Goin' Road Trippin'

Fruition

One day, when I was in 6^th grade our teacher took us outside for class, just to get some fresh air and change things up. I, of course, being the class clown took this opportunity to once again make myself the center of attention. What I did, I couldn’t tell you, but what my teacher said became etched into my psyche for a lifetime. He said, “Shawna, you have so much potential, I just wonder if you’ll ever use it.” Never having heard the word before, I stopped in my tracks and said, “What’s that mean?” He said, “Look it up.” Imagine my surprise, me the girl who loved nothing more than passing notes in class, and recess, when a teacher said that I could be something! Something that can be, but has not yet come into being…. Yes, I still remember the exact definition without having to look it up. In that moment, with one comment, he changed my perception of myself , he thought I could be more than the goofy girl going nowhere without a care. Thanks Mr. Marx!

Whoville house, you have potential! When everyone had written you off, suggested we just tear you down, we knew you could become renewed and bring great times to people in the future. Welcome to the family!

Outside of house

The roof

Patio

Root Cellar

Front Bedroom

Back Bedroom

Bonus Room

Laundry Room

Bathroom

Kitchen

Living Room

We are beyond happy to share these pictures from beginning to end, and boy are we happy to be done. These old birds just aren’t spring chickens anymore, but seeing the end result we know in our hearts that good Lord brought us to it, and got us through it! We wish you all a wonderful Easter.

The Irritation Magnification

We spent the first day of 2016 where else but working on the house, the whoville house. Christmas songs will now carry the memories of our days of working on the house. Both of us singing jingle bells at the top of our lungs while I painted and Mitch worked on leveling the bedroom floor. We’ve officially changed the name from the yeller feller, to the Whoville house, because it’s beyond wonky, crooked and if you tried, you couldn’t find a level wall or floor anywhere.

We’re slowly making progress, but from the get go, as with every house we’ve worked on, comes unexplainable frustration, but I’m still going to give it my best shot. Where to begin…the dirt, the dirtiness, the dust, the smells and everywhere you look there’s something else that needs to get done. It’s as if the hopes and dreams of bringing something forgotten and dilapidated back to life become overshadowed with the suffocation of those self-created ideals.

I know normally I’m a positive, this too shall pass kind of person, but every now and then I feel the need to talk about the random littles of life that can get the angry monster inside to jump up and down, screaming in frustration. Lately for me it’s the nail that just won’t come out, the sheetrock dust engulfing everything within reach, the mini blind brackets that shouldn’t be that difficult but are a nightmare and the itchy awfulness of the dreaded INSULATION! As the stress mounts for us to finish the house, small annoyances seem magnified ten fold. In those overwhelming moments the hope of ever truly finishing the house seems to be an unlikely reality.

Last month, after once again getting sheetrock dust all over me, I couldn’t stop the mental tirade of having to wash my hair. I know, maybe it sounds petty, but having super thick, normally dry hair, frequent washes are a no-no. When we’re getting dirty and dusty every night I end up having to wash the hair every night, and in turn people have actually asked me what I’ve done to my hair because it looks like Monica’s on the Friends episode when they go to Barbados! Imagine their shock when I tell them all I did was wash it! After letting all the house work go down the drain I came to a clear and decisive conclusion; if, in the future, we end up getting another house to remodel, I’m going make like GI Jane and shave it all off! No, seriously, and I’ll totally be all serious and intense, just being sooo over it! It won’t be me trying to make the cut, it’ll be me trying not to go nuts! Yes, remodeling a house can really take one to the brink of eating checkers and crayons!

That’s our life right now, powering through the pain, slowly putting one foot in front of the other, trying to run a foot race with our shoes tied, sometimes tripping, and leaning on each other and our faith, knowing that we are now one step closer to completion. Dragging ourselves home from a long days work we once again say to each other “well, we’re closer than we were when we started this morning.”

I’m not proud to admit this but I literally cried during our remodeling process when Mitch unintentionally laid his overalls on mine after he’d been crawling around in the attic. To me, sheetrock is like sauerkraut, and insulation is like liver! Beyond dislike, can’t stand it and super yucked out by it! The tears were more of being over whelmed, frustrated and farther in debt, but leave it to a little insulation to put me over the edge.

The first couple months we weren’t in it alone! We found great help on Craigslist, funny enough we thought it was a friend of ours named Tom advertising his help so we sent a silly text at first, come to find out they just had the same first name with the same skills.

Also, our first renters grandsons were a great help too! Unfortunately their availability ran thin around them same time as our funds dried up.

Of course no house remodel would be complete without the help of our friend!

There comes a time when pride gets in the way of progress and after we ran out of money to pay for help we swallowed that pride and called friends for help.

Pops came over cheer us on and was so comfortable he fell asleep!

One of Mitch’s friends came from out of town and volunteered his time before we even asked for help.

He came one weekend in January with his girlfriend, Tina and they both worked with us on the house all weekend, then they even worked on the house for us while we both went to work one day! Talk about above and beyond.

For them to be so selfless with their time, especially when we so desperately needed it, what an amazing gift they gave us. It will never be forgotten!

The mini blind brigade, Karen, me and Stacey

It just seems so much harder this time around. Maybe because our bodies are older, or that for now its going to be a rental, and not our new home…. Or it could just be that during the winter months it’s hard to get motivated, especially when the house we’re working in is freezing cold because we don’t have heaters hooked up yet and the ones we did have either stopped working or costs way to much to keep it half warm. Yeah, its all those reasons and still none of them are really good excuses. But……SPRING is in the air! Today it is 55 degrees and we really really really think that this might be our last weekend to work on the house and it’ll be done. For the last 5 months I’ve been saying that we should be done in a couple of weeks, but seriously Mitch is even saying that we should finally be done this weekend! Things have come together better than we’d imagined and the house looks really nice! Finally I’ll be able to share pictures from beginning to end on my next post!

Thanks for listening, I feel better already!

Now onto a few of my favorite finds during these trying time.

Earlier in our remodeling I stepped on a rusty staple because I was wearing tennis shoes, after digging it out, two weeks later, there were still particles of that staple in my foot! Lesson, proper foot attire is a must! Walmart has a pair of good work boots and they only cost $20!

Now that I’ve gotten my feet covered, I have to share what is ESSENTIAL for dry cracked hands, it’s O’keeffe’s working hands.

I had this crack in my thumb for a week and half, and it was still as painful as the first day it happened!

I used this for 3 days straight at night

It was almost totally healed after three days!!!

Overalls are super handy when it comes to really getting into the middle of a mess, especially when spiders and cobwebs are involved, mainly because you can duct tape the legs and sleeves so they can’t crawl up your clothes! Eeeeeeks. I got mine from Napa, they are pre-used and come in the next day when you order them. They are all different and if one large is too small ask for a different large.

My last favorite find is a cold brew coffee maker!

Oh yes it is that awesome, especially since I make myself an iced coffee everyday it has saved me tons of time, my ice doesn’t melt when I mix it because the coffee is cold and it’s even easier to make because it’ll make at least 6 cups of coffee, meaning my whole week is pretty much covered in the coffee department!

If you”re ever in our neck of the woods come on over and I’ll fix you up an iced coffee too! Just don’t be surprised if we put you to work 🙂

Savoring 75

As each day passes by, Pops struggles to keep his mind straight, trying to remember what he’s doing or how to complete the task at hand. Depending on the moment, is what defines his experience, he can be completely coherent or lost to the point of frustration. It’s comical at times, like last week when I gave him his inhaler to take his morning puffs and he was so confused that he thought it was the remote and tried to change the channel. I laughed at how adorable he was and then explained what it was really for.

It also comes with new worries, taking us into the role of parents and he’s our child. Sometimes he isn’t able to figure our how to call us, so now we have a door bell button for him to push and plan to get a baby monitor just so we can keep an eye on him.

The toughest though, is the glimpse of what’s to come….he won’t know it’s me. Pops turned 75 this Saturday, and friends and family were calling him to say Happy Birthday. Mitch’s sister, Cindy, was on the phone with Dad when I went over to his place and he was saying, “ok baabay”, a name he calls me in a tone that he uses with me. He said good bye and I asked him who it was, and he said, “That was Shawna…yeah, I’m pretty sure…, that was Shawna.” I said, “Papa, how can that be me when I’m right here?” He was completely confused, and said, “I don’t know, she sounded like you.” I played it off and consoled him saying, “Well Pops, people say her and I look alike, so it wouldn’t be too far off if we sounded alike too! Plus we both love you big bunches.” Truth be told, my heart sunk, tears welled up in my eyes and I got a lump in my throat, knowing that he’s not going to get better. I take a couple deep breathes, calm my fears of him not knowing me someday and remind myself that how ever it plays out, we’ll ride it out together, all three of us as a family, a team, based on faith and love.

Mitch and I wanted to do more for Pops birthday than just going out to dinner for his big 75, so we entertained the idea of going to Chuck E Cheese. The idea of playing air hockey, skeet ball and getting our pictures taken in the photo booth with Papa sounded like fun, until we thought about having to share that space with more than 50 screaming, running, possibly crying kids. Since Mitch had to work this Saturday me and Pops were to meet Mitch and a couple of friends at option # 2, Golden Corral, the best buffet in town. Before meeting our friends for dinner we stopped in at a Huckleberry’s/Rosauers, as I came driving up to the door to drop Pops off we see a handsome fella taking a ride.

Maybe we can make our own fun here!

Instead of a go cart, pops cruises from one side of the store to the other on the motorized shopping cart

There's even a game to play — There’s even a game to play

Mitch gets one for Pops on his 3rd try! wahoo what a fun birthday time

They even have Ducky Dynasty stickers and tattoos!

Living the dream, winning a love bear, wearing Duck Dynasty sticker, cruising around with the motorized shopping cart.

Lets finish the fun and all of us get neck tattoos!

Best time ever at a grocery store, thanks Rousauers!

We worked up an appetite, so it's a good thing we had every option of food imaginable! — We worked up an appetite, so it’s a good thing we had every option of food imaginable!

The waiters came and sang Happy Birthday to Pops, we stuffed ourselves silly and cherished the quality time we got to spend together with friends.

Jingle Bells and Whistles

We were blessed with a warmer than usual fall season, just going through our days thinking we wouldn’t have much snow for the winter and boom, it started SNOWING, and snowing and snowing!

Not exchanging gifts this year was a simple decision, especially since we spoiled ourselves a couple months ago and upgraded our phones.

We started a new Christmas tradition and waited until Christmas morning to open all the Christmas cards, passed them around while we drank our coffee and ate some delicious pumpkin bread from a wonderfully thoughtful customer from my Four Lakes Post Office.

My new job at Four Lakes has been great so far, the community’s been very welcoming and patient as I learn the ropes.

I decorated for the holiday’s at the office, they say it hasn’t been done for decades.

Looking outside the window of the post office

Being such a small post office and only working about 4 hours a day, I’ve been working at the Medical Lake Post Office for some of the mornings during the Christmas season. To put the size difference into perspective… My little office got 50 packages in one day … Medical Lake got more than a 1,000 packages in one day, and Medical Lake isn’t that big of a town either!

Santa’s elves surrounded by towering packages waiting to be delivered from the Medical Lake Post Office.

The latest news on the house…we’ve started to make visible progress on the house. Painting, putting up some trim, it’s just a matter of having time and energy to get’er done. Here’s the yeller feller at night, inside the kitchen through the sliding glass doors is my sweetie pie cutting some half round after he plugged in the Christmas lights that’ve been on Mac’s ol tree for all the years we’ve known him.

We did get the dogs Christmas hats, just so they could be a part of the celebrations.

We even had Turkey for dinner, thanks to Mitch winning one at Turkey Bingo last week! BIG HINT about cooking the bird we learned last week, after taking it out of the oven, let it rest for at least 30 minutes before cutting into it, that way it soaks up all the juices and won’t be dry!!

Now, onto me explaining how I came up with the title for this post. It all began Tuesday the 22nd of December. It had once again snowed, Mitch had already left for work and his morning of shoveling. I headed out to leave when I see that the darn snow plow blocked Fancy in. It wasn’t the soft fluffy snow that first came down, it’d become packed, wet from freezing rain and solid as a rock. I took a picture just to show my progress after moving half of it, thinking that I’d at least I got my hard knocks out of the way early in the day.

I decided to do a bit of maneuvering, pulling forward and turning a little, then pulling forward and turning a bit more until I could get out. The odd thing was when I went to start fancy, the steering wheel was locked, and it wouldn’t start until I turned the wheel, which she’d never done before. Finding it a bit odd, I think to myself, well that’s perplexing, hope that’s all my troubles for the day.

hello to the big house across the street

and I’ll see you later, yeller feller as I pass it by, driving one block to Medical Lake Post Office

and I'll see you later, yeller feller — Why drive one block? I know! Normally I walk, but I had stuff in the car to take to work.

After work I needed to make a couple stops, while pulling up to a stop sign, my check engine light came on, then some code came up and fancy began to sputter. I decided to stop by the hardware store, maybe I just needed a little oil. Since it’s a VW it requires certain oil, I call my mechanic, tell him what was happening and he said,”Don’t even try and drive it, that could do a lot more damage”. So thankfully I had AAA

The results, bad news! There’s no compression in the 3rd cylinder and the cost to repair it ranges from $2,000 to $5,000! Now I’ve already paid a good amount of money to get a few things fixed in the last year and half I’ve had her. Still having to get to work that day, my friend Felicity gave me a ride. I suggested we go a different route thinking it may be a little faster and I would get there on time. And then…..

A ten minute drive turned into a 40 minute wait, A tow truck was loading a railroad plow.

Not only did it make me late for work, but it made her late for work as well. Tough day. Could’ve been worse. It could always be worse. Now what to do? I got a second opinion, and decided based on the cost of all the repairs I’ve already done, how expensive it is to fix anything, let alone the price of just an oil change I am going to say goodbye to all the bells and whistles of fancy. So long sun roof, all wheel drive and my heated seats, but honestly I never could figure out the wipers, which way to push the switches, and the power.. seriously that girl could jump off a curb standing still. I think it was just more car than I’m designed to have, hopefully her future home will be just right for someone. Future trade in here I come. I already have one picked out, but I don’t sign papers till tomorrow so it’s not officially official.

Everything happens for a reason, this is just a tough time season. Our renters and friends across the street are planning to leave in the spring, we still don’t have anyone lined up for the yeller feller and just the other day I took a nap on the couch, charlie came over to give me some love, knocked my glasses on the ground with his big ol tail. Not realizing it, I get up to go to the kitchen and crunch, I stepped on them and they broke. So we say hello.. hello.. hello..from this valley we are experiencing in life, and know that someday we will be sharing our peaks. That’s the great thing about life, can’t have peaks without valleys!

Pops has been more forgetful lately, the doctor says it from his mini strokes he had a couple years ago, and so when I went over to his place to get a plate for dinner I couldn’t help but laugh when this is what I found. Yes, that is a piece of pumpkin pie that I gave him the night before, just sitting in the dishes drawer.