Little Touches of Home

Carpenter built this shelf for me way back in our first home at Greene Acres.  I insisted we take it down and drag it along for the move -- so now for the past 10 years it has been way up stored in the barn rafters.

Last week it was dragged back down, retrieved, cleaned up and put in the dining room of our new home.

It weathered and aged just to my liking while it sat and waited....waited...for a new home.

It didn't take me anytime to fill it up with things I love!
Dried cockscomb from a friend's garden, fresh wheat grass growing in my herb box, a porcelain berry colored basket from my mom's favorite things, a few pieces of my adored French Farmhouse rooster dishes, courtship candles with handmade beeswax candles sitting still, 2 pretty pink depression glass plates from my Ma-Ma's favorite things (now passed to me to add to my favorite things, and a wisteria vine wreath I made from vines my friend Sharon's backyard, (like 25 years ago!).

A Plump Wife and A Big Barn

"A Plump Wife and Big Barn Ne'r did any Man Harm!"

Previously posted at my old blog in January 2008 - (I warned you all I would be posting backwards since I started this blog way late into the journey!)

-----------------------

Jan 2008 -- I am starting to look at trees in a new light! Trees have always just been trees to me and not something spectacular though if I had stopped to think about it -- they are a wonderful creation of God for our world.
Now trees are very special to us as they are providing the siding and interior for our new home. My husband purchased a TIMBERKING sawmill back before the year's end and I am thrilled to say it arrived in one safe BIG piece and is now all set up in our big barn!

The house was completed to be IN THE DRY before the fellas began the hunting season in earnest.  It sat patiently waiting some more work all these autumn months and I am thrilled that work is once again humming right along every spare minute on the HOUSE.
The sawmill is proving to be a huge blessing.  We have a TIMBERKING 1220 (inquring minds want to know!)  You can view one if you have an interest in sawmills at http://www.timberking.com/

It is a 2 man job but we have been blessed with such wonderful helpers -- our boys!! -- so with my CARPENTER and just one 'bigsize' boy they can cut about 100 boards a day.  This is a full day's work of course and so this only gets accomplished on his day's off from the work at Organize It. 
The house 'in the dry' has become the new storage area for drying the plank boards.  The rooms are filling up fast!  The planks will take about 3 months to cure and dry and then hopefully we can start seeing some boards go up as exterior siding!  Whooohooo!
It has been thrilling to have calls coming in from all over -- "hey! we have trees we need removed or cut - come and get em!"  So far we haven't had to pay for a tree yet, but have been able to salvage from power line areas being cleared, land being cleared for construction etc.  Each tree of nice size yeilds up to 30-50 boards so you can see why I am starting to LUV TREES:)
I have patterns for porch furniture ready for the boys to begin building me some adirondack chairs, rockers and swings as soon as Spring rolls around.  We have huge 10 ft wide porches that wrap the entire 4 sides of the house so lots to build boys!  Can't wait! for a handmade rocker by my boys from wood my husband cut and made on the sawmill...that will be GENUINE HOMEMADE stuff, eh? (This has yet to come to pass - the job for the summer of 2011 is to finish the wrap porches and fill them with rockers!)

Home at Last!

The lights are on at our house!  We spent our first night in our home on March 31st!  We had a birthday supper for our GRAND who turned 8 on that day and I had my daughters in my kitchen with me (I Love having my daughters in my kitchen and us cooking together!) Little Levi (GRAND - 2 y.o.) kept running from room to room saying "Here is anuver one" - he must have climbed up and down the stairs 15 times exploring all over.  The front door in the photo came later.  Carpenter got all the doors built and installed

this past few weeks.  Every morning we wake up and still feel like we are living in a dream.  We are far from finished as there is much still to do including all project for all summer finishing the wrap porches....but we are finally home!  I've been so busy unpacking and settling in - not much time to blog but I have been taking lots of pictures to share with you as the days come and go! 
Thanks for all your kind wishes, house warming gifts and blessings. 
Here's a wish for you:
"May there always be work for your hands to do;

May your purse always hold a coin or two;

May the sun always shine on your window pane;

May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain;

May the hand of a friend always be near you;

May the Lord fill your heart with gladness to cheer you."