Making it a home.

I have had so much to say but don’t have internet connected yet at the house and our phones don’t have signal at the house. It’s delightfully remote. But, there’s never time to write when we’re in town. So… here’s a post, written Sunday evening 10/9, to be posted when I get to town next.

We closed on the purchase of the house on Thursday, 10/6. That was followed by an expensive trip to the hardware store, and we got to our new home late afternoon. We let ourselves in – and Blaine carried me over the threshold. I feel like I should write that down for posterity.

The stench. I have no words to describe the stench. I cannot figure out why we didn’t notice it overly much during showing, except God. It would seem this was our home, and it was mild enough to feel like a good airing would solve it. Otherwise… I’m not sure what we would have done. I have no real regrets, because having a home is wonderful, but man. It was there then, but definitely just smelled like a dog had lived in the house. Wait eight days between the showing and buying it and… oh my. That dog had not just lived there. He’d peed and ruined almost all the trim work to the doors. It’s particle board, and swollen and reeks. The carpet smelled like cigarettes, and we found what we deemed cat vomit on top of kitchen cabinets.

Let the cleaning commence. We’ve scrubbed and removed trim and pulled carpet and the smell is dissipating slowly. The front door is currently just a tarp, because the particle board frame to the door was swollen and ruined. Blaine will rebuild that tomorrow, then he, Eden and the two oldest boys are headed north with the stock trailer to get a load of tools, painting supplies, my laundry machines, etc from our storage in South Dakota.

Ruby, Charlotte, and all the littles will stay and use a stain/odor block primer on all the ceilings and some walls, then paint. Every room and closet will get medium gray walls and high gloss white trim, plus fresh white ceilings. I’m planning to use corrugated metal siding on the kitchen back splash and back of the island. The shutters will be navy blue and the front door shiny red.

So much to do. So much. But we’re making daily progress and sleeping in the camper in the yard for now. We have many hands to pitch in and I can’t wait to see this house in a month or two!