The porch is finally screened in!

The porch is finally screened in!!  Ignore the bags in the above picture.  I brought a lot of bedding and stuff in from storage and it's waiting here until I get it washed and put away.  Our treadmill is on the porch because there is no room inside.  We will get a sheet or something to cover it to keep it from getting dusty (and covered in pollen).

For anyone new to the blog we built our house on the property where I grew up.  It is actually attached to my parent's house (my grandparents have a house on the property too, so three generations!), so we share a porch that runs the length of both houses.  Our half is 28 feet by 9 feet approximately.  We like to keep our doors open, but the problem is if we both have our doors open our dogs can go into the other's house and eat the other dog's food.  So we had to make a barrier.

My mom came up with this genius idea!

It's just cinder blocks and scrap wood!!  I put my plants on the two shelves and the boards on the right make a gate.

This is tall enough that neither dog will try to jump it.  It's chest height on Jackal.  Sorry my parent's end of the porch is a bit cluttered.  My dad was building mom a new table.  I'll have to share it when they are done painting it.  It's really cool.

The outside of the porch is a dark brown with red doors and eventually we will board in the inside and paint it to match.  For now it's open.  I'll try to get pictures of the outside of the porch soon.

Check out all my new flowers that hubby bought me!!  The ones on the shelves are the new one.  He got me a sweet potato, two Lantana (I LOVE Lantana!), a Geranium (like the one in the pot below it that I got last year), a Pansy, an Abunda and four six packs of Vinca in three colors.  I pruned my Geranium from last year and put cuttings in three more pots!  :D

I got the cactus above eight years ago when it was one stalk only a few inches tall and now it has two main stalks and is about twenty inches tall!!  I had a bunch of little baby cacti in the pot so I dug them up and put them in a pot for mom and started a second pot for myself.  I also pruned it back and put cuttings in three tiny pots for us to put in our kitchen windows.  Now we have lots of cacti!!!

I got my fountain back out that mom bought me years ago.  It's sitting right outside the window where my brother watches T.V. (he has cerebral palsy so he lives with my parents) and he loves being able to watch it and see my flowers.  :D

Here is our table and chairs that mom and dad gave us.  It's in front of our bedroom window.  It was pretty weathered from being out on the porch, but hubby cleaned it and conditioned it with lemon oil and it looks amazing!!!!  I'll almost be sad to cover it with a table cloth so we can eat out on the porch!  Also as soon as I buy a hammock stand (after Rolex if I have any money left lol) I will put my double wide canvas hammock out there on the end where the bags are.  :D  I can't wait!

I feel like we accomplished a lot (had to clean and sweep the leaves and debris off the porch from when it wasn't screened in, moved the firewood off the porch for summer, cleaned and arranged furniture and put up the flower barrier) today.  I love my porch and I'm so excited to be able to enjoy it just in time for beautiful spring weather!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

 First picture of my kitchen I've shared since we had the counter top put in!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!  We had our very first gluten free Thanksgiving and it was fantastic!!!
My mom, dad, hubby and I split the cooking between us.  Mom and Dad made the fruit salad, apple crunch, green bean casserole (forgot to take the lid off in the picture below) and giblet gravy.  Hubby made the dressing, using a recipe his mom uses and it was amazing (I have always hate dressing).  He also made the pumpkin pies (crustless).  I heated up the turkey and cooked the sweet potatoes and rice.

The pecan pie was store bought and not gluten free (I didn't eat the crust) because we didn't want to make one, but we all love it lol.  The turkey, sweet potatoes and rice were obviously gluten free.  The dressing we used a boxed gluten free cornbread mix that was actually really good!  I was surprised.  The apple crunch was either boxed gluten free or mom used gluten free flour mix.  I'm not sure.  The pumpkin pie didn't have a crust so it was good.

The interesting thing was the green bean casserole.  I LOVE green bean casserole and almost never eat it except for Thanksgiving so I look forward to it every year.  The problem is that the French fried onions have flour and so does canned condensed mushroom soup.  So we made it homemade!  That was a first for all of us.  It was actually pretty easy (cutting up the onion is probably the worst part).  I'll have to get the recipe from mom and share it sometime.  When we were cooking the mushroom soup it was so cool watching the ingredients mix together and turn into the soup.  It looked just like the canned stuff but tasted so much better.

I hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving!!  I'm thankful for having our house almost done, celebrating our first year living in it, for my family, for the joint effort on our gluten free Thanksgiving, the support and participation from my family with the gluten free lifestyle, my improved health (from eating gluten free) and for my sweet animals even though Jackal got in the garbage yesterday for the first time in years and years (he did it as a puppy too).  I was disappointed in him, but I'm thankful there was nothing in there that could make him sick (he was after the canned dog food that my parent's Yorkie eats).  I'm thankful that even though it's a little cold it isn't raining and the sun is shining!  I'm thankful that everyone is healthy (last year my family had the flu for Thanksgiving).  I'm thankful for my blogging friends and the amazing blogging community we belong to.  Love you guys!

Anyway that's all I can think of right now.  I'm sinking into a food coma.  Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

30 Before 30 List Updated!

Sorry I haven't posted in so long.  We have been soooo busy putting our cabinets in our kitchen (will get pictures when done).  With my recent birthday and only a year to go before I'm thirty I was thinking long and hard about my thirty before thirty list.  Most people will make a list and if by the end of the deadline they haven't completed something they consider it a failure (the item, not the list).... not me!  The point of my thirty before thirty list is not to be competitive with myself or to succeed/fail, the point is to get out and experience new things.  When I made the list two and a half years ago my life was completely different from what it is right now.  I never would have guessed things would have turned out the way they have!  There is no way to guess how things will go in life.  I also only gave myself three and a half years (that's when I first heard of a 30 before 30 list) to complete a list of thirty things that you're supposed to have ten years to complete!  So I think I've done fairly well given the time and circumstances.

I've already changed my list once because originally it included things like think more positively (which I'm doing really well with!) and I wanted it to be things that were more easily recorded on the blog.  Trying new things, learning new skills, etc.  So I figured I would go ahead and change it again since I have one year left.  Some of the goals are just completely unrealistic given the changed circumstances and financial situation.  So here is the old list and check below for the revisions.  :D

Original 30 Before 30 List

1. Take Chrome on an overnight camping trip.
2. Stand in two places at once (state lines). COMPLETED 1-3-13
3. Go to a live horse race. COMPLETED 1-16-2012
4. Participate in a cattle drive on my horse or one of their horses.
5. Ride a/my horse on a beach.
6. Take a trip on an actual train.
7. Ride/drive a horse drawn carriage/wagon/sleigh.
8. Go out on a sailboat.
9. See/Pet/Swim with trained or wild dolphins.
10. Print out a coffee table book of my photos. COMPLETED 11-14-2012
11. Learn more about photography. COMPLETE
12. Learn American Sign Language.
13. Do something special for my fifth wedding anniversary. COMPLETED 4-26-14
14. Learn some sort of dancing (belly dancing, ballroom dancing, etc.)
15. Learn to play the piano.... again.
16. Learn to paint (oil, watercolor, etc.) and paint a mural in my new house.
17. See cross country in person, like WEG.
18. Train a horse from weaning to basics under saddle.
19. Take dressage lessons on Chrome.
20. Teach Chrome to pull a wagon/carriage/buggy/etc.
21. Take Chrome to an SCA event!
22. Take Chrome to a Competitive Trail Ride and finish safely.
23. Take the class and get my concealed carry license.
24. Ride a purebred Friesian! COMPLETED 2-17-14
25. Conquer my stage fright and show Chrome in a local dressage schooling show.
26. Learn archery (bonus if I can do it on horseback!)
27. Have my own adorable little Papillon puppy!
28. Learn to swim. COMPLETED 7-4-13
29. Finish building my new house.
30. Go kayaking! COMPLETED 7-10-13

Here are the things I'm removing or editing...

8. Go out on a sailboat.  I don't know anyone with one and don't have anyplace local that has them for rent (which I probably couldn't afford anyway) so it goes on the back burner.

9. Swim with or pet a dolphin.  Again I live nowhere near the ocean and don't have the money to travel to the ocean right now so this will probably not happen soon.

15. Learn to play the piano again. I still love the piano and I still want to learn how to play it again, but right now I'm just more interested in other things.  My piano is not going anywhere and I can always pick this back up later.

16. Learn to paint and paint a mural in my house.  This one I am not taking off the list because a friend is teaching me watercolor, but I'm editing it.  I'm going to change it to experiment in different mediums.  I'm LOVING charcoal right now as well as graphite.  I will probably do more drawing than painting so there is no way I'll become proficient in a year at the watercolor (she's very busy) especially since I don't have my own supplies.  However I'm really enjoying branching out and learning new types of drawing and painting.  :)  On the mural I decided not to do it because although I've always wanted one I don't have the money or knowledge at the moment to do it.  I've decided to do a photo/art wall instead (when I have the money for frames - I'll post pictures when it's done obviously).

20. Teach Chrome to pull a wagon.  I just don't have the money right now!

21. Take Chrome to an SCA event.  Again it's the lack of money and I really need a new horse trailer before I'm comfortable taking him to this kind of event.

22. Take Chrome to a CTR.  Same as the others.  When I made this list originally I thought we would be further along by now, but I did not foresee the moving, building a house, no money and no lessons lol.

23. Get my concealed carry.  I still think it would be cool to have my concealed carry license, but it's REALLY expensive considering I would probably not carry one anyway.  I'll just continue to target practice and go to the shooting range for fun.  :)

26.  Learn archery.  I don't have the money to buy the equipment and I have so much else on my plate right now that I just don't have time so this one gets pushed out of the running for now.

27. Own a Papillon.  This has been on my mind a lot.  It's been six months since Storm died and I still dream about her and wake up crying.  I'm still heart broken.  I'm enjoying spending time with Jackal and I'm just not ready and I don't think I'll be ready for a new puppy any time soon.  I still want a Papillon someday, but just not right now.

These items are not being removed from my bucket list!  I still want to do them, but just not in the next year.  :)

So now here is the NEW list!

Updated 30 Before 30 List

1. Take Chrome on an overnight camping trip.
2. Stand in two places at once (state lines). COMPLETED 1-3-13
3. Go to a live horse race. COMPLETED 1-16-2012
4. Participate in a cattle drive on my horse or one of their horses.
5. Ride a/my horse on a beach.
6. Take a trip on an actual train.
7. Ride/drive a horse drawn carriage/wagon/sleigh.
8. Own and learn to fly a kite.
9. Go to the Kentucky Horse Park.
10. Print out a coffee table book of my photos. COMPLETED 11-14-2012
11. Learn more about photography. COMPLETE
12. Learn American Sign Language.
13. Do something special for my fifth wedding anniversary. COMPLETED 4-26-14
14. Learn some sort of dancing (belly dancing, ballroom dancing, etc.)
15. Do a photo shoot with Jackal.
16. Experiment in different mediums (graphite, charcoal, watercolor, etc.)
17. See cross country in person, like WEG.
18. Train a horse from weaning to basics under saddle.
19. Take dressage lessons on Chrome.
20. Eat gluten free for a year.
21. See a polo match in person.
22. Gallop Chrome across an open field.
23. Go on a trail ride off property in the snow.
24. Ride a purebred Friesian! COMPLETED 2-17-14
25. Conquer my stage fright and show Chrome in a local dressage schooling show.
26. Grow a garden at my new home (and WATER IT!)
27. Go on a trail ride with Chrome and his sire or dam.
28. Learn to swim. COMPLETED 7-4-13
29. Finish building my new house.
30. Go kayaking! COMPLETED 7-10-13

Here are more details on the additions to the list.

8. Own and learn to fly a kite.  I've flown a kite once in my life and that moment when the wind finally caught it and it soared into the sky was so amazing!!  I was a little kid teaching myself how to do it so I wasn't very good but I'll always remember that moment.  Ever since then I haven't ever tried it again.  My husband likes flying kites so I'm thinking it's something fun we can start doing together (we need more shared hobbies besides fishing and the shooting range).  Now I have to find one I can afford (they are so expensive!! Do they make ones with horses??).

9. Go to the Kentucky Horse Park.  As with all of the best laid plans they can fall apart, but my tentative plans are to go to Rolex next year (I'm currently saving money to buy tickets waaaaay in advance) so this would go along with seeing cross country in person.  Fingers crossed.  I will keep all of my horse blogging buddies up to date and let you know when it gets closer if it's looking like it might be possible.  :)

15. Do a photo shoot with Jackal.  Storm's death made me realize how few pictures there are of me with the dogs because I was always the one taking the pictures, so my hubby said he will take pictures of me with Jackal.  One idea I saw online is a photo shoot in a leaf pile LOL! He would blend right in.  :D  We get TONS and TONS of leaves in the fall so it's definitely an idea.  Do you guys have any other ideas?  Snow could be fun if we get any this winter.

20. Eat gluten free for a year.  I've been eating gluten free for several weeks now and I love it!  I feel so much better and I've even lost weight without doing anything else.  I'm learning to cook and learning to enjoy it.  I'm trying new recipes and I'm having fun.  I plan to stay gluten free for the rest of my life just for health reasons (celiac), but this is a goal to keep me motivated for those days when I really just want a doughnut.

21. See a polo match in person.  I've been wanting to keep this one a secret, but I can't! They are finally holding a polo match locally (okay it's not that close, but it's in my state) and we bought tickets.  I'm so excited!!!!!!!  It's in September.  If anyone has been to one, I'll take all the hints I can get on what to wear since I've never been and they have a best dressed award.

22. Gallop Chrome across an open field.  This may sound lame (that's what hubby said LOL), but for someone with confidence issues and a green horse it would be a huge accomplishment.  I was terrified to canter him and it went well, so here's hoping our first gallop goes well too!

23. Take a trail ride in the snow!  This will obviously be weather dependent since we don't always get snow around here, but if it does snow for once I am leaving the property!  I have never ridden off of my property in snow.

26.  Grow a garden at my new home.  Since I'm eating gluten free now I'm eating a lot more fruits and veggies than I used to so I really want to grow a garden.  We did some gardening at our old place, but were very limited in our space.  With  a five acre yard we have plenty of space here now.  So I want to grow a garden and remember to water it LOL!

27.  Go on a trail ride with Chrome and either his sire or dam.  Because that would just be awesome.  :D

So that's my revised list.  Some of them still might not happen, but they are more attainable and realistic than the ones I had before.  When it gets down to the finish line next year I might change it again hehe, but it's my list, my life, my goals and I can do what I want with it!  There are no rules to follow.  It's all an adventure and I've done a lot of things I never thought I would and probably never would have "gotten around to" if it weren't for making these goals.  Let me know what you guys think!  Ideas for a photo shoot with Jackal and what to wear to a polo match are greatly appreciated!

P.S. On the learn American Sign Language, that one is sort of done, I just haven't made a video yet.  I decided to pick a number of signs to know before I could call this one complete (since I could obviously spend years learning the entire language) and I chose 100 signs.  To my surprise when I added them up I knew around 150 signs!!!  So I'm going to make a video of 100 and check that one off the list.  I'll still be practicing and learning new signs all the time even after I check it off though.  I'll try to get the video done as soon as possible!  On the ones like learn to dance, learn ASL, etc. I should have said "start" learning because it will take a long time to become proficient at them and I'll never be an expert.  So I'm trying to set goals (like the 100 signs in ASL) to achieve instead of leaving it so open ended.   I'm not cheating I promise hehe.  Also the house is getting close to done.  We are making huge progress on the kitchen then it will be little things in the rest of the house.  Once it's done (will be a few months because countertop hasn't even been ordered) I'll post pictures.  I can't wait!

Berries!!!

Our blackberries and blueberries are getting ripe! Yummy!! The awesome thing is that it's naturally gluten free! I'll update on that in a few days too. Oh and we ordered the cabinets and countertops for the kitchen!!!! It will be a few weeks before it's all here and installed but I'll get pictures when it's done. I'm so excited! I can't wait!

Curtains! And Dogs!

Since Sunday is our day off from the A To Z challenge, I thought I would update you all on a few things.  First I want to show you my curtains.  For those of you just joining us, my husband and I built a new house on my parent's (and grandparent's) property and it's still not done.  I don't have a kitchen, but other than that most of it is done except for finishing touches (like the curtains).  We still have interior doors and trim to paint, but I'll get to it someday lol.

For now though I want to tell you about my curtains.  I ordered curtains for my whole house right before I moved in.  They all worked great except for the French doors (they sent the wrong length), so I had to reorder them.  I also had a get a longer pole for a curtain rod since mine are wider than the window it was on before.  Well then the longer pole is thicker so we had to trim out the mounts so it would sit down in them right.  Finally, it is all done and I love it!  By the way these are Walmart blackout curtains and I LOVE them!!  My bedroom is so dark you can sleep in the daytime without the light bothering you.  It helps keep the house cool in the summer too.  They aren't that expensive either.  :D

So here is a picture.

The thing hanging above it is my wire for a surround sound system we will put in someday.  Sorry I forgot to pick up my dog's bones and that random fishing bobber lol.  The French doors are so wide I put three curtains on them and gathered one at each side and one in the middle.  I never really open that door so it's not bothersome at all.  Also the curtain is a dark chocolate brown, the pole and mounts are black to match my black trim.  Did you notice something outside my window?

This is without the flash on.

Yep, my donkey was grazing out in the yard!  The French doors definitely have the best view in the house!

Now for an update on the dogs.  First up is my mom's Yorkie Mac... please don't laugh! I gave him a haircut and I've never, ever shaved a dog before.  I had to use scissors on his legs and face because my clippers weren't strong enough to get through the thick hair, so it's a bit uneven, but I think it makes him look rugged.  What do you think?  I love how his ears stand up a bit better without the long hair on them.

Here is a picture of him with his hair longer for a comparison.  It also shows you how fat Jackal was...

I know this is a different angle, but I took it to hopefully show you that Jackal is starting to get a waist again!!

So far I haven't cut back on his food.  I just made sure no one was feeding him dog food, treats or scraps and started exercising him again.  He's slowly, but surely improving.  I haven't taken him back to weigh him in a while, but I'll do that when the A To Z challenge is over and I'll get some better comparison pictures.  :)

I'll be back to my A To Z posts tomorrow.  I need to go get caught up reading all of your blogs now.  Later!

House Building Update and NaNoWriMo

Guess what!  We get to move into our house tomorrow!!!!  I'm so excited!  We finished installing the shower today and turned our water on for the first time.  :D  I can't wait to move in.  We still have some stuff to do, such as some baseboards, painting and installing the interior doors, installing a bar light in the bathroom, etc., but the majority is finished.  Once we finish all of the ends and odds I will take pictures to show all of you.  There are still tools all over the place right now.  I have a lot of cleaning and picking up to do.

I've decided to participate in the National Novel Writing Month (nanowrimo.org) challenge again.  The challenge basically is writing 50,000 words in 30 days.  It's a way to help writers just let go of everything and write whatever comes to mind.  It can be a huge help for writer's block and it's fun!  I won in 2009, 2010 and 2011, but I skipped 2012, so I'm excited to do it again.  I waited until yesterday to decide what to write about because a lot of times it's easier to write if you have no plan.  It worked out better for me in past years when I did that.  I'm not in love with my story idea right now, but it could get better! :D  Yesterday I wrote 4,310 words... today NONE so far.  I was too busy working on the house.  I'm going to go write as much as I can in the next two hours before it is tomorrow.  Night guys!

Our house has a floor! Yay!

 Yay!  We got the floor put into our house!  It took us two days working almost twelve hours both days.  I was soooooo bruised and sore from sitting on the concrete floor (I can't work on my knees even with knee pads so I did it sitting Indian style until my ankles hurt too bad then just curled my legs up beside me).  At the end of both days I would crawl into bed and just cry until the pain subsided (I'm a serious wimp), but it was sooooo worth it!  The floor is gorgeous!

As you can see each shot of the living room and kitchen that the walls looks different colors depending on the light!  It looks so peach in the above picture, but it's not lol.  It's actually tan.  Still, you get the idea hehe.  We're looking at the floor anyway.

Standing in front of the French doors looking into the kitchen.  As you can see in the above picture we installed the air conditioner too, so we didn't have to lay tile in 100F degree temps!  Thank goodness!  I don't think I could have done it if I'd been hot, sweaty AND in pain lol.

Looking into the kitchen at the back door.  My husband propped up that board so he could sweep and I forgot to put it back on the floor.  That will be the color of my baseboards.  I can't wait to get them in!  The house will look basically finished with baseboards in.  :D

At this point I turned on the force flash on my camera because it was too dark without the lights hooked up and those lights turned the pictures weird colors anyway.  This is closer to the actual color, but it is a little washed out from the flash.  This is looking into the hallway.

Some shots of the bedroom.  Isn't the floor so pretty??  It's actually 12 inch vinyl tiles, but it looks like one solid floor from a distance because there is no fake grout line like a lot of tiles so you can barely see the lines.

 I can't wait to sand and stain my wood beam in the ceiling.  :)

Looking at my bedroom door and computer nook.

 The flash washed out my green walls, but that's okay.

The bathroom pictures turned out horrible.  This was the best I could do.  This is looking at the walls where our sinks and counter will be.  We might, maybe, possibly be picking up bathroom cabinets this weekend.  Fingers crossed!

Here are some close ups of the floor.  It's a mixture of brown, tan, gray and white.  Very pretty.  It goes really well with the wall colors I chose.  :D

Below is a shot without flash.  It shows the light and shadows through the French doors.  I like how it turned out.

Anyway as you can tell I'm excited!  Next step is interior doors and shower installation, so we can then stain and put in baseboards and window/door casings.  We're going to try to completely finish the bedroom, bathroom and living room sometimes in the next few weeks so we can hopefully move in.  The kitchen might take some time depending on how the money works out.  Luckily the only appliances we needs are a stove/oven combo that we have to have and a dishwasher which isn't top priority.  We already have a refrigerator, deep freezer, washer and dryer.  We still have to get a hot water heater too.  Oh and we still have to get the electrical pole up which involves cutting down some trees.... it might be another month, but I really, really hope it's no longer than that!  Fingers crossed!  I'm so impatient to move in.

Our house is painted!!

 We finished painting our house!!  My dad and husband had a three day weekend for labor day so we spent all three days priming, painting and trimming (painting edges) the house and it looks AMAZING!!!  The photos change the colors a tiny bit because the lighting is difficult, but it's close so you'll get the idea.  Let me know what you think please!  Captions are below the photos and you can click on them to enlarge them.  To see earlier posts about the house building here is the link (there are only about three other posts I think)  http://myfarmerlife.blogspot.com/search/label/House%20Building

This one was taken standing in my front door looking into the living room. I picked neutral colors, so this gorgeous creamy tan does not have yellow or green undertones, that's just the weird lighting.  The color I picked is Pecan Sandie by Behr (here's a link  http://www.homedepot.com/p/BEHR-Premium-Plus-8-oz-700C-3-Pecan-Sandie-Interior-Exterior-Paint-Sample-700C-3PP/202178228).  If you enlarge the picture and look closely at the left hand side of the wall you can see where I put a stained board up with some of my floor tiles so you can see what the finished look will be like.  Sorry I forgot to get a close up.  I might do that later.  Also the vertical part of the ceiling is painted the same color as the walls.  It looks like shadows in the photo, but it's actually the tan color.  I love the contrast and how it breaks up the angles of the ceiling.  :D

 This is a shot from the French doors looking at the front door where the first shot was taken from.  This shot shows the fun angles of the ceiling.  I love the slope!  And the vertical part around the stove pipe is painted tan too.  :)  The plastic covered thing in the center is the wood stove that will eventually be under the stove pipe hehe.

 This is another angle of the living room (standing in the doorway to the kitchen) showing the front door and on the right are the French doors.  I think I tilted the camera lol.

 This is the kitchen, standing in the same spot as the above picture, but turned around.  You can see the second side door (which will lead to the dog yard) on the very left edge of the picture and the back door in the center.  The kitchen sink will be under the window.  The stove and fridge will be on the left wall.  The thing in the center of the floor is our air conditioner.  The closet on the right is the laundry room and will also have our hot water heater.

 This one is looking into the hall to the right of the laundry closet.  The wall on the right (between the kitchen and living room) will be floor to ceiling cabinets with a counter for putting the microwave and coffee pot.

This is the same shot as above, but shifted to the right so you can see into both the kitchen and living room.  We left the doorway between the two rooms open for the best lighting and air flow.

 This is standing in the hallway looking back into the kitchen with the dog yard door on the left and the back door on the right.  The fridge will be on the far left, with the stove next, then counter in the corner and a sink under the window.  We will also have an island in the center (since we won't have a dining table) for eating and prepping food.

 This is looking into the hallway.  Straight ahead is the closet, to the left is the bathroom door and to the right is the bedroom door.  Again there are interesting ceiling details here.  The hallway ceiling (as well as all the rooms beyond) are four inches taller than the kitchen and living room.  I like how the tan part dividing the kitchen and hallway adds contrast.  :)  That huge thing in the floor is our super awesome high powered fan that helps keep us cool while we're working since it's been over 100F degrees and there is no electricity hooked up in the house yet (we're using extension cords).

This one is standing in the bedroom doorway.  The window looks out front on the same side as the front door.  You can kind of see the porch roof through the window which will eventually be concreted and fully screened in.  It runs the entire length of the front.  The wooden beam in the ceiling is where the ceiling starts to slope down toward the window (just like in the living room).  The beam is covered in paint and mud, but we will sand it and stain it.  :)  This gorgeous neutral green is our favorite in the whole house.  It is called Spartan Stone by Behr (here's a link http://www.homedepot.com/p/BEHR-Premium-Plus-Ultra-8-oz-780D-5-Spartan-Stone-Interior-Exterior-Paint-Sample-780D-5U/202182531#.UiYc39K4nLI).  We picked a very neutral green with no yellow undertones because I'm going to be painting a full wall mural of a forest on the left wall (across from our bed so I can stare at it when I go to sleep hehe).  The neutral base will allow me to use all sorts of greens and other colors in my mural.  I can't wait to start working on it.  Don't worry I will post pictures of my progress.

 In this photo you can see the slope of the ceiling on the other side of the beam.  I think I tilted the camera again.  The little nook is where our computer desk will go and on the left of that is the door.  The big blank wall (which I didn't put the stucco texture on) is where I will paint the mural.  :D  Lots of space and possibilities!

This is looking straight at the door and computer nook (I'm standing in front of the window).  And yes we had heat lamps hanging from the wiring in the ceiling so we could see while we painted lol.

Here is the bathroom.  It's difficult to get pictures because our scaffolding (for hanging sheet rock and painting) was still in there.  It is painted a gorgeous gray color called Anonymous by Behr (here is the link http://www.homedepot.com/p/BEHR-Premium-Plus-Ultra-8-oz-780F-5-Anonymous-Interior-Exterior-Paint-Sample-780F-5U/202182518#.UiYdD9K4nLI).  And no I am not endorsing Behr.  I like it, but I didn't actually use Behr to paint my house LOL!  I just picked the colors from the Behr paint chips and they matched it with a different paint that we used that I totally forgot the name of just now.  :)  In the above picture on the right is where the shower will go.  The little closet nook thing is where plumbing is and we will also be able to store some stuff in it.  The toilet will be under the window.

This is looking the other way in the bathroom.  I was standing where the shower will be.  The door is on the left.  The wall straight across is where we will have cabinets and sinks.... yep TWO sinks!!!  I hate sharing a sink with my husband so we are putting in two hehehe.  Hey if you're going to build your own house you might as well make it how you want it hehe.  Again the toilet will be under the window.  :)

So that's it!  We are putting flooring in this coming weekend.  :D  I'm so excited.  Then we will do baseboards which I'm staining myself.  Then we have to put in interior doors.  Hook up all electrical boxes, switches and lights.  Then we have to put in the water heater, toilet, shower, sinks, etc.  If I can afford it we will then put in all of the kitchen cabinets.  At that point we should get to move in!  I can't wait!  This has been a LONG process since it's just me, dad and my husband building this thing.  Literally the only thing my dad contracted out was the concrete foundation.  We have done everything else on weekends and we're paying it as we go (didn't take out a loan) so that's part of the reason it's taking so long.  I'll update again next weekend so you can see the floor.  :)

Video tour of the progress on our house so far!!

Okay I finally got my video done.  This is our house we're building.  We finally have all of the sheet rock up so I made a video tour now that you can actually tell what the rooms look like hehe.



So what do you think?  I'm so excited and impatient for it to be done.  It's been such a long process, but it will be so worth it in the end.  :)

Pictures of progress on our new house!!

 Okay, I'm going to update you guys with what is going on since it's been so long since I actually wrote something.  When my husband got his new job in my old hometown back in February my parents said we could move in with them while we built our house.  My parents have ten acres.  On the ten acres is their house, my grandparents house and now will also have our house, so there will be three generations living together.  :)

They had already started building the house, because it was actually meant for my aunt, but she decided she didn't want to move after all so they left the partially built house closed up all winter.  When my husband got the job they said we could finish building it and it would be ours.  :D  So the foundation and walls were already done.  Since moving up here in February we have to put the siding on, do all the electricity, all the plumbing, some dead wood (wood put up specifically for nailing sheet rock to) and all of the insulation.  This weekend we finally got to start the sheet rock!!!!  It feels like things are really moving along now.  :D

The reason it has taken so long is because we were still cleaning out and prepping our old house for the renters and my dad is on call one weekend out of the month.  That meant we were only working on the house two or three weekends out of the month.  Yeah, we can only work on the weekends since we're doing it all ourselves.

So here are the pictures of our sheet rock progress!  Captions are below the pictures.

We have a ceiling!!  This is the kitchen looking toward the back door.  To the right of the back door is the laundry closet and to the right of that is the hall leading to the bedroom and bathroom.  If you look in the closet you can actually see all the way through it into the bathroom behind it (see the window?).  We were working on plumbing so we don't have all of the insulation up in the closet.  When I took this picture I was standing in the doorway to the living room.  That red thing in the middle of the room is the most awesome invention ever.  It holds the sheet rock up to the ceiling so we can nail (screw) it up!!  :D

 The kitchen from the other direction.  I was standing in the hallway to the bedroom and bathroom.  To my right is the laundry closet and the back door.  In front of me is the door that will lead to the dog yard.  To the left of that door is the open doorway into the living room.  My counters will be to the right of the door and my sink will be under the window.

My living room has a ceiling and walls!!!  This shows the fun ceiling details.  :)  It's looking into the corner where my couch and chairs will be.  I'm standing in the corner where my entertainment center will be.  On my right is the front door and wood stove.  On my left are my French doors (with a view of my horse pasture) and to the left of that is the doorway into the kitchen.

Another view of the living room with me standing in the French doors.  You can see the wood stove which will be in the corner (see the stove pipe in the ceiling?) and my front door.  The corner built in entertainment center is on my right and the doorway to the kitchen is on my left.

 This is my view out the French doors!!  I can watch my horses and donkey!

Here are the French doors.  To the left of them in the corner will be the built in corner entertainment center.  Where I'm standing will be the couch, so I'll be able to watch T.V. or look out my French doors and watch my horses.  The door on the right is actually in the kitchen.  You can see it in the pictures above.

Here is one of me standing in the front door.  You can see into the kitchen here.  We left the doorway between the two rooms big and open for air flow reasons because the air conditioner will be in between the two doors.

Here is a really bad blueprint of our house.  The scale is waaaaay off because I know nothing about drawing things like that.  I did it in five minutes just to show you the layout of the rooms.  Might make it easier to visualize.  :D

I'll update again soon!