If I were younger

and had unlimited money, I would love to renovate these homes:

There are 11 homes up for auction with the guide price of 550,00 British Pounds.  You can see more photos here.  Here is a link to the virtual tour.

It looks as though someone started the project and ran out of money.  I would say it is probably a money pit, but the potential could be endless!!  This is in the same county where we used to live in the UK.  Quite a variety of properties on the site with a wide range of prices, depending on where they are located.

In with 2020.......

Guess that says it all, and onwards we march into the 2020's.  Not sure about you, but I remember all the hype about going from 1999 into 2000.  Everything was going to crash and nothing would work.......but 2000 arrived and everything was fine.  I hope going into the 2020's it will be the same.

We will all be a little older, but with age I hope comes wisdom, so hopefully we're all a little wiser.

Our plans for this year are all still a little sketchy, but do have a couple of things we want to achieve.

House: finish renovating the downstairs bathroom.................that was only supposed to be a titivate the downstairs bathroom job, that has spiraled out of control...........more on that when it is all finished.

Titivate the upstairs bathroom.............HOWEVER...........after our experience with the downstairs bathroom I am truly afraid it will turn out to be a bigger job than we initially thought.  Also unlike the downstairs bathroom, I can't won't have it in an uproar for weeks on end........so hubby may have to take a week off to get the job done faster.

We will probably do other things around the house, but nothing planned yet.

Health: I must exercise more and lose weight to try and get me off these diabetes pills.  They are killing my stomach and I am not happy with them AT ALL!!  So it's all up to me to get off them......if I don't do the work it's my own fault.

Appleby Lane: I need to promote it more.  Make it's presence known on social media.  I also like the idea of podcasts, so may take a course in February at our local library.  I need to come up with new ideas and focus on what I like to do more, rather than what other people want me to do.  Which I guess is say no more often....LOL

Hubby is now working until he is 65, so four more years, so need to keep saving for his retirement.  I still use my savings pots for Christmas, Birthday's and my other pot.  Just used money out of the other pot towards buying a new vanity for the downstairs bathroom.  

Grocery shopping and menu planning..............grocery prices have just shot up I need to keep more of an eye on that and will do a blog post on that soon.  Menu planning has always been a weak point for me, but will will try and work on that this year as well.

Vacation..........not sure where or when we will be going away this year.  It will probably be in September (like always) but not sure where.......if anyone has any suggestions, we like to rent a cabin/cottage so we have kitchen facilities and have somewhere comfy to sit at night if that helps, we are open to suggestions?

One other thing I MUST MAKE AN EFFORT TO LEAVE COMMENTS ON OTHER PEOPLE'S BLOGS!!  I read blogs but hardly comment, I must remedy that this year!!

Happy New Year everyone!

I know are you shocked, to see a post from me???

I know I am.  Can't believe it's been two months since I have last posted.  So I guess a catch up is in order.

The snow has gone..........well I hope so....there is a rain/snow mix forecast for Monday.  I had turned off the heating, but had to put that back on.

The count down has began for the babies.  One should be here within the month, the other a week or so later.  So I have been sewing up a storm for the new babies and the older grandchildren.  I will share over the next few days.

As far as renovating the basement goes I am ready to pull out my hair/hit my head against the wall with trying to find a contractor to drywall the basement.  So far this has what has happened:

1. First contractor showed up more or less on time, however a week and a half later we are still waiting for a quote?  Should have it by the first of the week.......
2. Second came, measured up and called two days later saying the job was too big for him?????
3. Via Facebook, promised to call two times, still waiting ........
4. Called a one recommended by a local hardware store, "he may call back when he gets time!"
5. Called another one again recommended by local hardware store.  Made an appointment never turned up and never called??
6. Facebook contact turned up, and discovered he hangs the drywall but does not do the sanding and taping??
7. Called another recommended by another local hardware store.  Didn't call when he said, but did two days later and turned up on time when he said.  He was actually nice and knew what he was talking about and can do it by the end of May/beginning of June; just waiting for a quote from him.

If people don't want the job, just tell me.  If you are going to be late, just call me.  If you have to cancel, fine just let me know..........that's not asking a lot in my opinion?

If I can get a quote from number 1 and compare it with number 7, we will go with number 7.  At this point I just want it done.  Dh is on doing the electrics and will be done by the end of May.

I have made a big pot of meat sauce using this recipe, so now to go and make a couple of things with it, including a lasagna.  The sauce does look good though:

Of course more has happened, will fill you in over the next few days.  If you are reading this thank you for sticking by me!!

Home Renovations........

I don't think it matters whether you own an old or a new house there is always something that needs doing to it.  Whether it be a simple painting a room or renovating the whole house, there is always work to be done.

I happen to be married to a man who loves doing DIY.  The only book he will read is a DIY book.  His main hobby in life is DIY.  He's one of these guys who likes to be on the go all the time.  Whereas I am quite happy to sit all day with a good book and read.

The one good thing about my dh is that he is good at DIY and is very picky, and believes if you're going to do something, it needs to be done right.  Mind you as he is now in his mid-50's he is slowing down, so jobs are not getting done as fast as he used to be able to do them.  But when he has done a job (the attic) it is really well done.  We are still fiddling on with the basement, as he is now putting a tiled back splash on the counter top down there.  I picked out white "Subway" tile, as they are plain and simple, and cheap!!!  Plus they are neutral and at the end of the day its a laundry room in the basement.

When that job is done we are moving onto something else. HOWEVER, and there is always a however, with multiple jobs wanting done and very limited funds it's a case of trying to figure out what to do next. 

The jobs we have done so far have been huge jobs that have taken a lot of money, but have had a huge impact on the house.  Renovating the attic and making it into a livable space is a bonus.  Insulating it all so that that heat from downstairs doesn't rise and go directly out of the roof is another good thing.......LOL Photos of the attic are here and here and here.

The same with the new basement, there was a distinct lack of insulation down there and it made it a totally unusable space.  It's now a great space with a lot of uses.  As with any old home there were no closets, we have remedied that situation and both the bedrooms and the bathroom on the 1st floor have good sized closets fitted out with closet organizers. Our master bedroom closet photos here 

We have put money aside to get new shingles installed on the garage roof, as it is raining in; that job should be done by the end of this month, weather permitting.  We cannot afford a new kitchen, so we have decided to maybe replace the counter tops with a good quality laminate, as any stone is so way above our budget it's crazy.  Plus change the sink and taps, as the taps are leaking, and the sink is a white porcelain and is nasty!!

I talked about painting the cupboards, and did speak to someone at a home show this weekend about it and that is maybe a job I will do.  She did warn me, to tackle a few cupboards at a time, otherwise you will be pig sick of it before it's all over with.  I think that will be a cheap solution with huge impact, or at least I am hoping it will be.

The garage needs other work on it doing, which we can do ourselves.  The family room needs a makeover, as does the living room.  The mud room needs ripping apart and starting again, as it is an addition and has practically ZERO insulation in it.  Both bathrooms need total revamps, and the shed is hanging by a thread...LOL

I guess I just need to take a deep breath and say we need to take our sweet time and do what we can do and the rest will have to wait!!!

Are you renovating?

If you are new to my blog it is worthwhile clicking on the links to see the before and afters.

Look at the great deal I picked up on Saturday....

Yes it does look as though someone has cut all the flowers of these plants and indeed they have as they were dead.  However these are all either tulip or hyacinth bulbs and for the price I couldn't turn them down.  I have stuck them in the basement to die back and will plant them out in the Spring when the ground is warm.  Though I was just thinking about it, for you gardeners out there, should I wait until Fall?

Thanks for all your comments yesterday.  I wasn't angry, mainly bemused that someone could come up with such a dreadful comment without fully knowing the facts?

Sunday was a great day.  We never left the house all day.  Dh finished off the trim down the basement and stairs.  Now I have to fill in all the nail holes and sand and stain the wood trim that is inserted in between the tiles and wood flooring.  

I stained the stairs last week and the smell was horrible, not helped by not being able to open the windows or doors because it was so cold.  I am going to wait to varnish the stairs until I can open the windows and doors.

We had a cheats version of cabbage rolls for supper, the recipe is here.

If you have a moment you should pop by Cindy's as Lexus has just had puppies and they are gorgeous.  Her doggies have their own blog here.  For those of you who are mad about cats, Jane's 13 cats have their own blog here.

Photo heavy post featuring dd kitchen

As many of you know dd and son-in-law bought their first house in August of this year.  They have been busy renovating it along with help from dh and son-in-law's dad.  However the majority of the work has been done by the pair of them.  This is the kitchen before the reno's; I think this is the photo from the sale brochure.  They put down the cheapest laminate throughout to sell the place.

This is the after, they bought the units from Lowes.  They just installed the dishwasher as they got money and giftcards for Christmas gifts.  They are saving up for a new fridge and stove.  They did all the back splash themselves and it's travertine  The walls are a very pale green from the Martha Stewart line of paints at Home Depot.

This weekend dd has been busy with two projects in their kitchen.  She made the chalk board below, using a frame from Ikea and a tin of chalk board paint.

This is a closer photo of the chalk board.

She bought the hanging rod and pails also from Ikea, along with the fake plants.  She tied twine around the middle planter that holds the chalk to give it a more rustic feel.

She also made the Roman Blind for the kitchen window.  The colours from the photos do not come up well.

I told dd that she should start a blog of her own as she is always busy doing something.  No idea what her next project will be.  If anyone has me on their Pinterest, then you'll be able to see dd as she has a Pinterest account as well under her name.

Meanwhile we have come to a standstill in our house, as dh has been working long hours these past couple of weeks.  Fingers crossed in a week or two's time we can get back to finishing off the basement.

Cluster Flies and Martha Stewart........

Its that time of the year it seems as the Cluster Flies and Asian Lady Beetles are coming out of dormancy.  So a couple of times a day I go around the upstairs catching and killing flies and ladybugs.  We could get the house sprayed, but I don't think that's a good idea all that chemical, so over the past couple of days we have had a couple of companies around giving us quotes on tuck pointing the outside of the house.  Some of the original pointing has holes in it, and that is one way the insects get into the house.

So if we can afford to get this job done, we may prevent more of those insects getting into the house.  Have a feeling we won't be seeing much change out of $2,500 for this job.  Then we MUST get the garage roof re-shingled as every time it's windy more shingles come off.  We think that will cost around $1,000 {{SIGH}}  Then while the guys were here looking at the pointing, they discovered we need a new chimney, as the water has penetrated ours and its dropping to bits; the good news we can leave it another year, the bad news at least $1,600 to rebuild it {{{SIGH}}}

For dd birthday I bought her a subscription to the Martha Stewart Living magazine and a subscription to Everday Food from the Kitchen's of Martha Stewart Living.  Dd was kind to give me her copies of her magazines and I have been enjoying reading them.

I have always been in awe of her organizational skills, mind you it does help when you have numerous staff doing things for you.  One thing in her magazine is a calendar of what she has to do that day.  For example today she is going to "deep clean rugs and vacuum heavy curtains." Tomorrow she is going to "clean, sharpen and oil gardening tools."   I wonder if Martha will actually do those jobs herself, or will she get someone else to do that?  At least I don't have to do one of those jobs, "vacuum heavy curtains," as we don't have curtains in this house.  Although I could do with vacuuming the blinds in the family room.......I think that's a job I could do with my hand in cast, just using my right hand.........  Have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the March magazine.

From the Everyday Food March magazine there was a neat recipe from the United States Department of Agriculture for "Microwave Coffee Cup Scramble."

What you need:
2 eggs
2 tbsp milk
2 tbsp shredded/grated cheddar cheese

1. Coat a 12 oz microwave safe coffee mug with cooking spray.  Add eggs and milk and beat until blended.
2. Microwave on HIGH 45 seconds; stir.  Microwave until eggs are almost set, 30 to 45 seconds longer.
3. Top with cheese; season with salt and pepper.

****I mixed the salt and pepper in with the eggs and milk at the beginning.****

This is now my most favourite way to make scrambled eggs.

Merry Christmas to Dh and I.......

We bought our Christmas present to ourselves on Sunday morning.  10 sheets of drywall/plasterboard:

We also bought a carry handle thingy to carry the drywall, which turns out to be the best $7 we have spent as per dh:

Here is a close up of the writing:

This is something we will use over and over, and as I couldn't help dh lift the drywall this was worth every penny.

Dh's goal is to have the rest of the new basement drywalled, taped and sanded before Spring.

In case you think that's an awful gift, if we want anything we generally just go out and buy it when we see it, if it's in the budget, and we don't really want anything at the moment.  So we thought drywall was the perfect gift. 

However, we are giving one another a $40 budget each to go out and buy a couple of small things for one another.   I am getting dh another book on renovating; they are actually the only books he will actually read.  Plus some scratch and (hopefully) win cards, and I am not 100% sure what else yet.

Thrifty Thursday........

Angela over at Chasing Rainbows is hosting a weekly post that asks everyone to submit tips on how to save time and money during the month of September.

I honestly didn't really know what to write about as a lot of what I do is general everyday stuff that I guess you all do anyhow.

One thing I have learned though is to ask, as if you don't ask you will never get.  Combined with using the Internet it is surprising how much money you can save. We are in the process of renovating the whole house.  At the moment we are concentrating on the new laundry room.

I have been looking for a laminate countertop for our laundry room but due to the fact it is deeper than a regular countertop the pricing on it is double what a regular countertop is.  By emailing various people/stores that sell countertops I discovered a place that will make me one for under $200, saving around $150. 

It will give us the custom look we had wanted at a price that is better on our pocket book.  The tiles we got from the laundry room are top of the line, but the store was selling them off, so tiles that could have cost us at least $3 a tile we got for $1.99.  By asking a trades man who had done work in the house, he put us in touch with his brother who laid ceramic tiles as a side job.  We paid him $600 cash for laying all the tiles in the basement.  That also included him sorting out the floor and getting all the glue off of it, and supplying all the "stuff" to put down the tiles.  Another guy had quoted us $1,200 for the same job.

So for a few phone calls and some time on the Internet I have managed to save over $800 so far on the cost of renovating the basement, just on those three things.

Also shopping at smaller stores can often realise better deals.  I know when we bought the lights for the attic, we fell in love with them, but not the price.  Dh boldly told them what he wanted to pay, it wasn't unreasonable, I think about $50 less and after thinking about it they said no problem.  Not everyone will do that, but it doesn't hurt to ask.  Just remember these people have to make a living, so be fair when negotiating with them.

Planning ahead also helps.  If you know when a certain store holds a yearly sale plan around that.  We got all the insulation for the attic and the basement on year at a big savings, plus we were able to get some gift cards also for buying over a certain amount.

If you know stores have a buy three get one free deal on paint wait until that deal comes on.  You don't have to get the cans tinted at the time, they are generally more than happy to tint at a later date.  Of course there are the "mis-tinted" cans of paint for very little money; can't say I have had much luck with those though.  All these little things add up.

I am sure you can think of many more ways to save money when renovating.

Happy New Year to you all........

So here we are in 2011, wonder what sort of year it will be for us all.

I know for someone in Canada it will be a marvellous start to the year as someone has won 50 million dollars in the Loto Max............will add it wasn't us, which sucks.........mind you what you have never had you never miss, right?

It's a funny old start to 2011 for us as it's pouring down and very mild?  Will say the good thing about that is it should wash away all or most of the snow, so we will have a fresh clean start before the next snowfall.

We had a rip roaring exciting New Years Eve, nothing was on TV, so we were in bed by 9pm.  Molly had me up by 6am, so all in all just like any regular day.  As I pointed out to someone, what difference does it really make to seeing the New Year in at midnight, as seeing it in when you wake up at 6am?  Must be getting old I think.

I know 2011 will be a busy year for us, as dd plans on getting married in the Fall..........should have the exact date in a few days, as she is in the process of choosing a venue.  Then of course back at renovation central we have a few jobs that need completing.  We are hoping by the end of Spring that the attic will be finally completed.  We have the mud room to totally strip down and start afresh, plus a hundred and one other jobs to do.

I want to tackle the outside again and "baby" the raspberries, so they grow enough to make around 100 250ml (1/2 pint, 1 cup) pots of jam.  Last year was a poor crop, but am hoping for more this year.

Then of course I have to lose some weight.  I still can't exercise mind you as my back is still sore, but I am hoping within the week I should be able to start again with the Wii.

I am going to review more books, got 4 to do for the month of January when they come.  Great way of me getting to read new books for free and then donating them to my local library. 

Back to doing my Daily Savings challenge,  read about it here, and if you want me to explain further just let me know.  I am continuing with Swagbucks and am saving up for something specific, can't say what at the moment, as it's a gift for someone.  Will be trying to save as much money as possible for this wedding, as like many of you out there we are not rolling in money, so all these little things I am doing help.

All in all 2011 is going to be both an exciting  and a challenging year I can see.

Oh, almost forgot, one of my hopes for 2011 is that I don't spend half of my life at the Dentist's office!!!  I don't want to have another year like last year (touching wood....my head!!)

I saw this over at Jake's blog and thought it was appropriate:

"May your troubles be less
and your blessings be more
And nothing but happiness
come through your door."

-Irish Blessing

Where did the long weekend go to?

One minute it was Saturday morning, and now here I am writing this on Monday night.


As always I had a list a mile long that I wanted to get done this weekend, and as always some things didn't get crossed off the list.  Still we made a dint in the list.  Dh's job was to finished mudding and sanding the drywall in the closets, and he got that accomplished.  It was a horrible job as the closets aren't the biggest of rooms, so quite claustrophobic and very hot in there.  A job when all completed will be so worth it.  I now need to undercoat/prime them to see if there are any imperfections that need sorting out before I paint them. Mind you I have to strip some paint off a door frame; I didn't realize it was painted, and sand and varnish the floors, so we are still a bit away from finishing them.


I got all the grass cut.....YEAH!!!  I even got some whipper snipping done; then I lost the ends again and didn't dare ask dh to sort it all out for me........AGAIN!!  I got some raspberries picked and frozen.  I have enough now to make some jam.  Goodness knows when that will be though as I have a lot of other things to do first.


We did get errands ran in between hands, so it wasn't all work all weekend.  No housework done though, other than a load of laundry and hoovering up downstairs.  Again I'll no doubt get to the housework later on in the week.


I have to work on Tuesday.  I don't know how people work outside of the house and try and look after five acres and everything else?  If you own an acreage and work outside of the house, can you let me know how you do it all?  Dh works hard at work and does all the renovations, so looking after the housework, all the cooking and cleaning and all the outside garden work is my job.  I have found it hard this time working as well.


I picked up a copy of the September/October Hobby Farm Home magazine the other day.  Check out the website if you have a moment.  I saw this recipe on there for Crockpot Potato Soup, that I think I may make sometime.


Also do you think we are in for a cold winter?  The trees and bushes are covered in fruit and berries this year, which I always think is an indication of a long hard winter.

This Mountain Ash tree is covered in berries.

I noticed that they are harvesting the field opposite us..........Fall is heading our way!!!

The new header photo is of a Coconut Lime Echinacea flower I have in the garden.

That bloody tractor is broken AGAIN.........

and this time it wasn't me that broke it..........

Actually all that's wrong with it, is the battery is flat in it, as ds left it switched on and flattened the battery.  So now we have to go and buy a bloody battery charger for it.  Meanwhile the lawn looks like a hay field again.

I don't know, that lawn tractor will be the death of me.  So I guess on my "day off" on Tuesday I will spend the day cleaning the house and doing laundry again instead of cutting the grass.  At least it's a bit cooler with temps in the low to mid 30's with the humidity, so that's a blessing.

Otherwise things are quiet around the Acreage.  Oh, dh did pick up a new garage door for $165.  It says on the instructions that it take's between 9 to 12 hours to install it????  What the heck...........told him he could install it when my brother is here..........I bet my brother would love that....not!!

Meanwhile must nag encourage dh to get the closets finished so I can get the bedroom and bathroom decorated before he arrives, otherwise he is going to have to sleep in a foot of dust in the bedroom.  Oh and Molly has decided she likes to sleep in the spare bedroom bed, under the covers no less when we are not in.  So along with all the dust there is the dog hair as well......nice or what!

Welcome to "Chez Acreage," the hotel will all the added bonuses: wildlife, super clean rooms, and great meals (get you're own or starve!!), and staff who cater to your every need ;0)