Progress

We now find ourselves half way through the summer with still so much to do. Jimi is non-stop hard at work on the church, which we try not to call the church anymore, but refer to as our house. It’s sometimes hard to talk him in to taking time off for other events. And when he’s not able to work on this summer’s scheduled projects, he picks up other things that will eventually need to be done.

This year’s goals were to make us a living space, glaze the windows and replace the shingles on the roof. In the process, a few things have been added to the ‘must do’ list. The biggest of these were fixing leaks. Most were from the gutters. Others were due to rotten floor boards at the doorways and foundation drainage. One item on this year’s list that won’t get done is glazing the windows. They have proven to be too time-consuming. The storm windows must come off and remain off while the glazing dries. Jimi doesn’t want to do more than one window at a time because that would mean too many windows would be unprotected and exposed to the unpredictable weather at the same time. After some inspection, he’s determined that while the windows need to be addressed, they aren’t as critical as he first thought. He’ll simply get to each one as he’s able and focus his attention on more feasible and pressing items.

Repurposed from the racks that held the hymnals on the back of the pews to spice racks.

Part of a pew repurposed to a corner seat by the shower.

This is what the curb portion of the yard looked like when we arrived in May.

We planted grass and I water every morning and every evening. We were so excited when we saw our first baby grass.

And now she's green! We still have some thin spots and lots of weeds, but that's ok. Our goal is to get strong grass roots planted to make it through the winter. We'll deal with the weeds next May.

Jimi's been doing little things here and there on the sanctuary floor and stage area.

He began removing the rubber matting that was underneath the carpet to reveal the same beautiful wood floors.

And he's removed a few more walls in the garage area.

He built a motorized lift to haul the shingles to the roof.

And he's moved all the shingles (two pallets worth) to the roof. 

He began deconstruction and removal of the marquee sign.

This area by the double doors was saturated with water when it rained. Jimi removed the rotten wood to fix the problem only to find it went deeper. His two-hour project turned in to five days. Under the rotten wood was a wide open spot with loose brick thrown in the gap. He removed all that, cleaned it up, poured new concrete and made a new floor board. I failed to take photos of the process.

He installed the garage door, which at this time opened to a brick wall.

Then he had a truck load of dirt delivered for the driveway into the garage.

Then he took a saw to the brick and pushed the wall down.

And now the garage door is exposed.

I stay busy with working, church activities and family – sometimes over extending myself. We’re settled into our temporary living space nicely and have made it very comfortable. We’ve traded and rearranged furniture several times making it just perfect for us and I’m sure we’ll do more along the way. We’ve made some new friends and acquaintances in Alma, very much enjoy the community and couldn’t be happier with our location. We can walk to the bank, hardware store, post office, grocery store, movie theater, Napa, attorney’s office, variety store and more.  Everything is less than two blocks away in one direction or another. It sounds busy, but it’s really not.

We hosted our first annual memorial day BBQ at our new home.  Attendance was good and even though we weren’t quite set up for the event, it went well. We invited family and friends from my church. The children played on the grandiose steps with sidewalk chalk and pin wheels, we had horse shoes, croquet and lots of good food.

For Father’s Day, we went to Pioneer Village in Minden, Nebraska. Jennifer, Gavlin, Kayne, Aubree and my parents joined us. I remember going to Pioneer village as a child when we would come visit my grandparents. There is so much history there; a person could spend days and still not see everything. See their website here: http://www.pioneervillage.org

We were spoiled when we found out the Independence Day parade gathered kitty corner from our property and then started directly on the North side of our yard. We simply pulled out our lawn chairs and camera and enjoyed the excitement. That afternoon, my parents picked me up and we went to the park for a live patriotic concert in the park. Jimi, of course, stayed behind worked on the house.

Remember Brittany? She is my great-niece who spent last fall on Sanibel with us. Well, she graduated high school and is now on to the next chapter of her life. The ceremony was held in Lincoln at the University of Nebraska High School and the following day, we threw a reception for her at Cottonmill Park in Kearney. We’re very proud of her.

In the few short months we’ve been here our granddaughter, Aubree, has changed so much. She can now hold her head up on her own, tries hard to sit up on her own, she’s alert, recognizes people and laughs or smiles nearly all the time. We enjoy spending time with her and watching her grow. It will be hard to leave her this fall.

Jimi and I love finding treasures at second-hand stores and yard sales. Saturday is usually the day to do this type of shopping. We’ve found some neat things and while I don’t have a picture of everything for you, here are a few.

Claw foot desk.

Chair from the late 1800's.

Singer sewing machine in mint condition from the 1950's.

Phase one begins...

The last week of April, Jimi drove from 100-degree weather in Florida straight into a Nebraska snowstorm. I'm sure he was wondering what he'd gotten himself into. The idea was to avoid the extreme cold and the extreme heat. I, however, was enjoying perfect weather in Texas. By the time I flew to Nebraska the weather was quite nice and then again in mid-May Mother Nature gifted us with lots of rain and forty degree weather. I had already packed away all my winter clothes including winter coats and for about a week, I was miserable and wondering what I'd gotten myself into. 

Jimi’s been here about a month. He's been working on converting the classrooms into a reasonable and comfortable living space, which we’ll occupy for the next three summers. He’s making good progress.

We’ve been watching for used items and also sales on new items for purchase. Along with things given to us, we’ve made out well. Although it's not easy being frugal, we managed to find a nice stove, over the counter microwave and dishwasher for $275. Jimi found a comfy chair at the second-hand store for $25. My father gave us the refrigerator from his basement and my sister gave me a glider rocker. Along with the TV we previously purchased and my Grandmother's table we had in storage and a couple of old bookshelves found in the church, our kitchen, dining room, and living room is complete. It’s a little crowded, but cozy and functional.

This corner of the room is our living room with two chairs and a TV. We don't have cable, but we do have a media box and internet going straight to the TV for Youtube and other services that offer entertainment. The only downside is there isn't room for entertaining guests. However, we have to remember it's only temporary.

This was my grandmother's table and the chairs were in the basement of the church.

There's a bookshelf next to the refridgerator which acts as a pantry and another along the wall in front of the stove which hold our dishes, etc. (Neither are shown in the picture).

The dishwasher is installed in the room that houses the furnace and water heater. The water heater wasn’t functioning properly, so Jimi ordered parts to fix it; however, it’s still wasn't cooperating as it should. He thinks he may have figured out that some internal wiring was hooked up incorrectly, therefore, he's still working on it and testing it before we fork out the bucks to buy a new one.

Jimi will build some storage cabinets, etc. in here down the road. But for now, this works well.

What used to be the ladies bathroom now has a working shower in it along with a utility size sink. For now, we’ll use it primarily for our kitchen sink, but when we move to the sanctuary Jimi will keep it for his garage sink.

Jimi will build a table top between the wall and the sink. The shower is located on the other side of the sink.

Everything that involved plumbing was done the way it is using existing plumbing. It may seem a bit wacky, but saved alot of time, money and hassle.

What used to be the men’s bathroom is now just ‘the bathroom’. We didn't make any changes to it, so I didn't take a picture.

He’s removed the wall between the first and second rooms making himself a large workspace. And this is where the garage door will be installed too.

We have a bedroom with a brand new mattress. We haven’t used one of these in years. We didn’t purchase a box spring or frame because he’s going to custom build one for us that will fit the décor in the permanent bedroom. My parents gave us a rack to hang clothes on and a chest of drawers for Jimi. Therefore our bedroom is complete for now.

Other than the workshop/garage space, I have the biggest room in the place. It serves the purpose of at least four rooms. First is my office space with my work desk, printer, and other essential supplies. Then we have a spare twin bed set up for the occasional overnight guest. The bed came with the purchase of the church and we figure we may as well utilize it. Then I have my craft room with a sewing table (purchased for $8 at the second hand store) and a sewing machine given to me by my sister, my easel and all my paints (oil, acrylic and watercolor), my Cricut, Slice, Big Kick and all the little tidbits to go with them. I'm in a crafter's heaven! And finally, I've set up a TV with my Wii, PS2 and PacMan consol. I know they are a bit dated, They've been in storage and I'm perfectly happy with what I've got.

My desk - this is where you will find me Monday thru Friday, 8am to 4:30pm. 

Spare bed. The metal frame is an old hospital bed. You can see that the mattress is much shorter than the bed frame. My father plugged it in, but nothing worked.

All the furniture that makes up my craft room was left in the building when we bought it. 

I'm happy with it.

Just yesterday Jimi build a wall and installed a door along the long hallway to separate the workspace/garage are from the living space. The will help to keep the sawdust, etc. down, noise reduction and privacy. It may seem a little odd at first, but I like it there.

Before

After

In Jimi’s spare time he’s removed the neon green carpet from the sanctuary, disassembled the pews, stacking and storing them in the basement and collected at least 32 gallons of bat guano from the rafters above the sanctuary; it's great fertilizer. There’s no shortage of work to be done. At times it can be overwhelming deciding what to work on first. Not to worry though – Jimi has a handle on priority.

Under this rubber matting is beautiful wood floors screaming for attention.

The sanctuary without the pews.

We met our first grandchild and as I would expect any grandparent to say, “she’s the cutest thing ever!”. She rarely cries; however, she does pucker her lips, as if she’s going to cry and then gives us a great big smile. We call her our little faker.

The movies are on! One of our favorite things about the area is the movie theater in Oxford. On Monday nights we can go see a movie for $2 person. Last night we saw 'The Zookeeper's Wife'. We splurged on our snacks though at $4.50. The price included a medium popcorn with butter ($2), a small popcorn without butter ($1), a large water (50 cents) and M&Ms ($1). 

  

My father has graciously loaned me his car, so I have transportation when I need it. I’ve been able to visit family, attend church or go to the store while Jimi is focused on his projects.

I believe our living space is done. Jimi can now begin the next phase on his summer list. He needs to replace the roof of the church side, glaze the windows and install the garage door.

This year is all about preparing our space. Actual renovations on the church itself will begin next summer.