Limbo Is Over!!!!

Here it is, the new ‘Baker’s Nut House!’

It was built in 1943, sits on 40 acres of mostly woods and was originally a log cabin 20 feet long and 10 feet wide. It has 3 bedrooms, 1 finished bathroom, and 1 unfinished bathroom; an attached 2 car garage (which you see in the back); also an unattached 3 stall, 2 door garage 50 feet to the right. The door you see at the back of the deck (not the white one in the garage side) opens to a hall with 2 archways & 1 door that leads to the basement; the archway to the left leads to the kitchen; turn to the right and climb the stairs to a living room the size of the garage beneath it and a big bay window with a spectacular view of the woods beyond it. The walls in the kitchen & living room are all knotty pine --- awesomely beautiful.

            There’s work to be done, mostly cleaning and painting for now (it hasn’t been lived in for over 3 years); some remodeling down the road. Two bedrooms and the unfinished bathroom are upstairs; that will get finished this month. The downstairs bathroom is a converted bedroom so it’s pretty big. We plan to remodel it next summer, along with the floor in the kitchen and extending the deck around the front of the house to provide a screen room. 

            We have lots of plans for the new place and I am looking forward to working on it as well as spending a lot more time exploring our new home in the northlands of Minnesota. 

            More to come as we progress. Thanks for reading.

Getting To Know Our New Home

            We left Tennessee on June 26 because of the extreme heat. Both of us have had heart surgery so the heat is even more unbearable for us. We love to be outside gardening, camping, fishing and just playing but we couldn’t do any of that there.

            Since we moved to Minnesota we’ve been out at the lake and exploring our new home with the windows rolled down and the cooled breeze flowing all around us.

            And of course, we’ve hit every yard sale, estate sale & resale shop we came across and found some great deals and some awesome antique finds….like this thing…

….it’s called a corn shucker.

            Last Saturday we went to a community festival out where our new home will be. It was lots of fun. There was a parade, games for kids and adults; we played bingo for a while; a classic car show, and food and craft venders.

There were awards for accomplishments in gardening, canning, quilting, sewing, woodworking and other crafty creations. There were raffles for prizes like homemade quilts, baskets of specialty items and even snowmobiles. Yea, we entered them all. There was even a children’s pedal tractor pull – that was a delight to watch. Those kids were really into it.

I think I will like it out there once we get settled. Sitting in limbo right now is very frustrating. All my stuff is in storage so I cannot get to my books or crafts. I spend my days crocheting, writing out ideas & notes for future projects and reading; when we’re not out exploring or treasure hunting.

On one of our exploring days we went to Grand Rapids where we found an awesome shop that specializes in wine making & beer brewing ingredients and equipment, and ‘everything’ that could possibly go with it. I bought a new apron, it’s black and says, ‘got wine?’ in white letters across the front. There was so much fun stuff in there I couldn’t make up my mind what I wanted. I will be returning soon to pick up gifts for a few of my favorite people. I know they would love that shop too.

Until next time, love to all………Roxie

His Ways Are Not Ours....

The second day of our trip was very eventful…and not in a good way. The first thing that went wrong was the radio system went out and there just happen to be one of my Third Day cd’s in the player.

Then the truck itself started acting up. The check engine light came on first, then the computer screen started flashing a message we could not understand, after which the truck geared down by itself and an alarm began to sound. We immediately pulled over.

To make a long frustrating story short, Penske took good care of us. They attempted to repair the truck and when it couldn’t be figured out they brought us a new truck and men to transfer our load. It was 3:30 in the morning before all of that was complete. I felt bad for the men who had done all that work in almost 100 degree heat and still had to drive 2 hours home again.

Penske also put us up in a motel and fed us for two days to get rested up before we hit the road again. I am thankful for their strong business ethic and would use them again – 'if' I ever move long distance again. J

During the frustrating two days I kept telling myself that this happened for a reason. God wanted us to stay right there for a purpose – one I may never know. Perhaps to keep us from harm up the road, or from harming someone else; maybe because the four men who worked on and did the truck transfer needed to be away from where they came from.

Whatever God’s reason may be, my prayer is that whoever retrieves my Third Day cd from the truck will be saved, and then pass it on.

Change Brings Challenge

A wise woman once told me that change brings challenge, and challenge brings growth. Well, here we are, about to make a big change in our lives. After 25 years of living in the hot humid south we are moving 945 mile north to the land of 10,000 lakes, Minnesota.

It’s not like we haven’t moved before. I moved from Southern California to Chicago in 1980. After meeting my husband and combining our two small families, we moved to San Diego, then 4 months later moved to the mountains of Northern California. After 4 years there, we headed back to Illinois because my husbands mother was very ill. A year later, in 1987, we moved to Tennessee and spent the next 25 years making a life and raising our children.

What makes this time different from all the others? Besides the amount of time we lived here, I'd have to say the friendships we made. We don’t have much contact with the few friends we had in all the other places we lived. Some we’ve had no contact with since we left that area.

Yet the friendships we’ve nurtured in Tennessee are different. There’s a bond created by years of living in the same community, taking our kids to the same schools, cheering for the teams our kids played on, and worshipping in the same church.

When I think back to those I’ve known in all the other places I’ve lived, I cannot say that the connections we had are the same as those we developed over the years in Tennessee.

However, that is not the only reason this move is so different from the others. Years ago, all we owned, kids, pets & possessions, fit in an old Dodge van. This time, minus kids and with one small dog, this is what we need to move....