tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79174632858107591522024-02-07T17:54:49.155-08:00Simple On PurposeWelcome to our Small Home, Simple Living, Minimalist Blog! We are taking the small home idea to a family-of-ten level! We are working toward being debt and mortgage free and living in a simple, sustainable way. This has meant making many choices - changing jobs, moving our family, building a home we can afford, learning new skills, and becoming more frugal and aware of how we live. This our journey of living "Simple On Purpose".jennstarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13623511793461013804noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7917463285810759152.post-8799564424785945382015-02-17T13:22:00.006-08:002015-02-17T13:37:01.807-08:00Storage Shed Part 2...and New Plans<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
In this post I will make a note of our last trip in the fall and what our new plans are now.</div>
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Late October 2014, we managed to make another trip up to our land to work on our storage shed. </div>
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The weather continued to be beautiful and we enjoyed as much time outside as possible.</div>
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We brought up some pine and diamond willow coat racks that my sons built for me.</div>
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They are SO much better than a pile of jackets!</div>
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Steve, Jeremy and I worked together and managed to get the shed up, the roof tinned and the exterior wrapped.</div>
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Having the shed on the yard helped define it more and gave us a great sense of accomplishment.</div>
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Our little place ready to close up for winter.</div>
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The front of the shed has a 6x5 opening for a quad or tractor door.</div>
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And that is how we left it at the end of the season.</div>
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February 2015</div>
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The biggest obstacle to us moving has been the sale of Steve's larger woodworking equipment. At the beginning of this month, those tools sold with the flexible condition that Steve could finish the jobs he had lined up before the tools were moved. We were so thankful!</div>
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That sale brought all our plans into reality with concrete dates attached. And as reality melded with our plans, they became more defined and in some cases had to change. </div>
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We quickly realized that our time and money would not stretch far enough to build an addition on our cabin in the first season. I know that our ancestors lived through cold northern winters in one room cabins, but we are not eager to replicate the feat. Our solution was to re-purpose our storage shed into a bunk house. It will need some more windows added but as it is not finished inside, we are free to make the changes we need. </div>
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The four oldest children will have their beds out in this bunkhouse. The building is 12x20 feet. Two girls will be up in the loft which will be 12'x8' and will be accessed by a ladder. Another daughter and our oldest son will have built-in bunk beds on the main floor that will have privacy curtains, shelves, lights and their bed (almost like a tiny bedroom). We will build a change room with a composting toilet. There will be clothing locker-units beside the bunks for each child as well.</div>
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The rest of the bunkhouse will an open living-room area with books/games shelves, a hide-a-bed for visitors (like our older kids), and a place for toys like Legos and Playmobile for winter sanity. The bunkhouse will be heated by a wall mounted propane heater which we felt would be safer for the kids than a wood stove. It will give us somewhere to send noisy, energetic kids on winter afternoons!</div>
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This extra sleeping space will allow us to finish the upstairs bedroom for Steve and I in the main cabin. That means we can move our present bedroom out of the future bathroom and work on finishing the indoor bathroom (probably next winter). The two youngest kids will sleep in the main cabin. They will claim the large, sunny loft area at the top of the stairs that is about 6'x12'. </div>
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The only addition we are still hoping to do on the main cabin before next winter is an entryway. It will probably be 6'x8' in the south side of the cabin. This will keep cold drafts and muddy boots out of the main cabin area.</div>
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We will build a smaller, simple storage shed to replace the re-purposed bunkhouse. The other main priorities this summer are the solar shed and equipment, the propane tank and hook-up, and a fire wood shed built and filled for next winter. I will also start a garden and hope to get chickens.</div>
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At this time, we are planning on moving the end of March, but of course that is weather dependant<br />
We are encouraged that two families have moved within a few miles of our place. They are both Christian families with kids and both home-school. There is also our niece and her husband who live five miles away....and within days they will have a new baby! They are all attending a small but growing church nearby, so we will not be isolated or alone by any means!</div>
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jennstarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13623511793461013804noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7917463285810759152.post-33822269685101048452015-02-16T19:39:00.000-08:002015-02-17T19:48:04.080-08:00Storage Shed<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Early fall 2014, we decided that a storage shed would be our next build. With a small house, it is important for us to have somewhere to store off-season items, keep a deep freeze, and tools out of the weather. </div>
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Steve and our 16 yr old son began levelling places for cement blocks for treated beams to sit on.</div>
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The weather was unseasonably warm for September which was wonderful....but we were all hot and sweaty after working. We have rustic bathing facilities (ie. rubber made tub) but it is very mobile. So on the nice evenings, we had bathtime in the deck. With swimsuits on (just in case we had company) we took turns bathing in the great outdoors. </div>
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The floor was done and the walls built.</div>
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We ran out of time and energy so we stacked the walls on the finished floor and stapled house wrap </div>
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over the whole thing. It would have to wait for the next trip.</div>
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Packing up to go home.</div>
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The kids enjoying a natural playground in our pasture. </div>
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jennstarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13623511793461013804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7917463285810759152.post-37873198267134651842015-01-28T21:05:00.001-08:002015-01-28T21:28:16.281-08:00Accidentally-On-Purpose Minimalists<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>How It Started</b></div>
My husband Steve and I did not start out to be minimalist, off-grid, simple-living advocates: it just happened. Life shaped us this way. There were of course many factors and influences involved in our evolution into this lifestyle: economy, desire to stay out of debt, available resources, and having a large family are some of those factors. We are not really stuck on any one definition on what being a minimalist means, we have simply tried to learn what would work for us in the situations we were in.<br>
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<b>We've Always Lived and Worked Small</b></div>
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I suppose we have been living this lifestyle for a long time. We have only lived in smaller homes. Steve has only had small shops to run his business out of. That has forced us to learn to make small spaces do big things for us. <br>
When we were first married and up until we had three children, we lived in a 890 square foot house without a basement. We then moved into a small, older home for just one year which was maybe a little smaller, but had a basement that was partially finished. That gave us more storage, laundry facilities downstairs, and an office and sewing space. From there we moved into the house we have rented for over 14 years. It is 930 square feet. The basement was almost totally unfinished when we moved in, but with an agreement with our landlady, we have finished the basement over the years. We also had five more children over those years. That makes us 10 people in our little house....with often many friends over on the weekends! It is busy, loud and fun. The only way to survive with sanity is to have limited stuff.<br>
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I stress that point:<b> Limited Stuff</b> (aka: Crap).<br>
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As our family grew, I learned how to cut back and deal with limited space. It was indeed a process. While in some ways we were forced into simple living by our circumstances, it is something that we have embraced and delighted in along the journey: thus, Accidentally-On-Purpose Minimalists.</div>
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<b>Now We Are Moving To A Real Small Home</b></div>
That process is what has enabled me to take this next step without it feeling like the end of the world. In fact, I welcome it! I would also add that the incredibly long time it has taken us to build this little house, has added to the feeling of anticipation for us all! Our plan right now is to move early this spring (2015). Our two oldest kids, ages 20 and 18 will stay here and keep renting our present house. The remaining 8 of us will move into our tiny, 500 square foot (plus loft), size home. We will be adding on another 500 or so square feet with another partial loft area. It will have two bedrooms, one bathroom (with a double out-house outside), large kitchen, cozy living and dining areas, and two fireplaces for heating. While it will require creativity to manage with one bathroom, and limited space, it will be more than sufficient for our needs.<br>
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<b>How We Ended Up Off-Grid</b></div>
Our choice to go with solar power was also an accidental choice. We have always been intrigued by solar, but would have probably just brought power in anyway. However, the quoted price to bring power onto our land ended up being so high, that we thought we would pursue solar after all since the initial cost will be the same.<br>
Wood heat was a natural choice since our new house is in the middle of timber country.<br>
Propane over natural gas was a big debate for us. We finally settled on propane. The initial cost of getting propane set up is much less than bringing in natural gas. It would take a lot of consumption to neutralize this difference.<br>
Lastly, water is a problem where our land is located. Most folks either a dugout for water with a water filtration system, or a cistern that you have to fill from a water station (there is one just 5 miles away). We plan on going with the cistern. The dugout is a lot of work and money to get set up, and there is regular maintenance required. Thy cistern will be fairly demanding as well as we will either have to get a trailer and tank to fill it ourselves, or pay someone with a water truck to come fill it. However, the initial cost is much less and we felt it would be the better choice since there is talk of a water line being installed down our road within the next five years.<br>
<br>We are looking forward to seeing how this all works out...and I've started packing to move!<br>
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Jennyjennstarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13623511793461013804noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7917463285810759152.post-54269161004913719682014-06-27T12:36:00.000-07:002014-06-27T12:37:40.710-07:00Our Building Story Part 9 - Last Trip For 2013 And First For 2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In November, Steve and I made another trip with just the two of us. We had bought engineered hardwood flooring for the main floor of the house and we wanted to bring it up so it could "acclimatize".</div>
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We just stayed a few days and we planned to be back by the end of the month for hunting with the boys and to put the flooring in.<br />
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I would still go on my early morning walks...I enjoy coming back to the cabin to see smoke coming out of the chimney and anticipate the warmth within. </div>
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This turned out blurry, but there were FANTASTIC northern lights one of the first nights. </div>
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Steve went out a couple afternoons to hunt deer. He saw some, but not big enough to shoot. </div>
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Cosy and warm. :) </div>
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We put some LED lights under the cabinets which really helped. Until we get solar power in, we are using propane lighting and they are so load and inconvenient to light. The LED lights were motion sensitive - you just waved below them to turn them on and they had an auto-shut-off after 30 min. </div>
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The third day we were there is snowed overnight. The forecast was calling for more so we decided to get home right away. We had very treacherous driving until we got south of Edmonton. </div>
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The last tree living out of four I transplanted into our yard. It is such a funny, gangly thing. I was going to cut it off, but I felt too sorry for it. </div>
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So we went home, but our plans to be back in a couple weeks changed. We got a call from friends asking if we wanted to go to Cuba with them - they had found a GREAT sale.</div>
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This is just what we hoped to do after turning up the cruise last year so jumped at it. </div>
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We had a wonderful 8 days in Cuba!<br />
It was a perfect 20th anniversary trip!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG2IoBydJpp7BOv8rJ232TmvO2AOLxuy_8hfxYYLEkO3sg5Iu_bBmUhbzXP9SvHlNsIlRhipDUjbbpMg8jAaLNms3Q-TP1G2Zs93qemsVYp-yC2ee5XhtgcbXkCM8yBDKkt-hZmsTJHP31/s1600/Cuba+1+306.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG2IoBydJpp7BOv8rJ232TmvO2AOLxuy_8hfxYYLEkO3sg5Iu_bBmUhbzXP9SvHlNsIlRhipDUjbbpMg8jAaLNms3Q-TP1G2Zs93qemsVYp-yC2ee5XhtgcbXkCM8yBDKkt-hZmsTJHP31/s1600/Cuba+1+306.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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The winter of 2013/2014 was very cold with heavy snowfall. That hampered us getting back up to our land that winter. But Steve was not idle. He made me this beautiful table for a kitchen island. The legs are out of the diamond willow we harvested on our land and the top is a pine slab. </div>
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That ends our 2013 season. We did not make nearly as many trips as the year before and to be honest, we felt a little discouraged about ever being able to move to our land. </div>
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Steve had a man interested in buying his business, but that fell through. </div>
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Our kids were less and less excited about leaving our church family and their jobs.</div>
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We were renting our current house, renting Steve's wood shop, paying utilities on both, plus trying to build our own place without going in debt....very stretching indeed!</div>
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Mid May 2014, we were able to make a family trip up to the house to do some finishing. Our oldest daughter stayed home because of work, but the rest of piled into the van, loaded the cargo trailer and headed north. </div>
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We were not sure if the field would be dry enough to get in with our van and I was anticipating parking at the neighbours and carrying our stuff in. However, when we arrived, we were delighted to find it wet but firm enough to get in and out easily! YEA!</div>
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Everything was in order and just the way we left it the fall before.</div>
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The first few evenings, we were treated to the amazing spectacle of a Sandhill Crane migration! The huge birds flew over in groups of thousands, filling the air with their calls. They would fly in lines like this and then form up in a cloud that would turn and twist on itself. Truly an amazing sight! </div>
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Another evening, our young son saw a little muskrat scoot under our trailer. </div>
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The kids enjoyed watching him for a while. </div>
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Our main job was putting in the hardwood flooring we had brought up last fall. Our oldest son, our one daughter, Steven and myself worked together on it and I found it to be a really fun job. </div>
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The flooring is engineered hardwood (basically a tongue and groove plywood with 5-7mm of hardwood on top). We chose to go with engineered because with wood heat and a crawl-space under the house, we were concerned that the changed in temperature and moisture may cause regular hardwood to warp. We love the warmth and beauty of wood, so engineered seemed the best choice.</div>
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We ended up getting a dark stained oak with some blond streaks in it. It also has saw chatter and other marks in it - making it a good match with the modern-rustic finishing we already had. </div>
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Steve cut a plywood form around the fireplace in an abstract wave. </div>
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We have decided to go with small-medium sized river rock around the fire place and <a href="http://st.houzz.com/simgs/a291464a0f555613_4-3317/modern-bathroom.jpg" target="_blank">pebbles on the floor</a>. The abstract pattern will be reminiscent of a shore-line.</div>
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Looking into the kitchen area - with my island now in place. :)</div>
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Steve was in his element on this part of the project! He loves finishing and details and he had fun working on his own project for a change. </div>
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Looking down from the landing.</div>
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We also brought up the finished fir doors that Steve and our son worked on over the winter.</div>
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Steve had all the jamb and moulding pre-finished.</div>
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From the other side of that door - with the closet door beside it. I LOVE THIS CORNER!</div>
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Steve had enough time to put in the first of the stair rails - the one between the landing and the kitchen.</div>
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This stopped my little ones from their nasty habit of stepping from the landing onto my kitchen counter!!!</div>
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Island in place! I just love the colours and the different woods. </div>
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Railings from the stair side. </div>
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My littlest sweetie having her bath in a Rubbermade. :)</div>
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She enjoys the windows upstairs - I'm not sure I like her standing up there!!!</div>
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One of the last things I did was hang a bird-feeder outside my kitchen window. </div>
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Somehow this speaks "Home" to me. </div>
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Well, it is late June 2014 when I am writing this and we have heard that the caterpillars are back at our place, but less than half as many as last year. That is good news. </div>
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We are also seriously perusing moving this season. Not sure where that will lead us yet...but we are trying.</div>
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I am now officially caught up posting to where our building process is at present. </div>
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From now on, I'll be branching out into different aspects of our journey. Choosing simple can get very complicated! We are always course-correcting and re-evaluating our choices along the way. </div>
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I hope to share next how we came to make the choices we have and why we are going the direction we are.</div>
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jennstarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13623511793461013804noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7917463285810759152.post-56618021205501690002014-06-23T11:17:00.004-07:002014-06-23T13:24:32.847-07:00Our Building Story Part 8 - The Ups and Downs of 2013<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
In June of 2013, we stopped at our land for a day before continuing on to a weekend singing engagement in Ft. St. John, BC. After the jamboree, we would stop stay at our place again for several days before heading home. </div>
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We brought up an old couch and love-seat with us to make it seem more homey. They were much nicer than lawn chairs!</div>
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As always, one of our first projects is to get the grass cut down around the cabin. </div>
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I brought up some pieces of my herbs and bushes that I had planted around our rental house. </div>
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Like I mentioned before with our last trip, we had noticed tent caterpillars around our place.</div>
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Well, by the June they were a full out plague!</div>
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This is how the trees looked at the beginning of our trip. By the time we left a week later, there were no leaves left at all!</div>
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The first evening there was beautiful, but the next day was a little rainy. The kids enjoyed seeing the books and games that we had left at the cabin from our last trip and they were well entertained. </div>
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The cross-bars in the upstairs even made good chin-up bars for the boys. :)</div>
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We had a good trip into BC and saw some country we had not seen before.</div>
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The jamboree was over Sunday evening and we decided to head back to our cabin rather than wait till the next day. That meant arriving in the middle of a very rainy night. Our driveway isn't finished and we weren't sure we could even get in with our van and trailer, but Steve hit the gas and we bounced and splashed our way through the field for 300m before sloshing to a halt at our cabin. </div>
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We dragged off to bed and woke the next morning to more and more rain and more and more caterpillars!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV0FwY4YGy9mwgu0mvK1Pr63bJlBDE7sOyvI7Tm64OluZoGAX6lSzikacEhpHYXFI08LZUncGl8-Nq0KwZLtrktSJ-gsAZ95J5TXFmPV8oXQ28uItnYWMy7F55QY0UWWgI0nLbbvMZgN83/s1600/Singing-Up+North+June+212.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV0FwY4YGy9mwgu0mvK1Pr63bJlBDE7sOyvI7Tm64OluZoGAX6lSzikacEhpHYXFI08LZUncGl8-Nq0KwZLtrktSJ-gsAZ95J5TXFmPV8oXQ28uItnYWMy7F55QY0UWWgI0nLbbvMZgN83/s1600/Singing-Up+North+June+212.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking out the top windows into the cut yard and a whole lot of water!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7MqX2FFiWXKRPdnsYT-RMGoSgsrjZMVvFjwELVgx1EkKjAX4WTsgblZMWn5h7L8oQOIR2sn_73cqyv-Pm7FeXO2j3iumof0x2QbmvFr6dMZ4O0QOaoIB8g0sXeSwlU4bgzPahnawYXbBf/s1600/Singing-Up+North+June+172.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7MqX2FFiWXKRPdnsYT-RMGoSgsrjZMVvFjwELVgx1EkKjAX4WTsgblZMWn5h7L8oQOIR2sn_73cqyv-Pm7FeXO2j3iumof0x2QbmvFr6dMZ4O0QOaoIB8g0sXeSwlU4bgzPahnawYXbBf/s1600/Singing-Up+North+June+172.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A willow tree nearly covered with caterpillars. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbsE7VtsFImGjcwf5GeT28AW_KcIbtVal-Qrahh2YXkrGJbGa0a-1OkIr-YxWu24PP0D4izeWpp2vLyFKnY3yiFM1T68blEaLdGgf2umrpDzqVFNlrfDws7yN9NT6n5RSnDUdX9pZPaP6-/s1600/Singing-Up+North+June+190.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbsE7VtsFImGjcwf5GeT28AW_KcIbtVal-Qrahh2YXkrGJbGa0a-1OkIr-YxWu24PP0D4izeWpp2vLyFKnY3yiFM1T68blEaLdGgf2umrpDzqVFNlrfDws7yN9NT6n5RSnDUdX9pZPaP6-/s1600/Singing-Up+North+June+190.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A couple of buckets left out soon filled with water and caterpillars</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij23penR1B_qL6DwlKXmXQVU1eSqkJuFsUgwSzCeuDuOTO_N0mo6jG_sp1Inxm0aWKM7_5m8VZ3irsqQngX4EBiH14e8u7Vsb3zGEOeplCIDdIjJVhiiPpoQK4CVGCV2jI5uBclvBqsBoQ/s1600/117.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij23penR1B_qL6DwlKXmXQVU1eSqkJuFsUgwSzCeuDuOTO_N0mo6jG_sp1Inxm0aWKM7_5m8VZ3irsqQngX4EBiH14e8u7Vsb3zGEOeplCIDdIjJVhiiPpoQK4CVGCV2jI5uBclvBqsBoQ/s1600/117.JPG" height="298" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Picnic table at a nearby camp ground. </td></tr>
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To say that the conditions discouraged us is an understatement. Of course, a year later we now laugh at the whole thing, but at the time it was very depressing. </div>
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With all the rain, we spent most of our time indoors. We didn't work on an new projects this trip - just reading, visiting, playing games and taking a few walks.</div>
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All the rubber boots lined up.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi54DbIs8f5vHhZdC025y1a3wbUe6R3RTQFp-9h5ktluZaXTjDQ3YBLPFaYlFMJNvRyvoZ2yimevub6cQ0bUN0Y_ung76oXXNPbsdsHr571hPkFalcflBGRaRIlxRsEbcVV-KcbuyJ6PBUc/s1600/Singing-Up+North+June+215.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi54DbIs8f5vHhZdC025y1a3wbUe6R3RTQFp-9h5ktluZaXTjDQ3YBLPFaYlFMJNvRyvoZ2yimevub6cQ0bUN0Y_ung76oXXNPbsdsHr571hPkFalcflBGRaRIlxRsEbcVV-KcbuyJ6PBUc/s1600/Singing-Up+North+June+215.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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Keeping entertained...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_kF2DOtnexiA-4ZgHkdswGFPFoal_1885evHFq82EmmOiUT3iOugVVbDE3FpAlwCTy6GNKkcOwNotdxTxW84fqJUILUvh3JgR4Z7kcc3B8UeErPxMnXxIs7crcB0HvGDQ8mlSD7hX1YaQ/s1600/Singing-Up+North+June+216.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_kF2DOtnexiA-4ZgHkdswGFPFoal_1885evHFq82EmmOiUT3iOugVVbDE3FpAlwCTy6GNKkcOwNotdxTxW84fqJUILUvh3JgR4Z7kcc3B8UeErPxMnXxIs7crcB0HvGDQ8mlSD7hX1YaQ/s1600/Singing-Up+North+June+216.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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When the rain stopped, we had some nice walks. The trees looked like winter but the grass and bushes were green. There is an owl on that fence post.</div>
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The older boys were out walking more than anyone and they came home with some lovely pictures of beauty they found in spite of the caterpillars. :)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSQNm0fZlPZ2SAxKO8-9H9aEfdPWJ7VJWwWljeYOO6Q15WvIKSxQxkN5L0VAf0bnP79oISMRgUW1ZPAKNcnV7czs_1VRWfVglpsg3ygbhEbODaRUEsgP_J47wxLBmxXSkBkwsZh01wqMh8/s1600/154.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSQNm0fZlPZ2SAxKO8-9H9aEfdPWJ7VJWwWljeYOO6Q15WvIKSxQxkN5L0VAf0bnP79oISMRgUW1ZPAKNcnV7czs_1VRWfVglpsg3ygbhEbODaRUEsgP_J47wxLBmxXSkBkwsZh01wqMh8/s1600/154.JPG" height="400" width="298" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI9yjgwEwdnrnhlU9euiLRG5UPnFgKCw_IGpusA63UYjTxRAKjLzAV8bLiBX-JXQ85uctKUUzNmJ855uq8g2up63qHTt952BR6wK-xvQer5xdSVHEelupkx_AInnT4tgLaYxojQ8Bx4SCh/s1600/Singing-Up+North+June+156.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI9yjgwEwdnrnhlU9euiLRG5UPnFgKCw_IGpusA63UYjTxRAKjLzAV8bLiBX-JXQ85uctKUUzNmJ855uq8g2up63qHTt952BR6wK-xvQer5xdSVHEelupkx_AInnT4tgLaYxojQ8Bx4SCh/s1600/Singing-Up+North+June+156.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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The last couple days before we left it was not raining, but our trail through the field was too wet to get our van and trailer out together. We managed to get the van out with some serious pushing. :) We then left it parked it in a neighbour's driveway. We unloaded the trailer of anything we could carry, re-adjusted the load to be right over the axle, and then PUSHED the cargo trailer out. Two would have to lift the tongue of the trailer and pull. Everyone else pushed from behind. It took no small effort and we were all muddy, tired and a little grumpy by the end...but we were out. The morning we left, we all made several trips carrying out the rest of our stuff and finally hit the road.</div>
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Steve was especially discouraged this trip. He had put SO MUCH labour into this place, and all of our money....and it seemed like we had built in the middle of some wasteland full of water and creep-crawlies.</div>
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We didn't make another trip until August. </div>
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No doubt we were discouraged with project, but we also had work to get caught up with at home. </div>
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The evening we arrived was beautiful!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhroSKpEpQmLM586Ij1LDHI3JxK979w6lzz0qkndmUSFobwaYZu16Bb9rzTZW2bslBxQ_pnKz8-Khtq9lzgORDcVB29dxTxwAAfPlqGrViVR2p-z5x2fI3-4wx5FGcz1hJdSA54Aq_1GX6i/s1600/August+Trip+North+228.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhroSKpEpQmLM586Ij1LDHI3JxK979w6lzz0qkndmUSFobwaYZu16Bb9rzTZW2bslBxQ_pnKz8-Khtq9lzgORDcVB29dxTxwAAfPlqGrViVR2p-z5x2fI3-4wx5FGcz1hJdSA54Aq_1GX6i/s1600/August+Trip+North+228.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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The next morning we were ready to get to work. We had decided that we would expand our deck to to around the east side of the house. Until we had one, we didn't realize how important a deck could be. It gave us a clean place to set supplies; it acted like a buffer between the outside dirt and the indoors; it was also really great to sit on to enjoy an evening. :)</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-DP6qlO_bu1SIE_FUhxcS2x1fabi_pZmiGyYsJy8sm1h4jcc9Vp2JHvQAM_GxVP-Lmd2hG9mvuRLHoQL6FaL7_4Epo5lKBB1Rhoz-kcdY791iprS8Ua1pFZQKk7_oDzDtJiSgXpakRUfN/s1600/August+Trip+North+230.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-DP6qlO_bu1SIE_FUhxcS2x1fabi_pZmiGyYsJy8sm1h4jcc9Vp2JHvQAM_GxVP-Lmd2hG9mvuRLHoQL6FaL7_4Epo5lKBB1Rhoz-kcdY791iprS8Ua1pFZQKk7_oDzDtJiSgXpakRUfN/s1600/August+Trip+North+230.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of our boys having his coffee on the deck, sitting on the supplies for the new part. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-XL_UYk8u0s7RcWbASCAG8EBi2RmE6kM1zogsDKw2F2ARs7UUbXYaW5m2Oa4nj4DuSYEeteQmLJ1aK89_1tMHFo6RaBoTX-hybi10XdIMC7FvMeV-KZXHSrO0YsQ-2J7vUcxOcmcmY_hH/s1600/August+Trip+North+254.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-XL_UYk8u0s7RcWbASCAG8EBi2RmE6kM1zogsDKw2F2ARs7UUbXYaW5m2Oa4nj4DuSYEeteQmLJ1aK89_1tMHFo6RaBoTX-hybi10XdIMC7FvMeV-KZXHSrO0YsQ-2J7vUcxOcmcmY_hH/s1600/August+Trip+North+254.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The trees had put out a second set of leaves and all that remained of the caterpillars was the sticky cocoons everywhere. We didn't even have any moths later??? Not sure where they all went, but hoping they don't come back next year!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMN7rDQ63NfkzuIjMBS00J7bawJkmEv1LpmVw2QRVM4vRAQ7uUEqtCe4O57gQbljXGSyJze1uj3LMH23EZ8tt-wuR1NwBwUXE9sBwVle8XCPZLyCraXUGOkSTYSDTtWWOVuHuWC3p68tdv/s1600/022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMN7rDQ63NfkzuIjMBS00J7bawJkmEv1LpmVw2QRVM4vRAQ7uUEqtCe4O57gQbljXGSyJze1uj3LMH23EZ8tt-wuR1NwBwUXE9sBwVle8XCPZLyCraXUGOkSTYSDTtWWOVuHuWC3p68tdv/s1600/022.JPG" height="298" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cocoons all over the out house. </td></tr>
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Steven and our son working on the deck foundation. </div>
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Another project Steve and our boys did last winter was making all the diamond willow railings for the stairway. We brought them up this trip, but it may be a while before we get them installed. </div>
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Progress! It was looking good. Steve and our son had done this themselves (with a little help from me and the younger kids ) Our two oldest stayed home because of work obligations...they were coming with relatives for a few days in the middle of the week. </div>
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I went to town and got this load of lumber. It meant driving home with the doors open and tied. Never thought I would do such a thing. ;)</div>
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The older kids were now up and even our daughter helped build the deck. </div>
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We developed a routine of working till early afternoon and then spending the rest of the day at the lake. :)</div>
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It was gorgeous weather!</div>
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Just finishing up the deck... </div>
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Enjoying working together. </div>
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And playing together...</div>
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Beautiful sunset almost due north - taken from my kitchen window.</div>
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So now our older kids had gone back to work and we were deciding if we should stay a few more days or just head home. </div>
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We had an agreement with our neighbours that they could put there cattle on our pasture in exchange for them doing the fencing. they had run posts and wires around most of the land but the calves were not deterred. They would just walk through and were getting in around our house. Steve thought the best thing would be to start building a wood fence around our yard - something we had planned to do anyway. </div>
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So we were staying a few more days to work on that. </div>
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We were pleasantly surprised how nice the fence made the yard look. We got the north and half the west side done...the rest would wait till next year. The neighbours put temporary metal posts and page wire the rest of the way around the yard and that *mostly* kept the calves out. :)</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steve surveying his handiwork. :) </td></tr>
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This time when we left, we felt quite encouraged. In fact we would go home and push really hard on moving by fall. We would get a mortgage lined up in order to build the addition and finish things like the driveway, gas line, water cistern, and solar equipment. We did our best, but in the end we realized that it was not a good time for our family to move. The kids had needs that we could meet where we were. So we put off our plans for another year. We still made some trips to work...but not to move. </div>
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Here are some extra nature pictures from my walks around the land and from our time at the lake. </div>
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<br />jennstarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13623511793461013804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7917463285810759152.post-77111715662749134312014-06-21T13:29:00.007-07:002014-06-21T13:34:17.583-07:00Our Building Story Part 7 - Winter and Spring 2013<div style="text-align: center;">
This will be a longer post....<br>
Over the winter of 1012/13 we had an opportunity to go on a Cruise. We had never done something like that before and we were really excited to try....but then on second thought, we figured that if we didn't go we could probably afford to build the kitchen for our house. That is what we decided to do. The next year would be our 20th wedding anniversary and we would do a bigger trip then. </div>
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So over the winter Steve worked on the kitchen. I was pretty sure that I wanted a painted and antiqued finish, but I wasn't sure what colour. Antiqued cream coloured cabinets with green walls was what I finally settled on...until my visionary husband threw a new idea into the mix. :)<br>
Since he has a long history of good ideas, I was all ears!</div>
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He switched up my colours and suggested green cabinets and creamy yellow on the walls. I wasn't able to picture how this would look, so he gave me an extra door and some bead board from the shop and told me to have fun trying out finishes. </div>
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Since I would be glazing the doors with a dark glaze, I knew I had to start with a much brighter paint colour than the colour I wanted in the end up with.</div>
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I ended up trying a bright apple green. I painted the raw maple door...</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJL8WOHpv5By1DsaOOtrj8IO-Q2KOIXUHZYUWQ9h-xMUDp7fqZDA-xcsIz2gGGyUuf1bHEUJ88KkiGBIlsZ0y8f-w7ztYL9Nkdy0Yg8GVoqcms3sGWdhG65cV7kQJfGy69h4ykBK1_WdgU/s400/green+cabinets+001.JPG" height="300" width="400"></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Dk0pz4Tl4DVLom9iVVWcys3xkUbxzZwQ7SggFFeLf7-ywKOWQu6sx1I6cO4MJ1AmeC9nHWCRyMVFxoXdS8C2uaSOhthsoxPrEvc1h0-jczxFapOAUA64OXIPbOrb3leNhgfqYozzMpFi/s400/green+cabinets+003.JPG" height="300" width="400"></div>
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Then I sanded the dry paint to rough up the sheen. </div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXcy3IkIV6c-SVfakSu_wgMnJ87BZsocOa0MG-DHA5qCdLI8sNqXYBd0UUX9wnHe-UZ55FD4Z9D-tmnyHL-Z2XPdnDofny0TZYlJeCJ8hn32xqzIo9dmaY8RytCcHkXhwk1bMvAx4Ml7Ja/s400/green+cabinets+007.JPG" height="300" width="400"></div>
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And then I rubbed the door with an oil glaze. </div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis-nqsmX6-YIh6yapSRiTdxHG1m8SnTWsEyG08xFr5Ey00AJfa_sFM4DZCQFItRlxd227HBt8MJ4NAwxixXicXNVUBUTud7MYp5b43SbkW03tJwlObKLqTFhMhtnJn29koaKuPlL0J-Kmw/s400/green+cabinets+009.JPG" height="400" width="300"></div>
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I loved it right away! I knew the clear coat would bring the colour alive more but I could see it was what I wanted! I tried different handles....wooden knobs.</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTdM8RBovPe6ZeVEZNoTCsq0ivBZMJHws2OAEMKsGkXb57OGgS0mVw0iWpmRMdm26Nh6E5A-TBrU8vQqecWwQA-9H031bOvmRbq4op6EZW8vEIIKCavJDp3ptliuMRz7GyuFiN_HQM6kBq/s400/green+cabinets+011.JPG" height="400" width="300"></div>
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I even made some out of diamond willow. </div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIFzlOdqGCx_WI2MGZcAt5ucHZC6pCeoq69cROhY1dHEo2vQucL1oA_oz1n8IYbpQof-BJiiE2Ak02HwiKqyYNRjDTrLB6frKdcUmCWagPV6kyp5mpRtEon4KXTV0T762wQzPUo3M5vMNG/s400/green+cabinets+021.JPG" height="300" width="400"></div>
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In the end I found some on of Steve's wholesaler websites.<br>
They were antique copper and were only $0.59 each on a wild sale!!!! </div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgTsTeWsY_5ydlLW1Y5u5jXVhU-lReoPMiMjPSulV1kmBvhWf6Sy7ri8z2vJGujpuLw6swXCoPkA1tGlXcl2rAN8VMHH7Y8GB3qNAThMBgl3ofqf33_iBng48nj3zzqtNODGU1Xq2tWzkP/s400/January+039.JPG" height="266" width="400"></div>
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This is what the cabinets look like stacked in the shop ready to ship.</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOI5z_hjw0H7JUyO3qfJEzxM77UnTZ8rtOsVNJofqV_ppczUoQv5oQPPg354SVsIhlPB1SbjmmhCjwn4ZVSsb4KlWXPiYSLMFba2r3x6eQ4C1wk16Qg6viZfvxwHKycOm9NumZdOmP0ep6/s400/January+033.JPG" height="266" width="400"></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNggTv_0sDJ6JSxaybMih9gsmbvq680ac66PzsD9TeH1Gynrm1fqxgQYLTfRK9GhP49pRSEcx36q_xgPugQBUWlEsQTPqDEbPhRaWixCCr0IzyL6VGseLZL0C8A1i_p5g43SRu7ZLYlLhO/s400/January+034.JPG" height="266" width="400"></div>
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You can see diamond willow in the background. </div>
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We used some of those big pieces on the kitchen island later. </div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxitY2enjNdiocRrF0QWdROnvyu-ykavjj_YbgW0dJ2hJPqKnp6IUqGFG7k_j6RdE5HH4ZRqsBTL-5x5fjFoRQQo2abhg5fC9ZXXDbf6ebudCtZbYBXU9Broys6M8zTPe_fYxCYstRnAjP/s400/January+037.JPG" height="266" width="400"></div>
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The colouring is not true in this picture, but you can see how the bead board and antiquing looked. Steve added saw marks, worm holes and other dings for effect. :) They must of looked legit antique because one guy came in the shop and asked if this was a set of cabinets that Steve was re-finishing or fixing!</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiWYfsJhXLX2_mcvZPUEHGNz_abtdaZ5qAEmVulCq7Mc8Vs2Wptfh1VhQJCBuRfgkOs3zaRZmJhwaZ8RikqKWKDWH0uREolfcdQylanMa7EB19k4CN_8VqCyGMrog3-t-wlQHOFYss6QtA/s400/January+060.JPG" height="266" width="400"></div>
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So at the beginning of April, Steve, our two older boys and our nephew made a trip up to finish drywalling, mud/tape, and paint. We called the MD the week before to get the driveway cleared as there was lots of snow that winter. The first thing they did was clear the deck and get the dry firewood out to warm up the house. </div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoEzcUIOkRV8by900pRz0QQCE7MIzUHcWAeSme0fpge9-yNfhm-o3F93iLmcedMk_3MrOAdM4Wijk5PXDehTbTTz0VXdmUHf9SUPWYJWhfKBC_A2Ir3jwrSKiEHeRahyphenhyphenynXHl-tPMIj3jU/s400/Spring+Trip+North+004.JPG" height="300" width="400"></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis0KF_EFpOtSsRFcPB_wtn2T9N1OC4XD_HhfJvNsVctm7dqvNnW8jttHr6THDihzf96F4CwDjKfz9RUiXALhZ7Fq_J-wAy9VYQQLGnVCBmLIHbYF_2zIsx95lcXk2rKeLv17iK2h9Xfy7E/s400/Spring+Trip+North+009.JPG" height="300" width="400"></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXdrW15R0cGlQvpvjx8n7-TM-xMrDYajR1EYa0HD4AVZ34jclj8qY1jCALx-4rqA1O75hmEgTegZQ1bKooDtVqEoCXVfpDg-95FXvE3-zz3nSMSnZ4ZU83xP_v_Hbsar_8aotaGva3rC8q/s400/Spring+Trip+North+006.JPG" height="300" width="400"></div>
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The next obvious place to shovel was a path to the outhouse!</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8j6ewxVVi-0fT4dbWxupgBivH4O2Sq9u0NYhqlbRGTqBPHN0OUOeW82MmlbBPpyLiydhzDg5Xgy6vfkVjJ90K_pGKwA7meuHYOTUpwSJNmPUoynee85C04XUQiEL9truZeo5nAC0heI6E/s400/Spring+Trip+North+019.JPG" height="300" width="400"></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhetZ-FHAZrNRE2Axf4Olb0N5TyzLylNSZKrrM_X4DP1oqL7C-SAi9Yu0cx6sAQ5Vku3BctEq-cXiCcPukZnsreFi_a0UfTWl0CWC4xy66OdWBkgpoL7xkKqyF6f9x9ku0E3-HqzyhAL6Wn/s400/Spring+Trip+North+021.JPG" height="300" width="400"></div>
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In spite of the deep snow, they did have lovely warm temperatures during the day.</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6iUGGFHsBQgeKtjMoT6b-KDY4BxyUBNcQnhLBNsB9TOy5DMalryQBljmhdPax6ebSliegoRSpCqEtAJV2vtOyFzBX9XlP1MUuC8mphOCHQ5KX14Hu3yGBFLz_aUEqovFpgLpewqLt4F4i/s400/Spring+Trip+North+027.JPG" height="300" width="400"></div>
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Steve's super-tidy mud job. :)</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9wL18O43nLa3DpwfjwjO3ZWd6MfnCLTkiJchqMxgjxTV3yDao2anb4vv39V1rG3V7Kc2ooyrcNTv_VOdjZrj30G4Gtr5RtMyB5s57d5J74J57P70ehVOOXuGgo_E8A2YtgH353L1rqj3M/s400/Spring+Trip+North+055.JPG" height="300" width="400"></div>
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Since the guys were batching, They took turns washing dishes. </div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Jo9v1ozkkkgtwLcI3a3ioeDnZKXwKLjEoaFBXhkcX_WOjikOZ5z0Z43p8dWeyjE_xE_ZcN2cHBBOrhw1NLbDa4mrU3BsR02hrN8neVVze53pz6A4nWcuhFCCt9p9GEeREKj4VJcdVW-i/s400/Spring+Trip+North+053.JPG" height="300" width="400"></div>
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The upstairs with wall board up.</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmB1QhH_vM704_bWOVebL7bSb4LH_VDapRVC4RbHcZ7R4_vZU-oyrH5ab8jxHiGHdwTBFGAdMcl2TvEU9yywdP-Xv3Z738k-yrsIFThLj2834OY4z4aXD7jXReIcM_g-9yoVN2fu4jnDr8/s400/Spring+Trip+North+059.JPG" height="300" width="400"></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpKlt0USWlt-IDaYG8jQibxq8qdjXna_rCsgjRnJJxLc-UWdgSgjrwzryf0VgB_AafoWilmuhXz_ihZ7v9ZZp2AXaDQesuy58IxLzlnkPp-CuWgnoFTWYNY77O3-fgbNF_aJYSJi8RsqrT/s400/Spring+Trip+North+063.JPG" height="300" width="400"></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVswaiFHw5aIPxEK6oGpU_r6FcngGijHzjk6vqJh0n09rDKseEx-zPvEu6qBKh3pyxzHTRc-q4Il7k4bJm8mBJNTz3NhDzseeHPWHdpDFu5Cvj4fyBPGD-ouos5Th1P1oSewjKGGF8hC_X/s400/Spring+Trip+North+065.JPG" height="300" width="400"></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcsOyonI9YpcwHT9YLtRgb2Ef_kDHm5gtd5uBBIsDJSSsmZsI3ozbZEnmdFjwEe03B0L8K8QzEsYp-uqTZSzWMMO2OebfNR_8vMzdr1cADPfi0vHiyIawRXGk-tXmxe2s0Z20OHLvLw7uz/s400/Spring+Trip+North+067.JPG" height="300" width="400"></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxPXuxzlRIVABSIfMwt6QffDXHb6BJ9g_3bm6zJzHB2hvEeWEvZA0-cHYtENhzcuKQBNRkYDi97c3Lx7I55OSkHA5GPw10nsouHLtCazX1CM-gRCAjdC5g0EuTkUtzDcmygJWHrkpBZ1K6/s400/Spring+Trip+North+074.JPG" height="300" width="400"></div>
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With the butter-yellow paint on. :)</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZOGpaqFlRmpSD3S3Qsd7zAzFDkcB02Cu3gQTaJetoaqSXrVIALjLOZf3H2dcD_RKKy2yzYd5BI43s4EbpghPP57YmbC1NH-QXX29Q93QuhcCoCshou8G4ZMroXLf7J9Qz1MCzIbYToOpK/s400/Spring+Trip+North+132.JPG" height="300" width="400"></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgurRUVVQv3pukhyphenhyphenhrwGtk5b02jLvooQ3HCPPIvz5TXU85Q_9FEgyBfQERJdWsen8vIMBeklP6Gbl2hbEyJ42YMJjZwLfacvZnwVWaMlbFx6FuHPTJrAAXtYrp8V49EDPrkLeqCYyN4XuXc/s400/Spring+Trip+North+138.JPG" height="300" width="400"></div>
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Jeremy helping put in the fir window frames that Steve built over a year ago. </div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWYKSGgnj4tEr7DBeb4muglH3I31bmA0Y8yP5vzvqJqS6hhWMjQUlqfAzNTI_alvaIbOITkB6viF43R6bO2DEGfYwCTugf659glSleMVsPKXWJ-xcm6v6uJmA-v25tK-VekLQbsX-5UDCM/s400/Spring+Trip+North+171.JPG" height="300" width="400"></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEyj-NVxZR5wKeAmHJfPckHEH48u_LrM86c9ywtbweTghADHOFZbNRf5w5tdnQ8oaIsfsn9VCTeTwnG5D26KuZgzrAH7PSJSLldHYGztWcoXZtWx0ZPvL2nfPdbxstRh7-hOuTy4h6RRNH/s400/Spring+Trip+North+178.JPG" height="300" width="400"></div>
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It was starting to look like a real house! </div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXgcC9IHxC97J2zs4w9p9hXSAyuY9VbWFCSACkHTjhry83AvxPwxjnElgXhp5DZDR35I0i0DNwLVPXgRjg68O5KpVvH7RfJcLpdPyh7zwLvr0ql-7yd5juIOs90yqUIGuD7Ik6C3CErpgO/s400/Spring+Trip+North+188.JPG" height="300" width="400"></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpsZaLksbbVZrEUDAD4xRTlZwa-SJ5XdT0_xyZZyUBu7CtfBcuAs4fawo1dAr6JxLR5HglZEf5s-ugarPi1P__1h7QdkOmPYKSG50KwtXNse3VOrplB4JaVvFcjse6ahx26e53SgKsNHY2/s400/Spring+Trip+North+190.JPG" height="300" width="400"></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqIIxg35kyxKnwht9MZ0WAy-E_y-bdTnRoHguOQ3akRrDGHaeQ8E6PdvelBib96SnQB1Dxo4OVNKU4aGSZSmC_P80hODK2iw5Ke2j2H9-VX9zxbOtjOY7BXy0O-WRQHsfX1LJNZ63GW22v/s400/Spring+Trip+North+193.JPG" height="300" width="400"></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOQ3D_Np9MyKzzh7F2di7v6-HgRZpBbJsMQnlY2Dy2gWcJja7WfMnt9wPLl-iAR0t4Gs41LyCgShRxD-8IZ_4cUHUNQm1ArjrhcmOuj9pXVxPNxHEO6ts1hjCVqH2bbyYCsMVzPu38mWQ9/s400/Spring+Trip+North+194.JPG" height="300" width="400"></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVAxGAhkN_Wtkj0tVjY5Ds1EhJ3hp_tkzc0RIQEiL4kCHkPK8Iei1e3pruZycVCjA2e1qo-sQsawwNa_uMMl1oePQQlYyr9JCZjuAfzQc0QdfO8Zbpz83kfbOh1zD68zZFDHiP0tTbQvtl/s400/Spring+Trip+North+202.JPG" height="300" width="400"></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNJ5BBrvyJ1EQ5SxNd7IrLrRmnyvtiWtEyUOcSVBRBBZQzHMEvalOJjIRwR1JvWIWJ-1wJ6FJrYEI5JVFcqFQL-9mHvLIFFri31p0f8Jq7MSM4oWEK_K-TlZLeVXVXvYnYlKxbIEzICIPI/s400/Spring+Trip+North+208.JPG" height="300" width="400"></div>
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The boys did all the upstairs themselves. They got the yellow paint on, but when I saw the pictures, I was quite sure that I would paint the upstairs green after all. </div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3EsLvouHg1Bf0-ODcYY3dF8zq9TWQsdv9waSCHseH56-Qqtxqzc9KTqGKGIEonnybua05lYeQcG1-zjM7y4JjMkEkC_rvRivvYX2WimbWuyjAugmXGsOlspKJrT0a4qt1pLkosS5cI4Gt/s400/Spring+Trip+North+217.JPG" height="300" width="400"></div>
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I was busy at home making some furniture that would be helpful if we moved.</div>
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I made this coffee table and finished it with the antique white/cream I was planning for the cabinets originally. </div>
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I like it on the table, but I was still glad I went with the green for cabinets. </div>
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<img height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_xqCykZd4tBcn-YupTh19ytUe9WRpq_c-1lP-iehNcgyq8In9lgfkxz02wwQCJFiltdhwdB6euoki45i6ZILLMPstKgpdN6O0sbFAAvzJ85my5u5-H4VyNhltRzkuv6jetYAReexqAmEg/s400/blogger-image-1426115205.jpg" width="400"></div>
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<img height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0G4BV9itqoZa2p4SpYPjiGzxZbGJGSYwvL3RxwcwvQGIhe0MUFAemYJ618utRqWESBga5OrkK0z18ywzDf9123YMzuU9Ysf8XhN_1VXGAgn6smIl7860YRNXR35gL3YLM_habTTvNTT4z/s400/blogger-image-521011717.jpg" width="400"></div>
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Steve had built us this heavy table a couple years before and we were still using our mish-mash of chairs, so I built these benches and stained them to match. The benches slip under the table and take up much less room as well as being less "visually cluttered"</div>
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<img height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjtB0G4ryFVN4Ga9WnPNWgmfzOhc1zNGX_NOSqs4bE4XPkD8w7QS4WdnHsZPmyOKLcBRqL2psF_XcRBQ3C0WW9XR9rNzGzJum6IqvKTg0WoLGsq0WIO7-akHwu7PLnHCYGr9q-IBo-XmnO/s400/blogger-image--809581737.jpg" width="400"></div>
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I left a couple taller benches for the little ones. </div>
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<img height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8UO-4xk2iUrNmiYPz88oY93yEo9lQVW82-Wo3p6KtPdas8LtvbUHCaKlEKnwYw_0jhYqbUJml4YzgIz9giiNdua3Xk-qqmvFULxkAyDwANi1MnmqS_Rq2OO_BI4gB3icYUILbGmdQYiBl/s400/blogger-image-2035423851.jpg" width="400"><br>
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One month later at the beginning of May, Steve and myself made a rare trip together without the kids to install the kitchen cabinets and do a little more painting.<br>
We unloaded the trailer full of cabinets and I was concerned that our little place would seem so much smaller with all those cabinets installed. Interestingly, I found the opposite was true!!! The house felt bigger once the kitchen was in. I think the cabinets defined the space and of course hid all the storage items. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivr9uFPNk5N1c9-6C_uMzs_e1FT4riM71roeilF1GYbYTAMghY5p7BO8dgMQMOqFynNKTBjDSlLHMA5-C4IfxH9f3k3uYLswgEnWDQTnHib5Xj4ahcujhrpU1o3xaCuIB5OYYAAoGgcZjA/s1600/cabinet+trip+north+004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivr9uFPNk5N1c9-6C_uMzs_e1FT4riM71roeilF1GYbYTAMghY5p7BO8dgMQMOqFynNKTBjDSlLHMA5-C4IfxH9f3k3uYLswgEnWDQTnHib5Xj4ahcujhrpU1o3xaCuIB5OYYAAoGgcZjA/s1600/cabinet+trip+north+004.JPG" height="400" width="266"></a></div>
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Generator and tools ready to get going. Our little Honda 5000w generator has built this whole place and never once given us a moment of trouble!<br>
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Steve hard at work! :)<br>
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I LOVED THE COLOURS!<br>
Colour really effects me and green definitely makes me HAPPY.<br>
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I painted the upstairs *green*!<br>
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I really liked the drama of the dark fir next to the intense green.<br>
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One other job I did was put pine boards on this wall by the stairs.<br>
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Having one last look around before heading home. </div>
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So now I have a kitchen! :) </div>
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We noticed that there were a number of gypsy moth caterpillars around on the trees...</div>
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little did we know that by the time we came back in June, there would be a full out plague of the little beggars. But that is a story for the next episode.... </div>
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To Be Continued....</div>
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<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-story-part-1.html" target="_blank">To Read Part 1, Click Here</a></div>
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<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-story-part-2.html" target="_blank">To Read Part 2, Click Here</a></div>
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<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-3-finishing-up.html" target="_blank">To Read Part 3, Click Here</a></div>
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<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-4-2012-year-of.html" target="_blank">To Read Part 4, Click Here</a></div>
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<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-5-our-first.html" target="_blank">To Read Part 5, Click Here</a></div>
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<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-6-end-of-2012.html" target="_blank">To Read Part 6, Click Here</a></div>
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<br>jennstarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13623511793461013804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7917463285810759152.post-23192965364513821982014-06-20T10:11:00.000-07:002014-06-21T13:31:51.920-07:00Our Building Story Part 6 - The End Of The 2012 Season<div style="text-align: center;">
2012 was a year of progress for us. We made 6 trips to our land from spring to fall, spending over 8 weeks there. We thought we would be moving there that year...but that just did not come together for us. That time away had huge ramifications on Steve's cabinet business. Work almost completely dried up as people thought we were moving or had moved. We were so thankful for our church, for friends and for new customers that helped get us through the winter of 2012/13!</div>
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Before I go on, I wanted to mention how Steve had designed and built this little place to be ready for an addition if we ever moved here. There were headers pre-built into the walls to open up later between the old and the new parts. He had plumbing ready to patch into and coils of wire in the walls ready to string into the new rooms. So, when we move and start building on, everything is ready for the addition. </div>
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We made two trips in the fall of 2012. The first was the beginning of September and we wanted to get the chimney put in for the wood stove and drywall. Steve had pre-built a hearth for the stove but our stove had not been delivered yet. The big job of the week was making insulated skirting for the cabin. </div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMUMscOoi5vqb9NjXYLTsGwwGZ1E_9Oxxj5nPT4DKrFA4CmPEpGr3AZ1Ov9XOOHKsXVgfnuDbKJglA9otv-mxoURdwAd1cr6zWPJNe1TuejiN6uT9vfrpLmx6RtSweO7pn2XdMezQ0RbA/s400/late+august+006.JPG" height="400" width="266" /></div>
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Steve working on the skirting. He used treated 2x4's, treated plywood and 4" foam insulation.</div>
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Whoever was free kept the grass cut...still all with our little Husqvarna weed whip. </div>
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This little machine has worked for hours and hours and never given us a moment of trouble. </div>
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Our oldest daughter won "hill-billy outfit of the week award" with this get-up! :)</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEewzlRUbNMrYamLn7XwvPnCCFdhclFSSxTnskuQT8v6CsR1bGwG4Sk72ErXMRAsUCcQbiY_2rER-VajgBW_p8CkdIPDg0-uJY0d3GNmP4-ZfcoPvOJx_D7G2FoheX4ocKWpGG3PryCGA/s400/late+august+022.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></div>
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The chimney is on. Steve did this work on a HOT sunny day and was he ever dancing on that hot, black tin!</div>
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Our boys laid huge tarps under cabin. This will help with ground moisture and give us a clean surface for storage. The toads loved the space under the cabin and I'm sure they laid tarp over quite a few. They even found a burrow that the toads made for winter that was over 7' deep! I really hope they were all able to burrow out in the spring!</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTnOuaVP5f_CvzY6EVTSCpHZFvXS6BecATKcGKl66N-_y23BbSik3BSbekC59JumGLCyjBC8SW0i2Fl8qAy-eEuzGH2oV3nPSz2s0-5cH2DX8ze9YQWXju6qAQ2F4jXhcLn9PMgtzbgT4/s400/late+august+036.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></div>
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Working together on drywall. </div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK03VXjbAo-ZmXGCWDRXNhyphenhyphen95cI7vHLcbvVDlE0WPBm3qhoN43nVIr4nk15mqgMA-jIC8p4sxXY_reKgsx86iBfOaMovuiPjSjsh-Jh3Vl5rElVeewXDeoNvpRJSSYxnNWJgTKGnIu5Ng/s400/late+august+038.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></div>
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The skirting puzzle getting done. Steve left vent openings that can be opened in summer for ventilation and closed in winter. There are two on the south end and two on the north. </div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_JnvWYLXEH0x5Wj7C7GT_q2LF9NjKEcjIxYFhfw-A-Yq0zWZfkoiU2GVwveQqZrbavULt_AC9xJqH0z5W0wA6OWjqM_yShDZmDwvYYCnEKeLmwYGhczJpSZ74u53BF1WCYX8G-6ofmiM/s400/late+august+042.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></div>
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Treated plywood going over the insulation.</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhywYQAeh0bfLQXHvQjXLL1O-reZGF16bJtI49vITzHow5Em69csKPMZdkDim87Cy8uiM4VbvIkezsN62lOa3OwmIi8KMXwuG0UsSGI1K6MXvkaj3pFGM3Swr9MqNV_ZNumb8DnuNy7FxQ/s400/late+august+049.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></div>
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Kids dishing up breakfast. </div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTPsyYM3lpJCWnf0nBoyYEJFjLHas8_rIVPNDQ199jD0A10BmGcSa0KWzG9UYrk-NxjQ7avFuXMGIi8jVclswgo9BR4rTv_DIaIIwHps0c1Cfz_FgNRssCZiug1GLJElP2CCPGaudFuew/s400/late+august+078.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></div>
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Our niece came to stay with Emily for a few days and this is their hair washing station. :)</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPlN06yFfjO0eIxbEEcr1utqBT5KXPDRVvM1tZWcE-G2ehP_dNgLNJQI0Ky6hyphenhyphenyZD3H2AWSGQT07Xuz4pTykPw8NAt8k7yqNGba6hDdsNbTxfJywKi64-bTnZXKxkW10kWS73Fus2poH8/s400/late+august+083.JPG" height="400" width="266" /></div>
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Our bath station. :) After supper I put a big canner of water on the camp stove to heat for bathing. </div>
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We put at least 2 people through each batch...maybe not nice to think about but it worked and we got clean.</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8lPfJqGuM5ilQEabijyd4H1ld0HAcZ_CYrAz1mVpEdq_EBhN1rFOWbqBF5hzmnnzF95Lz1HhmB0ewnGDIMP_3BmpT7tdmP3zIDqBncTW8GTiBqn9Nv3ElNXgASEE5BgQAP77xdg4qKXg/s400/late+august+084.JPG" height="400" width="266" /></div>
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The end of the rainbow....</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFn-vMj_4MnjNqYlFJDz_i8ZqC7QihPdTr5VJkha1xAP6GpArsVaZmqAm4HRFKU8aeLyhN3ScSQqPuGFnPWbahakdy-vpcy-CddLaRq4b_3NDD_clgMxKs2FWgbywd8FszwTzK2nL88U8/s400/late+august+310.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></div>
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The men got the downstairs drywalled. :)</div>
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You can see a little deep freezer open in the back corner. That is what we use for a fridge for now. We have the generator going for several hours a day while we are working so we plug in the freezer for several hours and then it keeps our food cold until the next day when we start the generator again. It has worked for us and has made food storage much easier. Once we get our solar hooked up, we will put a thermometer switch on the plug in for the freezer to keep it at an even 2-4 degree temperature for fridge use. </div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicRbIVcibo8trvMKbfrDw8IMUxk6tfRSH8dAiA90Xk50qC1hVR_PetUSd2ot4JbAz7QOdUYz6so3Yqjkn9RXU5WSZS519Wz9FS4rlQnRa4gl_HN7kOTeXw6Rg3xfqzIlDXUUiO11ItFq0/s400/late+august+331.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></div>
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Our kitchen. You can see the water bottle stacked. We are able to fill those for free at a filling station about 5 miles from our place. In the long-term, we will put in a cistern for water. We will haul water to fill this from the same filling station we fill our jugs from and the cost is quite reasonable. Wells are scarce in this area and most folks rely on a dug-out or a cistern for water. We chose to go with a cistern as it was the cheaper option and there is a water line planed for our area in the next 5 years. We did not want to get a whole dug-out system in place and then have to pay for town water later. </div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_gSndgIpau4haE8XCc90Lrg8VnYYGLBmzKvd-zexyalRkKxrtl2-XR7cR5NfvS-tiUWDoosMzJ2FkpQuThPabILGRQgGSgiRNcC8JVMLRjvZ-Swhj5ZKDVjMCMkVjoofR_Sx0lBPw4Z8/s400/late+august+346.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></div>
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It looked so bright and clean with the wall-board up. That is all our lawn chairs piled in the corner. </div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivT9fQ1Kuh9oBv25YSUZSgqQz3vnWbTmp1AD_hyHC3qtiksfY1-RfScCE0GEvqgCfklfcybBWg4lWjllHg0uIeNrCHYG6VLNqXGNgn-lVWgRaSun3qFlyzbXOIxd7cNzeEPvdTn1ZJesk/s400/late+august+347.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></div>
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Looking up the stairs.</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4zuFMuhbF829TMTh44L4TwfKFUJqQ7nGTtvWhE0PmsJI24YQsGEOeS7FaDg6UKQNOCgjFMw7ycBUPeiysglkmRh9h7EDtbVCJe4k4vH8SNYBEPPwzGptWEqkm4FM6EJlcojDlOZOCSU8/s400/late+august+363.JPG" height="400" width="266" /></div>
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Looking down - that stained plywood flooring is works and looks fine!</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwktxhZ8blLe5o1r80FlNaoGt8SS4iX53lQUkLDFuzBhW4lmNNANv-HIwVFxIbGDKd0B1Td1UzvZVz0pYsRBULr0TAcoo0iBHqGcK1GqAfyV-S0E0rQ79ujc2Mp-faAuc8w9B6bbRVtv8/s400/late+august+365.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></div>
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The skirting on and dirt burmed for drainage.</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9lmZjiqyEcDfjxCOHsP1EYiECiwgTR_A1YMVX4ji2mPW8eQGo49QEbuAY-v3BoS3mHSlO3ORa67s4Un_PMJTGTFfzSV4alPOG2mL78oLzzsts5l57W1gfyVNevupdGrj1VG4vuBkOBrg/s400/late+august+398.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></div>
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Ready to leave and head for home...but we felt we were leaving home at the same time!</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZuxT2FkoZ0BckuNxl_dDFfpbBcz8LFRQ-HkcFTCGEsFtxycMC2biCUuG6jCq8W_0uFigA8doZjzcTcW8LrVZEi4BGTnb3eMs6Oig2wQFTMjCzlFczfxJ8bYOLabA0FAnTElN1kcVwAT0/s400/late+august+403.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></div>
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In the middle of October we made one last trip for the season. We had our wood stove along this time but we arrived late and only carried it inside. We were thankful that the weather was unseasonably warm and we didn't need a fire that first night!</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1JGeCwn2jNbh1lKfUSlHTEiKLCkssqk11MTungoy2j0iyeOECVPPKqHVyuS1NFCSZsyLlu0UZQDKrJkkoBEvZGoA012OuJdp8eCWAC_Cnpa5bHhCDdcItNrpKDO_q7MfL2ySzMsZZBJWX/s400/Fall+trip+north+001.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></div>
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We chose a lovely red model which I thought was SO pretty! It is a fairly small stove, but we didn't want to cook ourselves out of our little place! It has really small tolerances to the wall which we liked as space was at a premium.</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLcYjMWfi6tJc5GsHa0El21tzZDvdHb2QY4NMrU6d3VdZttexIP3oa2Ip4dRi-cWUFXqk97WDw2XYVMRTWR-PaLOU5dro8q8cjqG3hUftTSX0cypPnGqSQ1gazKthj3GlIbV4dZXWovk2d/s400/Fall+trip+north+010.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZjSt_RYfyf3sNH2b49xD7z3MvaM4nlPBxuFgdqcy3EzPy51Z30iN99BHpLnD5vPbcalZ1UTGLaYMbpxnXeCt_AJYcIXEHK7_L0Cxc2AvjL7MCH2MTLdN5bisuXUhoRTkZTL1uQ_FsKThv/s400/Fall+trip+north+025.JPG" height="400" width="266" /></div>
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Cutting tin to case the chimney holes. </div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYJeuSpQXIq4gK5UeHaGQNJtuT69fbLX0Eg3FnI-u2zKm9_8O2aaa4Sswvt09LZhR8eniAx-oWIjYEij9Lg5g9NVsFrtqToz6Of8epucSk580SVZ7K4QcGiDKFAPs0gNLix_5hNtu97mWn/s400/Fall+trip+north+015.JPG" height="400" width="266" /></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoXVa1uLpCW3k1oRg6ZteXPGWGXP-ktRxvasPRhVUscsRXm56TaDYcNiorYSY9kxc5Qkn62ZTdIkQET53Fmt1L2ssOu9fYBrMkioD2Whyphenhypheng1pilWP373_mVytas8t9eUYMzLg0JRieXEQew/s400/Fall+trip+north+030.JPG" height="400" width="266" /></div>
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Enjoying the first fire in our little home!</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrVZff7pYRNa6cxSKWCl9z-hAoAIBtx0dFAyHOMHJIk4zQ9gTRrBlTAYkYoiL9J4i-lId0RUcMYnYs3IltVPIKt8_XhCvSSEktWfzYR-V9Z-8Ko35Z_XSe6R56j7pNmSlIYeft0pKmH-z7/s400/Fall+trip+north+042.JPG" height="400" width="266" /></div>
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The fall colours were so beautiful this trip and we just got in on it. The leaves were still a bit green when we came, they turned like this almost overnight, but were almost totally gone by the end of the week!</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5DqBbSOfP-ZorDI0pYGZx1wWVGpWGRAlwc6izkJol0IO-8jXyxb_FIUM_JdCsSVNmOwlmgxMiumGXIhTqQDNpI2Agmh2V18jw_Ikp1lKB5HiTJwYS_ylsAYeqLSTjuGuBosj6ZNialDEI/s400/Fall+trip+north+047.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpXiSHTh8Ehyyby_106xbkipU1RBmujXVljOXmU83zm116AhjNGlKkTERQzK_BnegHi1Rp0HXexP-6bA2SYjgumz5ADQiuxsl4UP_jGM_hKiUaYmsBEc1611B48P7NtiMqx2YU3kYQ0eaA/s400/Fall+trip+north+050.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></div>
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Fire wood ready for winter.</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8XxQr38-2JRO7N7DXk_LYQr6XG12WY_Ye5ab9rjFo55salEuWqn1TFh__PdgwuIvU1hAcgWSADrvkcMyxqasVXhpahzmvyGqZr5fFRY3CMeJqzbiV9-WxAh5KKCU_OEDuVNsmv6hMiQhp/s400/Fall+trip+north+107.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtN7rreNKfgHtFUxBMx_QZwAVAuMmJpfXhRsoN7tX4itUiLbC7-yjOUk4vNr8VfH_Kz9m7PVQvBabfCUZB-RbgstYLaei4oS0JRdpCzmPH-DwJYIT5gUd9jO1uYLSv7kwSosV481b01Gp8/s400/Fall+trip+north+113.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></div>
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Our older kids were spending most days helping Steve's niece and her husband who had bought land and were building a house about 4 miles down the road. So Steve and I and the younger kids decided to build a deck since we had spare time. </div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ21ByrahACz2WGboQ5aSDexl0sNbeg6IKQTdaFAK224JC33vueLRXMlF8rng1LfBqyKNZ-Rl1hGikJI0bNussyPl22_5ejiCi1zjH5X2yte5XxZv9q7-0Bl_xuRQKNJd4u7Fy98bOhl_Q/s400/Fall+trip+north+162.JPG" height="400" width="266" /></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB9268eAJSgzFz93LQOFi8FVNTioEsl_lAB0lQZs96qkMUoaiE9tGpk-YozKCemUbgKpVfMxesDF7zktqB8EDi63hlrrzGAB5Mjg2CmaVqrt6aaHpcighQJq-foJ77jPZFwy_hS-rhCUHf/s400/Fall+trip+north+170.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPUzgv_w7LXVdUC133Ne9BVvttMu17O2j1p0wdBuOJw2VV8wQdh_SIlQCe6dqb1FaHLcnH6NpAnILnrMfX8RTFeDudPIc1LWIrQcN82gbJTmeiBDD1W9u-ysVItjoLwsn9J2YzYfUvwZJk/s400/Fall+trip+north+174.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqncJDl94GmePd6hYAntpNvJjueosslVknZMs3XR53BTNb5rkzjZpjhVoDQQKv6p15Jiv_qpWmbaXiK6du6ipYZ4sVxdsPuDfkEZH8NnarbbyFWIgFqoUlV1vGgZPviUafb9N-Ir3zpZZK/s400/Fall+trip+north+175.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></div>
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I loved taking morning walks around the land. You can see our place from across the field. </div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyakaVzxKMMr_BPtsowpG43e9f1OKofv4arSjVNVPwlgYcfHCS0f4bs4Aim2Oyck7Mj1HNJE6gFOIl4DMfwULk-CwPrC-XOVfPHs1PNUb04Au97kZ0Vsg9Tzr9zVFReww7VdZAHauUIbK-/s400/Fall+trip+north+190.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></div>
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I saw these two young moose near our relative's cabin on the other side of the quarter.</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2eCOLvAFPWBKLQxvLuDinC-gyp56WohLxTbjCAl3aWHIO2wvLxs_Lwkh2E5oPJ7HRJ2XsOCQXvbuEPxvEIjK43KQlL6xxymU0Ai-L1FKOGGM3SzswHMKj1BZUyhfGNYK2NxZHNvF3b_iG/s400/Fall+trip+north+198.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlZ5lDOGYAKKJlyzu_b1cgDwE8mIw5y4SZFwxNX0dPetsMnEJsJA63pPWAMQAS_14q4k0dGzCyF-T8tEFLjcPmesYkpXJJVVlV_S7TWpjBQ4Xu8xbrOx2ptnKdB607rSej7jAT1oOkwjnJ/s400/Fall+trip+north+219.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6EGmgav1QmOV1B75VTTD0FGXtmanUNA9Ugz_b5zvnrAXf_qFTBf6d8hDXV0rLzEWrcMnAZKBd3VZ0ZtaiYLTP1890tM3YiHv0ydjkc6WBnDkT-wq5l7XCTdDk712sgDQ9rdcEaDIsXEZe/s400/Fall+trip+north+222.JPG" height="400" width="266" /></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi_Y-CmJWeRdFfLGziK4EDYd5k93SG_ozogeyOJLSFvhxcn1YyZeKmLb-80BVtSOoA9B9fu7kzfuhinhTTk4LTnVrmcWvkoB3NBio7cNm2D2-b7RScr96GHbjcJp2Ax8SZOGJS3ZhNFymZ/s400/Fall+trip+north+282.JPG" height="400" width="256" /></div>
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Our new front deck and view. </div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE30IIWxfCV_NWEW4eTkxCFT39tdud2j2i4O03O_ywA7UwVRBabJeoG7BANLo9vh8p_kyhsKhvx75WW5KcHeHtL-UUpyNBlMEnHevLUdblC_6auk2JdIKdpGYSBGkZ3uZfC9PKdr68_t-P/s400/Fall+trip+north+293.JPG" height="400" width="266" /></div>
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Our cozy stove ready for cold weather. We temporarily put cement board on the hearth and wall till we decide what we will do for tile or stone. </div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs9hkFVLPz162ek64ePZs9KufGM0drCVZlgJT_5nztXlIU2suBTFQw2mtOuuDoQZOMMv1TTSOK5g18SQdxAI2S9p1hnGeCGgYXKVYxLd7mTMGHA1UiEnrclw0Ngpnp1KUxw7mRtE42aUXC/s400/Fall+trip+north+367.JPG" height="400" width="266" /></div>
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And this is how we left our house at the end of the year. All drywalled, new deck, a stove to heat with and lots of ideas and dreams about what we would do next. </div>
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To be Continued....</div>
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<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-story-part-1.html" target="_blank">For Part 1 Click Here</a></div>
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<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-story-part-2.html" target="_blank">For Part 2 Click Here</a></div>
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<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-3-finishing-up.html" target="_blank">For Part 3 Click Here</a></div>
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<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-4-2012-year-of.html" target="_blank">For Part 4 Click Here</a></div>
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<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-5-our-first.html" target="_blank">For Part 5 Click Here</a><br />
<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-7-winter-and.html" target="_blank">For Part 7 Click Here</a></div>
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jennstarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13623511793461013804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7917463285810759152.post-43747198508413857972014-06-19T10:11:00.002-07:002014-06-21T13:30:58.592-07:00Our Building Story Part 5 - Our First Stay In Our House<div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">By the middle of July 2012 we took our first family trip to our land for the year; it was the first time we had ever stayed in our house instead of our relative's cabin; and also the first time our new little baby was with us. We had some work planned...but we also combining our family holiday for the year with this trip....so FUN was a big part of our plan! there was going to be quite a few extended family up for our second week as well.</span></div>
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We arrived and got unpacked and I have to admit that for the first 24 hours I just wanted to turn around and go home. I think it was a baby hormonal thing. There seemed to be so many bugs and I wanted to take my baby home to her own little bed and safety. I was soon feeling better and was very happy to be there.</div>
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The first thing Steve had the kids do was cut down the tall grass all around the cabin. As soon as they cleared a swath around the cabin, the bugs really decreased!</div>
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Whenever someone had free time they kept working away at knocking that grass down.</div>
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The kids play area increased and they started exploring.</div>
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By the second day, I was feeling MUCH better about everything. As soon as I gave the outhouse a thorough clean, my emotions took an upward swing. The cut grass also reduced the amount of bugs around the cabin significantly!! The cabin looked more like a house with a yard rather than a house in a field. I went from feeling discouraged to LOVING EVERY MINUTE!</div>
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Our little bedroom in our future bathroom.</div>
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Baby's playpen bed with mosquito netting. </div>
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Cooking for 10 off two camp stoves....it worked just fine!</div>
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Upstairs with the kid's beds laid out.</div>
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Our future driveway with the grass mowed down.</div>
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I transplanted a few spruce trees....only one ended up living and it was the ugliest one!</div>
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Front yard with clothes line and "hill-billy teeter-totter" </div>
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Fun on the dugout in a rowboat.</div>
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The kids built pathways and little bridges to get around the property through the bush. </div>
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The main work wee got done this trip was getting the stairs in with temporary railings, and putting the pine on the downstairs ceilings. </div>
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We did a lot of cleaning up in the bush around the cabin. Steve thinned out the willow to give the birch a chance to grow. We cut and stacked all the willow for firewood as it is a hardwood and burns nice and hot. </div>
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We took several trips to the lake to enjoy fishing and midnight sunsets. </div>
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Steve with a walleye. </div>
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Jeremy with another walleye.</div>
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Our collective catch for the evening. </div>
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We had a big family fish fry the next day!</div>
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Looking North from our house. </div>
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We had some nice campfires....here a friend has his pan-flute out. </div>
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Fireworks courtesy of Uncle Justin</div>
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Steve helps the younger kids learn to shoot the .22</div>
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We actually had extra time on our hands so we got a load of drywall at the nearest town and started in on some of the boarding. </div>
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The stairs look so nice! The pine ceiling really brightened up the interior and Steve had prebuilt some of the dark trim which he got up. </div>
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He also had the post cladding and supports pre-built and finished. </div>
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My tidy camp kitchen. :)</div>
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It was a good trip. We were up for just over two weeks so it gave us some idea of what it would be like living there. We planned on coming at at least one more time in the Fall of 2012. </div>
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To Be Continued....</div>
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<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-story-part-1.html" target="_blank">To Read part 1 Click Here</a></div>
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<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-story-part-2.html" target="_blank">To Read Part 2 Click Here</a></div>
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<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-3-finishing-up.html" target="_blank">To Read Part 3 Click Here</a></div>
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<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-4-2012-year-of.html" target="_blank">To Read Part 4 Click Here</a><br />
<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-6-end-of-2012.html" target="_blank">To Read Part 6 Click Here</a><br />
<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-7-winter-and.html" target="_blank">To Read Part 7 Click Here</a></div>
<br />jennstarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13623511793461013804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7917463285810759152.post-91450419261876759612014-06-18T10:57:00.001-07:002014-06-21T13:31:02.294-07:00Our Building Story Part 4 - 2012 A Year Of Progress And Changes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Over the winter of 2011/2012 I was expecting our 8th baby. My health wasn't good, but Steve and the kids kept getting things ready for working on our house in the spring. </div>
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Steve pre-built all the interior fir window casings. They were all finished and ready to slide in when the drywalling was done. We also bout all our tongue and groove pine ceiling boards from a saw mill. The kids pre sanded the boards and gave them 3 coats of clear finish so we could install them already finished.</div>
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Again, we stacked everything in our rental house garage, ready to ship up the first chance we had in the spring. </div>
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As we had the money, we purchased all the electrical supplies we would need. Steve's brother who is an electrician drew out instructions and a plan for Steve to follow. Our nephew-in-law who is a plumber actually made a trip to our place in the early spring to rough-plumb for free. :)</div>
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Our precious little girl was born the end of March 2012.</div>
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My health was recovering, and Steve and the three oldest kids made their first trip up to our land at the beginning of May. Our relatives were still happy to lend us their cabin to stay in on our trips. Our work season would have been MUCH shorter every year if we were still tenting instead of staying in their snug cabin! We were so thankful for this!</div>
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The first order of business was the electrical and plumbing. As I mentioned we had help with the plumbing from a relative. Steve tackled the wiring and did a great job. I always chuckle at this picture as one of the wires is labelled "Outhouse Lights". It is not every house that has such a switch!</div>
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Since we are going to be using solar power only, we had to plan for efficiency. The inside panel remains standard though. </div>
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As soon as Steve was done with a wall, the kids started Insulating. That is always an unpleasant job!</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiirRthx3K9iN_f60Y8bj_z4Z_H_x7c74mC8WxqiiYlkVTI1kwdvdxvIAbOM3NOK6SyjrHefgLk5EalcUFUb3MwypLWqoY6Kz6oN6qEAeZIBIxpWOp11ABdCKxbr4zdd8xWHV4dOZ1C9Ro/s400/IMG_1410.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></div>
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With our harsh winters in Northern Alberta, good insulation is so important!</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEbQau6CCyBjwV8Es-gmntipfIM4I_iD6b61tyvFa4aTkw1d3wKSW0qJ49O9BLMGpcUUSDsBJPzREYNLbMLrvfXxvHmXRP1JRg1hbPhysHZRxU5ZtzHlnv8dnvd2cNWZJJgbC3RoGqJss/s400/IMG_1427.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></div>
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The future Bathroom.</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFlsnaKf6fcQQGih69qsRPylSd-gaKqcMU3ZT7EZ3Ua_5fuQbn1GEX8i7-qVwzSAxPr_itbOTOltk5osxOZ5JH97AgaODcA08aezPT-gGMzokvlWe53fdH4Z57BSZJxhMMhYyIBB3Kfnc/s400/IMG_1424.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinpKfgzioBbsWOKba6n1sWR8dHkbIP05OplsevyZeZsqzGsUvolkXPF6nvnf1EIH4fR3zgjHtpCDCBFJHMayrFJon_NiJu3mipkN70vXXIyqanH-kGTFGOoJTF78zFa7bAP-gdY61S6FM/s400/IMG_1412.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXXqNN-5IpVyXD6NzFzqtJWSfR3TegTabLCOmoIBLeGtHrhQE8yBoRy5hKh9uXNybyRHT4KtvKuQhTpBP8pfdVNzMMwTY7gnWHtPLP9ZK_HS_dylgTQu3aJR_wH9twoWrNDjPiPX8fAEk/s400/IMG_1434.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></div>
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That is how they left it in May. A month later at the beginning of June, Steve and the kids went up again to bring up the pine ceiling and stair case. They got the whole upstairs ceiling finished. We were still unsure about the downstairs ceiling, but we ended up doing it pine as well later on that summer. </div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7UFcKoTPaiLn8lnZ7C-A_0GD_ABLT3jFee4q4TPISNOOVgqaWiw8klv9X_CpvF9A5m1fJAVo6uhcASngnaGo0RN5rcD_4mBAkVpZ_iyktOs0T26mqDt_1b_G1_1Kimk5JeCcTtdp5v9Q/s400/IMG_1732.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></div>
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Stairs and posts ready to install later.</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKQiWbPryPmcC5gQ7tG1pzZjtXd2GEi_2TS-h5qkWY_afHRIliw6baYsOdOSYQcc89kK95d76oHbMeHvSDwipN50xaIgXW4SHgOgE9ICLOaZMWpuWtuYASP8qlxJkqz7L1wTL8rDnkxLs/s400/IMG_1737.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></div>
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It sure made the upstairs look homey to have the pine on! </div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNkPUSXDWKh-uJFKaaq4Q6EDJj3O24GrMLUCmyulZjNV6UMNtXCTtGoCIXtOA-cAvX6fM4cxq59PVr7ldPAINhxrkaBiyDhUXjLMvwMhVwyJXXxEU4Sk1YL7Z8UiucTe89ls_3mmwd6YQ/s400/IMG_1747.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTbFFlCM5WjV44WuRVo6Nc9xjcsblyya6fADWdX8BTzVsaeSqiwwdSYnH3Ekzk8jfCY446oFS4vvQurQFDEh-TKflzcH4OELzzch-PfVQL3TBry27S14GGHyv6lUYYA-8T8Orh9kGT8iU/s400/IMG_1750.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></div>
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End of Part 4 of Our Building Story.<br />
To Be continued....<br />
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<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-story-part-1.html" target="_blank">To view Part 1 Click Here</a><br />
<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-3-finishing-up.html" target="_blank">To view Part 2 Click Here</a><br />
<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-3-finishing-up.html" target="_blank">To View Part 3 Click Here</a><br />
<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-5-our-first.html" target="_blank">To View Part 5 Click Here</a><br />
<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-6-end-of-2012.html" target="_blank">To View Part 6 Click Here</a><br />
<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-7-winter-and.html" target="_blank">To View Part 7 Click Here</a><br />
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<br />jennstarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13623511793461013804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7917463285810759152.post-45785913255936293102014-06-18T10:12:00.000-07:002014-06-21T13:31:07.605-07:00Our Building Story Part 3: Finishing Up Our Second Season<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shortly after our July work trip where we put our house up in just a couple weeks, we discovered that we were expecting our 8th child. By the beginning of August, I was totally bedridden with morning sickness. Our oldest daughter was 17 at the time and she took over the household responsibilities with gusto - and did an excellent job. It was not what we had planned our would have chosen for our lives at the time, but we are so thankful for our youngest little girl who joined our family early the next spring. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My illness of course effected how much we could work on our house. It ended up that Steve and the boys would make one more trip that fall to side and finish the outside, but we kept dreaming and planning what next year would hold. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We had ideas of using as many resources on our land as possible in the building of our home. We unfortunately did not have any old stands of timber on our property - it was mostly pasture with some small trees and scrub.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We did discover that some of that willow scrub was diamond willow and could be used to make beautiful furniture and small log projects.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is what the willow looks like live - and the diamond shaped knots we were looking for. </span></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkeSZADYVK62vd6uT07YaEBnCoALsmlipuh4Z91d7i5-27yT96fPWM6Zzl4ybuLZaEelFQJKrFwreQ5PPJNq4jSEh1no6kOU2ABroz-tlu_TIqqb_uLlBuU-C-TN0i5uD7lLAU5wDuiC0/s400/IMG_9560willow.JPG" height="400" width="270" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And this is a peeled stick with just the dead wood around the know still covered.</span></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhabGgZJkS4Du0mPCQolfIlrETXPz63tKhvqjG9AOoNZ-3izVC23cALnxTQHows0WiGy3X2CWi0U5KlRF1X90Lm04E4HF7seXaUigpcXDxvd4EKjcmraNtLII-QSJ8sa4rocFbAdo2tFHM/s400/IMG_9546.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And here is a finished stick with the knots cleaned out and a light clear coat put on.</span></div>
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Our goal was to make our stair railings out of the diamond willow as well as some furniture.</div>
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This is what our stairs look like. Steve made them in his wood shop over the winter and before our house was even put up! Again his engineering skills are AMAZING. He built these before the house existed and everything fit PERFECTLY!</div>
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So Steve and our boys made one more trip up to work in the 2011 season. </div>
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They were able to put the siding on the house as well as all the fascia and soffits. This was a huge morale boost for us. </div>
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Steve also threw on some temporary OSB skirting around the bottom of the cabin to keep snow from drifting under the building over the winter. We planned on putting some proper treated and insulated skirting on later.<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilJh-4_WGgiGJcQpMdERomxcDB1kGpJQrsaC9iURtXmgcUWYRysY0oVqby-5L0nFuwe2dri_ZXsn5z5ekDgFrCoNkN5B_p5CUwgCGmyutK7Un120CW-7KfhKJti8fh6EVdOazOQxiCli8/s640/IMG_1456.JPG" /></div>
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We had colour matched the paint for our outhouse (and other outbuildings) to match the siding. </div>
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That was the end of our 2011 season. </div>
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End of Part 3 of Our Building Story</div>
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To be continued....</div>
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<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-story-part-1.html" target="_blank">For Part 1 Click Here</a></div>
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<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-story-part-2.html" target="_blank">For Part 2 Click Here</a>.<br />
<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-4-2012-year-of.html" target="_blank">For Part 4 Click Here</a><br />
<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-5-our-first.html" target="_blank">For Part 5 Click Here</a><br />
<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-6-end-of-2012.html" target="_blank">For Part 6 Click Here</a><br />
<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-7-winter-and.html" target="_blank">For Part 7 Click Here</a></div>
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<br />jennstarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13623511793461013804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7917463285810759152.post-18855360014002228422014-06-17T08:21:00.001-07:002014-06-21T13:31:26.711-07:00Our Building Story - Part 2 Putting A Home Together<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our 2011 year started with finding someone to haul our pre-cut lumber for our house up to our land. Steve had also pre-built our outhouse in panels ready to put together first thing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were able to contract a man to do our hauling but it was delayed because of a wet spring and road bans. Finally on May 21 we where ready to load the trailer. We had some help loading which was wonderful! We got the trailer loaded and the lumber tied down ready to move it up north the next day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here is What the pile looked like before we started loading...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Steve drove up the next day with three of our kids to help the driver unload the trailer by our building site. Again, that seven hour drive between home and our land has been a hard thing to deal with! They unloaded and organized the lumber in piles which they tarped. They also finished digging the outhouse hole and put together the outhouse Steve had pre-built. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the mean time, my Mother (who had been ill with dementia for 16 years) was doing poorly. At the beginning of June she passed away. It was a really hard time and I was thankful we were home and I could be with my Mom when she died. About two weeks after the funeral, Steve was planning on getting back up to our land to build. I don't think we recognized at the time what kind of pressure we were under, but we were eager to start and we kept on going.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So we didn't get building until the beginning of July. Steve went on ahead with our son, Jeremy. He met his brother Justin at the land who had offered to help us start building which was wonderful as he is a builder by trade. Steven is a cabinet maker and has done a lot of building, but having someone there who was up on all the latest codes was such a help. Justin was also very cheerful in spite of the mud and he really encouraged Steve at this point! As I mentioned it was a very wet spring and they were working ankle deep in mud for the first week while they built the floor on the pilings. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was glad our boys and oldest daughter could help with the process. Justin and Steve took time to teach them how to help and it was a good time for them. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We had pre-finished the plywood for the floor as it was going to be our finished floor until we could afford hardwood. So the sheets were all clean and shiny when they put them on. They worked in their socks on the plywood, trying to limit the amount of mud. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The walls are getting put together. By this time, I had come up with the rest of our family. We were staying in the cabin our relatives had built on the other side of the quarter. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First wall up! That is my kitchen window facing the trees!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now we were on to the roof and thankfully we would have some extra help for a few days. Several family members were coming up to fish and were willing to help out with the roof. It made the job go so fast!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Steve was a little leery about framing the dormers himself, so having help who were experienced builders was a God-send. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We chose metal roofing for low maintenance and the option of building a solar hot water heater on it later (one of the reasons we chose black). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our roofing help had left and this was Justin's last day with us. He helped put the door in and then it would be just Steve and I with our boys doing the windows.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Steve's engineering skills were really evident as they put this building together. Everything fit so perfectly together and every board was pre-cut and marked where it would go. He did that while working on the floor of our garage back home over the winter!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">House wrap time. We all got to help and it went fast. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Windows: Steve would climb our tallest ladder and nail in a couple nails to hold it steady. I would had the window to him from the inside of the hole and then level it and hold it in place while he nailed it from the outside. Then he would put the pre-built cedar frames on each window. I was so glad when this part was done and he could get off that ladder!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The last few days we had, we started working on the interior walls. There were not many of these in such a small space!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had painted this sign to put by the trail to the outhouse. I figure that if you learn to laugh about things in life, they become less of a problem. I have never been bothered with only having an outhouse....even in the winter. Sometimes when we leave, I even miss it. It gives new meaning to "nature calls" as we get a nature walk every time. :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Interior walls: the half wall is the divider between the kitchen (back part) and the stairway. The wall in the back is: (right) the future bathroom and our present bedroom; and (left) a pantry/storage room. We ended up moving that pantry door to access from the bathroom because we changed our kitchen plans. At this point we were thinking of a smaller kitchen with a dining area on the left by the bigger window. As we realized as we went along that this place could be more then a cabin...that we were actually building a small home, we decided to expand our kitchen and add a dining area on later. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Future kitchen.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Front door, future stairway and living room. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is how we left our place at the end of July 2011. In just over two weeks we had gone from cement pilings in the ground to this closed in, 16' x 32' small home! That was only possible because of Steven pre-cutting and pre-building as much as he could over the winter and because we had help putting it together. </span></div>
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To be continued....</div>
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<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-story-part-1.html" target="_blank">For Part 1 Click Here</a><br />
<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-3-finishing-up.html" target="_blank">For Part 3 Click Here</a><br />
<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-4-2012-year-of.html" target="_blank">For part 4 Click Here</a><br />
<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-5-our-first.html" target="_blank">For Part 5 Click Here</a><br />
<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-6-end-of-2012.html" target="_blank">For Part 6 Click Here</a><br />
<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-7-winter-and.html" target="_blank">For Part 7 Click Here</a><br />
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jennstarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13623511793461013804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7917463285810759152.post-11688494947996634782014-06-14T12:57:00.001-07:002014-06-21T13:31:39.307-07:00Our Building Story - Part 1 Finding Land And Getting A Vision<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Welcome to our story. My name is Jenny, my husband is Steve and we have eight children from age 2 to 19 years old. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When Steve and I were married in 1993, we had several goals. One was to have a family. Another was to live on an acreage or farm (we both grew up that way). Another was to not incur large personal debt. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the most part we have been successful - of course it doesn't look like we thought it would look, but we still call it success. For instance, we were thinking four kids....but eight has been an adventure! Because of Steve's careful planning, we have had very little debt and are now one month from being totally debt free! We were able to purchase an acreage in May of 2010, but it is a 7 hour drive north of where we currently live. We are working on our small home from a distance but it has been slow.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The minimalist / small home ideas grew on us as we saw more and more people sacrificing their lives for STUFF that did not make them any happier or content in life. And being a larger family living in a smaller house with one income...minamalist ideas appealed to us out of necessity!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So here is were we were at back around 2008: We had rented since we were married. We did not own any residential lot or home. the only land we owned was a commercial lot in our small town that we had bought at auction with the plan of building a woodworking shop on it. We had a cabinet making business that my husband had started and built up to be a busy shop. He only ever had one employee on occasion, but mostly did the work himself. I would occasionally be able to help Steve with his work and our two oldest sons also helped. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So back around 2008/09 we began to save money for land. We sold our commercial lot but also had a bad business year and the majority of that money had to go back into the business. We didn't know how we would EVER save enough to even have a reasonable down-payment on a town lot in our area as central Alberta real estate was booming and prices were high. We just saved because if we never started we would never have anything. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By the spring of 2010 we had somehow managed to save about $24,000 dollars. Our savings seemed to snowball once we got past that $10,000 mark! While that was more than we had ever managed to save before, it was not enough to buy anything around our area. With our desire to have either none or only a very limited mortgage, we wanted to have a 50-75% down payment on anything we bought. It was still looking out of reach, <b>but we kept saving anyway. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During this time we were also looking all over the Alberta and into BC or Saskatchewan for property. What we did not know was that a relative was also looking for land. They wanted a quarter of land for recreational property and a retirement cabin. They found what they were looking for in Northern Alberta close to many beautiful lakes and great hunting and fishing. However, the price of the quarter was more than they wanted to spend. It also had a 34 piece already subdivided off the corner with road access. They approached us and asked if we would be interested in buying the 34 acre piece from them if they bought the quarter first. It would help them out and they would help us by selling for a very reasonable price. This was all a huge surprise to us! <b>We could not have imagined that such a deal would come up when we started saving. But because we had been saving...when a deal came up we had cash to pay for the land! </b>I think that is so key - just START saving. Tell others that you are looking for an inexpensive piece of land....get the word out. You never know what will come along, but if you never start, you won't be ready for that deal!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So that is how we became the proud owners of 34 acres of bare pasture and bush land in Peace Country, Alberta. We bought it for the amazing price of $20,000 dollars! We had no idea what we were going to do with it, but it was a start....and it was OURS!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That summer (2010) the first thing we did was camp on our land as a family. We explored and dreamed of the possibilities ahead.</span></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjP48vwU44E0-ZS2-cAfJ0Su7ZPlAywCUQZROMgitEBTwyi5fbKTi_yaGdJgo-03Y6HrqR1JrtoFd5R3CjNh0dHe_10eU7QFhfy7A5XeOi2Ymm6srZ-Pl65iXZc_8HXztb_SS3179VSvUs/s640/IMG_1293.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqa66HRlPzfiJk2yWLlOp7tGhI6QS7Zeb0hq7TI3CaxoYVuTRr6mSiRZRLMCaLaFPzd488MYt4MeXm_Llzwl9R9nDiF1szDvNsFCgHZxPHNtbrSEeeVGOqqsc3jhFCdk9CXwQw0MNhsB5f/s640/IMG_1717.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We decided that fall to start a cabin or small house on the land. We chose a location and sank cement pilings for a 16'x34' house. </span></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8L_zOUqL_Y8TyX9J-YnSeURxCYyqS9IyOEMGB0mGBi_Nv4wp9RiYUQn5xIKUqbxLMkgKCFfhuIZ7R2dc_a-xd1lIZ6LJIuu6HBx9YaiSEM0FE0bBe9SVeHXYw70g1_UzFhkRT7EFhmOw/s640/IMG_2805.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ5-7ZK-Q4F5cA8e8L38ufXJz6Bi1LBU8Mq2x0dWGgzuXVyPySycyuMfR8G-n3FvDhdUgv29ZV6iXcEYyDZa24R7U1-jEhysYPW0zecMmNqRWvkx2TJmQicepHnUbBTUtehPAhXaWr5OA/s640/IMG_2921.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Little did we know that that summer was an unusually dry one for that area. The next few years had unusually wet springs and summers and we soon discovered that our chosen location had a very swampy corner! If we could choose again, we can see better building locations on the land, but we are content. By digging some drainage ditches around our yard site and adding a duck pond in the one corner, we will be very happy with the situation!</span></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5wewFUHUSv45LSvZPjhQ1Sxz9g94hbzB9m_j9CuO0WP9VKKLp5xvjl0zBrJ9ao1RJm1nI-qf0wPg9j1ZIQo_omEBDsXXcA5abs8C1-ADctH6WyhYhakW1XNyNfJIb8zB-rXgsZneNBTY/s640/IMG_2705.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The kids also helped dig an outhouse hole. :-) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Steve and the kids installed a culvert along our prospective driveway.</span></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwhuU6t3ZxK2HyxC8JfK3TYRQydBTKEBnDnCaSv9HBFVPHtOmabQtcZwHGfZMFgv6Diw5eK5nvuKbpO6GeTpJJM73pr8r8lGPx6PAfJrgnnVAPLD3laILL51xmlUMG3f8bMHCEcvDI5Rc/s640/IMG_2570.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We paid a man to put in a proper approach at the highway for us that fall. </span></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXDzg643eyBGtdHJfiHlxeRV69PyP-pb6H3CR2gxMpFe1sUuda9pA0FZoyTTdpUtsTF-hcGDwYc2OV66-CHOUuCLDeP1teecImhyYgxdnnZsZGusIjLy4Y672nAFLooa1UkScMFwSeAwM/s640/IMG_0689.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And we got a little gravel brought in to cover the new culvert. </span></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvEvhp0fxJ32MbBpEM2bipwtf_ZZRCJltTDU1Q-devzHntrtXPa06CIFfS8aBKHKmAlPVEAti809JlpRnIaprUndblNmxATrpINwF5B6PAFOW_7PZnTj7Z5RPEjUEh-uunadjbiZYzSeY/s640/IMG_2922.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That was all we managed to do on our place in the first summer (2010). However, we did help our relatives build their retirement cabin on their part of the property. In exchange, they let us stay in their place the next couple summers while we worked on our place.</span></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5ioy4msayTZwVifB_ILWaTjdcsZWrbHTH1t8HsXx20Od8pTm7hIdAM8xkU05HyVqibGZNl_yrKsMJBYEXcPfyv2m4aBa0DO9cE6VjapR8ihkVkJG4V3IFNgFDVdZfesUxfItea6H4V1E/s640/IMG_2939.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Over the winter, we pre-built our cabin and outhouse buildings in our rental-house garage. Steve bought the lumber and pre-cut and labelled every piece so come spring, we could ship the building in pieces and start assembling. Also, since we had no power on our site except a generator, this made the build more efficient. </span></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM4vvMHFgBnEDnfzLfM3Tt_lseb2bMUeb0lF1MqciWkEZl-WXasQAKqjWZtgD_nypmz9yBnK6a0Q2u31oyxOAQZbC_Ol4PwuSl74lXnKgwV0ToFSM4eHTcV8IE0xw-K7Po1fLZmGKgmuM/s640/IMG_2442.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnVOXyrHTYNhrNnTi6YoiCseVxZB0Ek5auP3DKLI0Ov-yEIBHEC54mqlhTUKO2b1b7DTVeIxtWYbrvWZf14M-1-qAmV83S8M_uI1PRMdX17q6l51uBLEICjRy0vhixtBE98z3aUfyyI9I/s640/IMG_3853.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">More story to come....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-story-part-2.html" target="_blank">For Part 2 Click Here</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-3-finishing-up.html" target="_blank">For Part 3 Click Here</a></span><br />
<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-4-2012-year-of.html" target="_blank">For Part 4 Click Here</a><br />
<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-5-our-first.html" target="_blank">For Part 5 Click Here</a><br />
<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-6-end-of-2012.html" target="_blank">For Part 6 Click here</a><br />
<a href="http://simpleonpurpose.blogspot.ca/2014/06/our-building-story-part-7-winter-and.html" target="_blank">For part 7 Click Here</a></div>
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jennstarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13623511793461013804noreply@blogger.com0