The green, green, .....

Ok, not the green, green grass of home (if you don't know the song it was an Elvis song) but the paint is green. Beautiful day today-70 degrees so perfect for painting. We painted the front, and part of the side. Still need to trim out window. When all done, we will make some shutters and hang them-they will make a huge difference.

We also hung two blinds. Found wooden blinds at big lots for $20 each! Only challenge is we had to cut them to length. So far, 2 cut and we are ok. 2 more to go, once that saw blade goes down you are pretty committed. Measure three times-cut once! I still need to shorten then as you can tell by the picture. Another slightly painful task but one that is doable.

Also made the two very simple pillows on the couch. Plan to head down next Friday and Saturday. Then hope to spend Thanksgiving there.

The deer were all over the place. Guessing the hunters are happy!

Blowing Against the Wind

It was pretty windy Saturday so I will spare you the video from that day. Anyway-I am attaching a little video clip. Please be sure and take your anti nausea medicine before you watch this. I was trying to be sure you would not be bored so I moved a wee bit too fast. Anyway, I have to learn how to edit. So far I can add music, but not delete sound recorded while filming (grrrr) and I can add text.

Anyway-here it goes-less than one minute long so it is not too painful. Your chariot awaits you....click on the picture and it should begin. My two favorite parts are the deck-and the kitchenette- believe it or not to the right side of it is a table and chairs that fold up. It is where the coffee pot holder is. Enjoy!

We have to name the place so far we have Craig's Cabin- that is because I found most all the stuff on Craigslist including the building. Second name is Mt. Park Cottage. Still searching for the right name-oh yes then there is Paid For.

Minute by Minute

Well the minutes have turned into days which have turned into weeks and finally more progress. Ahh we are almost there. Well progress has been slow lately. You see, to Ken football, well especially OU football is priority over anything else. So, we have not been making it to the lake house every weekend. Long story short, we put up one set of iron rail on the deck and then I found better set of iron railing (looks better and is stabler) to put on around the deck. I love it! One reason I like it is that it is a little taller and I think the pointed things at the top just might stop someone from jumping off the deck.



As you can see the kitchen has finally come together-oh looks so nice. And to think it is all from craigslist or garage sale, even the fish on the shelf and the pans in the cabinet.

Rock me gently rock me slowly

Finally we are making progress on getting septic system put in.  Here you can see pile of rocks-it was pure rock under about 3 inches of dirt.  It took 11 hours and a huge piece of equipment to break the rock into small pieces so they could create the hole.  Since it was rocky-they had to make the hole bigger so they could surround the tank in sand!  Joy more $$.  Anyway-we now have  enough rock for a greatly enlarged driveway plus even more.    This first picture shows you the size of the whole-the white is all rock and rock dust.  The whole is 7 ft deep and 14 by 7 feet.    

Next picture is that of the "rock pile"  It is about 7 ft tall and huge.   There is some granite, limestone and other rock hard enough to withstand just about anything. Now I know why the water is so hard here.

Blowing Against the Wind

Progress-you can actually walk into the bedroom now.  The window is frames, and drapes hung!  

That said, we STILL don't have the septic system in.  They keep promising us one more week, one more day .......

Last weekend not too much progress but we did finally get the wall material (plastic like stuff) up in the bathroom, the bathroom window trimmed as well as last one in living room, plus bedroom.  Plus we painted bedroom, repaired sheetrock (first experience and you can tell!) and put up wood trim on the two walls with wood paneling.   Well I guess we got more done than I thought!

We have to work less when there and enjoy more so that is what I vow to do soon!   I hope to go down this weekend and sew drapes.  They will make a huge difference to warm up the place!

Lay your head on my........

futon. Yes this too from Craigslist, was only $100. It is really nice and made of microfiber. That said I will still put a cover on it. I love how the morning sun dapples. Here you can see the windows trimmed out. If you look back you will see the one window I had trimmed before but it was not right so I redid it. I ordered my fabric last week and cannot wait to hand the drapes (oh yes I have to make them). They will add a great splash of color. My sewing will be very simple-sew straight lines only and use rings to hang the curtains. A straight line I can sew.

I shot the ......

nail gun, but I did not shoot Ken with it, although he was paranoid that I would. Advice to do it yourselfers-don't wait, buy one of these! Why we waited all these years-I love this thing! So much easier to put up trim, boards etc. So thanks to this handy tool we were able to get three windows completely trimmed out as well as some doors. Also hung the wood sheets in the bedroom and finished the beadboard! Successful weekend.

I decided I should call the guy that put the windows in "Butch the Butcher".   After finishing out windows and doors I decided he must never measure or use a level.  What a nightmare.  Trim and paint do hide a lot of sins!

We are suppose to get anywhere from 7 to 24 inches of rain due to the hurricane.  If we get 24 inches I will be amazed.  Thinking the weather guys will do anything to get more camera time!   What a spread in possibilities!   So it looks like another week and no septic will go in.   We really need water turned on so we can do simple things like mop the floor!

Knock three times....twice on the pipes if the answer is

Well everything is now plumbed-yes we have pipes.   But water is still not connected.  Our progress was slow and limited his weekend as we  had some friends down and decided to relax and not just work.  That said, I took off Friday and cleaned the pigpen, ah I mean cabin up.  How can guys create such a mess and not see it.  Oh well,  at least when I was done you could walk through it.  On Sunday I was moving a table with a paint can on it-BAD DECISION, well you guessed it it fell off, lid came off and about 1/3 gallon of white trim paint went on the new floor.  Never fear-the handy craftsman wet vac to the rescue.  I sucked up all I could and then we wiped up the rest with wet wipes.  Remember we still do not have running water!    Tired loading a picture but the site is having problems.    So other than painting some trim, patching some sheetrock (my least favorite thing to do) , and hanging one piece of beadboard and one sheet of plastic stuff in the bathroom we made little progress.  But hey-we are free labor!   

I finally have figured out how I am going to do the drapes without spending an arm and a leg.  I also found a great deal on craigslist for iron railing that we will use around the deck-if we ever get that far.

Lastly, big score at garage sale this weekend.  Found one of those fold up table with storage for the chairs.  Perfect and only $50 bucks!

She bangs, she bangs

Yes today I banged as I  put up  trim on doors and one window.  Many more to go, but I pretty much have it down so the rest should go quicker.  Also, was able to get first coat of paint on two exterior doors, as well as one interior and the beadboard wall.   Not bad progress for a few hours.   Melissa helped-oh yes and then there was the broken saw.  Thank goodness for Wally World.

The colors that are real, stay with me and you will see....

Ok-one of my favorite parts-the decorating-picking some fabric to make nice soft touches to the place.  So I am going to make very simple curtains-ya know just sew a straight line kind of curtains and some pillows.  The place needs COLOR.  These colors are muted (yet stronger than they look in  the photo)  but they are very calming-which is what we want the Cabin or cottage to be.  So, I may use the striped fabric for the curtains as it will make rooms seem taller.  The other reason is it makes it easy to sew on the straight line!   The more geometric will probably show up on pillows along with the plain fabric.

It all works with the paint color which is great because I sure did not want to repaint.  Maybe I should call it the zen cabin-all you see out the windows is trees-kind of like being in a tree house.

So now-we have many finishing touches-trim remainder of windows, paint and more paint.   We need to find a decent priced plumber this week!   Then for the big work outside-build the deck-Ken and I are going to do it (lets hope the marriage can withstand this tasks!).   Lastly, we need to skirt or finish off the building, oh yes after we do the nasty job on insulating underneath it.    

There's got to be a morning after....

Yes-this is a picture I captured the morning after we laid the floor.

It was a beautiful morning-only problem was I could barely walk!

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy!

Ahhhh yes after a brutal day of laying the floor we all enjoyed a dip in the lake-

My achy breaky ......

We (meaning Chris and I) laid the floor this week and we could barely walk for two days afterwards.  I think we did the equivalent to 800 squats in one day.

It looks great and I could not have done it without Chris's help.  Note Tif after a hard day's work!

It's getting hot in here ....

Ok-it was so blazing hot but I did not take off my clothes-but they were ringing wet the entire day. But the funny thing is that I though it was just humid. You see out in the boondocks my ipod does not always get updates-I checked the temp a couple of times and it said 82 degrees. I even said to, Butch, a local guy helping us, that it sure seemed like a hundred degrees-must be the humidity, I said. He probably things I am an idiot. Mind you I had spoken to Ken,( who was back in Norman taking care of some things we had to do there), I said that it was so hot but that my ipod weather said it was only 82 degrees. He made no comment. So I sweat my rear off all day, well I hope part of it came off. When I am finally done, back at the lakehouse trying to cool off and drink another gallon of water I call Ken. He then tells me the messed up predicting the temperature -it was not cooler like they said but that it was 100 degrees-yes-at 6 pm! He said he did not want to tell me earlier-ya know what-I am glad he did not.


A cold shower never felt so good.....now for tomorrow- We have to clean more of the junk up, but up so boards, caulk all windows. My bud Butch is suppose to show up-he is on his own clock-most he has worked in one day is 5.5 hours!!

I've got a brand new .....

pair of roller skates....no a pet -not really but isn't this thing cute! Tif is holding them. The electrical guy found him and said first it saw its mother-which made him jump she was so big. Never have seen a little lizard this small. Brought smiles on a hot steam day. I guess you can also tell from this picture that Tiffany has grown up a tad!

I can see clearly now .....

I wish this was about rain. No-but we now have WINDOWS which means the hot box is now a hot box with a breeze-which is great. Which also means I can now look out the window. I ended up stumbling upon these windows at Lowes-they were originally from $200-$300 custom order. Most of them are low e, open from top and bottom and tilt in. Of course, I did not pay anywhere near that-they said they would make me a great deal-well if you never ask you never get-I got half of them for $50 each and the other half for $75. They are perfect. And who ever said size matters-well when you are cutting holes in the wall for windows it does not matter! I lucked out-one was small enough for the bathroom, then there were 2 pairs-used them in the living room/kitchen-ok lets call it a great room-all 300 sq ft of it! Then one last one for the bedroom! Also scored a great deal at Home Depot for exterior door-the one on it looks like it was broken into-would totally creep me out if I was staying there-especially when you know you are surrounded by woods!

You can also see the paint we are using. Oh yes, did I mention how blazing hot it is. I thought I was in Georgia prison system-But I did manage to texture all ceilings and walls, paint all ceilings and most walls and help the guy install the windows. I also manage to pick up 3 bags of trash out of the little place. Guys are just pigs!

We will, we will rock you

Yes-they had to work at this for more than 8 hours to get 18 inches deep to bury the electric line. The dirt is only a few inches deep then pure rock. It was one long hot day for those guys. Oh yes, for us to. Sweat literally oozing out of every pore of my body. Sweating so much you are drinking lots of water but never need to go to the bathroom.

Thanks to the rock we now have a second driveway :-)

This is how we do it.....

Ahhh yes finally found solution to my kitchen-

It will be perfect. Been searching high and low and finally found this on Criagslist. It is a kitchenette from the 60's but in very good shape. It 5 ft long has sink, faucet, stove and lots of cabinet storage.

Ken happily (not really) , in the 108 degree heat, went to OKC and picked this up today. What would I do if he had a real job :-)

On another positive note-the guy showed up to finish leveling the building. Now we can build a few walls!

Power To The People

Well not quite yet-but it is progress-now all we need is for the utility people to do their thing. Hoping it happens as it is soooo hot as in over 100 degrees it is hard to get much done. Today was the day to texture the walls. Well the guy that was suppose to finishing leveling the building was a no show. So I could only texture one wall. You see, I textured the side that is pretty much not going to move in the leveling process. Did not want to texture the others and then have something shift and the texture crack. This was my first attempt with this method-pretty well worked EXCEPT when it is 100 degrees or more the mud dries fast-so Ken had to keep adding water as I worked. Then we tried out our paint-a little premature but hey- It is lighter in real.

Magic Carpet Ride

This is what is now the back of the cabin-use to be the front. It faces the wonderful view. Eventually there will be another window and a small deck.

Well Chris had wished he took a magic carpet ride earlier this week after he helped Ken rip out the seriously glued down carpet. Ah yes and of course no power yet so it was hot. But they started at 7 am when it was a cool 80 something. Yes it crippled his hands for a day or two.

Well earlier, I told you about the amazing guy that moved the building-he had a wooden leg and could do more than a person with two regular legs.


We are surely on small town time. Still waiting on the local electric company to hook us up-any day now......it is so stinkin hot you can only do so much-at least us wimps that is.

This weekend, if I don't pass out from heat stroke I plan to texture the walls. Not a pro at this but it will be an improvement. I also plan to hit the lake in the boat once the blazing sun sets.

We got the bed yesterday. Otherwise Craigslist finds are slim pickens these days.

Stay tuned. Oh yes-Chris said he loves to work in the blazing heat and would love to do more every day! Great weight loss program. Hey at least it is in the shade and on occasion you get a nice strong blast of a breeze blowing that cool 90-105 degree air over your sweaty body. But as they say, everything is relative, and that blast of hot air feels good!

Slowly but surely

Thought I lucked out and had wood for the deck. Guy emailed us that he had 8 ft long 2X6s. Drive 25 miles only to find they are only 6 ft. Hmmmmm sound familiar! Anyway, so happy to have found my shower as I thought it would be the most difficult. Next major step is having the electricity hooked up. If we don't do this we will have heat strokes. It was well over 100 today and is suppose to stay that way for the rest of the week. Not much progress will happen in this heat wave. On the bright side-grass doesn't grow when it is this hot!

I still have to figure out what in the heck I am going to do about flooring. I am thinking we will put peel and stick tiles in the bathroom and for now leave the carpet in the cabin. Later we can deal with ripping it up.

We are awaiting help to build a few walls-challenge is that we need openings for doors-oh no that means we really have to measure and be exact. Well maybe not-isn't that why they make shims??

Ken is getting off lucky. He thought electric company would not run power to house but about 25 feet away. Which mean he had one long ditch to dig in this heat. To his surprise the guy from the company called today and said no problem we can take it to the house. Power+air conditioning=progress. Soon little grasshopper-patience.

Not much progress this weekend

Well-figured out the floor plan and where the windows go. Also figured out the building is not quite level so not sure what we will do about that. It is only off in one corner but it is driving me crazy! It was hotter than Hades so we did not do much. Once we have power and AC we might be able to get after it. Decided the carpet has to go and that we will need to texture the walls-guess I might as well learn how!.

I did score a few items on craigslist-

New vanity cabinet, sink, faucet, and mirror all brand new $50

Backsplash $10

Stainless steel kitchen sink with faucet $10

Today's find-new still in box shower stall with doors $200 (most I have had to spend booohooo but this one is $500 at Lowes and Home depot and I sure did not want to buy a nasty used one.

Hello darkness my old friend

It is now dark.    The mover backs up and makes several turns and then nothing.  He has lost so much transmission fluid he can't go anymore.  We need more transmission fluid.

 It is almost 9 pm, we are in very small town, will the only auto parts store in town  still be open?    Without transmission fluid this baby is not going anywhere else on the lot.

My husband takes off and, of course, the auto part store is closed.   Okay-I am not a fan of Wal Mart but thank goodness there is one here and they are open 24 hours.   My husband (30 minutes later) brings back 10 quarts of transmission fluid.  In a bunch of fluid  goes and the truck is in action again.  It is DARK.  The building is BIG. We are in a wooded area and I am thinking soon we will see all kinds of things slithering like SNAKES, SCORPIONS etc.  No slithering things show up-hmm guess the endless smell of leaking transmission fluid has kept all the animals away!  Or, maybe, they are in the woods watching this thinking what idiots we humans are.   

The building is finally going into position.   The poor guys doing this-it is now after 10 pm and they are working by truck lights and flash lights.  This is the last picture I got as I had to get home.  My husband stayed and helped them "level" the building.  They all left at about midnight.

I say    "Let the transformation begin".   

Stuck in the middle with you

It is now closing in on 7:30 pm. Darkness is not our friend. Oblvious to what it takes to move a building at this point we thing-ok all he has to do is get this down here, whip it around back it in and put a few blocks under it.

Wrong.

Well-the truck makes the turn and the neck of the trailer hits the gravel and gets stuck! Great now what! They decide only one option-detach the truck, move the "stronger truck", aka broken transmission truck, into place to pull it out. This change of trucks takes another 45 mintues because they can't get the hitch to go on the truck.

Finally, they get the truck hooked up.  Now to get it to move.  The driver starts it pulls forward and the truck shuts off.  This happens three times.  The sun is long gone.  You can smell his transmission fluid-he just keeps putting more into to keep it going.   One last shot and he gets it going and pulls it down taking out part of a tree and a small part of the roof!   I for one was no where near it as it came down the small hill.  Hey, but at least it is no longer in the street.

The big move

The first photo shows where they have to put this building. And yesterday was the day that the building would find it way to our wooded lot. It was suppose to arrive no later than 4 pm. 4 came and went with the mover telling us no problem on the way. Well, they had a few problems starting with the 2 escort guys no showed. So he had to scramble and find new ones, which just happen to cost us another $300.

They finally get rolling 3 hours later than scheduled and about one hour into the trip his transmission on his truck starts to leak! Mind you the building weighs 10,000 lbs. I am not a car mechanic but even I know this is really bad. 

Now he had to find someone else with a truck that could haul this thing. Hours later they are back and on the road, snaking their way through every back road the transporation department could come up with. You see if you move a building this size, the state department of transportation must approve the move and they give you the route. Apparently, they used the most difficult, longest route possible doubling what would be the normal distance between the locations.

Well the day progresses, hours go by. My husband and I who have been patiently awaiting our baby decided we are going to go into town and get something to eat. It is now 6 hours past when it was due to arrive.

We are driving down the main road and what do we see coming over the hill-the big building! YAHOO. But the challenges only continue.  They follow us to our lot-little do we know what has occurred already and what else will happen.

The picture above is the building arriving on our street!! Now for the next challenge.

From Ugly Duckling to Beautiful Weekend Cabin

This all started when we bought this lot to store our boat.    We were tired of giving money to the boat storage people.  We became more tired of giving them our money when we saw  how much money they wanted to purchase they boat storage area.     My husband was happy we found lot cheap-yes we paid only $3K for .7 of an acre!

Well-then I had a vision-find a portable building and convert it to a cabin.  You see, I love to decorate.   We love to do projects.  Notice I said we!   So our journey has begun.  Hope you enjoy the trip of trials and tribulations.  You will see how you can find about anything at garage sales or craiglist.

While I hope to spend as little money as possible I will probably break down and buy a new frig.  Just need a small one and need one that is energy efficient.