Starting To Change

Not about fall color this year - because with Texas drought only color is dried up brown on the leaves. Wanted to share the adventure (that is called a positive thought process - if I think of our move as an adventure may

be it won't feel so tough - RIGHT????)

Today is pretty much just posting Before pictures - 'cause the afters will come slowly - we have a big house to sell before we can afford major

changes to new place. Suggestions will be enjoyed with the caveat - every thing we will do has the proviso "if we can afford it" - and that is money as well as time/energy in our budget. The move is occurring because we can no longer physically deal with a two story house and almost 10 acres - so we now have a money budget and an energy budget - what we can realistically actually physically get done (enough lys for you?) OK off to the picture files -from the backdoor(which is out of order but taking forever to move pics - so work with me people! LOL)

We currently HOPE and plan to extend back porch and cover it - so we can sit out on porch, have barbecue grill there and generally enjoy the view of neighbor's pretty pastures and dozens of deer! My "lottery" dream is to put a nice two person hot tub/spa out there but that is WAY down reality list.

In back door to long walls - as you come in backdoor to the right is door into garage (which will be DH's woodworking shop and our washer/dryer will be there also). To the left long wall will be place for large black armoire (DH made it years ago and it is marvelous storage as well as sweet reminder). Opposite wall will be future home of pantry shelves - open or with doors still a topic of discussion (I'm thinking open with an assortment of baskets/containers to organize but DH is thinking doors 'cause - well that is how he thinks - more finished but LOTS more work too!)

Then teeny amount of kitchen cabinetry - great hopes to change this but definitely moved to later on - can live with it the way it is. All except color - we have already purchased paint - shinier finish and a wonderful Behr white - Fragrant Jasmine. The floor is a very good grade of linoleum tile - black with a tiny fleck of white and grey. Will definitely be keeping the floor.

Like the arched view into living room (yes it is a smaller house!) and then we'll put our round kitchen table in the corner as dining table. Have a new brushed nickle finished lighting fixture for over table. So that is the first installment - will post pictures of rest of house and what we have definitely already done or decided. Exciting time - I'm better at starting projects (thank goodness I was blessed with a husband who likes to FINISH things completely!) So whatcha think???? It is good on Buhlaland - we are blessed whether original location or newer place - God provides for us in ways we didn't have the sense to ask!

Mabel's Mom is a Published Author!

Mabel's House is proud to announce another new edition (not as cute as Jane but exciting nonetheless) I haven't been including a link to Liz's wonderful blog but have been reading long enough to be a big fan. Enjoy this excerpt from her new book - sure to be as clever and truthful as her blog! Once you are hooked by the excerpt - you can buy her book from Amazon.com - those of you who are Kindled - available there also.

Once one has breathed in the deep pungent aroma of sewage, you never again forget the nose-hair singeing, eye clawing, throat gagging experience. It comes over you slowly. You begin to feel like a character in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest as your muscles involuntarily jerk and you run screaming and blowing raspberries. Anything to get away from the mind-numbing stench.

But let me explain.

It was 6:30 a.m. I was standing in my retro pink tiled bathroom trying to open my bleary eyes and ready myself for work. As I stood there, peering into the mirror and wondering what demented nighttime fairy had planted four new wrinkles on my face, I paused and sniffed.

“Matt… what’s that smell?”

Matt staggered from the bedroom in his underwear, eyes half shut. “I don’t smell anything.”

I pointed my nose into the air like a hunting dog. “Seriously? You can’t smell that? Did you go to the bathroom in here earlier? I told you to use the room spray when you do things like that.”

Matt puffed out his bare chest and gathered his pride as best a man can with sleep in his eyes and a small hole in the side of his underwear. “I just woke up!”

I frowned, catching a glimpse of my makeup-less hot-rollers-in-hair state and tried not to think about the fact that I looked fifty instead of twenty-nine. “Well, help me figure this out. Because something smells ripe.”

We sniffed the sink drain and ruled it out as a suspect.

“Is it coming from the toilet?” Matt asked, examining it from top to bottom.

“No, that’s not it,” I snapped. I’m not known for my milk of human kindness in a disaster. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a survivor. I plan on eating my radish like Scarlet and clawing my way out of the nuclear dust while dragging my loved ones with me. But I won’t be doing it with positive phrases and a smile.

“Hon, I just don’t know. We’ll call a plumber after work, maybe it’s coming from under the house.” Matt staggered a little, trying to get past me and out of our tiny bathroom.

“Well, that’s just great,” I moved aside and pulled the shower curtain back so I could perch on the side of the tub and give Matt room to move out the door.

That’s when the full brunt of nastiness filled the air around us, a swirling mix of excrement and acrid stench that would have brought the sewer dwelling Ninja Turtles to their knees. Where the normally slightly-clean-with-a-hint-of-soap-scum bottom of the tub should have been, there sloshed gallons and gallons of brown sewage.

I clutched the front of my sweatshirt and held my breath. Matt began to dry heave.

“Get out and shut the door!” I screamed as we bumbled into the hallway.

“I’ll deal with this,” Matt grabbed my shoulders, trying to talk and hold his breath at the same time.

I could feel my eyes glaze over, the horrors of typhoid and hepatitis in our bathtub filling my mind. But more importantly, I could envision our evaporated savings account. In my mind’s eye I could see the long, gray hallway at the bank. A worker shrouded in a black suit pulled a set of keys from his pocket and unlatched a small locker labeled “Owen Bank Account.” Inside were two small stacks of quarters and a few crumpled dollar bills. It was bleak, not only because the banker with an unimaginative wardrobe gazed at me with an expression that could only be interpreted as “You’re a Big Fat Loser,” but also there was a very definite possibility we wouldn’t be able to pay for a plumber.

I wasn’t necessarily a spend thrift. In fact, I was downright frugal when it came to decorating with thrift store furniture and rewired vintage lamps. But the fact was, we were poor. We were starting out at starter jobs with starter salaries. We were starter adults with a starter bank account.

“Okay,” I nodded numbly, thankful that Matt was taking the lead on such a disastrous biohazard. “But make sure the plumber is super cheap. We don’t have much money!”

I left for work like a wino stumbling through a fog, not really remembering my commute, not really doing any work as I sipped my coffee and stared blankly at the computer screen. A disaster of such gargantuan proportions had previously been unthinkable in my life, and now I found myself attempting to push the image of a vast sea of bathtub poop from my mind. But I was sure of one thing: Anne Shirley never had to get ready for work while breathing raw sewage.

Buhlaland is Moving!

No - not as in the earth transporting itself elsewhere - DH and I have purchased a smaller home (downsizing is hardly the word - life altering might be accurate). During past couple of years we've realized his health issues won't allow him almost unbounded energy which was his normal. Keeping a large property which we no longer fully used wasn't good stewardship of God given resources (as well as being exhausting some days!)

We closed today on a smaller house north of where we are now - picture was Skip talking to the tree guy about taking out a couple of large trees which had the bad judgment to grow up against house or right where we need to build a workshop/shed! So the adventure begins - we'll document as much as possible the changes in new place (for now it will be called Windsor - since we'll still live on current Buhlaland until ready to put it up for sale). Woo hoo - biggest excitement right now for me - sandy soil! Deep sand - will grow sweet potatoes and white taters next spring - I know how to garden in sand! Our clay/loam combination on Buhlaland has been a continuing struggle for me. Already browsing on internet for sand plum bushes and rabbiteye blueberries - yum yum. All it takes is work and money - and the Lord allows us just enough energy for the work and money for what we need (wants might be a different budgetary process?). Today we got the keys, turned on the water supply and set off bug bombs at Windsor (black widow spiders had homesteaded the garage!). Small steps - but we have prayed this thing through and know "Do not despise…small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin.” Zechariah 4:10 NLT

The Work has begun - we are ready for this new chapter - see ya again soon!

Shorter day - even less blogging

Picture was taken around 6:45 am - so strange to be still dark but it really IS the beginning of autumn this week. What happened to our summer? Thank goodness it is about done with - here in Texas we are still in a drought to break most records. A little rain last week to remind us it CAN rain - refreshing and cooled the earth down enough to get temps out of the triple digits.

Again I'm apologizing for the lack of blog entries - in about 10 days I can reveal what's been absorbing so much time and energy - I think it is good and hope you will also find it interesting - for now - on Buhlaland it is cooler, gooder (? what word is gooder) and blessed beyond belief - we have survived the summer of 2011!