Busy, Busy, Busy

Christmas came and we were very lucky to have both my hubby and father here for two weeks.  With dad here, we were busy doing projects.  Seems that he really likes to drive to town to go to Home Depot.  I think he was worried that the rest of the world had disappeared in our little town of about 150 people. 

Dad bought me a dishwasher for Christmas.  Its wonderful to be able to throw the dishes in there and not have to hand wash everything anymore.  I've been doing more baking because of it.

He also moved the thermostat for me.  With it being so cold (Christmas week, the average temp was 8), we had fires going every day all day long.  The temp is CA where hubby is was 60 when he left and it was 65 in VA for my dad.  They were dying in the cold temps.  Our thermostat is located on the wall directly across from the fireplace, not the most ideal location.  Dad just moved it to the wall behind it in the dining room so now it will stay on when the fire is going.  The living room gets to be 74 or so with the fire, but the rest of the house freezes because the thermostat wasn't kicking the furnace on.  It was particularly cold upstairs.  This old farmhouse doesnt have any insulation upstairs I think, so its about 4-5 degrees cooler up there.  We have a plug in heater for the kids to keep it warmer up there.  I don't think the heat travels well up through the vents either.  The heater keeps things much warmer so I'm wondering if the vents need a good cleaning.

We also redid some lighting issues.  The schoolroom has this little light with four tiny lightbulbs and only one worked.  We replaced it and now I can see!!  We also replaced the light in my son's room.  The room had duck wallpaper which he is keeping but kind of a girly light, so we changed that out.  I still have to replace the horse (yes, I did say horse) chandelier in the dining room and a few other lights throughout the house.

Hubby was busy hanging up things upstairs.  I didnt have him hang anything downstairs because I still have to paint down here.  I would love to show you pictures, but not only is my camera broken so is my son's.

I have been busy organizing my quilting projects so that I can get some done for the walls.  I have a civil war wallhanging for the dining room to work on.  The dining room has some pieces of crystal and milk glass that have been handed down to me.  I also have some old family photos so I'm hoping to go with an "antique" theme.  I have an american revolution wallhanging that's almost completed and then I want to work on a 1930s wallhanging.  I think the wallhangings and photos will go nicely.  Eventually, I want to finish our genealogy charts and put them up too.  I have my dad's family traced back to the early 1800s in AL and NC, but haven't been able to get any farther.

In the living room, I have two wallhangings that I want to work on.  The first is the bald eagle with the flag (its a popular panel right now) that I'm going to use on my hubby's "I love me" wall.  I am going to put all of his plaques and things from the navy on there.  The other wallhanging is from Debbie Fields and is the outdoors theme.   I want to go with a more "cabin" feel in the house....kind of strange for a farmhouse I know.

I start school on the 14th.  Two classes left to finish up my bachelors degree.  I'm not sure if I'm going to go on to my masters or look into getting my genealogy certification. 

And because I have nothing else to do, I'm reading Quilt or Innocence by Elizabeth Craig.  So far I'm really enjoying it.  The character Miss Sissy is a hoot!