Making lemonade (or lemon slushies)

When life hands you lemons you make lemonade, right? That's what I've been trying to do this month...make lemonade. I got stuck in the huge snow storm up in the East so I'll say it was more like lemon slushies :)  Get ready for lots of pictures!

We've been remodeling our 1920's farm house in Virginia. It's pretty slow going and my mom (who has lived there for a year and a half) has had to be out of the house for the past 4 months. The construction crew were supposed to be finished by Christmas so I was going to fly out there to help my mom move back in. Now, folks, we are only getting the kitchen and bathrooms remodeled, the painting and such is having to go room by room as the funds become available. I'm not going to bash the construction crew on this post because of course they weren't done and there were lots of things they did incorrectly. Instead, I'm going to show you some impressive before and afters.


 The bathrooms: Full bathrooms, yes, but you could literally sit on the toilet and wash your hands in the sink at the same time! The light switch was inside the shower but hey, this house was from the 1920's so be glad it had indoor bathrooms, right?!


We got rid of everything and instead of a bathtub we put in a shower with a linear drain.

One of the bedrooms was converted into a master bathroom. It is awesome but I don't have pictures to show you quite yet.









The original hardwood floors: Instead of radiator heating, we had those removed and put in central air. The floors were original but needed refinishing. They are gorgeous!

And my ultimate favorite...the kitchen!

No, we won't be leaving the walls the burnt orange color and we still have a few cabinets that need to be painted. I'll have to show you pictures of the mud room another time, too.


Now for reality...moving Mom back in. Here's what the basement looks like and those nice empty living and dining rooms!

All the boxes went in the basement while the furniture is piled into the front rooms. Things will be moved room by room as they are finished being painted. But look! Mom's bedroom was painted first (fresh cut grass) so we were able to get her set up. She is polishing up the original hardware and they are looking great.

The weather was nice when I first got there, though much colder than I was used to. I drove around the property on the ATV and took some pictures of the pond freezing over.

But then it started to snow. I had fun doing doughnuts in the pasture but it just kept snowing!

 And snowing! So much snow that all air travel was cancelled. I ended up staying an extra three days!

The neighbor boy was my partner in the slushy making business. He and I went and played in the snow. We tried sledding down the hill but the snow was too deep and powdery. We tried making a snowman but it wasn't good snow for that, either. Here's my Jabba the Hut impersonation. :)  What was really great fun was me rednecking his plastic sled behind the ATV with a long extension cord and pulling him in the tracks. My mom said she could hear me laughing all the way in the house. The poor kid was being plowed into the sides and completely covered in snow! We drove over and over to make bigger tracks and then we had some success. The main road had been plowed hours earlier and it still had plenty of snow and ice. That was the best way to sled, being dragged 15 miles an hour behind the ATV down the road!

Let me tell you, folks, it wasn't all fun and games. This is what Mom's car looked like. And the long driveway.

We kept getting stuck in the driveway so sometimes we parked on the street. Other times we kept trying to make paths with the ATV and we were pretty successful with that since Mom's car has 4 wheel drive. We also had to bring out the good old fashioned shovel and shovel walking spaces around the car. Can I just tell you that it's been YEARS since I've had to shovel snow?

And last but not least, I was able to drive my brother in law's Humvee around the mountain on his farm. That was a first!

So, you see, I'm still trying to choose happiness when things don't go as planned. The house still isn't finished but Mom is finally in. The snow was cold and thwarted my plans to get home to my family but I did have fun in it. And yesterday I was able to get home.

(And did I mention that there is no TV or internet at the house in Virginia right now? I missed that almost as much as I missed my hubby.)