Thursday night I got everything together, crammed as much as I could in my car and headed to our house for the first time. Got there to find out my garage door opener needs a new battery, at least that's an easy fix. I think Mike thought I was crazy for bringing so much stuff along, but later realized that everything I brought we would need at some point and time during the weekend. After we unpacked my car and put everything away we headed back to my parent's house.
Friday we woke up early to head back to the house. Both Mike and I didn't think the weather was going to start that early or at least not get that bad until later in the day. By 7:30 a.m. we had 4 inches of snow and it was still coming down. I usually have pretty good luck driving my car in the snowy weather with it being front wheel drive. Well about a mile from the house we got STUCK on a hill. I was in tears, I just knew my car was not going to come out alive. :) Thankfully no one was coming and we were able to back down the hill and head back to the house. We waited until my parents was leaving so we could hitch a ride with them over to the house. Got almost to Vienna and realized the more we drove towards our house the less snow there was. Dad and Mike started painting the living room while mom and I cleaned the kitchen thoroughly. That evening we went to my grandma and grandpa Feeler's Christmas. We had a very small crowd this year, but we are all very blessed to celebrate another year with my grandparents with many more to come. My little cousin Elizabeth wanted to do a play for Christmas, she's had it planned for two months. Wasn't too sure everyone could stop visiting long enough to have it. To my surprise everyone watched, listen and with most, participated. Afterward we headed back to my parent's house for our immediate family Christmas. I made scrapbooks for both my brothers, they enjoy looking through it reminiscing. Mike and I headed back to our house since we had a long day ahead of us.
Saturday we woke up early. Mike headed to his mom and dads house to get clothes and to take his shower there since none of his stuff was at our new house. While he went with his uncle to church, I stayed at the house getting everything ready for mom and dad. By the way, I had no such luck in convincing them to stay home on Christmas. Parents just don't listen very well! ;) Mike came back from Church so we headed to his mom and dad's to eat dinner. Came back home and helped my mom and dad with the painting before we had to leave again. My brother Todd showed up to help as well. That evening Mike's family had their Christmas at his aunt's house. To our surprise Dad was still there at the house painting when we got back. Bless his heart, he was trying his best to finish the living room and the wet paint was blending in with the primer. You couldn't tell the white spots until the paint was almost dry. He finally finished it at 10pm! Mike's sister Lisa, her boyfriend Joseph and cousin Matthew all came over to see the house and to play pitch the rest of the night.
Sunday Mike and I woke up early to get everything cleaned up and touched up more paint before mom and dad arrived. Are you starting to see a pattern? I'm very lucky my family is bound and determined to help us with the house. We had to leave for yet another Christmas while mom and dad stayed there to paint. Mike's immediate family had their Christmas that morning. Came back to the house to paint yet again. We had a lot of visitors on Sunday. Mike's friend Jason came over to see the house and to visit for awhile. Later in the day Mike's mom, aunts, uncles, and his grandma all came over to see it as well. His grandma and aunts were doing a lot of reminiscing of how they remember the house. Once we put a contract on the house we found out it used to be his grandmas brother's house - I believe I have that connection right. Back in the 1960's, the St. Elizabeth high school's Building Trade class built the house for him. We are currently the fifth owners. To most of you reading this that may alarm you knowing it's been through five owners. We know all of the previous owners and just like us this house was a good starter home before they built their dream house. Didn't know you were going to get some history today reading my blog, did you? Okay back to the weekend. I was surprised to see Todd showed up again to help. I was glad he did, he helped dad finished up our kitchen. Mike worked on touching up paint and then tackled the bathroom with priming it. I don't believe I've mentioned yet in this post how much we are painting. Well we knew the walls for sure needed primed. After starting with that, we noticed the trimmed was yellowed and so was the ceiling. So we have been priming the walls, ceilings and trim plus painting. Quite the job! About 7 p.m. we all headed home. We've all put in some long hours this weekend. Mike and I are very grateful and couldn't thank them enough for their generous help.
Hope everyone had a blessed Christmas!
Pictures of the house to come later this week.
- Last week I paid off a small loan. Felt good to get that payment out of the way in time of purchasing our house.
