Cleaning weekend

Friday's closing went well and we were so excited to be done we went straight to the lake afterwards. We picked up groceries on the way to stock the pantry and freezer at the lake. We also brought the tv out and hung it on the fireplace. Dan got a receiver at Best Buy so he could use his new surround sound system and had fun making sure that worked.

Saturday was a fun filled day of cleaning. Dan's parents met us out there and helped wash windows and paint the ceiling in the master bathroom (that one was missed when the rest of the house was painted I guess). Dan moved the closet shelving in the master closet because they weren't high enough for two hanging bars for clothes and I went around with paint to touch up spots on the walls and around the stairs that were touched by the carpet. Dan's parents brought the kotasu (sp?) that we brought back with us from Japan and set it up in the basement. It is a short table with a blanket over the top and a heater underneath that the Japanese use to warm up when they come into their cold homes. It was fun to put our feet underneath and try it out.

The tv was fun to hook up and we found out we get channel 9 in HD. That is good news so we can watch the Super Bowl out there next Sunday!

We are excited for next weekend to get some furniture out there and especially our bed... no more air mattresses!

Closing Day

The day is finally here, we close on our loan for the cabin this afternoon! I can't believe how much has happened over the past 9 months to get us to this point. But, now that it is over we feel relief, satisfaction, exhaustion, excitement, reflection, peace, joy, and happiness to name a few. We are so thankful to God for all of his blessings on us, and are in anticipation for what He has in store for us in the future. For now, we are content to take some time to enjoy being done with school and the cabin for awhile.

We are going to spend the first night at our finished cabin tonight so we can get an early start at cleaning all day tomorrow with Dan's parents coming to help out. Then we're celebrating with a couple of friends for their 30th birthday parties tomorrow night. Sunday will be spent catching up on some cleaning at our own house. It has been sort of neglected for awhile :)

Now that everything is finished, we are set to move things from our house to the lake next Saturday February the 2nd. If you are available to help, and especially if you have a truck or large vehicle, we'd love to have you!

What is your true color?

What's Your True Color?

My Result: Black

Your color is black. The color of night. Serene and mysterious, black conjures up images of elegant evening gowns, dashing tuxedos, and gleaming limousines. Traditionally a symbol of success, black also represents power and an uncompromising demand for perfection. Not surprisingly, you tend to set challenging goals for yourself and do whatever it takes to achieve them — your strength of character is second to none. This unfaltering determination, along with your natural elegance, impresses people. But keep in mind that your personality might be intimidating to some. Try to temper your demanding side with a little softness — trust us, it won't kill you. Overall, though, black is the color of professionalism and achievement, which means it's clearly the color for you.

Take this test >

Occupancy Certificate

The inspection passed today and we got the occupancy certificate! The appraisal work from Sunday was done today too, so tomorrow we'll get all the final paperwork finalized with the title company and close Friday :)

Tiling the tub

Saturday and Sunday we were at the lake tiling the whirlpool tub surround. The next three pictures show the access space, then with it on, and the final one is after the tile was grouted (the picture is blurry though - sorry!) The rest of Sunday was spent cleaning before the appraiser got there at 1:00. She was impressed it was as clean as it was! Good thing we have next weekend to finish cleaning with Dan's parents before moving on Feb. 2nd. Here are some pictures we took of some of the finished rooms that just need a little dusting next weekend. Dan was really happy to be out there this weekend because it finally felt like our cabin. No more sawdust and unfinished rooms, and with the electrical and plumbing hooked up it was a lot more fun.

our bedroom

laundry room

kicthen (the chairs fit under the island)

upstairs bathroom cleaned

guest bedroom downstairs

guest bedroom closet

Carpet

Today the carpet was installed! I had to be out there when they were working so I could "grade" their work when they were done. I thought it looked great! It was also fun to see everything that was done by the plumbers and electricians.

Yesterday our final inspection went ok, but they had 2-3 small things that needed to be changed before they would give us the occupancy certificate. Our builder got them done today but then none of the inspectors could come out this afternoon, so we're going to have to wait until Tuesday (Monday is a government holiday) to get it done. That makes things a little close for our closing on Friday, but we were able to talk to the appraiser and instead of her waiting until after the final inspection she will come out on Sunday when we are there and her appraisal would just be contingent on the occupancy certificate. So, I think we should be find to close on the 25th. I can't believe how many stressful last minute details there are! If they all don't go as planned it really makes a mess of things.

Tomorrow we will tile the top of the whirlpool tub and Joe will finish the walls of the surround. Sunday we'll be back grouting the tile so the appraiser can finish that afternoon. It isn't exactly fun weather to be driving around all weekend, but good thing all of the projects are inside!

Carpeted stairs

Carpeted office

Master closet

Master bedroom carpeted

Basement hallway carpeted

Downstairs basement living room carpeted

Shower door installed

Wet bar area carpeted

Cranberry Cake

This is the yummy, rich dessert I made for small group on Tuesday night. Completely fat free... Ok, maybe not.

3 T butter
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3 c. sifted cake flour (use 3 cups and take out 6 T instead of sifting)
4 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 c. milk
3 c. whole raw cranberries (if you buy a bag that is usually 3 cups)

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla. Sift dry ingredients together. Add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Fold in cranberries. Put into greased and floured 9 by 13 pan. Bake 35-45 minutes at 375 or until browned.

Hot butter sauce:
1 c. melted butter
2 c. sugar - add to butter
1 c. cream or evap. milk

Cook in pan 2-5 minutes or until combined and warm.

Serve cranberry cake with hot butter sauce spooned over the top. Enjoy!

Hardwood

I think the name speaks for itself in more ways than one. This weekend was a tough one installing the flooring in our living room, hallway and bathroom. Dan's parents came to help but once they figured out what they got themselves into I'm sure they were having second thoughts

Saturday a.m. we got there around 9 to see all the progress from the week. We love the basement.. the painting is done, trim almost all up and wet bar and laundry cabinets installed. Once we got done talking with Joe and his "trim guy" Otto we got started trying to figure out the flooring and finishing the doors in the basement. Starting a new project always takes awhile but the guys were on their way by lunch and Monica and I were making progress on the finishing work. We took breaks to set out more wood for them to use for the floor and cleaned up ahead of them so they could go as fast as they could. We also got ambitious and cleaned off the tags on the windows and started washing the sawdust off them. They'll need more washing but at least the first layer is off. It was a slow day for the flooring because of the hard bathroom angles and the living room has a closet, bay window and fireplace angle to worry about. About midnight we decided to save time and sleep at the lake instead of drive an hour home only to drive right back in the morning. That was good in theory but Dan and my air mattress stayed inflated for about 30 min before we were on the floor. He tried manually blowing it up during the night to not wake his parents, but I'm sure with all the noises we all didn't get much sleep. But, the next a.m. they could get right to work.

Sunday was spent putting the second coat of finish on the doors and the guys working away at the floor. There was over 1/2 left so they had a big job ahead of them. The plan was for Dan and I to run to St. Cloud to pick up the shower doors, closet shelves and order our fridges but that would have wasted too much time so just Monica and I went (and skipped Best Buy). It was a big job carrying shelves for an entire houses closets and putting two shower doors in our Vibe but they all fit! I keep saying I don't know what we would do without the Vibe and I really don't! It has been so helpful. When we got back with Subway the guys were still in the hallway and needed to finish that and the kitchen/dining room. Monica and I kept at the doors and she also grouted the basement bathroom that we laid the weekend before. It was an amazing list of things we accomplished in 2 days. By about 2 a.m. we finally had everything cleaned up and ready for the plumbers/electricians for today with mats for them to walk on. We slept for a few hours and then Dan had to return the nail gun by 7:40 so we didn't get charged another day. I don't think either of us would have functioned well at work with only 6 hours of sleep total in two nights so we slept another couple hours before working at noon. What a crazy weekend!

THANK YOU Monica and Roger for all your help this weekend. We really wouldn't have been able to do it ourselves. I hope you made it home safely last night.

first room done, the bathroom

working late into the night on Saturday

Sunday morning progress

No final pictures to show you because we started moving things to that side of the room but here is what it looks like at the 1/2 way point

This week the plumbers and electricians finish their stuff, the final trim is done along with the door knobs, shelving, handrails etc. Then carpet on Friday! We're very excited for next weekend!

Painting done!?!

So, a mid-week update even though we haven't been out to the lake: the whole cabin is painted! Our builder has been talking with us about every other day and today the news is that everything is painted and all the doors are hung. He's now focused on putting on all the trim around the doors, windows and baseboards where there will be carpet. Then when Dan and I do the hardwood flooring with Dan's parents this weekend he'll finish the baseboards early next week. I'm just amazed that things are moving this fast! We've been expecting to have little to no progress and now big changes are happening daily.

February 2nd for a moving date is looking more and more likely... keep your calendars marked if you want to help :)

Bathroom floor done!

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at the lake tiling the downstairs basement bathroom. We had black and white granite and I think it looks great with the white cabinet and black granite top. I finished painting the upstairs guest bathroom, and helped Dan a little too. It wasn't a big area so didn't take too long.

We were so excited to finally go out to the lake and see LOTS of progress! Joe was able to get the last few sheets of sheetrock up and mud/tape/sand everything. He also textured the guest bedroom and bathroom and painted the bathroom so we could get the floor done. It was impressive how much was done! The electrician was out too and they got the well hooked up so we finally have water. When the plumbers and electricians come out on the 14th for the final hook-ups the faucets and toilets will be setup so we can finally use the bathrooms out there :)

Everything is on track for our January 25th closing. We may push it back a couple days to the following Tuesday just to make sure all the inspections get done and that would be free of charge, so we'll just see how things go next week. Joe is going to have his helper-guy do all the painting while he focuses on the trim work. That means next weekend we'll lay our hardwood floors so the plumbers and electricians can do their final stuff the week of the 14th. Joe will do misc things like door knobs, closet shelving etc so we can lay carpet on the 18th.

basement done and ready for paintDan tiling

All done!

Check back for a note about our moving date. We have it tenatively set for Saturday, February 2nd, so if you are available to help us save the date!

Cabin Progress

So, we haven't posted about the cabin lately but there is progress! Over Christmas Dan and I finally agreed that things were not going as well as they should with our current builder. We would go out on the weekends to find that little to nothing had been done, and finally decided to give up. We drafted an email to our builder with a new timeline, but this time included penalties if he didn't make each week's deadline. It worked! First, he agreed to our new timeline in our email :) and then the next day realized there was no way he was going to be able to make the deadlines. But, since he had already agreed to it he needed to come back to us with a new proposal. He asked if we would let his friend, who did our exterior (and did a great job), finish the cabin for us and he would bow out. This was great news because his friend actually does work during the week! We met him at the lake last Saturday and he agreed to our timeline and has guys working out there this week. It is such an answer to prayer to finally see the finish line and have our first builder out of the picture. It is even better that we may be able to close on our house loan within the 60 day rate lock so we won't have any penalties. Even if we do need to move the closing date out to mid-February to give us more time it still won't be too bad if we have to pay those fees. God is so faithful!

Christmas turned from being a time of uncertainty to a time of celebration that we will be done with the cabin soon!

The next couple of weeks will be tough trying to coordinate all of the finishing work, inspections, appraisals, etc. but we are feeling SO much better about everything. Even today God showed us again that He is in control when we had an issue with our carpet. We got this great deal at Home Depot where they install as many rooms in your house as you want for only $199. It was to take 2-3 weeks after you order it before installation so we placed the order on 12/30 so even if it pushed a little past 3 weeks we'd have time before closing. I got a confirmation call on Monday saying they were expecting it in next week and they'd call to schedule the installation. Well, today I got another call saying they were OUT of our carpet and needed to make more before they could send it - expected install date 5 weeks out. Yikes!! That would be after our closing date and therefore more penalties. We weren't happy that we had been told 2-3 weeks max and then this happened, so as I was about to call and ask to talk to a mgr the lady called me back and said she had news. She kept trying the carpet company to see what else we could do and even though they kept saying nothing, she kept calling. Finally, they found another order of the same carpet that was on hold for someone else. The hold expired 20 minutes before, so they could ship it to us! (For those of you worried about the other people not getting their carpet, they would just get ours that will be made in 5 weeks if they still want it :) The lady said she wasn't expecting it to fit with our floor layout which would require extra seems, but when they measured it... it fit! It will be at the store next week and we can install it whenever we want before our closing. God is really good.

Anyway, long post but I wanted to give an update on the cabin and our wonderful story from today. I hope you are all feeling God's blessings on your life, and even if it doesn't feel like it right now, He is there and will never leave you.

My new piano

I decided that I would have much more fun playing the piano at home, then keeping it out at the lake where I wouldn't get to play it as much. So, I rearranged the guest bedroom so I could put it in there. Dan put together the base last night and I practiced for 45 minutes! I think that was longer than I practiced in High School when I actually knew how to play :) Some of the songs are already coming back, so I'm hopeful pretty soon I will be playing a little bit better.

Thank you Dan, Roger and Monica for my wonderful Christmas present!

Also, Happy Birthday to my Grandma! I'm glad you had a good birthday today.

Dan's New Years Day activity

Today while I spent the day sleeping, cleaning and organizing, Dan decided to spend it with some friends on the ICE! Tom and Becky have an ice house and were celebrating the new year with a very Minnesota thing to do. I think I had the better day in my pj's in the warm house, but it appears he and Jon had some fun acting tough like V-Ice. I doubt, even despite his name, that Vanilla Ice has spent much time ice fishing.

Happy New Year!

Well, another year is gone and now it is 2008! My family always has a tradition of writing in our "predictions" book at Christmas time about what will happen to each of us in the next year and then we read it the following Christmas. It is so funny to see what we write and what really happened. Sometimes we are close, but not always :)

Last night we had a New Years Eve party with some friends. Dan was very excited to finally get some time to play the Wii since he just got it on Sunday night and had to work all day yesterday. The girls played Moods which was much more fun I think. I still can't believe some of those phrases!

My new years resolution is to get back into playing piano on my new Christmas gift! What is yours?

December 30th

Christmas at my families house was the weekend after Christmas this year as we switch between the Totmans and Baumans on Christmas Day. Dan and I went to my parents on Saturday night to play Monopoly (Dan won) and eat homemade pizza before hanging up our stockings. Dad had already hung his up in the middle of the afternoon, very naughty, so we were hoping he would only get coal :) Amber and Brent were at a wedding so they came around 2 a.m. after we went to bed. But, we made sure to wake them up early around 9 so we had plenty of time to pack in our traditions for the day.

First we open our stockings and lounge around. Since we didn't get to do our Christmas Eve tradition of opening one gift we did this before breakfast. Then we made crepes and now that Dan is here we also added omlets to the Christmas morning breakfast tradition. We take a break to shower and get ready and then on to the rest of the presents! Everyone was so generous. Dan was so excited to finally get his Wii, I got a nice travel suitcase for work and we got so much stuff we needed for our kitchen at the lake. I can't wait to start moving stuff in! After breakfast Dan drove home to get the kayak my mom gave to my dad and he was really surprised. Now he can go with us at our lake sometime! It was a fun day. Then while everyone starting playing with the Wii we made our traditional dinner of Swedish meatballs and ended with cranberry cake with butter sauce.

Here are some pictures from our day:

Wow, I can barely see the bottom of the tree!
Santa came...

Amber's new under cabinet CD playerYum, now I can freeze Bambi in freezer tight bags!
Dan's tradition: omlets on Christmas morning
Dan's favorite gift of the day
Taking a break to have pictures by the tree

Trying out Dan's new toy

Good thing Dan took a load home earlier in the day when he went to pickup the kayak.