The Main Room(s)

This is the main room when the sale was pending and still tenant occupied. I took these photos during our inspections.

Check out our Real Estate Agent. This is what he did during our inspections. Chilled. He watched the tenant's television, ate soup from the neighbor out of one of the tenant's bowls and then left it in their sink. His broker and president of that particular branch of Weichert took over the sale after we told her about this (and more).


Here it is after we took ownership and the Broker hired cleaning ladies out of our old real estate agent's commission.

The carpet was pretty stained, so we decided to get rid of it...
and then we found that someone had cemented planks down to ramp the floor up to the same level as the kitchen...
... on top of oh, so beautiful linoleum tile (or, I'm told it's vinyl).
Many hands (Kurt, Nelson, Justin, and Mike) helped lift up flooring in the kitchen and Chris took up all of that tiling (w/mask and gloves) so we could get down the cement slab and have the same level flooring from the main room to the kitchen. Many hands helped put the tiles into bags, and I came in and vacuumed all of the small debris and particles (wearing a suit, mask, and gloves).
When we got it all cleaned up, and the walls painted (Chris, my sister and Mandy helped finish that big project), Chris, my Dad, and Ed laid the laminate flooring we had purchased.

And here it is now that we are living in it. We still have many bare walls, and I still need to spackle and paint all the nail heads on the trim, but at least you can see the transformation.

We divided the space to make a sitting area and a dining area. Both are pretty small, but it sure beats cramming a table into the kitchen like the tenants did. We are thrilled that the couch and chair, both passed on from friends (the Stewarts and the Briemles), match with our walls and floor so well!
Chris plans on learning how to make a mantle piece for our fireplace from our friend David, now a neighbor!

The door you see is the door to our not-yet-finished office. (It used to be the garage, but was converted a long time ago. We have a detached garage in the back which needs roof repair before it can be fully functional).
There is space to walk all the way around the table when the tree is not there.

Our bedroom

We'll move on to another room that didn't need too much work, but still took a long time to finish.

Here's what it looked like when it was the renter's bedroom:
There was hardly any space to move around.

Once we officially purchased, we realized that the walls and the ceiling were a shade of gray and decided to re-paint. Also, because the walls were painted with flat paint (as was the rest of the house) and had dirt smudges and stains all over it. The carpet looks alright in the picture because the picture was taken with a flash. It was actually more stained than can be seen here, so we splurged for new carpet. We replaced the side window which was single pane, double hung. We had to patch all the cracks and sand before we painted.

Here is what it looks like now. It is not quite "finished", but it might take a long time to get there, so I'm just going ahead and sharing now.
We (well, our friend Jay) painted the ceiling, door, and trim pure white, the walls a cream color, except for an accent wall that is hard to describe, but kind of light greenish, blueish, grayish, depending on the light.
We got rid of our bed frame before moving because it was just too heavy to move and store, too big for our small bedroom, and we didn't like having a footboard anymore. We have yet to get a bed frame yet. I kind of like our bed at the level it is currently. I finally unpacked the dust ruffle, but haven't put it on yet - not sure if it will work without a frame.
We took of the closet door and opted for a curtain so that we could arrange our room this way and access the closet with ease.

We'll start with the bathroom

So, I am supposed to be sharing with family and friends some photos of our house. I wanted to "finish" a few more things before I posted. So, for now, here's the bathroom. Our one, very small bathroom. We didn't do much, but re-caulking, sanding, priming, and painting took longer than I had thought. Oh, and we had to get a new flange installed for our leaking toilet. Thankful for our Home Warranty!

Here is what the bathroom looked like while people were still living in it.

Here's what it looked like once the house was officially ours.

It's hard to tell in this picture, but I painted the top half of the wall a color called "teal ice". I re-painted all off-white trim and cream colored sink cabinet to a pure white.

Hopefully it won't be 2 more months before I post about another room.

Celebrating 90 years of "Sisu"

Today, my grandmother, Ellen Elizabeth (nee Minkkinen) Grothe is 90 years old. She is full-blooded Finn, raised on American soil by immigrant parents. Just a few weeks ago, the entire Grothe clan (mostly) gathered in Scandia, Minnesota to celebrate her and her "sisu".

Here is the word defined by Urban Dictionary:

a uniquely Finnish quality; the word used to typify the Finnish spirit; a concept that is at the heart of how all Finns view themselves; a certain feature or value considered by Finns to be typically Finnish - endurance, resilience, tenacity, determination, perseverance - an inner reserve of diligence, capacity, the ability to face head-on and always overcome - bravery, empowerment, inner strength Gritting your teeth, continuing to fight against an overwhelming enemy, clearing a forest with your bare hands, continuing on to win a race even after falling. Sisu means that you finish what you start, you don’t quit in the middle of a job, and you don’t whine.

Wikipedia says this:

Sisu is a Finnish term translated into English as strength of will, determination, perseverance, and acting rationally in the face of adversity. It has been described as being integral to understanding Finnish culture. The meaning is equivalent in English to "having guts", and the word derives from sisus, which means something inner or interior. Sisu has a long-term element in it; it is not momentary courage, but the ability to sustain it.

My grandmother was one of 12 children. She was valedictorian of her high school. She bore 11 children naturally. That's "sisu" enough for me, but that's not all she did. She raised ten children while running a farm AND teaching school to several grades in a one-room school-house! She went back to school to get her Bachelor's Degree while a single mother, still raising 7 of her children. She lived in the inner city for a while and taught in Minneapolis Public Schools. She passed her tenacity and work ethic down to her children who, in turn, passed it on to my generation. I feel so fortunate to have received a small amount of her "sisu".

At the celebration, her friends, two of her siblings, and most of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren were there.

My Uncle read some excerpts from Proverbs 31 about my grandmother. I can't remember all the verses he read, and I'm not sure in what order, but it was basically this:

An excellent mother, who can find?
For her worth is far above jewels.
She works with her hands in delight.
She rises also while it is still night
And gives food to her household.
She girds herself with strength
And makes her arms strong.
She senses that her gain is good;
Her lamp does not go out at night.
She is not afraid of the snow for her household,
She makes coverings for herself and her family.
Strength and dignity are her clothing,
And she smiles at the future.
She opens her mouth in wisdom,
And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
She looks well to the ways of her household,
And does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up and bless her;
"Many women have done nobly,
But you excel them all."
Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,
But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.
Give her the product of her hands,
And let her works praise her in the gates.

Mother

Grandmother

Great Grandmother

(Chris is in the photo so that the little ones will sit for the photo.)

I love that Johann got to meet his Great Grandmother. He calls her Gigi (or G.G.) for "Great Grandma". Anytime he sees a picture of her, he says, "GG"! In fact, he LOVED when we sang "Happy Birthday" to her and everyone clapped. Ever since, if we sing "Happy Birthday", he says "GG"!

Grandma, I think you are an amazing woman. I am so blessed to know you!

HAPPY 90th BIRTHDAY!

I LOVE YOU!

Remembering Janice Lowry Gothold

Chris' cousin Jon, Johann, and Janice

Chris' cousin-by-marriage just recently passed away after battling liver cancer.

She lived a very full life and touched countless lives with her personality and creativity. She will be sorely missed. Her spirit continues to live in the lives of her loved ones and the art she created. In fact, the Smithsonian has collected many of her journals and has them in its archives.

Check out her website: Janice Lowry

Small House Update

The house we bought is #5. It is actually a picture of the work room in the detached garage. We thought that was going to be our big project. Not so.

We closed escrow on September 10, but we are still not living in the house. We thought we would change a few things which were mostly cosmetic (but also made the house cleaner). As it turns out, we had to take care of some structural damage before we could even lay the flooring to move in. It was too emotionally draining to write about. Hopefully, we will be moved in after a few more weeks and will have done enough that we could post before and after pictures. But, seeing as it took me a month to write this, don't hold your breath.

We have been blessed with a place to stay and a community of people surrounding us, offering us a plethora of provision (child care, encouragement, labor, expertise, storage, etc.)

We are grateful and once it is live-able, we will be excited to have a home.

We get the keys tomorrow!

Maybe this seems "out-of-the-blue" to some of you, but we are almost officially home-owners. Scary and exciting. Just for fun, take a look at the numbered photos below and make your best guess at which property we actually purchased. (I chose from photos of homes we almost and actually put offers on. I tried to choose the "worst" shot from each home.) Once we actually have the keys in hand and begin solidifying plans of attack for working on the home, I will write a new post telling you the answer, and giving more pictures of our actual home.

Mom, Dad, and Brita: I'm sorry, you are not allowed to guess, as it would not be so much of a guess as it would be giving the answer away.

#1: (Those are apartments peering into the back yard)

#2: Gotta love the Do-It-Yourself tiling in the bathroom.

#3: Read the poster on the wall and you can imagine what the rest of the house looked like.

#4: Too bad you can't see some of the statue fountain fixtures in the rest of the back yard.

#5: Converted living space with dry rot in the rafters

#6: You can pretty much see the entire master bedroom in this shot.

Comment your best guess and see in a few days if you were right!