Stairwell renovation

We were up at 6:00 this morning because Thomas was coming to redo the wallpaper in the stairwell. It would have been so nice to sleep in, but...not today. Sam asked him if he wanted anything to drink. Well, wouldn't you know he asked for coffee. Neither of us drink coffee, but I do have a coffeepot just for our parents or company that may want some. I make it so rarely though that I had to call Mom because I always forget how many scoops to cups. After making it he said that he only drinks it cold. I guess he's a true construction worker because I don't know many people that enjoy cold coffee. Oh well, I turned of the coffeepot and let it get cold. He had some later in the day.

Since the walls in the stairwell are going to be repainted anyhow, Thomas asked if we wanted a different color. Sam and I have talked about that anyhow and now is our chance to get it done for free. All of our walls are painted white and I'm not thrilled with it, but we just don't have time to repaint them at this time. We thought since the stairwell runs through each level of the house that by painting it a different color it might "warm up" the entire space. We're trying to decide on which color to go with.

Here is what the stairwell looked like as he tore out the wallpaper

Since we had to be at the house today with Thomas, Sam decided to put the medicine cabinets up in the master bath. Everything was going along as planned until he was drilling into the wall and the power went out. He thought maybe the hammer drill has just tripped the breaker so he tried it again. When the power went out the second time he realized he must have hit a wire. He thought he better be on the safe side and check how bad the wire was cut. Good thing he did because one of the three wires was cut in half. He replaced the wire, but since we now how to replace the tiles that job will have to wait until next weekend.

In past posts I've mentioned this old barn that sits at the back of our place. Well, Friday night we noticed they were starting to tear it down. I hate to see old buildings like that torn down to make way for new modern houses, but I guess that progress. Anyhow throughout the day yesterday we saw the rapid destruction of the barn. We found out that it was built in 1870. I guess here in Germany that's not considered very old. I found the rafters interesting. It didn't have the symmetry of modern day construction. Here are a couple of pictures from that.

Looking out to the barn behind our house.

A construction working cutting pieces out of the rafters.

Sam in the backyard

When Thomas was finished with what he could get done today he and Sam went to the backyard to watch the barn walls come down. Gabby was out with them and I guess one of the neighbor cats wandered close enough for her to see and she was off chasing it. I think she bit off more than she could chew though because the other cat whipped her little tail. I heard Sam calling for me and I opened the front door to find a dirty, disheveled Gabby crouching by the door. The other cat got the better of her and she was angry about it for quite awhile. She wouldn't let me touch her for at least an hour. On one hand I don't like to see my baby get beat up, but on the other she actually deserves it.

That was our Saturday. We didn't get as much done as we had hoped, but it's slow progress.

One year anniversary

Just a quick note to say that while at work yesterday I realized it had been one year since we arrived in Germany. It doesn't seem like it's been anywhere near that long. We arrived last year on the 26th of March. It's been a crazy, full and exciting year. Everything seemed so strange at first. I still feel like a foreigner here and probably always will, but that's alright because I am. I still haven't learned the language like I said I would. I truly was making an effort when I was in class, but I didn't get to finish that and then we started the whole ordeal of buying this house. It's a little harder now with working, but I'd still like to go to classes and learn to communicate a little bit in German.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! I love this season and what the Easter celebration means to us as Christians. We had a really good church service this morning. I like that our church sings hymns. So many churches have moved away from singing them and that's one reason we've chosen this church. There's a richness to hymns that I don't find in a lot of the newer songs. Of course, I'm partial to them too because they're what I grew up singing. There are certain songs that I hear that make me think of home and hearing my Dad sing while getting ready for Sunday morning service. I miss those days. I miss my home and family. I'm so thankful that I come from a rich Christian heritage. During holidays I miss my family even more than usual. We always had so many traditions that accompanied each holiday. Probably since we lived in a small town and pretty much had just each other we really made events out of the holidays. I haven't done so well at bringing those traditions into my marriage. Maybe that comes with having kids. I definitely want to pass those memories on to my kids. This morning I had an instant message from my Mom talking about having company for dinner and making the traditional ham and potatoes. I know exactly how the day will go back home. I'd love to be there.

This is what we woke up to this morning. I haven't been able to figure the weather out here. Back home in Alaska I know what to expect - we usually get snow in October and have it until April or May. It's a different story here. We've had some really warm days lately and then this snow comes out of no where. I'm not complaining because I really enjoy the snow days. I do like our Alaska winters better though. In Germany I think the winters are more like the East coast. Really wet snow that rarely sticks and just turns to slush.

Some of our flowers covered in snow. I'm amazed at how hardy the flowers are here in Germany. It snows and they keep on blooming.

I don't know if I mentioned this in an earlier post or not, but one of the things we've been very frustrated with in this house is the cracks in the wallpaper. To us it seems like a strange way to cover walls in a house, but most German houses have wallpaper on the walls then it's painted. We were pretty disappointed with the job done in our house because all through the stairwell the seams have moved apart and there are actually cracks in some of the corners. We noticed them when we first moved in and were going to have the painter come in to do the repairs, but he said just to let him know when we were done moving furniture in so he could do touch ups to the walls at the same time.

Finally last week Sam was able to get in touch with Thomas (the painter) and he came by Friday evening to look at the walls. We were happy to hear him say it was a terrible job and needed to be completely redone. He said they tried to tell the contractor that the wallpaper should not be hung until the walls had more time to dry, but they were being pushed to get it done. Anyhow, we're very happy that the wallpaper will be replaced and it'll look good again. Thankfully things are slowly getting done.

Well, that's about all that's going on with us right now. I hope you had a wonderful Easter celebration. Until next time...

Still getting settled

I know it's been awhile since I posted. It's a little harder to get time to write with working full time. When not at work, any free time I have is spent still trying to get us settled. I don't like to make a habit of it, but last Sunday we ended up not going to church. I woke up feeling like the house would never get put together. It's hard to explain why it's taking so long to get finished with the move. I think the main reason is because of working full time and just not having the time I need to get everything unpacked and in its place. The other reason it's taking so long is because the house came with no built in storage. I think it's hard for Americans to understand, but in essence we bought a house with four walls and basically nothing else. I'm not crazy about the way they do things here in Germany, but that's what we're dealing with. We're buying closets and cabinets as we go. Storage is something we take for granted in the states. You just expect a house to come with closets (and a kitchen, lights, showers, etc, etc....).

I'm so thankful that we finally have our kitchen. There are a few things that need finished and I think they're coming back for that at the end of this month. I've put most everything away and we've even cooked a few meals in there. Of course, we've found a few things that we wish would have been done differently, but overall we're pretty happy with it.

I feel really good about what I got done today. We finally have a living room again. Until now, we've had a chair and a couch cleared, but boxes everywhere. We just had a path through the boxes. Today I finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. I've been able to get my plants out of the top floor and put back in the living room. I love live plants in my house. I think it brings life into the space. I got that from my Mom. She has a much better green thumb than I do though.

Sam's doing a great job with the outside. He has the fence completed and has planted trees along the fence line. We bought some black raspberry bushes and planted them along one of the fences. We have a cherry tree, apple tree and today he bought a plum tree. In a few years we should be set in the fruit department. Today he put in some pavers for stepping stones going out the back gate. He also planted some flowers. It's looking really good outside.

Painting the fence

The finished product. It should grow out through the summer and look really good.

Last weekend he installed cabinets in the laundry room. I was so happy about that because I can finally clear everything off of the washer and dryer. It gives the room a much more finished look. There are quite a few pipes running down the wall and he was able to cover them with the cabinets.

My Mom and Dad are coming over in May for three weeks. I'm so excited about that! There's still a lot that I need to get done before then. Even though it's still a couple of months away the time goes quickly. We're trying to think about what we should do while they're here. Everyone we speak to has a different idea of must-see places in Europe. No matter where we go I think they're really going to enjoy seeing the different culture over here.

Sunday - 9 March
I started this yesterday, but obviously didn't get it posted. It's a beautiful day in Germany. The weather is getting warmer even though just last week we had snow that stuck for a day or two. After church we came home and worked on the yard a little bit. I got some seeds planted. I'm going to try to get Grandma Thorne's Hibiscus seeds to grow. In both Hawaii and the house in Plattenhardt I had them planted, but we left before they had time to grow. I'm hoping that now we'll be here long enough to see them mature.

Sam was so cute the other day. He came home from the greenhouse with a couple flats of flowers. He's really been enjoying fixing up the backyard. He was so excited about the flowers he bought. They really were beautiful. He just planted them yesterday. The flowers are pretty cheap right now, so I should be getting my window baskets together before long.

Ok, it's now Wednesday morning and as you can see I still have not posted this. I need to get ready for work, but first want to get this posted. Through the week it's just so busy that I don't really get the time to do much other than work and sleep. I can't wait to have more to talk about then the house. Pictures haven't been too plentiful lately. Hopefully, one of these days we get back to living and I'll have more interesting pictures to share. Until then...