This Old House - Acreage Update 2

Lest you think we haven't gotten anything accomplished in the past few weeks due to my lack of documenting everything via blog, think again!

Since I posted this update, the house has really started to transform. Josh has finished insulating and drywalling the third bedroom upstairs; he's patched drywall in a number of other spots; and he tore apart the front entrance area to open things up a little more. I get regular picture texts from him on days when he is working at the house with updates and questions about what I think.. On Monday during the mini-blizzard, I got a text proclaiming, "I'm saving the farm!"

Oh good. I was worried.

A few weekends ago I gathered both sides of parents for a work day...my dad did a number on the garage while my mom, Josh's mom, and I primed the kitchen, cupboards, and the first upstairs bedroom. The next day Jamie, her friend Natalina, my friend Andrea, and I set to work and got the upstairs landing, stairway, and second bedroom primed. When things start looking great, staying motivated is a little easier. I met Josh's mom at the farm last Monday and we were able to prime the entire Parlor in one night (this is a LOT when you're priming everything from the trim to the walls to the ceiling)!

Today Josh is mudding the new drywall upstairs and starting on the BIG room we have left. The cracks and some drywall need to be patched in the living and dining room, and it's the only room where we haven't made any progress (since ripping out the carpet back in October). I've decided I'm going to force people to start calling it 'The Great Room'...this house is so big and there are so many rooms, people get confused about which room I'm talking about...seriously!

I've learned in the past month that it's not very profitable for me to go out to the farm on week nights. Once I get done with work and cheer practice, I only have an hour or two available to work. Hauling all the paint and supplies and dirtying brushes isn't really worth it if I'm only able to devote a few hours to painting. I like long working weekends where I can make a lot of progress (with help from friends and family!) in order to stay caught up to everything Josh is accomplishing during the week days. His list is quite a bit longer than mine...all that's left for me is a frenzy of painting and cleaning!

Josh has been great about balancing all the different parts of his life that are requiring a lot of the "hard work." He's finished fertilizing and started preparing for snow removal...BLC, check! He's started clearing out and organizing our garage to make sure our 'new' car will fit, along with leaf blowing and mulching...422 13th St, check! And he's prioritized everything that needs to happen with the farm and is gradually crossing things off our long list...Farmhouse, check!

Here are some 'before' and 'after' pictures of some of the spaces where I feel confident enough to start taking pictures. The rest of the 'before' pictures I have will shock you...but I'm saving those until I have 'after' pictures to compare them to...

AFTER: Thanks dad!!! :)

BEFORE

AFTER: Thanks mom and Patti!!! :)

BEFORE

AFTER: Thanks Jamie, Natalina, and Andrea!!! :)

Confession

I have a confession to make.

I'm not as organized as you think I am. In fact...after three and a half years of marriage, there are still things about our household, finances, calendars etc. that are just a downright mess.

This came to my attention yesterday, specifically when I was FINALLY added as a member of Josh's business bank account...I just never got around to it. So even though it was a pain in the butt that I couldn't sign checks, it was just easier to put off going to Veridian with a member of the account and signing a paper.

Another thing...Josh and I went to the dentist this week for the first time in three. years. I never really got around to scheduling that either. I had the same dentist in my hometown since the age of 3...and who knows about Josh. The whole thing was just easier to ignore.

I'm ashamed.

And I started thinking.

Marriage 101, counseling with Pastor's, and chatting with married couples prior to marriage doesn't prepare you to just magically *KNOW* all of the 'extra' stuff that goes into marriage and RUNNING A FREAKING HOUSE. And by 'running a house' I mean suddenly handling laundry for two; extra messes made by this new person who is now living with you; dishes and schedules x2; doctor appointments; oil changes and vehicles in the shop; family events (both sides!); meals; planning trips; and paying bills...in my case this also grew to include designing BLC marketing materials, ordering BLC clothes for Josh and employees, paying bills, and attempting QuickBooks and invoicing.

I went from "Apartment Living-College-Girl" to "Married-Housewife-Of-Business-Owner" essentially overnight...and two months post-wedding added "Homeowner" and "Landlord" to that list. Along with all of this, I was in college for the first six months of our marriage...which made it even HARDER to transition into all this 'Married Life' stuff.

WHO IS PREPARED FOR THAT?! Is anyone?! Was it just me?!

I am STILL catching up on getting our life organized...and all this stuff takes consistent organization in order to keep things from unraveling. I'd love to tell you that I know exactly where the titles to our three vehicles are. But I don't. Ohmygosh just typing that is mortifying.

I read a blog last week about a mom  of four who has her entire house organized into a giant binder. Everything from doctor's phone numbers to paint swatches for every color in her house, from coupons to Christmas lists. It was humbling. And also infuriating.

I suck.

Sure we were prepared for the normal 'married-stuff' that everyone was shoving down our throats like, "Good communication is key," and "Josh needs to be a leader," and "Mollie read Proverbs 31," but where was all the good advice about how to combine bank accounts? Or how to change my legal name? Or how to go grocery shopping for a husband who only likes chips and frozen pizza?!

Disclaimer: Pinterest didn't exist when we got married, so all this meal-planning-calendar, weekly-cleaning-schedule jibberish was completely foreign to me until about a year ago...at which point I decided that 'stuff' was just for people who are, like, moms or something. I'm still working on all this noise. Just whatever about it.

I didn't find pointers for that crap in ANY of the 'Saving Yourselves for Marriage' books we were bludgeoned with. Here's something...All those well-meaning adults who insisted on talking about our purity should have taken a break from that ridiculous 'sex talk' and just talked to us about how the freak we're supposed to get a pre-approval letter to buy a house...or secure a private insurance plan...or how I'm supposed to get a new social security card...and then they should have explained that we would need a filing cabinet for All The Stuff.

Of course everything in this entire post seems like common sense now...but I was 21 when we got married...and things like mortgages, car shopping, insurance, and cleaning up after a BOY were all very foreign, scary, and annoying things. And taking care of all this EXTRA STUFF that no one warns you about requires an insane amount of meticulous organization...that even I am not capable of.

So there you have it. I'm an unorganized freak. Our life is in shambles.

Okay not really...

But sort of...

And in case you forgot how adorable we are...