"Our" Lake House

We are settling in to our rental house on the lake. It's really a summer cottage that someone is renting to us until June. We are hoping it's insulated enough to keep us cozy during our midwest winter. I am hoping to find the cable I need to post pictures in one of our boxes.

Although this is not our ideal rental home, we are thankful for Nova who rented it to us on less than 1 days' notice. We actually had our ideal rental picked out (lots of storage, garage, basement), but in reading over the lease agreement, it was different that what the leasing agent told us verbally. We were not willing to pay 12 months of rent if we left after 6, and they wouldn't budge. They thought we'd have to cave because we had to be out of our house 3 1/2 days from then, but we did not. I got back on Craigslist and found a new rental in the area we wanted. I emailed her right away and the next afternoon Josh viewed the home and that evening we put down the deposit. She didn't have time to do much clean-up other than clear out the fridge, but I didn't mind cleaning since she let us move it right away without even doing credit and background checks. (She said she could tell we were responsible people and I did show her a copy of our credit report from a few months ago.)

Packing! Moving!

We're packing this weekend and moving all boxes and everything we don't need for 1 week of living out to the pole barn. Turns out we're closing 1 week from today (we just found out yesterday) and have to be out by midnight next Saturday. We don't yet have access to the rental house. We've booked 2 men and a truck for Saturday, but they're pay by the hour and we need to conserve money, so we're trying to do most things ourselves with our little suv and trailer. Since we're going to be in a time crunch, we're taking things to the pole barn tomorrow and Sunday and then when we get access to the rental, we can take them in there. Yes, that means we're moving things twice! Better than over-wintering in the pole barn though. We expect to get house access early next week and then we can take stuff directly to there like plants, food, clothes etc . . . I've got Friday off from work and need to also register the kids for their new schools. Fortunately I've been planning ahead and have faxed most all of the papers to the schools today. Oh, yes! Sweet pea's birthday is in less than 2 weeks! Had to book a party and now need to make invitations! Sometime, I'll need to buy a present!

Right now the truck, trailer and car are all packed and I'm tired and my back hurts. I'm going to bed. (I just re-read my post--no wonder I'm tired!)

Moving forward

We've got a signed purchase agreement on the house and have passed the inspection phase. We are supposed to close the last week of Sept or 1st week of October. I've spent the last few weeks diligently looking for a house to rent. Finally found the perfect one yesterday! It's in the same school district as the property, so the boys will transfer to their permanent schools when we get out there in about 3 weeks. This will put us much closer to the property. It's on a busy country road with a nice big yard. 1960's ranch with 4 generous bedrooms, 2 baths, roomy kitchen, 3 season porch, garage and full basement. There is a ton of storage space in this house! I plan to take some of the items I have in the pole barn and move them into the rental house, then I won't have to worry about mice getting into them.

I've met with the kitchen guy and flooring lady and have everything all picked out for those rooms and the baths. That was fun and not too dificult--as I'm a woman who knows what she likes! (Of course that's usually the most expensive thing, so then I have to choose something else!)

We are meeting with the builder on Tuesday to go over the proposal and $$$. That will tell us a lot and then we'll decide if we start ground breaking this fall.

Regarding the actual land, we finally got our survey done! Turns out all those black raspberries I posted about earlier actuallly belong to the neighbor--oops! The lines are confusing out there because of the hills running at all different angles, once you go down a hill and can't see the road, we can't determine a straight line! Now we've got post markers all along the property lines to keep us and our kids on our land! Also, the grass seed we planted is now growing in pretty well, along with weeds of course, but that's fine. At least the ground isn't lumpy and something green is growning on it! :)

In terms of food, I have a few blackberries and some black raspberries that are mine. I also have black walnuts, but I don't know how to process them. There's a large apple tree filled with apples, but it's in the middle of poison ivy and they have a lot of bug marks on them. May be next year I can spray the lower branches and compete with the deer for apples. They have a well-worn path to the tree! There are also a lot of other nuts falling from the trees in the wood right now. I'm not sure what they are. This fall I don't have time to figure it out or collect them. Between moving and being back to work as a teacher, I'm quite busy right now.

Josh has had quite a time with poison ivy this summer. He got it really bad on his legs and it lasted about 2 months-finally he went to the dr for steroids. As soon as that cleared up it appeared on his back, thighs and stomach--who knows why those spots--he wears clothes! I got a few small spots on my arms, but I think was from the oil that Josh brought back home on him. Now he's got big rubber boots and never goes out in the woods without long pants and long sleeves!

Next time I post, I'll likely be in the rental house!