The Reveal - Part 1

Wow.  I honestly had no idea how much time had gone by since my last post.  However, I will force you all to forgive me since I have the worlds worst internet and I have waited 37 minutes for the following picture to load.  Take pity.  Anyhow, there is no way for me to catch you up on all the happenings other than to use good old bullet points so here we go:

• Jack Frost wanted to make liars out of all the northern dwellers up here and sent hardly any snow (until April that is).  But Josh rode his snowmobile anyway...if there is white stuff on the grass it qualifies in his mind.
• Learned: heating a 3600 sq ft house with oil is expensive.
• Also learned: having to go out and split wood at 5:30 in the morning is horrible...what? No, of course I didn't do it!  But Josh did.  And I thought about him out there, you know, while lying in bed under 8 blankets with a hot water bottle on my feet.
• There is this thing called parging that has something to do with bricks, and filling cracks, zzzz.  We had it done and it resulted in having no oil or propane hooked up for almost two weeks which meant I couldn't heat the playroom, cook or do laundry.  I know not having to cook or do laundry sounds fantastic....and at first it was.  But then it got really annoying wearing the same underwear.
• Spring came! And then winter.  And then spring!  We bought a playset and Josh promised to have it up in a couple hours so we could kick back and watch the kids play.  We did just that....3 days later when it was finally done.
• I bought Josh a John Deere tractor for his birthday (or so I was told) which he used to pull out all the overgrown bushes and trees around the front and side of the house.  Then he bought a tiller and tilled me up some dirt so I could plant flowers.  What a huge difference a little gardening and pride in your property can make.
• The farmer next door let his cows out...and they ran!  Did you know cows run?  Excuse me, I grew up in the city.  I know that dogs run if that helps at all. 
• Learned:  not all pieces of farm equipment are called 'tractors'. 
• Also learned: being told repeatedly what they are is never going to make me remember.  Until the day that Dolce & Gabbana or Gucci start making tractors, the name or brand is not going to matter to me.
• We got a trampoline at my insistence.  It is crazy fun and it makes the boys sleep like logs at night!  A little 15 minute jump right before bed and they are all set.

And that pretty much catches y'all  you all up!

Now then, there have been some strong requests and suggestions that I post some of the 'after' pictures so here we go.  Enjoy!  I'll post more when I clean the rest of my house...don't hold your breath!

The Living Room - Before

After - I really should have kept those charming curtains...eesh.

From the other end of the room

Laundry Room - Before

After

Main Floor Bath - Vanity Before

After

Main Floor Bath - Tub/Shower Before

After - MY tub, dirty boys shower upstairs!

Front of the house - before

Home Sweet Home

Before we started this renovation, I truly had NO idea what we were getting ourselves into.  The amount of work that goes into restoring a house in this level of disrepair is huge.  But at the end of the day, this house is more 'ours' than any one that we could ever buy new. 

Tomorrow?  I'll cook...something....hopefully edible.