Back to Projects in Our National Folk Farmhouse

Now that the holidays are over, it's back to working on projects again in our National Folk Farmhouse.

The she shed was officially done before the holidays. Steve finished up the corner closet, added the door and trim and I got it all painted.

By putting it on an angle, it doesn't block our views out any of the big french windows looking out over the backyard.

 It's so nice that we get birds, squirrels, deer and even a few rare ones like foxes and coyotes out in the back.  We turn on the spot lights at night and surprise them. 

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I didn't write a lot over the holidays. Number one, because we were so gosh darn busy. Number two, just because it was all about family and decorations and festivities are really didn't have anything to do with house projects or traveling.

We gathered with most of our kids and grandkids the weekend before Christmas.

The she shed worked out very well for a family gathering place and many members congregated in there to visit and play.  We were also gathered up in our living room for present opening and around our dining room and kitchen for our large meal. I was very pleased to have a dining room big enough to have my dining table stretched out with both leaves and all eight chairs around it. The older grandkids sat at the round tall table in the kitchen while the two littlest wee ones at the play room table and chairs brought in for just the occasion. Our girls brought seafood!! Steamed crab legs, shrimp and clams while our son in law made a beef brisket. It was so much fun to be cooking in the kitchen with my two girls and having happy grandkids running around our feet, chock full of holiday excitement and sugar!

Erin and Waylen bought us all matching bear jammies! 

Then we kept all of the grandkids overnight for a sleepover.

Our Christmas holiday was delightful and we also traveled on Christmas Day up to the tip of Door County to spend the day with Pops Pfundtner. We brought a big ham dinner with all the trimmings to celebrate the day with him.

Now it's the New Year and time to get back on the project program with our house.

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When we bought the house in April, we knew the red clay tiles of the fireplace hearth were cracked and loose.  We just put the larger oriental rug overlapping them to cover them up until we had time later to replace them. We decided the time was now!

While walking in the local big-box store Menards, during Christmas shopping, we saw some large 18 inch ceramic tiles that caught my eye. They were on special clearance of only 99 cents each. Can you believe it?  Enough of them came home with us to span the entire width of the fireplace hearth.

We invited grandson Clayton during his Christmas vacation to help do a little demolition. He was thrilled! Give a boy a little hammer and a screwdriver and tell him to go to work on some broken red clay tiles for our hearth by the fireplace in the living room.

Oh boy, did he have fun. He first started removing the broken pieces a chunk at a time. Then the big goal was to try and remove a full piece without breaking it. This was difficult because the tiles were old and brittle. He was finally successful and managed to get TWO complete tiles removed without any cracks! What a challenge.

He would remove a few tiles at a time and then put the pieces in the bucket. From there he would run the Shop-Vac and suck up any of the extra little shards. It was a very clean neat job and all of the mess stayed right at the fireplace hearth and not dragged around the room.

Pretty good job for a seven-year-old kid. He managed to remove all 33 tiles and only once in a while did we have to actually chisel one away with the pry bar and a larger hammer.

He also helped to swap around the rugs 

from the living room to the dining room.

He had a little mishap that he called a "technical difficulty" while unrolling the smaller one in the livingroom!

Once his job was all done, we offered to pay him. He declined, saying no he just wanted to be nice --- and besides, it was fun!

(I did tuck a five dollar bill into his pocket when it was time to take him home)


He also decided that since he had the Shop-Vac out, he would clean the the firewood cubby compartment. It was pretty dusty and dirty in there so he took care of cleaning that up. Then he used a sharpie marker and wrote us a message on the wall inside. What a great idea! I think I will let each of the grandchildren write us a message in there on the wall. We had done something similar to that while we built our house out on the Oconto River in 1997. We let the children write messages to the people of the future from the people of the past - and closed up the wall.  I think our grandkids writing in this cubby will be a cute time capsule.

Here is the message that Clayton drew for us. What a wonderful secret hideaway complete with his secret message.

(Clayton Lock, Jan 1, 2020   I love Grandma and Grandpa)

We decided to extend the span of tiles along the hearth to go the entire width of the fireplace. The original red tiles only went up to the little firewood cubby door. Steve carefully cut away at the rest of the hardwood flooring to extend the recessed areas for the tiles.

Once he had the hardwood strips removed, then he filled in the extra gap in the floor with some subfloor to make it level with the rest of the recessed space.

This morning Steve decided it was time to mix up the mortar and start to install the tiles. Carefully laying down cardboard and prepping his work area, I was his gopher and watergirl as he mixed up the mortar.

The first tile is always the scariest, 

so we made sure it was square and level with the wood floor.

Tile number two going down and matching up perfectly! 

Here is tile number three in place,

and it's looking SO good to me! 

Tile by tile, it is transforming the hearth into a beautiful new pattern.

Tile five is down and now he has to measure carefully

and cut the sixth tile to fit.

There is number six into place.... 

or should I call it five and half? 

What a change from the cracked old red clay tiles!

(the leg of my chair is holding the last corner level) 

I am glad we went the entire width of the fireplace.  Before the red clay tiles were only up to the firewood cubby door.  That was kind of awkward and unbalanced.  Now it's more symmetrical.

A bit of grouting and we should be done with the tile.  I think that I am going to paint the mantle to match the color of our furniture a bit better. We are going to replace the wood burning fireplace with a gas log one in the future. For now we will just put the leaded glass fireplace screen over it to cover up the old pitted brass trimmed doors.  (this is a "before pic" to show the screen)

Time to run now. Steve's older brother Mark and his wife Anne are stopping by in a bit to see our house and head out for lunch together.  Will write more about our next project tomorrow!

Making It Through The Holidays

Things are changing in our family...  with the passing of Dad last month, and soon the changes of our stepdad Lowell's impending passing, it has been a tough holiday.

We did have two nice family celebrations with Steve's family... on Christmas Eve Day Steve's brother Pete and his new bride Cindy hosted a nice luncheon at a quaint restaurant in Menasha.  Some of the family came to this event, but some had to work and were unable to come.

Then on Christmas Day we trekked on down to Belgium where Steve's sister Lynn hosted the rest of the family gathering.  It was a sunny day with good roads and fine travelling.  We rode down and back with Steve's dad, Pa Pfundtner and had a wonderful time.  He is so full of fun and interesting stories and laughter.  It was good for us to be with him.

After Christmas Eve and Christmas Day was spent with Steve's family, the weekend was the time for our family...  our three grown kids, their spouses and ALL the grandtots!   We gathered at Erin and Waylen's house because it's big enough for all of us.  Since the roads were clear and dry (and no snow or slush or salt)  we decided to take our "extra hotel room" along.  

Plus with four other dogs in the house, we thought the comfort of our own rig for our two who are more shy would be better.  No accidental escapes out the door when someone ins't looking.  Our dogs are safer in our motorhome where things are more familar to them. 

On our way up, we noticed the alternator was not charging properly, kinda intermittent.  If we had to, we can connect the four house batteries to the two diesel engine batteries for enough emergency power.  But it kept up enough to keep us going for 75 miles.  Once there, Steve has enough tools and a spare alternator on board to swap it out right on the street.  P.S. we also got an overnight parking permit to park on the street by their house in Oconto. 

The house was decorated with care and joy for the family gathering....

Erin and Waylen put on a spread of food, with the rest of us contributing the side dishes and salads.  It was so much fun to see everyone again, all under one roof.

and the grandtots were on their 

BEST BEHAVIOR  

(most of the time) 

I will let the pics speak for themselves: 

(I was teaching little Whitney about the family charms on my necklace) 

 Gift opening was a crazy mess of fun stuff,

many things reminiscent of childhood past or 

homemade things this year which made it extra special!

 Later on the grandtots all put on their new jammies (from Grandma and
Grandpa Pfun) and were doing pushups and wrestling in the livingroom

As the grown-ups were gathering in the diningroom to play cards,

I got all the grandtots settled in watching 

The Grinch and Charlie Brown Christmas...  

working my "Grandma Magic" to get them all to rest in a row...

This is a favorite "selfie" I did during some quiet time upstairs

with newest grandtot Whitney....  

The grown-ups were playing cribbage, 31 and Cards Against Humanity 

in the diningroom well into the night.... 

along with beverages of their choice. 

 I gave up about 11 p.m. and headed out to our rig 

and our dogs 

and our own bed....

And here are our silly kids

at 1 a.m. after a raucous night

(with little bright eyed Whitney photobombing!~)

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT! 

After Christmas and Starting the New Year!

We made it through the Christmas Holidays in pretty good health...  we also made it through the grandkids' school concerts, the tree cutting, the house decorating and the family celebrations.  It was wonderful....   and as it all came to a close, our health declined and the flu bugs and/or colds took over.  We are both sniffling and snorting and coughing and hacking today as I type this!

Our little Binney, the rescue dog, is fitting in nicely.  She is slowly learning all the rules and routines of the house. She has walked around on a harness and leash, and did a lap around the block.  She seems to want to cuddle a lot and hide out in the "safe spot" on the couch next to me. We are bringing her out of her shell slowly as much as we can, and Finnegan is teaching her to follow him around too.  She seems to be really attached to me, so Steve is bribing her with bacon and giving her lots of attention when he is around too. She is a good sport with the photos and dress-up.  LOL

She is not yet playing with toys, but we have gotten some tail wags, some raspy barks (she has been surgically debarked by her previous owners) and some twirls and whirls in happiness as we come down the stairs.  She also discovered that each morning is a great time if we plop them up on our bed for morning snuggles!

It will be a slow road to get her to acclimate to walks, people, other dogs, and camping.  We are sure she will adapt, but we will take on one thing at a time. While we were gone for Christmas Day and then again on New Years Eve, both dogs were safe and sound at Stockbridge Critter Sitters Day Care and Boarding Kennel.  Owner Lisa Martin took good care of them, and let them sleep together in the same crate at night too. Binney is still an escape risk, so it was best for them to be safe at the boarding kennel while we were gone. A strange dog in a strange house and people in and out can be a recipe for disaster.  Best she is at a secure kennel where she can be safely watched while we are gone.  We adopted Binney through the owner of the kennel, who also runs the Wisconsin Sheltie Rescue program.  Lisa is very aware of the needs of a newly adopted sheltie and takes great care of our dogs.

Before the holidays started, I was frantically finishing up three quilts for our grown kids... two king sized and one queen sized.  Whew! I was sewing almost every day, evening and into the night.  I managed to get them all done in time!!!

This is Steve's new toy that he got for Christmas. It's called the Flame Genie and runs on compressed wood pellets. Great for a portable campfire to take along camping!  We have emerald ash borer infestation in Wisconsin and cannot transport firewood for camping. It will also be good in the desert on vacation where firewood is scarce.  Lit up in just a few minutes. Full flames in 10 minutes.  Safe to cook on and smells like a real campfire but no smoke!  Nice....   we got it via Amazon from http://www.pelletfirepit.com/

Here is a little video clip of us lighting it in the driveway on Christmas:

Christmas Day was pleasant and great weather for driving.  We headed down to Belgium, WI to have a family celebration with the other Pfundtner's at Steve's sister Lynn's house.  We gathered for a nice meal, and lots of family laughter and some silly games and gifts of course too.  Since losing Steve's mom two years ago, we all have a sad spot in our hearts by not having her there on Christmas Day. It doesn't seem the same, but we forge ahead and create new memories. Sigh.

On the weekend after Christmas it was time for our family celebration with all of our children and grandchildren.  Our daughter Erin has a very big house, with more than enough room for all the kids and toys and food and sleepovers for everyone!   We dropped the dogs off at the kennel for an overnight and headed on up to Oconto.  It was raining and all of the snow has melted. We didn't get a White Christmas at all.  

It was so nice to see all of the kids and grandkids....  we piled up some presents under the tree and our daughter Erin put together a great meal, with everyone bringing something to share. The house was decorated nicely and the tree was splendid..... and started out like this:

and soon it was looking like THIS:

bwahhaaahaaaahaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!

and here are all of our little Packer Fans in their jammies 

from Granmuddah and Granfaddah Pfun!   

TOUCHDOWN!!!

It took until midnight for the wee ones to slow down and I magically got them ALL asleep at one time... on sleeping bags on the floor of the kids' bedroom.  Shhhhhh  I tiptoed downstairs to join in the adult fun.  We played card games, drank, laughed and had a great time....  With Steve leading the way at the head of the table!

  

Erin's friend Waylen made chocolate pudding shots in these cute little tiny red solo cups. 

The card games were fun and the family had a blast...  

We are missing our son Mike on these type of family gatherings, 

wishing there was one more couple, 

a few more grandkids to add to the pile,

and more laughter and beer for Mike! 

We managed to stay up to about 2 or 3 a.m. before heading off to bed...   but the VERY BEST PART of the whole weekend was when five little Packer Monkeys came jumping in on our air mattress in the play room at 7 a.m.!!!  Oh JOY!!!! This is what I live for, of course!

New Years was the next holiday on the horizon...  we made some hotel reservations up in Iron River Michigan for the family and dropped the dogs off at the doggie daycare again for an overnight.  My sister Linda and her husband Fuzz, along with their brotherinlaw Dave bought the old Mid City Bar in Caspian, MI 2 blocks from where we grew up.  I recall going there as a child and getting penny candy in little brown bags and handing over a dime to old bartender Steve or Rose who counted out our candy to be sure we only took 10 pieces.  Great memories.  Now the bar is owned by my sister and family. This is their first week of operation since taking it over.... and we decided to surprise them! 

Facebook Page for Fuzz and Dave's Mid City Bar

We came in masked and decked out in New Years celebration garb... and shouting and hollering about where was the party!!! What a surprise!!! 

 We brought them an antique neon Old Style sign for a "bar warming" present that we all chipped in on.  Old Style is Fuzz's brew of choice, so it really fit the place quite well.  

Family and friends gathered for the evening at the bar

and soon it was time for MIDNIGHT

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I was the Designated Driver and got everyone back to the hotel safe and sound.  whew....  In the morning we headed over to my old stomping grounds, Mertin's Cafe.  I worked there from 1975-78 all during high school.  It's now called Main Street Cafe, but to me it will always be Mertins.  We gathered around the "big table" and had a nice goodbye breakfast before it was time to head on home....

and we drove back home to pick the doggies at the day care!   

Colds and flu or whatever overtook us now,

and we have been sick since. 

Made up a pot of chicken veggie soup

and we are taking it easy after a very busy two weeks!