Checking in...

Hello blog friends!

I know I have been silent for the past couple weeks, but I promise it's for a good reason.

Drumroll please.

We are in our house!

Living, sleeping, eating, laughing, dancing, and bickering (cause lets be honest, it's hard to come to an agreement sometimes on where everything should go!) in our very own house.
The little house on the prairie is officially our home. And we are so happy.

That being said. Necessary things like moving and cleaning and unpacking have taken priority. And some of my fun things like music and pictures and blogging have had to take a little break. (Not to mention we are still without the luxuries of such things like internet or satellite tv, so I'm hotspotting a connection off my phone right now to send this post. This is also why you will have to wait to see any pictures, because I don't trust my little hotspot connection to handle a job as big as uploading those kinds of files). Which is fine.The last few weeks have been busy. And tiring. And Keith and I are now officially an old couple who goes to bed at 9-9:30 and wake up at 5:30. It has been heavy lifting. Dirty pants. Warm boots. Freezing fingers. Big sweaters. Fleece pants and long underwear. (The heating is still a work in progress).
But it's been great. I look forward to telling stories to our children one day of how we moved in just before November and had to get by with electrical heaters. It builds character.

I come from a crazy background like this. When I was ten my family moved off the big farm so my dad could take a new job, and we moved the house as well. We moved in the spring, and the night the windows were put in we moved in. I think we may have even just had cardboard over a few places still. No drywall. No plumbing. No heating. No stairs even. Just ladders and an outhouse in the woods and sleeping bags. I know that it definitely wasn't an easy time. But I wouldn't change a minute of it. Because I get to tell stories now of how we did this crazy move and had to go shower at the university and sit in the truck to warm up. I'm not saying I'm hard done by or not spoiled or anything. Because I have had so many wonderful occurrences and opportunities in my life. But crazy things like that make you willing to take risks and do things like that. Who wants to spend an extra month of rent so long as the roof is on there and everything is relatively sealed up?

Maybe we're just crazy.

House Details

There are many small things about the house that just make me oh so happy. Of course the floor plan and the widows and the view of the field and the entire big picture just makes my heart swell, but there are some small things that I was able to take pictures of that we will be using every day that just make me feel good inside. Knowing that the right choice was made with these teeny little details. They're not huge things. They're not fancy things. But I love and appreciate them all the same.

The drain in the ensuite master bathroom. The whole shower is tiled and beautiful and I just love the floor of it. Including the drain. Which I'm sure Keith will have to figure out how to clean (comes with the territory of loving my long hair).

Hello Mr. Toilet. 

I'm sure we will get to know each other quite well.

Our tub is beauuuutiful. I am looking so forward to many many baths in that lovely soaker tub. (There's also a window right above the tub, and I'm a huge fan of ALL the windows.)

I'm one of those people who is so much a klutz that I have hurt myself on more than one occasion on cabinet hardware. When there's a loop I tend to find ways to catch my fingers in there and it is painful! So for our house, we have no loops, just knobs. These beautiful little brushed nickel knobs that I hope will keep my little klutzy fingers safe.

All of the lights/hardware and such match in the house. Brushed nickel and the lights are all a cloudy white glass. Other than these darling little pendant lights we have over top of the island (that's right, I said darling). They're my little "something different" lights, and I love them. I can't wait to see them all lit up.

I believe it's important to have an appreciation for these little things in life. After all, not every day is going to hold something spectacular or particularly memorable, how exhausting would life be if we were overwhelmed and amazed every day? But now and again it's good to take a little look at the little things, remember that they're there and they're important all the same. Some of my little things:

Finding Keith's legs in bed to warm up my freezing feet. (I really miss this "little thing" when he is away and I fall asleep with freezing feet.)
The random super blond eyebrow hairs that Keith sometimes get that always seem to have a mind of their own.
When Nova gazes at me with her gentle almond brown eyes.
The sound Sofi's feet make when she tries to run really fast (they're like huge paddles slapping the ground.)
The smell of a vanilla scented candle.
Laying in the new house and realizing I can't hear anything (no traffic, no nothing).

The house is now here. And I will have to dedicate another post to the entire house-moving process, but the process of getting everything ready for us to move in has now erupted. This week the service guy from the building company is down installing our cooktop and doing the last layer of paint and such. The electricity should be hooked up by tomorrow. Plumbing I believe is next week. It's soooo many phone calls (pretty much all for Keith), and it feels like a whirlwind. We (dogs included) are getting really restless now in the city. The house is there, we spend quite a bit of time out there, enjoying the sun and the space. And then we come back to our little den in the city. I should make a note that while I complain plenty how dark it can be in our rental, this is in comparison to our super bright and cheery house. There is nothing but windows, lights, and bright colors in that house. Which is exactly what I wanted.

Pictures to come soon once everything is a little more organized :)

Catching Up

A week seems to go by very fast. Looking back on it anyways. During the week perhaps not so much. But another week is past and yet another weekend rolls around and I'm left to my own devices while Keith is gone on yet another away game.

This week the weather is starting to cool down, and I'm loving it. The nights are cooler, it's less humid, one day I even wore a sweater! It is so comfortable outside right now. I could just be out there all day. Today I was out at the property and I just didn't want to come back in to the city, it was so beautiful, just the sound of the grass, the leaves, the grasshoppers, and my camera lens clicking away.

Lets start at the beginning though.

Keith and I took a long drive through the valley one evening after work this week. It was lovely. Exploring back roads that we haven't explored yet, and like I've said, the weather and the late summer sun is just so lovely.

We found this guy snoozing beside the river. I was too slow to get my camera out while he was laying down.

 
It was such a great little evening drive. We do this often enough, when we can, go for a little drive down some road we haven't explored before. With the windows down, the sunroof open, and the music going it was just about as perfect as an August drive can get. 

Friday rolled around and apparently it's shower season. Within four days I have two showers to go to (first baby then bridal) which is more social eventing than I usually do in a month. I'm blessed enough to work in a place with amazing coworkers and we all have such a great time together. This Friday we were lucky enough to formally meet Mital's new baby. Raahi was adorable and handled being passed around the room like a football quite well.

Beautiful new Mama!

Welcome to the world baby Raahi! We all look forward to watching you grow.

Today I went up to visit the house. It's already been almost a month since we've last been up, and our cooktop has been sitting in the spare room and delivering it up to the house sounded like a good way to spend my lonely Saturday (and a good excuse to see the house!) Since we've been up last the siding has been installed, the cabinets are in, the walls are painted, and the (pine!) ceilings are almost all done.

Because it's getting close, I'm not going to get into too much detail quite yet (not to mention the inside still has scaffolding and construction everywhere) so I will just give everyone a glimpse of the exterior. 

It's going to be our colorful little house on the prairie :)

I'm getting ridiculously excited for the house (I know I probably say that every post). I spent almost two hours in there, taking pictures and measurements, opening up and closing all the cupboards and cabinets. It already feels like home. Even with the scaffolding and the sawdust. I grew up in a house that was constantly under construction, so maybe that's why I feel like I could settle in there tomorrow, but it feels right. The outside is cute and colorful, the inside is bright, warm, and cozy. I'm so excited to have that house as our home.

On the way home I stopped by at the property. The basement walls have been poured. The well has been finished and capped. And it's Saturday, so it was peaceful and quiet with no one working out there. I was free to wander with Nova and take pictures. I could have done it for hours. 

Beautiful girl.

After poking around the house we went to our little oasis on the prairie. 

Our "oasis" is a small old dugout. It's really gross but Nova just loves swimming in there. She comes out gross but happy. I'm ok with it.  

I love sun flare. I know it's an imperfection. I know that the people who make cameras try hard to prevent it. But I love capturing the sunlight like that. 

I love looking at a picture and going "ah, I can almost feel the sun in that picture". 

Anyway I'm a newb I've been having difficulty figuring out the camera to find my perfect flare.

Until today!

  

Oh hello f20. You look so pretty today.  

 I could have danced all night

I could have danced all night

And still have begged for more

I could have stayed out there and danced with that little sun flare for hours. But Nova got hungry and so did I so we had to call it a day. I look so forward to evenings spent wandering the yard with the camera, taking pictures of little sun flare.

Until then I will sit in my little north-facing cave and dream... and look at pictures in which you can almost feel the warmth of the sun.

All by myself...

... don't wanna live, all by myyyyself (I'm a wuss when I'm alone). 

Keith has been gone for a few days now. He was able to tack on a couple extra days to go see his parents when they were playing in Edmonton yesterday. I'm happy for him that he got to go see everyone, but sad for me that I'm stuck husbandless for a couple days.

Exciting news on the Little House on the Prairie forefront though, the hole for the basement has been dug! I went out and poked around a little bit.

There's a hole in the prairie, that I look forward to calling home.

The alfalfa on our property is going to drive me crazy.

But it makes for some pretty pictures...

Until I declare war.

I've been spending most of my down time looking for house inspiration online. We really don't want to be spending much on furniture, so I've already picked out a few items from Ana White to build once we're out there. It's amazing what you can do with some two by fours! I'm so excited to be a busy bee once we're out there. For now I'll sit here and dream about it.

One of the best things about moving out to our acreage is that Nova will be able to be an outside dog again. Not that she'll never come in, but she won't be living in the house full time, and the hair situation in the house will hopefully significantly improve.

Because right now it's driving me crazy.

I just can't keep up. I vacuum and 20 minutes later there's balls of hair in the hall again. I'm starting to give up.

Going crazy!!!!!

The cat says yuck!

Nova says "whaaaaat??"

 
Please notice how grey everything in the house looks. Because the windows face north onto the street whatever light does come into the house is very cold. And it just makes my impatience for the new house increase every time I think about it. Which is a lot.

It's been rainy and grey outside today, which is likely why I'm feeling all sorry for myself with my north facing windows and balls of hair on the floor. The sun came out for a little bit later this afternoon though and I got to spend some time in the yard with Nova and the camera.

Happy dog outside!

My chubby feet.

Fresh corn from our neighbor (I ripped it off the stalk myself!)

By the time I peeled my corn it had started raining again. The good news was that the corn was absolutely delicious! And it got me all excited to start planning my own garden for next year :)


I know a lot of people say it's good to spend time alone. And I'm not a social butterfly as it is and enjoy having my quiet time to myself. However it's day 4 of no hubby and I'm ready to have him home again so I can ramble to him my plans of gardens and homemade coffee tables.

So until he gets home I'll go distract myself with a list of all the things I want to grow next year.

Weekend

The football season kind of takes over our life for the months of June through to November, and I've made my peace with the fact that we won't have summer vacations for as long as Keith is playing football. During the summer Keith does get one week off during which we normally go back to Alberta to visit our families, but this year the schedule is particularly difficult and Keith's bye week doesn't actually allow for a full weekend, just Monday to Friday off. All of his days off are otherwise scheduled for Sundays or Mondays. 

So! I was super excited when we found out that this week's post-game meetings and run-downs had been moved over to Friday and freed up Saturday resulting in an ENTIRE WEEKEND off (yes that deserved capital letters). We decided to go up camping near Saskatoon and while we were up go see the progress on our house. Our future home is being built up in Hague and then once it's all done they load it up on a big truck and move it down and plop it onto the basement (terrifying process if you ask me).

I was a verrrrrrry happy camper. 

 

  
Nova got to sleep in the tent with us for the very first time. The first night she spent pretty much on top of my legs. Foamies are much more comfortable than the ground. Only makes sense. The second night she slept between us on Keith's sleeping bag for most of the night.  


On Saturday we had our first encounter using truck stop showers went and visited the house (who wants to be stinky on a momentous occasion such as seeing your house for the first time?). I am in love. Love love love. 

Driving to Zak's. I was kinda excited. 

 

 

Welcome to the Shologans!

 

Please note Keith's expression as he watches me gush and take pictures of evvvvverything. I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing there in the linen closet. I've never had a linen closet before.

 I looooooove our big log post!! One of my most favorite things of the entire house. 

I am absolutely ecstatic to live in that house. I'll have to take a trip up probably in August to bring up our cooktop and hopefully the ceiling, cabinets, floors, and maybe even my paint (!) will be almost done by then. My impatience is mounting. I gaze out our north facing windows right now and dream of the kind of light our future house with its big wall of south facing windows will let in. Insert a wistful sigh here. We spent a bunch of time at the house, with me running around taking pictures (with my phone, a half decent camera with a lens is definitely on my wish list) and before we knew it we had to leave again... :( 

Byyyye house..... See you soon. 

Keith picked up an appearance in Saskatoon for Saturday afternoon. I spent the two hours hanging around the parking lot with Nova and decided to get my hair cut for the first time since December. In the past two years I've only been to the hair salon... twice. I've been trying so desperately to grow it out and usually just trim it myself at home. But it was nice to go spend half an hour and let someone who knew what they were doing take care of the mess that is my hair.  

Nova waiting patiently. 

On the way back to the campsite I got one of my favorite roadtrip treats:

Keith doesn't understand why (and neither do I really), but I love to put these in the fridge (or cooler or outside or anywhere cold) before I eat them. Amazing! Between this and having my fingers stained orange from Cheesies I think we made the best of our time in the vehicle.

We spent the afternoon canoeing Blackstrap Lake (no pictures, I forgot a camera and Keith wouldn't let me take my phone!) and in the evening we cooked camp food and marshmallows.

Potatoes, onions, celery, carrots, and butter wrapped in tin foil and cooked over the fire - delicious!

By the time Sunday morning rolled around we were all tired. Nova does the cutest thing when she doesn't want to wake up where she tries to cover her eyes with her paws.  I caught a little bit of it. 

We were able to get on the lake again with the canoe before we left, and then it was home time. 

A weekend well spent.