Chapter 43...Indoor Construction Is Done

Off Grid...Chapter 43 This week was a big accomplishment for Mike and I. We finished the "construction" on the inside of the house. Woo hoo. Now that's what I call a happy new year. Monday 12-29 After the busy week last week doing ceiling and sheetrock we ended up with bags and bags of garbage. So first thing this morning it's off to the dump. It will be so nice to get the house emptied out and cleaned up. On our way back home we stopped at the local furniture store to look for a day bed or a sofa bed. Oh no, we are looking for furniture again. Yuk. They didn't have many options in the store and we looked through all their catalogs. Boy they make some ugly stuff, LOL.  We aren't sure because we don't like that the second bed doesn't pop up. Then we went back home dropped the trailer off, made some coffee, and headed back to town again. While Mike went to an appointment he dropped me at the library. My favorite place. We got home late but now it's time to get serious and get the last of the house done. We emptied out the office including all the tools, the work bench, a ladder, all the paint, etc. and put it all in the living area. Now we are ready to sand and paint. Tuesday 12-30 I walked out of the bedroom this morning and it looked like a tornado hit. We have to get done because this mess will drive us crazy. Mike and I both go into the office with our sanding paper and close the door(to try and limit the dust throughout the house). First we cover the electrical components and the cabinets with sheets for protection and then we get to work. Mike is on the ladder sanding high and I am sanding low. You know what that means? It means I am getting covered in spackle dust. We finish sanding both closets and it looks like a whiteout. We take a break, close the door, and let the dust settle. On to the bathroom to do the same thing. We take everything out and cover up the rest. We finish the sanding in there and go back to the office. In the office we start a major clean up. We sweep down the walls, sweep the floors, and then mop the floor. Next we clean up the bathroom and Mike puts the last coat of spackle on the closets. We wait until late that night for the spackle to dry and we do it all again. Another dusty mess but we are done with sanding and spackling. Woo hoo. Mike condensed all the spackle into a smaller container and got rid of the big 5 gallon bucket. He also finished installing all of the floor trim. We get all the supplies ready and Mike starts painting the first coat with the tinted drywall primer. He paints both closets in the office and the bathroom closet. After the primer dries he goes back and paints the last coat with the interior paint. While Mike was painting I followed along with a bucket of water to clean up any spills and drips. It goes much faster with us working together. Wednesday 12-31 We are done with the closets and they look good. Next Mike cuts out the extra shelves for my pantry and I re-do it. Yeah, I got rid of the plastic containers. Now that most of the work is done we can take almost all of the tools out of the house and up to the building. We need to empty out and do a major clean to get rid of all the construction dust. I start cleaning the back rooms while Mike brings stuff up to the building. Then he helps me move the furniture out of the living room so I can really clean. Wow it's starting to look like a Mike and Lisa house which means it looks like no one lives here, lol. Just the way we like with everything put away and in it's place. Thursday 1-1 Wow it's the first day of the New Year and everything is neat and clean. We got a call from our old neighbor from NC. Our property used to back up to her property when we lived there years ago. Anyway she stopped by with her grandson for a visit. It was great to see Marsha and Jacob. We haven't seen her in about a year so we had a nice time. She brought our first housewarming gift a very nice painting that she painted. Friday 1-2 Today we drove to the bigger town to look for a desk, more daybed options and more accessories for the house. We stopped at 8 different stores and we bombed out. We bought absolutely nothing. I guess it was a bad time to go being it was right after the holidays. We will have to wait for a re-stock of items in the stores. It's just the same old, same old. Saturday 1-3 Today was a mixed day. It wasn't nice enough to work outside and we didn't have much to do inside. Mike started out by going around the house and caulking all the floor trim. Next he screwed down my counter top from underneath. Something we never finished. Then he caulked the kitchen counter top. I also asked Mike if he could look at the kitchen clock to see if he could take it apart and paint the hands. The clock has a silver background and silver hands. We can't read it. So my miracle man took it apart and painted the hands black. Ah much better. Now I can see the clock. Next Mike took all the 5 gallon buckets of paint and strained the paint and poured it into smaller containers. Everyday we get more and more organized. Sunday 1-4 We woke up and it was raining but after breakfast the sun came out and it was beautiful. Time to open up the doors and air out. Mike got the nice weather bug and he disappeared outside. I stayed in doing laundry and I cleaned my armoire and organized my clothes. Howard and his son, Eric showed up to feed the cows so Mike went down to talk with them. It was a nice relaxing day. Our office is complete except for the furniture and the floor trim still needs touch up paint. This is the area for the day bed. And the area for our desk. Things will really be slowing down for us until the weather breaks. We have a ton of projects to do outside. We need just a few nice days in a row. I hope you enjoyed our story. I know things are slowing down but I will keep you updated.  Lisa