Downsizing into the Bungalow

Work continues in the little 1951 bungalow. Tools are everywhere, dust is abundant, paint splotches are spotted on the floors and lots of people are using their time and tools to help us make the transition. It’s not a small thing, *just* time and tools. Most folks have to travel as we do, 45 minutes or more to the house…and then of course another 45 minutes to return home. It’s all a beautiful labor of love.  Friends and family have helped with monetary gifts as well; always, it seems, right when we are running on empty and supplies are still needed. We do, after all, have to maintain our current house (and its bills) while we get it ready for market. We are stretched, to say the least!

Insulation and walls are now finished in the two upstairs attic bedrooms. We added a skylight that opens to each room, too; what a difference that made in temperature and light! A group of men both young and old spent a good 12 hours to get those two rooms finished in one day. It was amazing. We ate a good rib supper that night (before they headed back to work!).

Painting has been a slow process, but it’s getting finished. The last time we were there we looked at our primed and painted walls and after some hemming and hawing decided that, yes, we needed yet *another* coat. So back to the brushes we went. One of my friends that happens to live in the town we’re moving to (only 3/4 mile away!) has spent every spare moment she has, painting, painting, painting. I owe all of my friends whole truckloads of chocolate.

At my current house, I continue to plug along, not quite waddling yet but in the 21st baby-to-be week already. The final packing is getting finished, the plates and pots and pans getting tucked into boxes. I’ve reserved the big rental truck for Monday. MONDAY!

Meanwhile, we’ve been picking and eating strawberries and cherries, and harvesting garlic. I cut down a lot of Greek oregano and got a good half gallon of dehydrated seasoning to use. There isn’t much else to harvest; I haven’t planted anything. But the perennials–herbs and fruit–are always the faithful mainstays and I’m grateful to enjoy them while I can.

I’ve also harvested for my facial products, rose, calendula, borage and lavender. So very pretty. I’ve already infused them into a grapeseed/almond/azulene oil mix, and now just need to finish it with some beeswax and whatever else I want to add. Thinking about a bit of rose water and carrot seed essential oil, and then making a nice little cream with it. I can’t wait until next spring, to work in and plant my new garden. I have goals of duplicating and expanding my herb garden, and growing for dyes as well. There is space and sunshine for a good 1/4 acre gardening plot as well. I’ll be spending my winter dreaming up my plans, managing outbuilding and fencing repairs, and hunting down my next goat kids as well.

The rest of this year, however, I’ve given up the trowel and given myself to the move, the subsequent nesting, and of course the baby upcoming. I hope to continue to blog, to finish my current herbal studies, and–yes–to find that book cover for Present. One step at a time, yes?

Blessings, and thank you for checking in!