Giving Thanks for Stairs and Heat
Happy Holidays to our all our friends and family. This holiday season will be out of the ordinary for Jamie and I, but we are still grateful for all that we have and are trying to keep things as normal as we can. The kids will come and go over the next few weeks, but they don’t and won’t stay long because the glamping lifestyle isn't for everyone; we totally get it.
We are once again without a shower. It was removed a week ago to make room for a staircase. Saying goodbye to the roof ladder meant also saying goodbye to our only method of showering. But friends, we finally have a staircase to the second level! Our lovely building partner, Doug, let me be the first to climb them and was kind enough to pose for a thank you photo. It was a few days of navigating around the temporary structure until the wall separating the living room and old garage was torn down, but we now have full access to them and it’s wonderful.
In addition to stairs, we hit another milestone this week; we have a functioning heat source. After several weeks relying solely on warmer fall weather, space heaters, and extra blankets, the boiler became functional and now our radiant heat floors are functioning in the existing house and old garage. The addition heat was turned on this past weekend so that it was warmed ahead of sheetrock installation that began this week. The second floor still doesn’t have heat as we wait to turn the furnace on until after construction is complete to keep the ducts from sucking in the perpetual cloud of dust around here. Since heat rises, it’s not been too bad up there, and we have space heaters if needed. So far we are faring well, even when the digits dropped into the single digits last week.
Minnesota weather is setting in around the lake. Our first dusting of snow was pretty, as it always is. After a week of below freezing temps, we are seeing the first signs of the lake freezing over, and some thawing happening this weekend as temps climb into the mid-40s. There are a couple of small areas that still have moving water, but most of the lake is just starting to stand still. Every year I say I am not ready, but it doesn’t matter. Minnesota winters wait for no one. Funny story….a frozen Minnesota lake makes noise, like whales communicating. When I first started hearing the whales in my lake, I was terrified and was convinced that some new creature had made our forest their home. All is well now that we know it was the lake that was making all that ruckus.
We are making progress on the house, and even though we have a long way to go, we really have come so far. Just two months ago the old garage was open to the elements, the cats had claimed it as their sanctuary from the elements, and it served as storage for all the new windows in their boxes. Today the space is closed in and the wall that separated it from the house has been removed, giving us a bit more space. Right now it’s housing Christmas presents and this weekend it will be the location of our Christmas tree. On Monday they will “open” the addition by removing the wall between the old and new structures so prepare the rest of the sheetrock in the new addition before the mudder and taper arrives on Tuesday. It’s looking more and more like the addition will be mostly done by Christmas with regard to the painting stage. We are honestly thrilled because having that space livable over there means even more room for us to spread out and maybe even a working shower by Christmas.
As another weekend comes to a close, we prepare for another week of construction and chaos. We should see more big gains in the addition with the mudder and taper due to arrive this week. We will say goodbye to last remaining sink in the house, which is in the kitchen. It will be removed and they will hook up the small utility sink for us to use while we await permanent kitchen cabinets. I’ve honestly come to love Mondays because they represent the start of more progress towards normalcy.
We did get a tiny live Christmas tree this weekend and while it may never have ornaments, it does have a star, some lights, a velvety red collar, and is adorned with presents. For the first time in perhaps ever, I am done shopping well ahead of Christmas and everything is wrapped and under the tree. Chaos in our home life, be damned. I am finding ways to channel some calm and organization in other areas (i.e., I may have created a spreadsheet complete with formulas to track my Christmas shopping). I even had time to do Christmas cards this year, so watch your mailboxes!
With much love, take care of each other and stay warm,
M.
