It's Almost Christmas!

Even though I haven't been posting life in the foothills has been interesting! To start off, we got notice that our homeowners insurance was due to be canceled. The insurance company sent out someone to check out the property and they didn't like what they saw. There were 4  problems that they pointed out needed to be fixed. The first was easy. The door that leads to the area under the deck had a hole for a deadbolt lock - but no deadbolt. Cover the hole. Done.

The next took a little longer but was still very easy. Trim the trees over the house. Most had been trimmed already but these were over the covered patio. Okay, done.

The third was a loose shingle and peeling paint on the window trim outside the downstairs window. Nail the shingle, scrape, patch and paint the trim. Done.

The fourth was not so easy. Well, it was, but... We had blue tarps on the roof. For good reason! We are worried about leaks. Taking the tarps off was the easy part. Praying for no rain was important, here. God is good! No rain! So, Dan and Bob (thank you, Bob!) have been working on the roof. Now, what the roof really needs is a complete tear off and re-do, but there's no time or money for that right now. So, the next best thing is to tear off the really bad parts and do some proper patching. The roof has some really funky shapes to it - parts that are raised for whatever unforeseeable reason and other weird junctions due to the strangeness of the additions. Anyway, the guys have been hard at work setting things right. Or at least making it so we don't have leaks. Countless hours have been spent on the roof on the weekends. We all appreciate your hard work, guys!!! So, crisis averted, our insurance has been reinstated. Yay!

Oops! In the process of fixing the roof stuff - and getting our insurance reinstated - the insurance company noticed that we have several different types of roofing. Rolled composite (??), shingles, corrugated metal and ??? Anyway, They don't insure houses with rolled or corrugated metal roofs. We were told that they will cover us for initial year, but unless we re-do the roof with an acceptable material we will be dropped on September 29, 2012. No problem! We'll just add that to the long list of 'must do, ASAP'.  :-)

Another interesting thing that happened was that we received the bill for our first full month of gas/electric usage. Well, let me back up. Toward the end of November we received our first bill. It was for about two weeks worth of time, during which we didn't yet live here. That bill was less than $40. I loved it but figured we'd be hit with a big bill after we were in the house. Nope. Next bill came about ten days ago. Less than $80, and, we'd been in the house the entire month of the billing! Hmm... Upon looking closer Dan noticed that our electric usage was ZERO. Not possible. I can't remember if I wrote about the whole electric meter snafu before we moved in...PG&E wouldn't put in a new meter because the previous inhabitants had bypassed the meter and were stealing power...did I blog about that? Anyway, it was a mess and had to be fixed - by Fannie Mae, not us, thankfully. Obviously the meter went in - a new one at that, so what is the problem now? Well, I called and after quite a conversation I was transferred to an asset specialist. I explained the issue and told him we didn't want to get hit with a $500 bill down the road so I was calling to find out what was going on. He told me that it would be investigated (and, yes, he was very clear about noting that I was the one who called and reported the problem). I further explained the issue we had before moving in and he did some checking. It seems it's not only possible to bypass the meter, but it's possible to do it two different ways! Who knew???? Rhetorical question, obviously, since the previous owners knew, apparently. So, eventually someone will be out to check on things at the meter. In the meantime, we are not using any power, according to PG&E. So, we see the savings now, but we'll have to pay to have whatever the problem is fixed. Hmm... I think I would have rather had no issues, here.

On a much more pleasant note, school is out for the semester so the girls and I are around more. I've been working on my little office. I say little because it's smaller than my last office (10' x 12' with a sizable closet). This office is about 8' x 9+' with a corner (2 x 2 1/2') cut out. And not really any usable closet. I really like the space, though. It's just been a challenge to find a place for everything. By everything, I mean...desk, filing, sewing, quilting, crocheting, drawing, oil painting, beading, photography, Avon business and last, but not least, READING. I like books. So sue me.  :-) It's still a work in progress, but here's where it stands today.

I'm getting there!

Not much else inside the house has been done,

but we did get a little bit of decorating done for Christmas.

Oh, and we added a little bit of stuff downstairs. Dan's dad, brother & sister were here for Thanksgiving and we tried to give the first floor some warmth - okay, not literally.

 Oops! We've yet to tackle the bedroom, but since the TV went up last weekend the girls have been practically living down there (playing the Wii).

 The niche under the stair case is perfect for all our old VHS movies.

 Area rugs help to warm up the ice-cold floor. I hope.

 More rugs in the kitchen.

Dan has the next week off so he's busy trying to get things done around here. Of course, the first things had to do with one of the vans, but that should be taken care of today. We're hoping to start work on our bedroom next week. Of course, we have friends coming into town on Monday and family arriving at various times throughout the week. Then my family is celebrating Christmas on Thursday, so the week's work will be chopped up. We'll get done what we can and post pictures when there's something to show you.

In the meantime we are enjoying being home as much as possible. Whether we're working around the house or yard, relaxing in front of the fire or on the deck staring up at the stars, we love it here. I think the house (with all of it's many issues) was made for us. We are blessed.

Have a very Merry Christmas!

Ownership, Day 85

Fall has Come to The Lodge!

As with most people, life has been busy for us. Somewhere in the one, two shuffle we called moving life got away from us. Well, maybe it was deadlines (at least for me, anyway). So, between a nasty cold and trying to catch up on my school work I haven't had time to post any updates. Some friends have been bugging me about it. So, even though I am still way behind (and running out of semester, I might add) I am posting another update. I hope you enjoy!

Let's see...ah, the girls' bathroom. Well, there's a story. I told you the new toilet had been installed but that the sink had issues. Little did we know! The original sink was on a wall and sometime in the past, someone moved it to the corner. However, he cut corners (hah!), and did not move the pipes. Instead, he decided to just add to the pipes and then hid them behind what looked like a cabinet. Inside the 'cabinet' was a leaky pipe. Dan knew almost from the get-go that the pipe was leaking and would need to be fixed, but what he didn't find out until he tore into the wall further was that the copper pipes inside were twisted and crimped. And, they were not secured. Before the evening was over, Dan had removed the false cabinet, the sink, the corner cabinet that the sink was in and a large portion of the wall. Unfortunately, he doesn't yet have all the parts needed to properly fix everything. That's a project for Monday, I think.

The shower in that bathroom is useable but not without problems. It has worked since before we moved in, but drains slowly. Dan has been working on it, and it has improved, but is still draining more slowly than it should. I should add that in spite of the issues in there, Jen had managed to get one coat of paint on the walls (prior to Dan tearing out everything). Once Dan began working in there, Jen halted the painting project. Can't blame her. Who knows what it will look like when it's actually put back together?

The girls' bathroom in it's current state.

We did manage to get the second coats of paint on the library wall and the diningroom walls. We placed the hutch (and filled it, as you can see), and the grandfather clock (sorry, no photo of that right now). We still need to have the Clock Doc out to tune it up and put it back together, but that will have to wait until nothing else is squeaking for that $200. Probably in January.

As you can see, our new-to-us gas stove is currently sitting in our diningroom (along with the shop vac and the vacuum cleaner, at the moment). That's because our kitchen is not yet equipped to take a gas stove. Maybe before Christmas. Thankfully, until then we are using the little stove from the first floor apartment. It was light enough for Dan and me to haul up the stairs.  :-)

I should add that the light in the diningroom (attached to the fan) does not work. It has electricity, but somewhere in the wiring things went wrong. The fan works, but not the lights. That's why the above photo is so dark. This house is *just a little* short on lighting. We're working on that. The walls in the diningroom are a light moss green.

 Our little stove. But it works!

This is in the library. Our diningroom is too small for our average sized table,

so we moved our dining area over here next to the windows.

We just decided last night to move this light over to the corner by the bookcases.
We love how it shows off the little paintings that came from Dan's parents and the evening it casts such a beautiful glow on that side of the room.

Also in the main kitchen, you might notice that we have more lower cabinets that we did before. That's because I tore out one of the cabinets from the sunset kitchen (the large middle one shown here) and hauled it over. We also moved one of the cabinets over from the other side of this kitchen (where the refrigerator is now) and filled up the gap - displacing a smaller cabinet in the process. But, we know that this arrangement is short term (like maybe 5 years) so no worries!

We haven't had a chance to do much in the master bedroom. The girls' needs have come first. We'll get there eventually, but the room was cleaned and the walls patched before we moved in.

The hole that was on the upper right has been patched.

Right outside our bedroom.

Our deck with Fall colors in the distance.

These trees are on our property down the hill.
The weeds need to go but I love the beautiful reds!

Storm clouds over the valley.
I was standing on our deck when I took the picture this afternoon.

I took this picture while standing in the library today.
Leaves from the dogwood tree are collecting on the little patio just outside.

The dogwood tree.

Standing outside looking in. The foliage is reflected on the library windows.

Next I went out front to capture the beauty of fall on our street.
The large tree/bush on the left is a camellia in full bloom.

Over the top of the house you can see the dogwood I showed earlier.

Farther up the hill you can see our parking area.

Some more color on our street - looking the other direction.
I was standing in front of our parking area when I took this shot.

This is taken from our little courtyard out front - inside the fence (the steps are just to the right of this picture). Anyway, I thought I'd show you the little splash of color here from a smaller Japanese Maple. The larger tree in the middle of the courtyard (behind where I'm standing) has not really turned colors, yet. Too close to the house, I'm thinking. It won't be long, though, I'm sure. I'll do my best to catch it at it's peak and post when it happens.  :-)

I think that's about it for now. Hopefully, it won't be too long before I can post again with more updates. Thanks for reading!

Ownership: Day 50

Becoming Home.

It's been a long 3 weeks since I last posted. It's not that I've forgotten, or didn't feel like it, or even that I don't have anything to say. I'm just tired. Plus, there's not really been time.

Well, we cleaned. A lot. And some more. Then we bought the first round of paint. Here is most of it (I somehow managed to miss 2 cans when I took this picture). So, $300 later, this is round one of paint purchases. The clerk at the store told us she liked our style. "Most people pick pretty basic, pastel colors," she said, "You guys chose bold colors. I like that."

Let's see. The girls' rooms have each been painted (except for minor touch-ups.

 These are Julie's closets (the doors). The 'hallway' between leads to a door into the master bedroom - which will be permanently sealed off sometime in the not-so-distant-future.

 This is the 'barn-door' to Julie's room. Chocolate brown was a nice choice for this wall.

 One of Julie's closets open (oops, pre-paint).

 Hard to tell the color, but this is more of the Caribbean blue. I love this corner of her room. There are lots of trees right outside and she has a great view of the sunsets from here, too!

 Chocolate meets Caribbean.

And again.

Jen chose a light grey (with blueish undertones) and a deep teal.

 Grey wall...

 

 ...meets teal 'shoe' closet...

 

 ...meets white closet...

...meets teal wall (exterior doors).

The girls' bathroom has yet to be painted, but at least the toilet has been installed. The sink has issues, so is unusable for now. Poor Dan! Every time he fixes something, we find 2 or 3 more things that need to be fixed! We are all trying to pitch in and work together, but some things only Dan can do!

The main wall in the library has one coat of olive green paint on it. We haven't had time to get the second coat on and now that everything has been moved in, it's even tougher to get the job done. The diningroom also has only one coat of paint (moss green, this time). That room is not as full, and will be easier to get to...but not yet.

The kitchen, however, has both coats of paint! I decided that it would be harder to paint in there after we moved in, so I started it the weekend before we moved. I finished the painting the day before we moved in. I was here all day on the 21st - waiting for the phone and internet to be installed, as well as the delivery of our new refrigerator. Plus the painting, of course. It's really hard to tell the color in these pictures, but it is a deep brick red.

 This shot looks out through the entryway, through the courtyard, up the steps and through the main gate, to the street beyond.

 Looking back at our new refrigerator (on the right is the window that looks out into the potting shed).

Looking toward the master bedroom. These pictures were taken right after the delivery of the refrigerator - before we moved in.

We found the perfect porch light and Dan was able to get it installed.

It may not look like much to you, but to us it's a huge improvement over what was there. Plus, it works!!!

 Some of the first items to be moved were Dan's books. They filled up the library shelves nicely.

 Once they were in place the house began to feel more like home.

I need to take more pictures of the house (with our stuff moved into it) but until then, here are some pictures of the view from our deck.

Ownership: Day 28