Turquoise Twist...

 Hmmm... do you think Mr. Bell would like his little house now?

I LOVE IT! But that first swipe of the roller was a bit shocking, to say the least. But I kept on and did the whole house. Except the bathroom. It was dark and storming, so the color wasn't true yet. But this morning, it's amazing!

I was going to paint all the wood trim white. But not now. I am loving how the wood sets off the color of the walls. So today, on the way home, I'll get wood cleaner and polish and work on all the trim, doors and cabinets. I'll also have to do something about the wall behind the stove and sink. Plus a fridge will go there in the corner soon.

This corner will have the washer and dryer. We're going to build a little 4x8 wall coming out on the left there and then put up a galvanized piece of pipe to hang a shower curtain or something to hide them. I got those white plastic coated wire shelves from mom's yesterday, that we will hang on the wall over the washer and dryer, for storage.

I got a lot of good stuff from mom's garage yesterday. I love shopping at mom's! Her garage was FULL of garage sale stuff and has been for awhile now. She called a thrift store and they came and got most of the stuff. But she had a really nice tall shelf, a desk, several things that I can use over here. So we loaded them all up yesterday while Tiny was in town with the truck. Most will be painted and put to good use here. AND mom can now park her new Jeep in her own garage!! Yay Mom!

I will also use this little wall to hang that one box of old photos I kept from this house when we first bought this place. Perfect spot. And will be seen as soon as anyone walks in.

The big wall in the kitchen. I'll be using the kitchen now to make soap, cheese, jelly and jams. I can bring ALL my supplies and books over here now! Oh what joy that will be, to have all my stuff in one place! And to have room to work.

After I get all the wood cleaned, I'll pull up the nasty linoleum and get the floor all cleaned and ready to paint. Do you think I should go a little darker with this paint color or maybe go gray? I am thinking I'm gonna just paint the outside of the house a nice gray. The porch floor will be the same color as what I paint the inside floor. So let me know what y'all think. But I love it! I cannot wait to get it all done so I can move in and get to work!

Randomness

 I have been really tired this week. Just so sleepy. Went to bed about 5:30 Sunday afternoon after market. Woke up at what I thought was 8:30, like the living room clock said, and it was pitch black out. Tiny said the clock was wrong, it was 10:30. Then the night before last, I went to bed and woke up and it felt like I had only slept 5 minutes, it was that fast. I didn't feel like I slept at all. So all day yesterday, I was yawning and could hardly keep my eyes open. But had to get ready for farmer's market. So off I went picking and pulling and washing and bagging. Had a few stops before market. Had a great time and sold a lot. I had made fig preserves from some I had frozen last year. 9 jars, sold 6. Made dandelion jelly and salve. Sold some of those. Just did really good. But man, was it hot and windy!

Before I left for market, I checked the garden hive. The first pic frame is full of larva, big ones, and brood. Looks good.

These next 2 are full of honey! But I've been told, since these are new hives, to leave honey for the bees. So next year, I should have good honey.

Also got all the nasty stuff off the little house ceiling. They sure liked mud!

Got it all painted, with a few bad words thrown in here and there. Painting this part was crazy. It kept peeling off of the white mud part. So frustrating. But got it all done. Now off to the paint store to get the wall and floor paint. I think I have decided on colors. An aqua on the walls with darker on the floors. Also the outside will be gray with the porch the same as inside.

So will update later with color on the walls and floors! Then I'm movin' in! I can do the outside later. It needs to be pressure washed so SIN law can do that in a few weeks.

Husband goes to foot doc today. It's looking good!

All done with that horrid ceiling!

I went over this morning to tackle the ceiling at the little house. I brought a spray bottle of water with me. It comes off real easy and fast when wet. And no dust! Just a free tip for all of you who will be scraping off a popcorn ceiling any time soon.

Also had to mud around the ceiling to make it look better. And the seams where we added new sheet rock. Just waiting for it all to dry now, so I can paint the ceiling.

A friend is coming over later to help me figure out wall and floor colors. So I can start painting walls and floor. I bought 4 cans of floor paint 25% off at Ace Hardware in Lafayette the other day. I just bought them without adding color because it was such a great deal. I'll bring them back when I decide on a color for the floor and porch.

The husband loaded up the old couch and fridge and is taking them to town to sell at the recycling place. I hope they'll take the couch too. Lots of metal in it. Then after painting walls, I'll take up that ugly linoleum and take it to the dump.

I have got to go check on the hive out back today. I was waiting for the sun to come out. It looked for awhile like it might rain. I put the goats in the back yard so they'll stay out of my way. Such aggravating little devils! I think I'll add another box on both hives and take out a few frames to harvest the honey. There are a few that are really heavy with honey. Can't wait to do that!

And I'm needing to get out in the garden to plant cucumbers and butternut squash. I might have to til the other big garden spot for more room to plant more corn and beans soon.

So just a little update on this massive project I've jumped into. More later! Hope y'all have a great Monday.

OMG!

WHY? Why would anybody put this crap on a ceiling? WHY? I just did half the kitchen and it's just horrible. It didn't take too long because half the kitchen was the newer sheet rock we put up 10 years ago. And the popcorn stuff is fairly easy to scrape off. It's just ON THE CEILING, over my head. So it's all over me! And now all over the kitchen. And I'm not totally sure I should be breathing this stuff. I should have a mask on. I will tomorrow. I hate it! But oh my goodness, will it look amazing and be worth it all when it's done? Yes, it will. And I will be so happy I did this. Right now though? NOT!


My mother and I were invited to a lunch for the DAR today at the house we got to tour last year that I took so many pictures of. Mom worked with a lady who's a member. It was  really fun. All the ladies were so nice.We sat with a lady named Willa and her daughter. Willa has 3 kids and so grand and great grand kids she couldn't count them all. She was so sweet. There was an auction and I bid on a nice glass container with the spout at the bottom and a painted pitcher. We sat outside under a shelter and the view was amazing. Here are some cows in the pasture with Lookout Mt. in the background.

And I love this barn. Can you see the little white calf?

We took Ada and Jessie, the 2 goats I was borrowing, back home this afternoon. They had just about dried up. So back home they went. Then we went to get Charlotte and Claire, the 2 ewe lambs my friend Ron had gotten a few weeks ago, when I sold the 18 sheep. He's changed his mind about wanting sheep. So I have 14 sheep again. I'll probably sell them and Darla and Adele.

So when we got back home, we saw this amazing rainbow. It was huge. And all over the place. We've been having these nice rain storms here and there, for several days now. And it's going to be like this through next week. I love to see rainbows. This is looking toward Pigeon Mt, to the East.

(And the broody hen is not the brightest hen in the hen house. This afternoon, she was on a whole different nest. So her butt will be dunked in some cold water. She's got to get over this!)

1st set-back

I went over to the little house to paint the ceiling. And it looks like I'm going to have to scrape off all that popcorn crap. I cannot even paint over it. It falls right off. And if I don't scrape it off and leave it like it is, it'll bug me forever! I'll be constantly looking up, wishing I'd done it. So, I'm gonna do it. I had painted a little bit in the kitchen and it kept rolling off on the roller. So it comes off easy. I took the plastic scraper and got off a nice piece. The sheet rock looks great, for sheet rock anyway. I'll go get one of those long metal scrapers in town later today. It shouldn't take too long. And a few more gallons of paint. It sure is sucking it up! And thank goodness I'm not keeping that floor!

And here's Miss Broody Butt. She has been setting on eggs for over a month now, and I take them all from her, trying to discourage her. But she's a very persistent little hen. So I put some eggs under her and marked them with an X so I can take out the newer eggs. We'll see what happens. I only have these black hens and roo, so they'll be a true breed. I always got like 90% roosters so don't really like them to set on eggs. And the egg production always goes down too.

Mrs T. and her new shawl. And a squirrel.

 This is Mrs. T. She was so happy to get her shawl, "knit with love". I put the buttons on at her house this morning and gave it to her. She loves it. She kept saying how wonderful it was that I knit that for her. It looks really pretty on her. She's a beautiful lady.

I had my camera today and was taking pictures. I love to sit right here and take her picture. The water color painting above is her house. This is where i always remember her, sitting, reading the paper or watching the news.

We were sitting on her sun porch, eating lunch, and this squirrel ran up on this feeder and started eating as fast as he could. I got my long lens on and started snapping pictures. These are a few of my favorite shots. Squirrels are so pretty.

He saw me looking at him, but he just stayed right there and ate til he was full. Look at that long fluffy tail!

I am loving this camera! Can you tell yet? I think I'll take some of these really good photos and print them and frame them to sell in my shop. Who knows, someone else may really like them too. My daughter has some really good pictures of her new puppies that are so cute. I'll have to get her to frame some too.

Happy weekend y'all!

History of the Little House.

I really don't like to paint. Maybe it's because of all the prep work it takes to even begin to paint. If you're living in the house, then there are pictures and things on the walls to take down. Furniture to move out.  Cleaning the walls. It just goes on and on. And then there are millions of colors to choose from. It's just awful for me.

Since this little house hasn't been lived in in a few years, there wasn't too much to be moved. Just all the crap to throw away. Then, since we've never bothered to paint the sheet rock after we fixed the ceiling before we could move in 10 years ago, I had to tape and mud it. Which, to me, is the hardest thing to do. Especially a ceiling.

This house was built by the man who lived here. There has only ever been 2 families who've lived here: the Bells and us. The Bells built the rock house we live in back in 1948. It's as old as my husband. And they never had children. From what I've heard about Mrs. Lillian Bell, she was a mess. Not a happy woman. So Mr. Bell had this little house built for him to get away from her, back in the '70's. It's very well built, like the big house. And the barn out back. These 3 things will be here forever, I do believe.

So he had this house built for him to get away from his wife when she  wasn't being agreeable. This was his "man cave", back in the day. He had it all fixed up, with a bed and all. Had washer-dryer hook ups, phone jack, tv, I'm sure. And lots and lots of outlets! He died back in the early '90's sometime and left Mrs. Bell here, all by herself. Well, she never did like this house, so she just left it alone. It was a mess for sure. Roof leaked really bad, enough for the ceiling in the whole front of the house to fall in. We could barely get in the front door to look inside when we came to see the house. And the other house was even worse. She apparently was a woman who thought everything should be done for her for free, by family members. So, not a whole lot got done, in either house. And she was put in a nursing home not long after he died, I think. So the houses were empty for years.

So, during this time, people came and got things from both houses. There was only a bed and a table and chairs in this little house. AND, all along all the walls in the living room, were OLD black and white pictures of just about everyone who ever lived in this Cove. From back in the '20's thru probably the '70's. AND Mr. Bell, being the man he was, put up 12' 1x10 board all up and down the walls to hang all these hundreds of 8x10 pictures on. I mean, they were on all 3 long walls. Full of pictures.

We had to first get a roof put on this house and fix the ceiling so we could move in here while the big house was being gutted and renovated. We took all the pictures down, put them in boxes, and started asking people of the community if they wanted any of them. I took several boxes down to the local churches.

Then we had to take down all those boards. Which we used to make our new chicken-goat-horse shelter. They are still up, doing rather well. Free wood is great. So that's why all the sheet rock mud is on all the walls. And Mr. Bell didn't believe in doing anything half way either. That man used 6" long nails to nail up all those boards on all those walls. Yes he did. And in the big house too. They built stuff to last, back in the day.

So now, I am waiting on the mud to dry. I'll pick out some colors to paint the walls tomorrow while I'm in town. I'll sand later tonight and maybe paint the ceiling.

I don't mind painting an empty house, with nothing in my way. And I so look forward to what this place will be soon. And how much room I will have to spread out and get some things done. And not have to put stuff away!

I love this old light fixture in the kitchen. I think I'll leave it up. We've kept all the old light fixtures in our house too. I like old stuff.

I'll post more pictures in a few days, when I've done some more. Or when there's actually some color to see.