Weekend Update

Well, it’s finally spring in Minnesota, and we’re starting to get out and explore our surroundings.

Our weekend started with a dinner at Butcher and the Boar, which is a newish restaurant in Minneapolis. It’s gotten rave reviews by critics and Yelpers alike, and the menu looked intriguing. A couple months ago I’d gotten the idea to try it out, but weekend reservations were being booked at least four weeks out. Which only made me want to go there even more. So finally, when we had a free weekend and a babysitter, I snagged a reservation for a table for two just a couple days in advance.

Of course, our reservation was at 9:00 pm, which is normally around my bedtime, but I decided to sacrifice sleep for some much needed quality grownup time with Andrew. I did not take pictures, because I didn’t want to be That Girl at a swanky restaurant in the city, but it was a cool place. Fairly casual, with penny-tile floor, moustache art on the walls, and an open kitchen, it was definitely nice to set foot in something more sophisticated than a Chipotle, which we haven’t done in a while. The menu is all about meat, if you couldn’t guess from the name. Charcuterie, steaks, chops, sausages, as well as a great selection of seafood and side dishes. We tried the Berkshire pork chop, a “footlong” sausage, cheesy grits, and beer-battered fries. Oh, and speaking of beer–the selection was perfect. They do a lot of bourbon at this place, but their beers on tap are perfect for beer snobs like ourselves. We each enjoyed a glass of our favorite Minneapolis brew, Surly Furious.

So it was a late night out for us, and I didn’t quite make my 5 a.m. wake-up call for the trail run I was hoping to do this morning with my new running group in Rochester…but I made up for it by getting a fairly decent workout in later when we dusted off our bike helmets and went for our first ride of the season.

And guess who came with us?

Yep, baby’s first bike ride! We got a seat for the back of Andrew’s Big Dummy, and a cute floral helmet for our little lady. We rode into town and explored the neighborhoods a little. It also made me so happy that we’ve ended up on this quirky little farm in Minnesota. We’re only an hour south of the Twin Cities…so it’s pretty easy to enjoy what the city has to offer (even though we’re all for the country, we’re both pretty big fans of the occasional night on the town, so it’s nice to be so close). And after our city lust wears off, we can go home to our farm…and ride our bikes into town the next day.

I love having the space that the country offers, but growing up I always hated how it would take us fifteen minutes in the car to get anywhere. Here we’re only about a half mile out of town, so it really is the best of both worlds. And we hope it will be good for business, too–once we get our farm store up and running, we’re hoping we can attract customers to come and pick up eggs and meat at our store, instead of having to rely on farmers markets. So it helps that we’re not too far out of the way.

In town we rode around some neighborhoods just to get another feel for the place. Exploring a place on a bicycle is entirely different from driving by in a car. You have time to take in so many more details. Zumbrota, we realized, is full of a mish-mash of architectural styles when it comes to the homes in town. Lots of older Cape Cods and bungalows…and then all of a sudden there will be a random Victorian mansion. And then more bungalows. Keepin’ it weird in Zumbrota, I guess.

Oh yeah–so this week has been a big week for Ada. First bike ride, and first SLIDE RIDE! We hit up the local playground and introduced Ada to the swing and the slide. Here’s a little parting shot:

Snow. Time. Fun.

Woke up to at least a foot of snow this morning, the second of May:

Andrew has been outside snow blowing for a couple of hours. We were supposed to get our farmer’s market trailer inspected this morning…and then get on the road to Missouri this afternoon. I was actually supposed to work today but managed to get off yesterday. I wanted the day off because I knew we’d be busy with the inspection, packing and whatnot. Thank goodness I didn’t have to attempt to get to work this morning! According to reports, Highway 52 at Zumbrota has been at a standstill for the past three hours due to accidents. Yikes!

Well, moving on…sorry I haven’t posted any more photos of the house. I still have to show you the upstairs, but I haven’t taken any good pictures yet. It’s on my list! Because…you know, working full time, tending to a baby…that doesn’t keep me busy at all.

So speaking of being busy, I’ve been thinking about all the stuff I want to do to our house, but have been overwhelmed when thinking about how much time it’s going to take to get anything done. Obviously, we’re a busy family. We’re starting a farm, for Pete’s sake. We have an eight month old baby. I work full time outside the home. We don’t have oodles of time. I love reading other DIY blogs for inspiration and advice, but I also have to remember that a lot of them are stay-at-homers, or professional bloggers, or both. I’m not in that situation, so obviously what we’re able to accomplish will probably seem like peanuts compared to some of the amazing transformations I see on the Internets. Or at least the process won’t seem as quick.

So the factor of time is an important one for me to consider. I’m thinking about “tracking” the time we spend on our projects, mainly for curiosity’s sake, but also to share.  I for one would like to know how and when other DIY’ers who also work manage to get stuff done to their homes. I think it would be nice to gauge your time investment before starting certain projects. Or maybe it’s just me?

Well…looks like I have some packing to do, so I’ll get on with it. Maybe take a few photos for you while I’m at it

House Tour: Lower Level

Get ready for lots of photos, my friends. I’m going to try my best to give you the lay of the lower-level-land. So here goes. Below, the very cluttered mud room:

This is what you see when you walk in the door. This is the perfect example of a “BEFORE” picture. Pay no attention to the mess. The bench opens up for storage, and to the right is a nice long coat closet. But apparently, hangers are hard, so us lazy people like to hang our coats on hooks, which obviously require much less effort. And when you’re enduring an ENDLESS Minnesota winter, you are practically wearing your coat 80% of the time anyway, so no one cares where it lives when you finally get a break from it.

Now, moving on. To the left of the mud room/coat pile is a doorway that opens into that leads into the kitchen, or, if you hang a right, into the formal living spaces. Here’s a look at the rooms when they were empty. The foreground is what I will call the “dining room” and beyond that is the “living room.”

Now, the dining room table is full of seed starts. Yay! We haven’t been using either of these rooms much this winter. Because there’s no wood stove in here. So it’s cold, and to save on heating costs, we just used them as storage/garden staging. So, if we ever get a spring or a summer, we’ll start to utilize these rooms a bit more, and hopefully by next winter we can get the house running more efficiently so we can better heat these rooms.

Here’s a picture I posted previously of the kitchen–it’s pretty self explanatory. My dream kitchen would include new cabinets, new counters, new flooring and new appliances. Therefore, my dream kitchen is definitely a long way off. Although it’s not too pretty, it’s not horribly obscene either, and it’s perfectly functional. It’s a great size, and there’s oodles of cabinet and pantry space, which I’ve never had before, so it’s kind of fun.

Now, looking out of the kitchen we can see the room we’ve literally been hibernating in all winter: the “family room.” Oh, and see that cabinet above the counter top? I’d love to get rid of that thing. The kitchen has enough cabinet space as it is, and taking that out would create a nice open feel.

The family room is a favorite of ours. We owe a lot to that wood stove, for one thing. It’s been keeping us warm throughout this miserable winter, and we’ve probably saved a good bit of propane by hibernating in here and closing off the rest of the house. Also, we’re a fan of the beams on the ceiling and the huge windows.

We also get to enjoy some nice built-in shelves, which are a bit hidden by the couch at the moment, and this photo doesn’t really do them justice because they also extend much further to the left. There are four banks of shelves total.

And here’s a look from the family room into the kitchen. We’ve tossed around the idea of installing some kind of banquette or booth as an eating nook where the changing table is in the corner. But until the weather warms up and we can spread out a little more, this room is our go-to dining room, living room, den, and office all in one. And I’m definitely getting cabin fever!

So, now let’s back up a bit. Opposite the kitchen is a laundry room, which leads into a bathroom, which leads into a bedroom, which leads into a closet, which leads into another closet. Got it?

Here’s the bathroom, in all its matching mauve glory. I think the more accurate color could be called Stale Pepto. Obviously, we’ll be remodeling.

And if you open the second door in the bathroom, you’ll enter a bedroom. Andrew’s dad is currently living here, and his mother will be joining us shortly. They’ll stay in here until they build their home on the property. After that, we might use this room as an office or a craft room, or just as a guest bedroom. It’s a little awkward though, because the bedroom has so many doors (a door to the closet which you can see beyond the bed, and another door on the right side of the room that leads into the living room.) Also, the walk-in closet on the other side of the bed features its own smaller closet. Quirky! But that’s how we like it.

House Tour: Exterior

Here are a few more shots of the exterior of the house.

 

This is the view from the house as you drive up. That’s the front door, complete with stoop. The sidewalk that leads up to the stairs is coming from a little parking area just downhill, as you can see in the photo below. Neither the front door nor the parking area are in use as of now, mainly because it’s not the most convenient place for us to park. For guests, someday, it might work well. There are lots of possibilities for landscaping, fixing up the stoop, etc…

 

This is the “guest parking” area…not sure what we’ll do with this. Use it as a parking lot? Tear it up and plant a garden? Create an outdoor play area for kids? Who knows! Time will tell…

 

Here’s a shot I stole from Andrew’s blog. On the right you can see the addition to the original house, with the long windows and the chimney.

 

And here’s a picture I included in the previous post. This is the door we use to go in and out. On the left side of the photo is the back side of the addition, which also has an exterior door that leads out into a concrete patio.

 

Here’s a look at the patio, which also features a screened-in shed thing. Not sure what to call it? Sun room? Sun shed? Maybe there’s a word for it and I can’t think of it. Anyway, this will be really nice to hang out in someday. If the weather ever gets better. Here’s another look:

 

All the exteriors of the house and shed-thing are in pretty desperate need of a good paint job, so that will be one of the things we’ll plan on tackling. I doubt we’ll DIY the paint, but we might choose another color other than white, which could be fun. Other than that, the whole place just needs a good sprucing up. And of course there is potential for major outdoor projects down the line…

Welcome to the Farmhouse

Home sweet home!

After many months of a very long, drawn out process, we finally have ownership of the farm. The “we” actually means Andrew’s parents, who purchased the property including the house. Eventually Andrew and I will own the house and some land, and Andrew’s parents will build their own small house elsewhere on the property. A little complicated, but it’s good enough that we can go ahead and start working on the house.

So hopefully I’ll be sharing some more detailed photos of the house with a few general ideas for how we might fix it up. The house is in good condition and it’s fairly comfortable to live in as it is, but it could definitely use some improvements. We’re planning on giving it some TLC over the coming years to turn it into a pretty awesome home to go with our pretty awesome farm.

Anyway, here are a few shots of the house from when we first toured it back in June of 2012:

So that should give you a general idea…it’s a pretty neat house, really. I’d call it somewhat Arts & Crafts-y in style, but I’m not an expert. It was built in the 1890s and has 4 bedrooms and 2 baths. I’ll fill you in on all the details with an Official Tour as soon as I can get around and take some better pictures of all the rooms.

4 Things & 2 Very Helpful Breastfeeding Resources

1. Ada has her first tooth. She enjoys exploring it with her tongue, which she’ll twist and turn around in her mouth.

2. No, I do not have a picture of it. Yet.

3. The Tooth took us totally by surprise. She hadn’t really been exhibiting any acute teething symptoms like major drooling or wanting to chew on things…it was just there. She’s still acting mostly okay: not particularly fussy, sleeping like a champ, etc…BUT:

4. Nursing has become a slight nightmare. I think it’s the teething combined with another problem I’m having (very slow letdown/impatient baby). So in lieu of blogging and posting delightful pictures of our happy baby, I’ve been trying to figure out ways to deal with this mess. Two great breastfeeding resources I find myself going back to time after time:

La Leche League Forums – the whole LLL site is a wealth of information, but the forums are helpful for more personal advice, without going to a meeting. Perfect for introverts and lazy people like myself!

KellyMom - full of great info.

What Ada’s Up To

What I really want to write about right now is our house. I would love to show you the old farm house we’re currently living in. But I won’t, because we don’t own it yet, and until that happens…I just don’t want to jinx it. As soon as we’re no longer renting it, there will be lots of virtual house touring going on, I promise! But for now…another baby update!

So what is our darling daughter up to these days?

• She is six and a half months old. Unbelievable. 
• No teeth yet. Several weeks ago she went through some little teething “spurts” where she was fussy, chomping on everything left and right, so we thought something would show up soon, but nope. Any day now…
• Eating solid food. We give her vegetable purees and we also let her try feeding herself with rice rusks, steamed veggies cut so she can grip them, etc. So far she’s had squash, green beans, carrots, pumpkin, broccoli, bananas, and even some chicken. She loves all of it. We typically only give her solid food once a day at dinner, but maybe we’ll start giving her a “lunch” too.
• Sleeping…ehhh…pretty well. Between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. she still wakes once to nurse. She could probably go without it, and lately I think she would, if certain things like dogs barking or unexpectedly flipping over onto her stomach wouldn’t wake her up. And I typically don’t mind feeding her at night: she’s not distracted so she eats well, it’s good for us when I’ve been gone at work during the day, and it’s good for my milk supply. And it doesn’t take too long. But still…me want sleeeep.
• Toys: The girl is in love with a sock monkey. LOVES that thing. It’s kind of cute.
• No crawling yet, but she’s getting close. If only she could figure out what to do with those knees…
• No words yet. But we think she knows her name! Other than that she enjoys making lots of “fake coughing” sounds and babbling, especially when she wakes up in the morning and in the car seat when we’re out for a drive.
• Currently I’m working on sprucing up a rocking chair I found on Craigslist. Well, truthfully, Andrew’s working on it. But I helped. I found out I hate painting furniture like rocking chairs. Too many nooks and crannies. I’m more of a walls girl. Anyway, the rocking chair is our first project for Ada’s room…it will be nice to have something in there we can sit on!

And I’ll leave you with a little photo we took on Valentine’s Day: