Category: Our House

Falling off the Map

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Hello? So much for my posting goals of 2019. What happened? Well, I never did hear back from the current owners of the Hall Homestead (or if they emailed me it was lost in the infinite, junk mail folder). We had a huge storm in July that dropped branches over most of our yard, including my iris bed. The bed was mostly cleared out except for some special iris I didn’t want out of the ground for long. The tree, of course, fell right over that section. Thankfully, everything made it and by the end of the summer I had over 20 wheel barrows full of sandy soil added to the notoriously winter-flood prone bed. All the iris were replanted by the end of August. Hopefully, they’ll make it. This turned out to be the BIG project of the year. 

I still have more plans for this bed

My grow-bags were, once again, a success. This year in general wasn’t the greatest garden year. Lots of rain and cool weather kept most of my veggies from producing at the top of their game. It also kept my motivation at bay. It seemed every day I had off was raining. My flowers did pretty well though, as well as the new space created this spring.

Looking down the new row

The summer and fall turned out much different than I expected. I ended up putting in many more hours at work than originally planned (I work in soul-sucking retail). In January, I hope things slow down, so I have a chance to reevaluate what was accomplished in 2019, what was successful, and what I want to attempt next.

I already have big plans for 2020, of course. 2019 was overall, more successful than 2018. Moving forward, no matter how slow, is all that matters. Did I accomplish everything I planned? Not even 10%. My goal for 2020? I hope to accomplish 15% of my plans. Small steps.

I do have many ideas and plans. I hope some of them come to fruition. I also hope I can keep motivation to share the journey!

Good Bye, 2019. Hello, 2020.

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The Garden Shed: Before and After

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Part of our garden plans is to get a bigger shed, but that is down the road a few years! For now, the shed is what we inherited. It works. Before we bought the house, both were painted two separate (and bleh) shades of yellow (or tan?)

Todd and I finally decided we are going to paint the house siding instead of going with vinyl. I like the wide plank that’s there. It suits the age of the house. We can’t afford the price tag for the customization for vinyl siding that it would take to replicate the width, not to mention the color I want.

Speaking of colors. Once we decided we were going to paint the house, we took out time and chose a paint color. Dutch Boy’s Cattails. The shed is the perfect test spot for the color! Last week, I spent an entire day painting the shed. I love it.

We had Lowe’s match our Cattails paint chip with a Valspar exterior paint (one of the lower quality ones so we could test the color cheaply). For the trim we used Valspar’s Perfect White.  I used black spray paint to spruce up an old gate which I hung on the side of the shed as trellis. A new black latch and some handles completed the transformation. I love it.

More importantly, Todd and I both love the color! The house is next. Even though it’s going to be a huge project.

Family History Gallery: Triumph and Defeat

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Many moons ago, I promised my next post would show the results of my family history gallery. I had to give up that dream and post a few things before. That family history gallery has been a beast.

The two major problems for me:

  1. deciding where to hang things
  2. execution

I’ve played with layouts, all sorts of great ideas of artifacts to include, and looked through dozens of photos. It has been overwhelming. Sometimes, you just need to put a nail in the wall and go with it.  I’ve ran into other problems too.

Some of my chosen photos from digital sources caused a huge set back. When I tried to get prints made, I received alerts that the resolution was too low for the sizes (even though most were no bigger than 4×6). So, I had to rethink some of those photos and decide how and when I would tackle the task of bringing out the archives and scanning them.

The task of bringing out the archives has been a hassle forever. My large closet in the spare room is host to not only my family archives, but my sewing stuff, signs, and all of my extra horse tack. With no proper shelving, every time I need something, I have to take out half the closet.  Not to mention, when we do have a guest, extra things get stacked in there too.

That problem is in the process of being solved.  You can read about my home archives makeover, here (I’ll link it when I’ve finished my post!)

So far, I’ve hung most of the frames, but need to fill in a few small gaps. Next I will be choosing the images, maps, etc. that I want to highlight in my gallery right now. Next, I will be able to figure out what images I can put into what frames and have them printed. Here is the current status:

Family History Gallery

I have frames up, next will be filling in gaps, and picking out the photos I want to use!

I wonder how long this next step will take me? At least I’m making progress…

April Garden Update

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Well, I still haven’t finished that gallery wall. March was just not my month. I did get seeds started though, I have a post started about what I planted and when. That should be coming up soon!

February was the snowiest month on record for our area of Wisconsin. March followed with cold and rain. My beds sat under water quite a bit during late winter/early spring. Last week we had several inches snow/sleet/ice that squashed a lot of the bulbs and iris starting to wake up. A couple of days ago, we received to inches of rain. It’s been gloomy and depressing here.

That being said, I am pretty happy with what survived. There are few iris that I’m a bit worried about, but so far they are hanging in there. Most have a handful of nice increases. I am most excited to say that as of right now, my grandmother’s peony survived, as did her iris, which sat under water a good portion of the winter.

Bulbs are coming up and plans are being finalized for bed improvement and expansion! This year it’s all about getting more planting space and better drainage!

Below is a quick look at how things are looking as of today!

 

And yes, I have totally gone off the rails for my new year’s resolution of posting each Sunday. Be prepared for some random, rapid-fire posts coming your way! I plan to get back on track and keep on working!

Creating a Family History Gallery

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Now, that the spare room is relatively complete, it’s time to start my family history gallery. It’s harder than I thought. Deciding what to include has been the most overwhelming part. Fortunately, I have access to many family photos through digital copies shared by other family members and many originals in my own collection. I recognize that some may not have this luxury. But a family history gallery doesn’t have to be just family trees and ancestor photos. It can be so much more!

Here is a list of ideas that I am using as inspiration for what to put on my wall:

  • genealogy fan chart
  • ancestor Photos
  • photos or paintings of ancestral homes or lands
  • maps (there are so many amazing historic maps available online)
  • documents like marriage certificates, land patents, ship manifests…anything visually interesting
  • artifacts, like medals, jewelry, gloves, small items owned by the family
  • items that represent heritage (in my case things like Danish hearts, Swedish Dala horses etc.)
  • pressed flowers from heritage sites (this one is particularly exciting to me)
  • painted or printed sayings meaningful to the family
  • framed family recipes

I have been slowly gathering each item I want to put on my gallery wall. Before going on the wall, everything will be laid out on floor or bed to get an idea of how I want to look on the wall. One thing I have to decide is if there will be a few ‘extra’ pieces beyond family history items. I have a handful of garden/natural curiosity items I may add as well. I guess It will come down to space and what looks good!

Selecting what photos I want to use has been the hardest part, but I’ve started a folder on my desktop. Getting photos printed off these days is pretty inexpensive, so even if I don’t use them in my gallery, I won’t have spent a lot. I think it’s important to remember, that gallery images can change too! You don’t have to find an image and have it on the wall forever. I plan on using standard sized frames for photos I don’t plan to keep up long-term.

Above is the room, future gallery wall, and the beginning layout of the gallery. I will need to get some more frames, and get the pictures printed. I will be sure to post the gallery when it’s finished (someday)!

There are some really important things to remember when displaying and storing family photos, artifacts, and heirlooms. Working in the archives really showed me the importance of taking care of precious items. I may write a whole post on it, sharing some of my favorite resources.

Two of the best pieces of advice, if you can’t use a duplicate as a display:

  1. Keep items/photos/documents out direct sunlight and fluctuating temps
  2. Use archival or museum quality framing materials

I didn’t expect this to take me so long to put together becuase I have a lot of things too add, but it is really hard to choose what to include! It is a fun process though, I have gotten to revisit parts of the family tree I have’t looked at in a long time.