Showing posts with label TN. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TN. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Dear Bubby

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Dear Bubby,

Just a note to say hi. This was the sunset just before we buried you. I thought you'd like it. We used to sit in the road together just a few feet from here and watch the sun set. 

I missed you when I came home from work today. And it was strange not having you follow me up to Mom & Dad's house and bark at us while we ate dinner.  :-)

Mom planted some daffodils at your grave today. I can't wait to see them bloom. And I'm on the lookout for a blue climbing rose to plant at your grave for you as well.

Anyways, that's all for now. We miss you and love you. 

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Trials & tribulations in homeownership

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Hi folks,
Thanks for sticking with us through our move and a week of technical difficulties in getting internet access. We're here in Tennessee, and moving here sure has kept us on our toes! Here's the best of the good, the bad, and the annoying so far:

To start, our refrigerator failed, prompting a quick search for someone who would let us borrow one until we can buy a replacement next month. Thank God for our close friends Brian and Amber!

I nearly ruined a load of white clothes in our washing machine. Needless to say it was my fault, but our plumbing system needs a good overhaul. Since writing the previous two sentences, we've discovered we have even more plumbing issues that bleed from the washing machine to one of our bathrooms. Luckily we have two bathrooms- the pink bathroom has a functional toilet and sink. Tub and shower need work. The blue bathroom has a functional toilet and TINY shower stall (shaving my legs has become nearly impossible. Sorry for the TMI.), but a non-functioning sink.

Moving into a house that was occupied by my Grandparents for roughly 50 years really makes you aware of how much crap stuff you accumulate in your life. With that said, moving into a non-empty house was challenging in that we had to maneuver around the remaining items belonging to my Grandparents while moving in our stuff. We thought the place would be empty when putting our previously 600 square feet of belongings into a 1050+ square foot house. Not so, my friends! We still haven't finished unpacking all the apartment stuff, and we've just barely begun getting things we've left at my parents' house over the years. In other words, if you come for a visit it may look sort of junky and/or trashy with all the boxes around and a carport full of random appliances and items, but I promise we're working on it!
farm bell

Now having said all that, I don't mean to sound unhappy or ungrateful. I can speak for Ian when I say we are both honored to live in the house my Grandparents literally built with their own hands, and any repairs or troubles we encountered are well worth it. To further prove my point, here are some of the happy things that we've discovered since moving:

We've had just about every single meal with Mom and Dad, either at their place or ours.

If they're outside, we can "holler" back and forth if we need. (We also have a great big farm bell we ring to tell them to come down for dinner.)

Kitter in the window
Since we're all off on the weekends together, we have a standing date for a weekly trip to Lowe's for whatever we need to fix our house. We're also looking forward to attending the Kingston and Tennessee Valley Fairs together.

One big worry we had was how well our cat, Kitter, would ajust. As you can tell by the picture, she has adjusted very well. Right now there are only two places in the house she is not allowed, and it'll probably continue to be that way if we can help it.

We got our plants from our balcony garden transplanted, and even added some new plants on our carport! We have thyme and rosemary just off our carport. We now have more bell peppers (and blooms) than ever. I took some pictures, but they're not close up enough for y'all to see anything at the size I'd have to use. Anyway, I'm already excited for next year's gardening season!

That's enough for now. Hope all y'all are well! Thanks again for your continued love and support.
xoxo,
akc

Saturday, July 24, 2010

An update

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I had a few minutes to kill so I wanted to write as much of an update as I could.
To start, Ian LOVES his new job, and has already gotten a raise! I'm jealous! Things are looking up for me on the job front, too- sort of. I'm waiting to hear back, hopefully with good news. That's all I'm going to say about that! Things have been really stressful of late at my current job due to various events, but in a way, it's nice because it makes the time go by quickly!

On the house, I hear there is hardwood flooring under the carpet in the master bedroom. This is exciting, but I haven't seen proof of it yet. Also, the drywall to redo that one wall in the bedroom has been purchased. Maybe Dad and Ian will get it up soon and post pictures!

I think in two weeks most of our family will be coming in to have one last go through the house to get stuff, and hopefully if the weather participates, we'll have a yard sale soon after. The following weekend, Mom and Dad (and maybe Ian?) will come pick up the SUPER cool couch we bought. I'm so excited to see it in the house!

Anyway, that's really all I know. Maybe Ian can chime in with more news or some pictures.
xoxox,
akc

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Working, working, working...

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I figured I would give something of an update being that we skipped the month of June altogether. I have moved to Tennessee to Ashlie's parent's farm and will start my new job on Friday. I've been here for about 2 weeks as there is a ton of work to be done!

Let's start first with the house. The master bedroom had 3 layers of wallpaper to be torn down before we could start painting. After about five gallons of soapy water and a few hours of scraping, we were able to get down to the bare bones. Here are some before and after pictures!


And after...



And here a little sample of the paint!


The wallpaper in the bathroom was insanely stuck to the wall.  This required a ton of soapy water and a lot of time scraping small sections...


Now to the outside.  First we'll make a stop by the tomato plants.  We have tomatoes!


And my project this morning/all of today was to start clearing out by the creek.  I think I made a dent in it...


And looking forward, after I finish clearing the creek, this will be my next project. There is a barn behind there somewhere!


I'll have more pictures of the progress when we get there! 

-Ian

Sunday, May 23, 2010

It's a start!

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A few days ago, we visited our soon to be home (hopefully) and did some outside work. Among pulling vines, pruning trees, and mowing grass, we planted some of our heirloom Brandywine organic tomatoes that we started from seed in Columbia on our balcony. Granted, these guys don't look like much right now, but hopefully they will grow tall and produce some nice greenish-red tomatoes that will taste great!

Here are some pics that were taken by Ash as I got my first lesson on tilling up the ground and the finished result.  I tilled one small strip that would accommodate six plants.  We'll try to keep you updated on these beauties!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Bunny Biscuit

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So here's the picture of one of the biscuits I made this past weekend. Somehow, this one biscuit looks like I made a bunny out of the dough!

Monday, April 19, 2010

absence

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Howdy friends,

Just wanted to apologize for our extended absence. We've had a death in the family and have been traveling back and forth to Tennessee quite a bit. Things will be tentative with us for the next few weeks, but if things work out as we hope, we'll have some MAJOR news by the end of the year.

In the meantime, I made biscuits this weekend, and one looked like I'd shaped a bunny out of the dough and placed on top. I'll post a picture asap.

Thanks for hanging in there with us,

ashlie & ian