3 Month Mark

It is difficult to believe that we have only been here for 3 months!!! It feels like much longer and much less all at once. We have done so much… mostly just small things, but they have made a huge impact.

We still have some things that need to be done. We were hoping to remodel the master bathroom, but that may wait because we have detected a little heating and cooling issue, which in turn has found a small electrical issue.

The heating and cooling problem is in my Creative Space. My space is a 2 room area and part is an addition over the garage addition, and appears it may not have been insulated well enough, but we want to see what happens in the winter, so we deal with the whole problem… The electrical came about, when we moved the portable a/c to the Creative Space, and operated it while the DH was working in his shop below. Either there are not enough circuits or they are under size.

So what does my new space look like? From the entry… you can see the first room and the entry to the second room. The space is blue, actually 2 colors of blue and the lighting is 2 ceiling fans, (but those new LED Cool White lights are so much better…than florescent!!!

from here on the right, is a closet on the same wall as the door, and on the left a wall full of shelves, a cutting table, and some bookshelves and you can see the door way to the other half of the space that is mine.

Looking at the wall of shelves. I decided, after putting all of the fabric on the shelves in Virginia, that I like all of my fabric on view and most my crap hidden. On the top are bits of art work and gifts from quilty friends and family and my postcards!

Last is looking back toward the entry…

From the entry to the second room

again on the right is a closet and there window is directly across from the door, (you can see the a/c unit). I have a sewing station set up in this room…. with a cutting table too. This cutting table and the dresser (under the TV), we have had for 20 years and were a dark stained pine. So I decided that I wanted them white. So I spent about 10 days priming and painting both.

The design wall, TV and desk are all on the wall opposite the sewing station. I also moved a small section of our office furniture in, to house a computer and a printer. None of the walls are full height except the end ones…. so I am a little limited on wall space.

and lastly looking all the way back to the entry.

So far I like my space!!! I have finished a Challenge and have the other Challenge ready to quilt and as of today, a good start on 2 gifts and a piece for the Creative Space!!!

Have an questions about what you see in any of the pictures?

More Later-Beth

The new place

All the issues with buying this house…. and all the issues for selling the other houses are hopefully also complete and behind us forever and ever!!! Lets just talk about stress for a moment… It is bad enough when you have to coordinate the departure of the house you reside in to purchase a home in the same vicinity, but when you add in a terrible experience looking for a home… in a different state…  and have to make a second visit to find a home. A car that needs attention and a dog that needs to see the vet in between and a house that still needs to be packed. While doing all of the above, I also had to come up with a contingency plan of where and how to live if we did not find a house or a delay between closings. Fortunately everything worked out and pretty much on time, but not without lots of prayers and hard work by our Real Estate agents!!!

There was a slight delay between the two houses… so the dogs got to visit the kennel and plants had a short and dark stay at climate controlled storage locker (along with a trailer full of other stuff), while we made a short visit to South Bend, IN. I have not visited with my in-laws since November of 2011.  So it was nice to visit and catch up, (and a bonus laundry!!!!)

The new house is bigger and more functional, as we do not loose several hundred square feet to staircases. BIG BONUS! It has a Creative Shop for the DH too! There are only 2 staircases compared to the 4 of the townhouse, a more normal number of bathrooms (2.5 compared to the 4.5 of the townhouse), 1 wood fireplace compared to the 3 gas ones in the townhouse and a fenced yard that is about a 100 times bigger! The dogs enjoy running from side to side and chasing the ball again. Well, Linzi does, Axel is nearly 12 and showing some real signs of age. Sad part is, that dogs of his size have a relatively short life span, (12-14 years).

The furniture was delivered. A quick shout out to Campbell Moving!!! After my last experience with United, (I DO NOT recommend Untied as a mover), I was a bit apprehensive using a mover. But they treated our belongings with care and concern and so far I  have only found one item that was damaged and quite frankly glad to see it go! I did all of my own packing, because I am conservative and prefer to unpack boxes of stuff not just air filled with paper!!! This is a picture of the Creative Space on June 3.

We had our first visitor the following morning!

He was crossing the driveway, just before I snapped a picture. It was a big guy…. about 9 inches across and about 12 inches long. We have been so lucky that nature has been welcoming us daily. It is amazing the green of trees and grass. Lush is probably the best word. I cannot wait to start planting shrubs, flowers and more trees.

The robins are fat and happy, full of song, and are currently fledging their young. There are several other birds… that are familiar, house finches, cardinals, sparrows, and a mockingbird that copies all the other birds… it needs to work on the cardinal calls  though. There is a resident bunny that lives under the deck. We will have to remedy that …. so the dogs don’t have a rabbit meal, and so far the dogs are not aware of the squirrels… I have also viewed a raccoon, running though the yards, (it was well after sunup, so need to keep and eye on the dogs… Don’t need a rabies scare too.

The resident bunny and a fledged robin.

I am still unpacking and waiting for the dryer delivery… This will be the 3rd dryer for this washing machine. Every time we move, it seems the dryer connection… is opposite of what we have. I am also waiting for the delivery of a new kitchen range and having a gas line installed in the kitchen.

This is the living room now

and soon there will be blinds on the windows too!

More Later! Beth

 

Springtime in Virginia

As the title suggests there are signs of SPRING everywhere in Virginia. Of course … the blooming of the forsythia is the first true bloom that the winter weather is done. I wish I had gone out with the camera to captures some of the yellow bushes dotting farm and field in all of its wild splendor. But I was at home…making ready the house for Sale. Its done. The house has been on the market and is already-

Off the market. We are under contract and if all goes well … our stuff will be on a truck heading some where soon. The where is the big question. Essentially we are homeless…

I have to say that the online pictures make the house look like a magazine layout! But I have put away everything that says us, had the interior repainted and the dogs confined to the kitchen and family room. I could get used to living in neatness, if I didn’t have to do all the neatening!

 

Because I have had to be out of the house a few days… I took the camera out for some exercise.

To start a SPRING sunrise. Not the clearest because I took it through the window. Reminds me of some of the sunrises I saw in Nebraska!

The next 3 are tiny small flowers that grow under the trees. The flowers are only half of an inch, and the stalks maybe 4 inches tall. So very small and 2 different varieties.

Forkleaf Toothwort

Carolina Spring Beauty

and here you can see a bit of the Spring Beauty color

Sometimes I am amazed by what I see, that I never saw before. Like the maple seeds above, right after the bloom…  and just before the leaves.

I found these to 2 ladies out for a spring stroll. I never realized before how iridescent the feathers were… until one was in the shade and the other in the sun.

And of course a wild violet. I found a large patch near a creek yesterday. FYI, in some places this creek would have been a river!

An old barn with red roofed cupolas.

So that is Virginia spring and what I’ve been up to in a nutshell. Not much sewing.

More Later-Beth

 

 

Progress!

Another month is gone and yet again I don’t have much to tell about and the few things I have to tell, are so boring as to be totally uninteresting.

I am still packing and preparing… the house.  The painters have come and gone. It took a whole week, but the walls and trim look great.  My “Creative Space” shrouded in plastic…

The carpet cleaners are here today… and next week we should have a sign up in the front. There will be a professional photographer for the sales brochure and the MLS listing (and Realtor.com). I have packed up all most all of the none essential stuff. I have a bit more to go… but quite frankly I am running out of enthusiasm and energy….  because if I haven’t been packing I have been doing some spring cleaning… you know cabinets, shelves, fixtures…. and more! We have also moved most of those packed boxes to storage!

The weather here can’t decide if we are going into spring or reverting back to winter and we have had 3 weeks of very cold and snow… Not as bad or as long as last winter, but it sure feels like it!!! I have been entertained by the birds though. Every winter I put out suet blocks… to help them through the cold spells and in the spring and summer I generally put out seed bells. I have these just outside the kitchen windows…. This winter I have had as steady feeders 3 Titmouse, or is that titmice, or titmeeses?

and 3 Chickadees,

I didn’t know that the Titmouse and Chickadee were in the same family, and sound the same.

a house Wren, don’t they appear to have a stern expression?

along with the resident sparrows, juncos and of course the ever present but unwelcomed European Starlings. Both the Titmouse and Chickadees have become so used to me that they don’t even fly off if I am moving around in the kitchen.

I am not an avid bird watcher just a hobbyist, but I have added some new birds to my list of sightings. This winter an Eastern Towhee

and mate, (I think it is the mate, she has a slightly less bright coloring)… visit on a pretty regular basis. A couple of fat little round sparrows

that are very different than the regular house or European sparrows, which I have  not yet identified. They are quite round and have a small little streak of yellow above the eye and more clear/stark marking. I also saw that the house finches were back yesterday along with my first nuthatch.

 

What a cute little guy, and has a very apparent personality. Also he is not afraid to scare off the starlings. I have also had a pair of Downey Woodpeckers feeding as well. This is the female, the male has a red patch on the back of his head.

Just before the  and cold weather I saw robins, but I think they were pushing Spring a bit faster than Mother Nature wanted her to arrive! But I think we may have turned the corner, because this week I have heard Cardinals calling. The female has been to the feeder, and this morning the male stopped by too.

On the creative front not too much happening… It has been rather difficult to spend much time stitching… but I have 2 items on a deadline that I will have to find time for…. one is a Round Robin… and the other is friendship blocks….

More Later….  Beth

And now we can get back to sewing!

A couple of new birds… have visited since the last post… a Stellars Jay, a pair of House Finches and a pair of Cardinals!!! I also heard a Wood Pecker yesterday (banging somewhere on my deck), but I did not see it.

The sewing space has been completed. I cannot believe how much more open and less congested it feels now that the ledge is gone! I have to thank my Dear Brother in Law (DBIL) that lives nearby for donating his time and expertise in getting rid of the space waster!!!

The beginning - We tore out the drywall that was covering the ledge and the supporting 2x4’s…. and were left with this.

and the middle -DBIL installed the new drywall, taped, mudded and sanded.

I then painted the wall and trim, then baseboard was in installed.

This is the ledge (with the ironing board on it) and now it is gone!

I love how much more open it feels. I opted to just patch the carpet… instead of replacing all of it. Now I can create with abandon and worry less about any messes I make… and consider replacing the carpet when we leave. I have moved all the sewing machines back to the original positions and the new empty wall will become the design wall.

I have been busy already and will share that next!

On the Wall

Before I left South Africa I received my ‘birthday blocks’ from the Kwetterkwilters. I posted about it here.  I mentioned that I was most likely going to frame and hang one of the blocks in my new sewing space. Marina, made a block that was so moving, bright and beautiful, that I thought it deserved a frame of its own.  

  

Its been up for a month or so. Things have changed a bit…. while I was out of the country. You used to be able to have a mat for a frame cut at the big box craft stores, but no longer. Now they take the measurements and send it out…. and then charge an arm and a leg to stick it in the frame… It took 2 weeks to get the mat back. I opted to have the mat cut, but I did the rest. Easy enough. I stitched the block to a mounting board and then put it in the frame behind the cut mat. It looks great.

Here it is hanging on the wall with a couple of other things…. You can just see a couple of postcards in the upper right corner.

I am still waiting to finish the space. We got the ledge out. It was really pretty simple. I still need to paint the wall and have the bare floor taken care of. Hopefully by this weekend… so I can tackle making curtains for the sliding glass door. I have tried 3 different ‘ready made’ solutions and all of them were hideous! So I have resigned myself to making a curtain to hang. The door is over size… so off the shelf is not working!

Times Gone By

I’m back…. It is hard to believe that we have been back in the US for 4 months and in the house for about 2 1/2 months! Some days it seems like longer and when I think about it, like now I seems even longer.

I have been busy getting the rooms in some sort of order. It has been very difficult to do, when much of our furniture has been damaged… I mean how do you set up 2 twin beds, when only one set of bed rails made the move? One of the two sofas has a leg removed, the seat of a wicker chair has a hole in the middle, the list goes on. On the other hand we have a fence so the dogs can take of business just by asking and they love it. Even though it is small, its theirs.The patio, was poured last weekend, so now the dogs are not tracking in dirt/mud when the ground is wet. On the inside, the shades were delivered and installed the week after Thanksgiving as was the carpet….

I like the look of the living room now and our neighbors can’t see everything we do. I still have a huge sliding glass door that is in need of something. I was actually thinking of making something…. but I am still thinking!!! In the meantime, a sheet is serving as a curtain.

The following pictures are of my sewing space!!! I finally have most of the stuff put away or at least sorted. The first picture, is the center area.

The shelves are nice, but a bit too shallow. The table is great and very solid.

The next space is where the redo work will be done. See that ledge, along the far wall with the ironing board on it? Its going to be torn out, so this nice neat space will be changing to a mess again very soon!!! Of course I will have another dilemma- there probably isn’t any carpet under the ledge, so I will have to decide what to do about it…. the carpet in the space is in good condition so replacing all of it is out of the question.

The rest of the space is an office space… is more like a hallway… but it looks cool with the French Doors!

The two doors on either side are to a walk in closet (right) and a full bathroom (left). Over the doors I hung the postcards. There is very little wall space and until I know where the design

n wall will be I won’t be hanging too much more.

And lastly, I thought that I would have time to myself, now that the holidays and the use or loose vacation time has been used up…. but NO, the DH blew out his knee and is scheduled for surgery next week. So I will be busy…. taking and doing that which is needed until he is back on his feet.

Hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and the New Year has started on a bright note.

More Later-Beth

Our House

I thought I’d share a few pictures of the inside this time. These are all from the real estate brochure, so the furniture is not mine. Besides, mine won’t be delivered for another week or two. I’m not going to be in a huge hurry, since tomorrow our stuff from South Africa will be delivered. Looking forward to cooking with a complete assortment of utensils, pans and dishes!!! I had planned to make a chili for supper last night, but realized that I would be cooking in an aluminum pot- an that does not go well with tomatoes. So I switched gears and made Sloppy Joes in a non-stick skillet I purchased for cooking in the hotel. BTW- a note about cooking Sloppy Joes, it tastes just fine if you don’t have vinegar and make it anyway!!! Because of US Customs rules and regulations, bringing food into the US is difficult, I have to rebuild my pantry. Its amazing how many things you keep on the shelf that you don’t think about not having…. like white vinegar!

The house is 4 level, almost 5 because the garage and laundry are on a level of their own level. On the main level, we have the Living room, dinning room, family room and the kitchen as well as a half bath.

The interior is very formal. I will have to order some window coverings for the living room. I don’t know how anyone every lived in this house without some privacy! This was a model home…. when built, so the curtains at the front windows are just for show, they don’t close. I will be ordering some top down-bottom up honeycomb shades for these windows. Light plus privacy.

The dining room is next to the living room, and shares a fire place with the family room. I doubt we will ever use the fire place… because its gas, and well not for heat… on the other hand, it lights with just the flick of a switch… may have to rethink that!!!

The kitchen has some cool cabinets, very tall. The best feature if you ask me is the gas range!!! I have missed gas cooking. The second best feature is a cast iron sink that is deep and a disposal! I still find myself scraping plates into the trash, though. It will take some retraining. The cabinets are Brazilian Cherry as is the floor. It will show all the dust and dog hair.

The family room is also minus some window covering- there is a huge sliding glass door that leads out to the deck. The room is not huge, but it will do for when we want to stay in the same space…. and not go to our own project/hobby rooms/level!

On the bedroom level, there are 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms… nothing really special… well there is another fire place in the master bedroom.

On the lowest level is another family room. It also has a bathroom and a sliding glass door. Eventually a small concrete patio, will be put out there, for the dogs to land on when finished with morning and late night business. We are in the process of getting a fence, but that will take a bit of time too. We have an HOA, so everyone has to sign off on it. There is a 1/2 flight of stairs going down to it, and this picture was taken from the top. And yes that is fireplace #3.

The last and best space is the Loft! It is at the top of the house and is my sewing space. It is quite large and has lots of built in shelves, a walk in closet and a bathroom. All I need is a refrigerator and tea kettle and I could stay up there all day!

This picture was taken at the 2/3 point in the space. Just to the right is the stairway down and the last full bathroom in the house. To the left is the walk in closet, behind the photographer is an office area with glass French doors and more built in shelves! The window seat next to the bed will be removed so I have all the wall and floor space. Besides it is not really comfortable for seating. The table will become the cutting and all other things area… It’s at a good height and I have 2 stools that will fit the table height.

In the end, we will put a sleeper sofa in the lowest room and a futon up in the loft to accommodate any overflow guests. We haven’t tested the full capacity of the water heater yet… but I’m sure it could be managed.

More Later- Beth

Something to Report!

This has been the toughest 7 weeks!!! We arrived in DC on September 7 and made an offer on the house within the week. We have been waiting ever since for the house to close and move in. We nearly gave up more than once - considering rental instead.

But finally wrangled all the parties, lit a few fires (one or 2 will be singed when all is done) and moved out of the hotel on Friday October 26th into this: (the one on the right).

Yes, a townhouse. We didn’t find many (detached) single family homes that met our needs…. in a price range or close enough for DH’s commute to work without sitting in traffic 1-2 hours each way each day.

We are in Leesburg Virginia. A beautiful little city, with small town feel, well so far at least. Near the country and not too far from the city. We both have a little family in the area, so we will be connected again. We are sleeping on a borrowed bed… from family, otherwise it would be the floor!

The house has 4 levels…. and too many bathrooms. See those 2 windows at the top? That is my sewing space. Not as large as I had in Nebraska or Chicago, but much larger than I had in South Africa. It runs the depth of the house and about 14 feet wide. There are lots of built in shelves, a walk in closet, a desk and a full bathroom! The windows in the picture face east, and 2 facing the west, so there will be natural light all day. Only a few townhouses have 4 levels, so I will be in the clouds by myself… most days. DH has his own space on the lowest level of the house as well. The only losers are the dogs, as we won’t have much of a yard, but we can walk to the Potomac in nice weather (so they say) and we will try going to the dog park to keep them sane. Although we can see a huge difference in their attitudes with the added space of the house over the hotel room(s).

Tuesday, the house stuff from South Africa may be delivered (storm may cause us to push that back). With that the kitchen, sewing room and our bed will be here!!! Not sure when the house contents from Chicago will get here, but hopefully still a few weeks off. We would like to get the main level painted before the furniture arrives!

Since we have been back, we have experienced 2 tornado warnings and now ‘Frankenstorm’ is upon us. Originally news reports were that Sandy would make her landing in the Virginia area, but now the New York/New Jersey area will be hit hardest. The wind and bands of rain on the western and southern edges will cause us the most difficulty…. I have a camp stove, several cans of propane and lots of soup, cheese, bread and snacks to see us through a power outage.

As Always- More Later, Beth