September 29th Wednesday to October 3rd Sunday

 Tom rented a floor sander to start to sand the floors. While he will do most of it with this machine, he will have to get another edge sander to finish the edges. While he sands, I am the holder of the cord. Now that is a very boring side job but it helps to not worry about the cord, apparently a hazard to using the machine.

While we were busy with that on the inside, we had Ryan and Walter Peters (a father and son team) install eaves-troughs on the house. Many people don't have eaves-troughs on their houses. No real reason why, but very common, at least on the many houses we looked at. Either way, we got them done and another box checked off of our list. Thank-you Ryan and Walter!

When the sanding was done we took the machine back to St John and then came back home to wait to go pick up our piano.

Wait! What? A piano?

Ok let's backtrack a little bit. While we were still at the campground, I was regularly reading the Sussex Facebook buy and sell page and happened upon a free piano. I showed it to Tom, who at the time agreed it was an awesome piece to repurpose into either a coffee bar, or desk or something. Maybe even a wine bar. We weren't sure but we would do something with it. I contacted the young woman, Areil and asked if we could pick up after we moved into the house. It wasn't a problem and I was pretty excited to get this new piece. It never dawned on me why no one else had offered to take it.

So today was the day to pick it up. I had contacted Areil and we arranged that we would come when her husband was home from work. She had mentioned that the piano was heavy and we would need some strength to load this on to the truck. Okay so if there is Tom and I and her husband that should work right? It turns out that the piano weighs over 600 pounds. There was no way I could help. But the 2 guys got it on the back of the truck and we knew that we would have to disassemble the piano before we could get it off the truck. No problem, there are plenty of YouTube videos for that! Thank-you Areil and her super hubbyman!

We got home and made plans to work on it on Friday.

October 1 Friday. We need a break! I shopped on the internet, caught up on some email, and other computer stuff and we watched our new TV. Tom assembled some other furniture pieces. We had some chairs to sit on, and a table to eat. Things are getting done!

October 2nd Saturday. It is raining again, so no working on the piano. Cupboard doors and drawers and the hardware was removed from the kitchen cupboards and Tom started the sanding. There is dust everywhere! Goodbye brown cupboards and backsplash. Yes we took down the backsplash. I never realized until recently that I have issues with repetitive geometric patterns, things like chevron, repeat circles, squares, and backsplash rectangles. I am not sure what style of backsplash we will put to replace it. I've never had a backsplash before. I don't know if I am able to commit to a backsplash. I think I will just stick with soap and water for now.

There was so much dust, we picked up a pizza and ate in the basement in front of the TV.

October 3rd Sunday

Tom started to dismantle the piano, it is quite an ordeal. There are many cool pieces that could be repurposed for something. We are saving all of the bits and pieces. The piano is starting to look like a very industrial piece and we are starting to put some ideas together about the basement family room. Getting a steampunk, industrial feeling coming to us. This could be a seriously fun project!

While Tom worked on the piano, I attempted to find stuff to fill 2 orders I had from my website. The orders were long overdue, I am grateful that my customers are so understanding. Since I had no luck at finding the stuff, I instead decided to take a video of the piles of stuff that will someday be my art studio. The video has been linked on FaceBook, but here is the link to it again if you missed it. 

 https://youtu.be/VTVJj5UaiCs

My plan is to share my methods and madness of organizing and rebuilding my studio. 

 

Sanding the floors

More sanding

The piano, if we can't get it off the truck, we can always become a traveling band! Notice road going up the hill, that takes us to the top where the lookout cabin is.

No more backsplash

 

September 24th Friday to September 28th Tuesday

 I forgot to mention that we met one of our neighbours Trevor, on our very first day at the house. He came to welcome us,  he had been working in the garden and brought us a squash and a cucumber.  He lives with his daughter up the hill from us on one side and has a full farm, animals, and an apple orchard. Trevor is the brother of the previous owner Patty, and his cousin Dean lives across the highway from us. Dean stopped over today to say hello. Both neighbours are a wealth of information and we are very happy to meet them. It seems there are 2 main family lines that originated in the area. Many of the distant lineage still live in the area. It will be interesting to explore more of the history in the future.

Our container came today, filled to the brim with all of the stuff we haven't seen in a few months  We started to unload it and probably got 1/4 way done. It truly is like playing Jenja to unload this thing, one wrong move and we could topple a whole row. Everything was strategically packed to keep everything held together. It rained very hard for part of the day so we then focused on the inside of the house. Tom put together one of the beds so I was able to sleep inside while he continues to sleep in the camper. (The bed is a single bed) I would have stayed in the camper but I snore, and I also get up several times a night to use the bathroom and we have disconnected that option. For the record, the bed inside is not exactly that comfortable and I have a few kinks that will take some time to work out.

We had a great supper of steak and sushi. And you could have knocked me over with a feather when Tom bought a chocolate cheesecake for dessert. Trust me, that never ever happens. But I am happy to enjoy it.

September 25th Saturday

Though it isn't a term I am happy to use, it rained cats and dogs all day long. A wicked steady heavy downpour. It wasn't moving. We did manage to unpack more of the container in between raindrops, we are now about 1/3 done. 

Tom put together the cat beds, we have 2 very happy cats that instantly jumped in their beds. Lulu and Ratatouille are sleeping with me for now, but they have options.

We went back to Animal Land camp to celebrate John and Lisa's 50th birthdays (in October). We had a pot luck supper. I made garlic spinach rolls. OM goodness there was so much food. 

We didn't stay late, we were so tired, and it was a very scary ride home in the dark and in the rain. I took a lot of pictures for them but the pictures later in the evening that showed up on Facebook made me realize we missed out on a lot of fun. Such a great group of people. Ok sad again.....

September 26th Sunday. Today I finally unloaded the car. Done! I was able to have the back hutch open right up to the basement doors. It rained again all day.

Tom patched walls for painting, I learned how to use the laundry  machines, there are a few issues. Then we had a power failure for a couple hours. Off to Sussex!

We had picked up a few more groceries, now we don't have to plan for just one or 2 days. I can actually buy food and put in the fridge and freezer. Sure makes me aware of just how fortunate we are.

September 27th Monday

Today I set up the computer and printer, while Tom set up the Bad Boy TV downstairs. I'm calling it an early Birthday present for Tom. We bought it on sale (a very good deal) and had to rearrange everything in the cargo trailer to keep til we got into the house. LOL see I am not the only one that bought big stuff while we were still in the trailer.

Then the service man came to hook us up to everything and even showed us a few things on our TV, the TV is smarter than us no doubt. It is awesome to be connected again, I can't wait to watch life size YouTube videos while I am in my studio. 

September 28th Tuesday

The container is now unloaded!!! Done! Pretty much everything is in the basement until we get the painting done upstairs. We have decided that we are stripping the floors and repainting, and we are sanding the cupboards and repainting those too. Goodbye brown. 

It will be awhile before I can unpack anything, but might as well get the dust over and done with now.

The Bad Boy! Notice ceilings are unfinished, this will change sometime in the new year.

And so it begins, notice the snowblower was packed at the end, just in case.....

Supper, Yum!

Happy 50th Birthday Lisa and John!

We are done!

And now we must dig ourselves out of this.

 

September 18 to September 23 Move in Day!

 Wow, it sure didn't take me long to get so far behind. We have been on a whirlwind and I will take you through some of it as quickly as I can to get up to date.

Sept 18th Saturday Day 51 and 5 days left til we get to move in the house. Went to a couple of yard sales and found some enamel pieces, a key holder and some random stuff. But the best part was going to an antique mall in Sussex and I bought a vintage loveseat and small chaise for what will someday be my "she shed". Yeah when you see the pictures below, you will most likely give me the deer in the headlights look. It doesn't suit everyone's taste but I love it! My she shed will be named The Oasis and decorated in a Bohemian theme, very rich in reds, orange, pink, and gold.

The rest of the day I made some creative art tags and a pocket card for a journal. Tom went for a walk with the dogs and we made supper and then spent the evening hanging out with the other campers. It was our last weekend and we wanted to see everyone before we left. A little bit sad...

September 18th is a special day for us, Tom and I met on this day 41 years ago. Holy Toledo!

Sunday September 19th, I blogged all day long! And I haven't been back until today. I do make notes each day and try to take a few pictures, it is just to try and sit down and write.

Monday Sept 20th, only 3 more days....Tom went out on a new hiking trail and I made more art creations and now have given myself an art challenge to complete over the next few month. 100 art tags using a 100 page note pad I purchased as the base back of each tag. If I am able to complete this challenge, it will be quite the achievement.

We have set up our New Brunswick hydro account. Yay, the lights will be on when we get there, starting to feel a little more real.

Sept 21, Tuesday Day 54 in the camper. We met with the lawyer today to sign up the papers and finalize the deal. We are too antsy to just call it a day so headed to St John. Yep its Tuesday, senior discount at Value Village, score! Then headed to Home Depot to buy a fridge and stove. I like white, not black, not stainless steel. Just plain old white. And if that isn't plain enough for you, I also don't like glass top stoves. Yep, call me old fashion, but I love me an element stove. Those will not get to the house til near the end of October.

September 22nd, Wednesday. This is our last sleep in Camp Animal Land. While I am sad to be leaving, I am not sad to get out of the camper. We will come back to Animal Land next year, just not with 4 cats, 2 dogs and 55 days. Today we got the house insurance, dropped off the bank draft for the payment of the house and spent the rest of the day packing up stuff we didn't need in preparation for the big move out. It was going to be a very long night.

September 23rd Day 56 and the big move in! Because our beds are in the storage container coming the next day, we are still spending one more night in the camper for a total of 56 days. That is 8 weeks! Yep not getting back in that thing for awhile.

We met up with our realtor Stephanie at 9am to do the final walkabout. Things sure look different when the house is empty. Once we approved, it is a call to the lawyer and then we wait until we receive confirmation before we can actually say we own a house. It took til around noon. 

When we first got there, we brought the truck with the pets and I had the car with the cargo trailer. So Tom had to make 2 more trips back to camp to retrieve the camper and a huge collection of stuff we had been gathering since we got to camp. I cleaned the fridge and when Tom came with the camper I unloaded most of the perishable foods while he went back for the 3rd trip. OMGosh, by then the day was over and we made supper and went to bed. We were exhausted. Our cats spent the night in the house, totally confused and the dogs slept outside by the camper. Yep, Highway barked alot.

Now we are finally home! We are officially "New Brunswickers"

This is our house, note the set of French doors up at the top right. This is actually our main level and we will be adding a balconey deck on the front of the house. The French doors on the lower level is actually a walk out basement that will host my studio and a family TV room. Also note the house is built into the base of a hill, so everything we do outside requires going up or down.

Welcome to 2034 Route 124 Hatfield Point NB  If you search the address, you will find a video that shows you the whole house and property. (Note it may not stay up for long)

 Back yard parking for now.

Bonus! we have a pool, not going to use this year but I know we will enjoy next year!

Our realtor Stephanie Wilkins gave us this Welcome sign, we luv it! Thank-you Stephanie, it looks awesome!

Part of the front yard, we have 2 huge weeping willows, many maples and at least a dozen apple trees from full size down to crab apple. OMgosh, to my friends, Heidi and Jimmy, can you guys vision the pies that will get made! Someone better come help me next fall!

My vintage finds for the She Shed!

Art Creations in the camper

The last day before packing up

My 100 page note book for making the backs of tags in my 100 tag challenge.

Empty living room and dining room. Yes the walls and the floors are all getting painted. No brown curtains for me, but I can use that fabric for some creative ideas I have. Brown floors are way too shiny for me.

Basement is unfinished waiting for my studio. There is the hutch I bought back when we were still in camp. Sort of part of the reason Tom had to make the 3rd trip to get all of our stuff. But hey! for the record, I was not the only one buying stuff and hoarding in camp.

Stay tuned! I am on a roll!