Has it been two months already since I posted last? Why, yes. Yes, it has. Last post was on March 25th. No real excuse other than life gets busy and that there have been some events that have happened that have either directly or indirectly affected the progress of the renovation. And I’ll touch on those in this post. I’ll start off with some life-general developments and events in our family and then get into the renovation progress.

March kicked off mowing season. I’d purchased a zero-turn mower off of Facebook Marketplace in the fall. I knew that we’d need one and, since we had the money at the time, I went ahead and got one in anticipation of the spring. Turns out the head gasket blew shortly after purchasing it (known by the previous owner? Who knows?). Fortunately, it was a relatively easy fix, along with a tune up, and we were back in business (along with acquiring a new skill). But mowing this property has taken some adjustment, mostly on Sonya’s part. What was previously about an hour or so job is now an all-day event.

On April 8th, we enjoyed an amazing natural event, the total solar eclipse that we were able to watch from our back yard. It was truly awesome to see and experience and was a reminder of God’s providence and the natural order of His creation.

Spring has always been a busy time for our family. This spring, Meagan ran in a couple of events for the high school varsity track team: the 400m and the 1600m relay. Savannah played One-Doubles for the varsity tennis team with a very good friend of ours, Mia Shaffer. All of them did well and it was enjoyable to watch them wrap up their senior year doing something they love doing. On April 16th, Vivian had her last spring musical at Southwest Elementary. This would also be the last musical we’d watch at Southwest after 14 years (if my math is correct). All of the kids did great. It was a really cute musical based on music from the 1950’s.

Then came the motorcycle accident. On April 30th, I was going to watch one of Meagan’s last track meets. The weather was really nice and I’d decided to leave a little early and take the motorcycle on some back roads that I’d recently discovered on the way up to Plainfield. I wasn’t 5 minutes from the house, headed south off of IN-44 on Peavine Road, when I went a little too sharply into a curve to the right. The shadows being cast onto the road at that time of day hid some gravel on the road. My back tire hit the gravel, the bike went out from under me, and the bike slammed down onto my right leg. My tibia sustained a spiral fracture, and my fibula was fractured along with some bones in my ankle. Off to the ER at Johnson County Memorial in Franklin and then eventually to IU Health / Methodist Hospital in downtown Indianapolis for surgery. The recovery time includes 4-6 weeks off of the leg and about a 6-12 month full recovery time. The recovery is about 4 weeks in at this point and so far going well, but you can imagine how this effects the renovation progress.

On May 24th, both Meagan and Savannah graduated high school! It was a fun night! Zach was able to fly in for part of the weekend to watch them graduate, so it was a nice time together as a family that is becoming increasingly rare. Meagan will be heading into the workforce to determine which direction her career should go. Savannah is headed to IU Southeast to start schooling toward becoming a dental hygienist.

In general, home renovations are expensive projects. So, I’d say that this is the primary reason the progress has slowed to a crawl. The equity in our home sale this past October has all but dried up. Also, we’ve been hit with some medical bills from some past ER visits, in addition to the motorcycle accident to start to pay for. Also in addition to this, due to some income withholding errors in 2023, and some changes in the tax tables that affected us, we ended up owing quite a bit in taxes this year instead of the anticipated refund that we normally get. “It is what it is”, which has become a favorite saying around our house lately. But enough about that. Let’s get into the progress!

The last post included progress on the floors installation in the living room, dining room, and kitchen. This allowed us to start to move into the house. At this point, we’re all moved in and comfortably living in the home. It’s been really really nice! We still have a lot of work to do, but we’re enjoying making this house a home.

The living room came together really nicely. We have had a couch, dated back to the mid 1910’s, that we purchased years ago that we’ve really been wanting to use. Savannah, during a random stop at a local Goodwill, found a couple of wingback chairs that we purchased for a song that have been a nice addition. We moved the piano into this room as well, along with a large area rug, and it’s really taken shape!

Sonya has, in short, done an amazing job painting everything. But bringing this old kitchen to life on our shoestring budget has really been incredible. For now, we’re just making due with the kitchen that we have and we’ll have to continue the renovation at another time in the future. We ended up putting new hardware on the cabinet doors, painting the the cabinets, and wallpapering the walls. Sonya found an antique buffet in Jeffersonville that we picked up a few months ago that’s been a nice addition. Overall, it looks 1000% better!

The back room, we’re calling the “Family Room”, was another big painting project that Sonya most recently took on. The windows and french doors installed, awaiting trim work to be completed, along with baseboards (they can wait for now), it was ready for painting. We decided to match a blue color that was in the kitchen wallpaper, and it ended up being close to the color of the walls in our former living room. It’s a nice light color for that room which compliments the now natural light in the room. The floor? Well, that’s something that will have to wait on for now. We eventually plan to carpet it, but it’ll be expensive. So, for now, Sonya just found whatever leftover paint she could find, mixed it all together, and painted the floor. The color is… well, it’s been debated. Pink? Beige? Light purple? Grey? No on knows for sure. Last week, any on-hand able bodies moved some furniture into the room, decorations were hung, and it started to get a little more cozy.

As is typical for Indiana in the spring, we get a lot of rain. There have been a few days when it’s really come down and it’s been interesting to see what the house and the yard does during this time. This is another project that will have to work on in the future. The back yard has a low spot that collects water, directs it to the culvert under the driveway, and into the pond. On the part of the pond the connects to the neighbor’s property, the dam is eroding away or damaged to some degree. The overflow for the pond is directed underneath their driveway to a small creek on the neighbor’s property. So, we’ll have to repair that at some point.

Finally, I just have to say that, throughout this process, we have been so incredibly blessed by our friends who have volunteered their time and food and talents and money toward helping us. There have been a couple of work days, which were organized by them (mostly post-accident), and they got a LOT of work done. We have had flowers donated and planted, our driveway gravel worked on, an unused structure torn down and salvaged (where possible), our water system worked on, shutters installed, weeds pulled and trimmed back, and a lot of little things done which added up to making the property look a WHOLE lot better. My not being able to get around like I’d like to has caused me to mostly rely on photos being taken to see the progress, but I can’t wait to walk around the property again to fully appreciate all of the work that’s been done. A BIG thank you to everyone who has helped out! We are beyond blessed with your friendship and we continually thank God for you all!