So remember how I was all “One more month to go!” *exactly* one month ago? Yeah, well, whatever. Time is relative anyway. Eventually that gap will close… that pesky gap between my vision and our reality. I’m rolling with it. We are working hard, we keep our chins up, minimal tears have been shed (mostly mine, and all good and cathartic) and we are closer every day.

Today, along with enjoying the gorgeous snow, I was mostly confined to the apartment with my sweet kiddos who suddenly came down with the flu. Poor Asa has spent most of the day in a feverish haze. I’ve been restless and itchy to get to my projects, but it’s been a good day and I appreciate the opportunity to slow down.… Continue Reading...

There hasn’t been much time for writing, but when we started this project I felt determined to document it here for us to look back on. Every minor detail- the first stake in the ground, the foundation, the first walls being framed… those details are special and each small stitch in this house feels meaningful to me. It’s silly, I guess, but I want to remember it all. I want to remember the hot bright day that we put up that ridge beam, and the cool fall days when we attached siding, and the cold winter days where we wore face masks and stuffed pink insulation into the wall cavities while we listened to the radio.

We are hoping we’ve got one month left to go.… Continue Reading...

Just before leaving to work on the house today, Jeff indulged me with a quick cup of coffee together in the living room. He’s a guzzler, I’m a slow-sipper. I could tell the whole time we sat that he was thinking about the house and his list of to-dos for the day. His knee was bouncing up and down like it does, eyes darting to and fro while he clearly strained to be still and listen to my thoughts about some article I’d read. In years past I would have taken that whole scene personally, but I know that’s not it. It’s not personal at all.

Sillies from the other night. Jeff’s face cracks me up here! I swear Vera can make the exact same face, with the same nostril definition and everything!

… Continue Reading...

Feels like a lot of endurance has been needed lately- physically, emotionally, spiritually. It’s been a time to just breathe and keep holding. I took a yoga class last night where there was a lot of focus on breath, which is always great, but the instructor mentioned that in one of his classes where they’d hold the poses for a long time, the focused breathing was what got them through it. I latch on to concepts that I need, weaving them into my current life-themes and making sense of things. This resonated with me. I do feel like we are holding this pose, our muscles are burning and our mind is beginning to doubt and whine and wriggle around. But we can do it, we can hold a little longer and get stronger, and move intentionally into the next thing.… Continue Reading...

Our first snowy day! It feels magical. I knew it was coming and my dad had given me some unbaked gooey cinnamon rolls made by local nuns (cuz that’s just the kind of guy he is!), and so I made a plan to have everyone just stay. home. for a couple of hours this morning so we could eat breakfast together. Around the table. Together. All in one place. It was marvelous. It feels like it’s been so long since we’ve all been able to do that. Now the kids and I have determined that this must be a first snow of the season tradition. Bacon, scrambled eggs, cinnamon rolls blessed by nuns. I’m down.

As delighted as I am by the majestic snow, it does put a whole new spin on this house building business.… Continue Reading...

Since the last update, we’ve been really pushing forward on the siding. Getting the exterior totally finished before it gets too cold is our priority. However, with the daylight waning naturally and then with the time change, Jeff opted to take another week off of work to push to get it done. We didn’t finish it all, but it was totally necessary and it shaved weeks off of our timeline. I downshifted all my other activities to try to help him as much as I could.

North siding, mostly finished

Siding is a straightforward enough job and Jeff was actually able to do a lot of it solo, although we could do it faster if I helped. It proved to be a kind of tedious job- lots of measuring and careful cutting, but then once you had a bunch of ready pieces, voila!… Continue Reading...

I feel like I’m overdue for a food update. Since the kids and I are home sick again, it seemed the perfect time to do one. I’ll be honest and tell you that one of my chief resentments this year has been the frequent need to table my farm/homemaking/etc. desires in favor of focusing on other things (hello, house building!). My particular role is the most flexible in this game, and I often have to exercise that flexibility. It is a worthy investment, but I have felt in limbo for a couple of years now. Of course, I know that the whole thing has been a good exercise in patience, in figuring out what really matters and prioritizing, of continually integrating the picture in my head of what I want my life to be with the reality of what it is and finding peace and sustenance there, and of staying grateful for how much we have and how much opportunity has been given to us.… Continue Reading...

Here’s the progress on the house, since the middle of last month:

Jeff took this picture of the house, lit up on the inside with our work lights.

We were able to borrow a generator so that we can continue to work on the house in spite of dwindling daylight. Our limited time to work on it and the long days we’re pulling (fitting it in after work and on weekends) are starting to take their toll. We are anxious to move in, not only because we’re so excited and ready to pull everything together, but also because we are basically paying double rent right now and can’t afford to live this way for much longer. We can’t afford it now, but it is what it is.… Continue Reading...

I’m forcing myself to take a “day off” on Wednesdays. I put that in quotes because, well, “off”? It’s still not really a concrete concept to me right now. I’ve been planning to do this for a long time, but every Wednesday I find ways to fill it up. I realized I’ll have to treat it as sacred if I’m going to pull it off. Obviously I always still need to do what needs doing, but there is a lot of extraneous stuff and obligations that I can just cut. And I need to. I need the respite, the time to plan and reset and feel at home. I need to think about what it is that *I need* to refill my tank. This whole busier-than-ever-building-a-house-and-all-the-other-stuff thing has taught me a lot about myself.… Continue Reading...