An update...

It's been awhile since I gave a really detailed update.  Things have been really crazy with the holiday season in full swing, but I'll go back and fill in what we've been up to at Everhaven.

I'll start with my trees.  My last really in depth entry was about my trees being trimmed and how sad I was about it.  Well, always one to look for the silver lining, I've gotten used to the new view and also spent a good deal of time gazing out of the windows to find new vantage points and views to appreciate.  For instance, I hadn't noticed the north view before, but it's great with a row of pine trees popping out above the neighbors house and yard.  I can see it well from one of the recliners in my living room.  We also now have the view out of the sliding door, which faces a row of lilac bushes - can't wait to see that in the spring.  The other day, I came in the front door and immediately saw a few Cardinals perched on the branches out there and grabbed the camera, getting a few shots from the sliding door before they flew off.  I think we'll put some feeders in the bushes to encourage them to come around more often.


The view of the trees to the North is nice :)



A couple of Cardinals pay us a visit.

We have been enjoying having hot, running water immensely.  I never take a bath for granted anymore and my parents gave us a Waterpik shower system for Christmas.  We hooked up the hand held part of it last night and when we install the new tub/shower surround we can hook up the wall unit part of it then.

We've also prepared Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner and had family to eat with us.  That was wonderful and served as a couple of practice runs on how this house will do when it comes to entertaining.  We'll have a few more square feet of living space when the living room wall comes down and we expand into the front porch.  Definitely one of the things I miss about having a larger home is space for guests and fitting people in for gatherings like holidays.  I think Dan's idea of someday building a full basement under the house is growing on me.  Either that or we probably will have to move to a bigger house again, as I can not imagine having more than one teenager in the house as it currently stands and we do hope to have at least one more baby.  Hopefully soon, too!  We're not getting any younger here.

A cramped, but joyful, Christmas.

Along with the holiday meals, we also did some baking and enjoyed a Papa Murphy's take-n-bake pizza, w00t w00t!!! 

Papa Murphy's oh how we've missed you!

Dan and I decided not to get each other anything this year for Christmas.  Money has been tight and we decided the reno is gift enough.  It's coming along and I'd be lying if I said we weren't disappointed that it isn't done yet, but the remainder of the siding order was supposed to be in this afternoon.  The replacement sashes for the windows should be in, too. (Note to self: check on that)  The water is hot and running.  The electric is reliable.  The stove and the oven work again.  We're in the last days of this phase.  Here's how looks today....

Almost done...

 

From our home to yours...



Happy Holidays!



May the light of the Christmas season illuminate your life and may you find joy, health, and prosperity in the New Year!

I had every intention of sending out a Christmas card this year with a before and after picture of Everhaven. However, we are still working on the "after" and so I opted to skip the card for now (maybe we'll do Valentine's, St. Patty's Day or an Easter card instead ;) This pic is of the front door, which isn't finished either, but I thought it expressed the tone around here very well.

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season and feels as blessed as we do!

With love, from Everhaven,

Dan, April, Zoey, & Maddie

 

"Water Wait" is OVER!

After 10 days without running water, let it be known that at 8:05 p.m. tonight, our water is flowing again! I took pictures throughout the whole day of digging, so I will let them do the talking on this one....

This machine is SO MUCH BIGGER than the the one Dan used. LOL

Where the sidewalk ends!



A few feet down, it turns out our yard is totally full of rocks!
I'm saving these for landscaping or maybe a fire ring.



The pile of Earth that's been dug out completely hides the fence between us and our neighbors.

Ready to hook up!

With tranches on both the North and South sides of the yard, a few more feet and we could have a moat!

The trench running from approx. the center of the south of the house, down the driveway, nearly to the street.

While hooking up the water line, it came loose and blew water all over Pat.
Here's what he had to say about that.

Under the Earth our house stands on, we have lots of rocks it turns out.
I was so impressed with this one, we're keeping it above ground from now on.

Let it also be known that when the water again flowed forth from our tap, we literally sang a round of "Hallelujah!"

On the Stove Again!

At 10:43 a.m. today, we flipped on the stove top and we had power again!  As it turns out, the electrical problem keeping the stove from working was in the box on the front of the house and wasn't going to be resolved until the main was moved from that old, not-up-to-code box to the new main located now on the north side of the house.  According to our electrician, it was such a mess in that old box he didn't even want to touch it.  This morning, the switch to the new line rendered that mess powerless and I was so happy to see that thing get taken off the front of the house and thrown into the dump trailer along with all the other stuff headed to the dump!  The first thing I made was a pan of brownies, followed by mac n' cheese for my lunch, and then a loaf of Beer Bread (LOVE Beer Bread!!!).  I was practically dancing around the kitchen I was so excited to finally be able to cook on a stove again!

A welcome sight!

Removing the old main from the house, the box on the front is about to go bye-bye!

Hooray for Beer Bread!

Tears Falling for Cedars

Today was a very low day on the emotional rollercoaster that is home renovation.  In preparation for the digging that needs to happen this coming Tuesday to install the line to the city water, the cedar trees over our driveway - on the south side of the house - needed to be trimmed back.  This included one tree lining the west side of our property (the front side of the house) and the trees hanging down over the south edge that actually belong to the neighbor but hang down over the privacy fence.  The excavating company plans on piling up the dirt next to the fence and needs clearance to do it.  So, Dan went and talked to our neighbor, Arnie, about trimming up his trees and Arnie is such a great and helpful neighbor that not only did he say "sure!" to trimming his own trees, he offered to help Dan with ours.  "This is wonderful!" we thought, because Arnie had the tools and even a friend with a wood chipper for hauling away the branches.  This was going to work out so well! 

Well, they wasted no time Saturday morning getting to work.  Before I was even up and going myself, I could hear the pole saw roaring and I had somewhere to be so I busied myself with getting ready.  No big deal.  Just a casual Saturday morning with some errands to run and a trip to see friends a little later in the day.  When I left the house, I stepped out and only noticed the southern most tree on the west side line of trees (the one over the driveway) was as I had gasped "bald!"  But I figured at least the excavating equipment should clear going under it and I kissed Dan good-bye and went on my way.  I took Maddie along so she wouldn't be in Dan's way and I kept her out much later than we had planned when we discovered a parade was going on in Cambridge, the town we had travelled to to meet up with some regional friends in a location more central to all of us.

It was well after dark when we drove up our street and my headlights swung into the driveway.  I looked up the trimmed trees, looking for what used to be my low hanging cedar branches.  My eyes travelled further and further upward.  It was dark out, but one of the things I immediately noticed was the bright light streaming into my yard from the entry lights at the school.  Normally the lights would stream down the driveway, but not through the trees, which worked nearly as well as a privacy fence would.  Well, if the fence were suspended from the powerlines above, hanging downward.  I am 5'2" and there were some branches I had to duck under to reach the street.  I liked it that way and immediately knew it was gone.  I went in the house and said so to Dan right away but I wouldn't feel the full impact of the loss until this morning.

Before leaving for services this morning, I first looked out of my windows.  The swaying sprigs of green that hung so gracefully and that I could see from the main window facing westward from my living room were gone.  In fact, at first glance I had to look a second time in deciphering which thin wooden column was tree and which was power pole.  My heart sank.  Looking out the newly installed front door, from my love seat, I had to crank my neck to see the green from the neighbors yard (the trees that hung over the fence).  These were two of the views that I really enjoyed.  Of course the one through the new door being just a couple of weeks old, but already much appreciated.  The stark brown bricks from the school across the street are now just there.  No foilage to soften that view.  I went outside to take a closer look.  As soon as I walked out into what once was such a great, and to me almost magical, front yard I could feel tears welling up in my eyes.  It looked as devastated as I felt looking at it.  I got into our van to leave, practically scolding myself really, "there's no use crying over trimmed trees!"  But the full realization of it had taken hold and before I knew it, I was rummaging through the glove box to find napkins in which to blow my nose and wipe my tears. 

There were a handful of reasons for crying.  For one, I really love trees!  I like to look at them, I like to sit under them, I like to lie in my bed and watch them sway.  It's meditating really.  When I was little, I would even lie in bed and watch them sway, asking God to make the branches move this way or that to communicate to me that He was there and listening.  So just losing the green is hard for me.  But then I started to think about the vision I had of this place.  Our Everhaven.  I picked the exterior colors and styles of windows, doors, and siding all for the purpose of playing up on the cozy cottage feel.  In fact, the trees surrounded the house in such a natural embrace that the views out the windows were a cozy extension of what I felt indoors.  When I surveyed the area, in the northwest most corner of the yard, my heart sunk even further.  That little corner was the area we first landscaped this past summer.  At the very corner were two trees standing intimately close to each other, we called them the "love trees" because the one was "hugging" the other with two branches on either side of it.  One of it's "arms" is now gone and the branches trimmed so high that the little animal and bird sanctuary I had envisioned for the space feels next to impossible.  I had planned to hang bird feeders and houses throughout those low hanging branches, we had placed our bird bath in that corner.  But then again, maybe the animals and birds wouldn't have liked their little sanctuary to be so close to the street and probably the "love trees" would have only grown to kill each other, but I am not sure I will be able to stand to find out.  To me it looks so stark and barren I want them all cut down, but people have been telling me that maybe next spring they'll fill out again, though I can't imagine the look we had will be restored.  I cried even harder when I imagined how many years it might take to even come close.  Our house had been nestled back behind this veil of green and I am in mourning, not only for my cedars but for a vision that may now take years to recapture. 

I'm not angry with Dan or Arnie.  Dan feels terrible, he's the one that had to listen to me cry all the way to church this morning, and Arnie was just trying to do us a favor.  They just got a little carried away and I wasn't home to say anything.  I don't like looking out of my windows right now, but I can imagine that next spring I can choose some new trees.  With the new windows in, I was agonizing over what to do for window treatments because I liked the natural view so much with the colonial grates in the windows that I wanted them completely unobstructed, but now I think until we can plant new green things to look at we'll slap the mini blinds back up.  Dan and I joked while in the store earlier that maybe we could buy some artificial Christmas trees and put them up so we have green to look at.  Hopefully, when the real snow falls and we get some Christmas decorations up, and the siding up of course, it won't look as bad on the outside either.  Until then, I just gotta suck it up.  Even if I cry from time to time when looking at what was. 

Our house nestled in behind the trees.  Spring 2010

An early October snow.  2009
(The "love trees" framing the Northwest corner of the yard where
I planned the animal and bird sanctuary are on the left)

Sunset - Summer 2010

A devastating change of view

We're not nestled back behind the trees anymore...

Looking as devastated as I feel looking at it!



The "love trees" :(



Day #5 of "Water Wait" - Update

After calling in the pros yesterday, the only answers we have are price tags.  To install a new pumping system, $1000.  To connect to city water, $1586.  Initial estimates for connecting to the city were over $2000, but after finding out we can use the more affordable PEX tubing instead of copper, the price tag came down to the $1586.  We agonized over this decision for several hours last night because we wanted to save as much expense as possible and consider expediancy as well.  The well people can probably get it done in a couple of hours, whereas the digging people will take at least until next week because they have to do a "Call Before You Dig" - even though we just did one a week ago for the trenches we've dug over the past week.  It turns out every contractor must make their own call.  If they call today, the earliest they can start their dig is going to be Monday or maybe even Tuesday.  At this point, Dan is SO burned out on trying to figure out the well that he just wants the city water and forget the well.  The only 2 reasons we could think of to keep the well while doing pro's and con's of our choices last night was that we don't have a water bill and we like the self suffiency of having our own water supply - but then again I suppose not having the technical skills to maintain the well or fix it when it breaks down rules that a moot point.  Dan has done a great job of figuring it out so far, but he's pretty clear that he's just DONE with that thing after this week.

Last night, after working on it some more, and after I said "let's just try it one more time, maybe something was clogged and will work now" and it DID, for about 5 minutes, the choice is now pretty dang clear.  City water here we come!

Rampage of Appreciation

I went to bed last night after the past 4 days of disappointment feeling like I needed to reconnect with the flow of goodness that I know exists.  Perhaps it is no coincidence that the flow of water is interrupted and I feel blocked in other areas as well.  Our reno has actually hit a complete standstill this week.  The windows are delaying the siding.  The electrician has had other, emergencies I presume, jobs come before ours.  We are completely behind schedule and now definitely over budget.  Last night while agonizing over how far past budget we can go to restore our water I asked Dan if this is what wits end fees like!  The numbers we had were between $1000 and $3000 or more, depending on whether we chose to try and fix the well or connect to city water.  To say we were in a funk is even an understatement.  But thankfully I know what the antidote to being stressed or in a funk is.  Enter gratitude.  I'm going to do a rampage of appreciation for this renovation because I really am excited and grateful to be having it done.  This is just an exercise in getting myself back to gratitude instead of focusing on the things that are challenging us and lack.  As Stretton Smith says in the 4T Prosperity class, "Don't try to set it right, SEE it right."  I can't do a thing about my windows or the expense of getting water flowing back to our house but I can shift my own perspective.  Then, even if I feel the funk of less than ideal hygiene at least I'm going to feel at peace. ;)

Stand back.  Here I go....

I am so happy and grateful that we are having this work done.  My house is going to look amazing.  It already looks so much better than it did.  This house, our home, is worth so much to us.  It is priceless in fact to have a home and to be able to make it our own.  We are adding our own personal touches and we like the changes we have made.  We are excited about the changes we are making now.  It is so amazing to have hot and running water.  To have reliable electricity.  To have a roof that keeps out the rain.  I love the charm of my home and the character of the older things.  The new things are fun, too.  I am so grateful to have a friend like Jason that can help us transform our dream into reality.  I like the looks we've chosen for our home.  I am celebrating already that it is getting done.  It is going from my mind to paper to skilled hands to reality.  What an amazing transformation.  I saw the potential of this house when we first looked at it and hatched our plan to save ourselves from having a mortgage and here it is!  Becoming more than even I had first imagined.  I like having a house in a quiet town.  I like sitting under the stars here.  I like sitting around the fire here.  I like feeling cozy.  I really like my view.  I like my trees.  I like my yard.  I like that we have space to build a great patio.  I enjoy cooking and baking for my friends and family.  It is going to be so wonderful to be able to cook again!  I am so grateful that life keeps showing me my own resiliance and strength.  We have accomplished great things and our adversities have made us more compassionate with ourselves and others.  Thank you, God, that I can see this.  I am open and receptive to receiving my highest good and so many blessings that I"ll have to share with everybody I meet!   I love you, I love you, I love you!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

It works!