmill who re-sawed them into rough boards, then we had a woodworker, Fishsticks Millwork out of Janesville, plane and tongue & groove them into 5” widths. 

Some of the wood still has the mortise & peg holes, and the nail holes. I don’t think the woodworker really knew what he was getting into, as he went through several blades hitting old nails in the wood. He still kept to his original bid, though, which was wonderful. The cost came in about the same as a low end carpet at the local Menard’s or Home Depot at just over $2.00 psf, and should last as long as the house does, unlike that same low end carpeting.

Joe came down yesterday to help lay the floor.

Lauren also came today to help.

It’s going to look WONDERFUL.

The extra cabinets that we had to order will be here Tuesday so we can finish the kitchen and bathrooms, and we should have carpet in the bedrooms late this week.  Matt and Erin are taking a 4-day weekend to come help at the end of this week.

Even if it’s not completely finished, one way or the other……we ARE moving in next week.

October update

I haven’t been too good about updating lately, so here is October all in one. :)

New puppy: we have had Bode/Bodi/Bodhi (now….how do I spell it?)  for 3 1/2 weeks now, and its getting better. I think it’s helped to be in the camper for potty training because he can’t get too far away from us. He goes to the door now almost every time he needs out. We have had very very few accidents. YEAH!!

Tai still doesn’t like him much, but that’s also getting better. I think once he stops the puppy biting it will be better. Bode just wants to play with Tai, and Tai isn’t having much of that.

Joe, Al and I went to Des Moines to a pumpkin farm with Matt, Erin & Ryleigh and Janelle. I think the big boys had the most fun.

We went to Joe & Lauren’s for Halloween. I didn’t get a photo of Lauren’s pumpkin, but it was cute. Very Pinteresting!

Lauren’s parents came over later in the evening. With their dog Olive, we had 5 Chinese Crested dogs in the house all at once.

House: We still aren’t in the house. Ugh!!!!! We did paint it this last week, and hopefully we will be in by the weekend of the 15th. Wish us luck, I’m very very ready to be out of the camper.

This is the laundry room. I think it’s a fun color (it’s actually a little darker then this shows). If you have to do laundry, you might as well make it cheerful, right?

We should have a couple weeks of busy days and hopefully the next photos will be of the finished house with furniture in it!