rearranged again

David now has a room of his own and all the rest of the bedroom areas only have 2 kids per area.
This fits better. Need to reset up my dining room area.. and library area. Need to plan better

October 27, 2008

We created bedrooms in the front room with shelving. I really wish we could put heat on the second floor but don't think thats going to happen at this point. We keep fluctuating between wanting to move and wanting to stay. Having the family split in two places really stinks. I would love to do the front door and would love to do heat in second floor but not sure possible with paying for two kids in college. I need to figure out how to move the corn burner up and maybe heat a few rooms that way. Not sure.

Year 3.

Did not add much after July. need to work on a few things. In the dorm room I want to add little cottages so that they have their own space. still working on plans. I want to build some raise space in the main room to make an area for older kids workspace that little kids wont have access to. Still working on heat.

year 2 (so far)

September: new corn burning stove installed and Zachary born. Dh installed a shower sprayer for the horse trough so we can now take a shower instead of just baths. we moved back downstairs where the heat is. seems like we are moving every six months.
January... corn burning stove cant keep up with weather... having to run the boiler some.
April. finally figured out that moving every six months within the building isn't going to work any more. We are going to have to make just the first floor our home.
May figured out that ceiling fans might make the difference for the heating. Started reorganizing and planning out the first floor as a house.
June a missions team from Indiana were here and put in the ceiling fans and a shower... total blessing. Horse trough is sent outside.. no more leaking. Dryer quit two days before family camp.
put up a clothes line outside... thinking about what to do during winter.
July not quit over yet. probably wont do much though in the next two weeks.

Year 1

We moved in August 25, 2005. My parents came up from Texas, and Dad fixed the plumbing to the 2nd floor and the gas dryer. Phone line only worked at the box outside because when they yanked the phone system out the everything was messed up. After much work (with phone company and without) managed to patch back in 3 lines.... one on each floor of main section.
Added two stoves to the kitchen and a fridge. Added a rolling island in the kitchen. Kitchen has one small pantry only. The gym section has showers but after much effort... cant get the water heater on that side to pull oil from the tank. So you can take really cold showers, but not hot ones.
The hot water heater in the main building works but no showers there. Added a horse trough in the laundry room with a splitter on the faucets that the washer uses so we can fill it. Horse trough is a nice size but the drain is in the side. To drain it, we had to bucket it into the washing machine and use the spin cycle. This took 3 cycles.
In September I started the process of trying to get the boiler working. To get a company to come out and work on it, you needed insurance. But the insurance only dealt with commercial properties not residential. also had to remove all the lights because there are pcbs in the ballasts.
October... still working on boiler issues
November.. finally have heat.
December... water in one of the third floor bathroom mysteriously starts working.. not complaining.
January. find out I am pregnant with number 10. so cool.
Feb or march sometime... rigged up a drain in the side of trough. works but leaks but beats buckets.
July... found a corn burning stove for first floor... purchased it. spent most of time on third floor where central air is.
august phew cant believe it was one whole year

we did some small painting projects etc but not really anything major

Just trying this out

Today will be my first blog. We are a large family homeschooling in north east Iowa. We live in an old school, so life is a little interesting. I'm starting this blog for several reasons. First, so I can journal how we are doing on the school. Second, my husband keeps telling me I should write my ideas down so other people can read them. Third, and last, it looks like fun.