It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

Merry Christmas to the Ryals – remodeling is finally picking up steam.

The biggest hang up with the kitchen was the counters.

These are faux butcher block counters. Caring for real wood is like having another child to care for. 

Supposedly, we have such odd taste that only one other person in the Tri-Cities has ever ordered the countertops we picked. I am not sure what that says about our style.

But hallelujah! They finally arrived and are being installed this week, as should my Ikea farmhouse sink, which is the only reason we decided to remodel in the first place.

We saved $70 bucks since we found the sink in the clearance section, but we are spending quite a bit more installing it. (Insert crazy face emoji.)

This will be our coffee bar. A friend made the floating shelves. If you look close you can see the hooks for coffee mugs. 

We decided to buy new appliances. I went with stainless. Not my first choice, but the price was unbeatable. I'll take any cleaning tips for those. 

More big news includes the demo of the bathroom.

 Our original plan included a new floor, but we decided to redo the wood floor and keep the farmhouse feel. The plan also include storage shelves made out of old pallets. Take that HGTV!

The bathroom was very outdated, but that wasn’t the reason we decided to begin this project.

There wasn’t a shower. I don’t know about you, but I can’t take a bath before work every morning.

Right now the bathroom has been gutted, and we have worked with the contractor and his crew to create a usable space.

Seeing this bare wall and all these materials makes me nervous. 

Michael and I agree on most things when it comes to the farmhouse. But there have been a few Pinterest ideas I love and he does not and gives me the look. But I give him the look back, bat my eyes and then tell him to go hunt. It’s a weird negotiation process but it works.

Now we need to use January and February to finish painting. I’m planning a painting party. So all of you who said you were interested in helping, bring your leftover Christmas cookies and wine, clear your schedule and let’s get this done!

We love parties and decided to have the family over for chili. So what if it was freezing cold!

Bundle up the children!

They loved eating in front of the fire. 

Around 20 family members showed up, ate chili and roasted smores. 

Veggie Tales

Michael has the green thumb in the family.

I killed a cactus.

I was in fifth grade so maybe I wasn’t mature enough to handle the responsibility of a desert plant. But it did not survive, and, to this day, I haven’t had much better luck.

But Michael works on a garden every year and feeds his family with all sorts of great veggies. And 2017 will be an epic veggie year.

He has already tilled the garden and has an excel list of what he wants to plant. I asked him to make enough space to walk through the garden. I get nervous when plants get big. My imagination runs wild, and I think there are snakes under all the bushes.

The future garden. 

But while admiring the garden, we found a new friend.

Last time we found a turtle shell it was broken, but this time the shell was inhabited.

Cute visitor

Abby’s favorite part was tickling the turtle’s toes. The turtle’s favorite part was when we left him alone. I’m pretty sure he gave me a wink when we walked away.

Abby loves all creatures.

But there’s one problem with the garden – I can’t cook as fast as the vegetables grow.

I know we want to can, as well as be good stewards of the bounty and share with family and friends.

I would love for you to share any great recipes for canning, jams, fresh vegetable dishes. Better yet, I would love for anyone to volunteer and teach me to can or make new recipes. Any takers?

Back to the Grind

“Work work work work work.”

Is this song from Rihanna appropriate? No.

Is it catchy? Yes.

I can’t help the fact it gets stuck in my head, and I sing it out loud.

My kids join in but they sing, “Work work work work work. Whistle while you work work work work work.”

Bless their sweet hearts, and thank you seven wholesome dwarves who know the value of hard work.

But seriously, it has been a work fest at the farm.

Michael has devoted tireless hours to sanding the dining room wall so we could paint. The contractor has been working on the kitchen. And the rest of us have been scrubbing and painting. We have managed to make huge strides on the house, and it is looking fabulous.

The dining room has been painted a soft green. Now we need a new light fixture. 

The animal mural is gone. Madi's room is now a light purple. 

There was a minor delay due to the children who helped paint the dining room and happen to like a lot of paint on their brushes. As I cringed during those minutes, they found great pride in their work and still talk about how helpful they were and how much fun they had.

The work is hard but the memories are sweet - most of the time.

It’s not all labor though.

We have taken some time to further explore the land and found a hiking path through the woods, which will make a great camping spot. And we have managed to have a few bonfires on these chilly nights. I’m always game because I get s’mores out of it.

And we still like each other. (Good thing I didn't write this post last week. Working together can be challenging.)
Photo credit: Emily Bartley Photography.

But we still have a long way to go before we move in.

Cue the music.

“Work work work work work.”

Slow it down!

I have never had a need for speed.

(Except when the movie Speed came out. I was a huge Keanu Reeves fan. And I needed to see that movie at least 100 times.)

But really, going fast is not my thing.

I did get a speeding ticket a few years ago, but to this day I think I was wrongly accused. Is 62 in a 55 really speeding?

Anyway, Papaw got a new toy for the farm – a John Deere riding mower. When it is used, it appears to go faster than my first car, which was a powder blue Ford Escort…hatchback. Sweet.

Upon my research, it really only goes 7 mph. But seriously, it just looks so fast when they use it.

When asked if I wanted to drive it, I politely declined.

But after hearing peer pressure heckles from Michael and wanting to teach my daughters that girls can do anything, I moved towards the mower.

As I climbed on, I could just imagine me somehow losing control, crashing into the barn and being disowned by the entire Ryals family.

But I did it.

I couldn't remember how to turn. 

Handling this ride like a boss. Notice nervous nanny Bailey following me. 

The ride wasn’t pretty as I kept forgetting how to turn and feeling like I was traveling at light speed around the yard.

I stayed in control for the most part, and I am proud to say I know how to drive it.

However, I’ll continue to let Michael and Papaw have all the fun mowing the yard.

Remodeling update:

We started painting Madi's funkadelic closet. It had stars, swirls, dots, you name it. We are still priming, but I think we will just paint it white. 

This will be her closet, as well as a little reading nook. It's huge. She won't really appreciate it until high school. 

 Do you have the guts?

“What have you done to the farmhouse?”

That’s the question everyone asks me. And I never know how to answer.

It seems like we’ve done a lot, but its necessary chores like mowing, cleaning and prepping for future projects.

But I am happy to announce we have made major progress this week.

We are really making strides on the dining room, which I will post about next week.

But thanks to M-Squared: Renovations the kitchen has been gutted. This team is going above and beyond to create a great kitchen.

The kitchen had textured walls. Think Italian villa (Olive Garden) or Mexican restaurant (La Caretta) - depending on your cuisine preference. The crew is fixing the walls to make them smooth. Then they will install new cabinets, new counters, back splash and maybe a floor if I can get my act together. 

We are really trying to stay on a tight budget, so I wouldn’t say this is a dream kitchen. But it’s going to be so… I don’t even know… what are some good HGTV words – updated and upgraded while still keeping a farmhouse vibe. (Remember Paige from Trading Spaces? She could explain it better. So since she isn't here, just look at the pictures.)

This is 2 hours before they took down the cabinets. I started to have commitment issues and got really nervous. 

I started thinking, "I love these brown, wood cabinets. Maybe I should keep them."

I came back later that night and found this! Not Michael, but no cabinets and emptiness. 

And this! I was so excited.



Original flooring. I don't want to try to salvage it, but I am thinking of cutting a square out and framing it. 

Saving the wood for future projects.

                                                

24 hours later M-Squared: Renovations was putting the plaster up and making the walls smooth. 

Flowers my family picked for me. 

My sweet girl.

Love this place!

                                     

From the windows to the four layers of wallpaper

I thought I could start this post with a quick history lesson about wallpaper.

After a few Google searches, I was bored and decided maybe I could find a funny story about wallpaper. Naturally, I searched presidents and wallpaper. I could just imagine Obama and Michelle having a comical tiff about decorating. I chuckled and did some impressions in my head.

Shocker, no such story existed.

But when you Google presidents and wallpaper the first entry is a link which leads to photos of Ronald Reagan on a velociraptor and Abe Lincoln on a grizzly bear.

Now you don’t have any wallpaper history facts, and I wasted 25 minutes of my life researching funny wallpaper stories.

So I will just say we started a project a few weeks ago. The dining room was covered in wallpaper, and we removed it.

The plan is to paint it green, use our large table and have a nice place to entertain. (Who wants to come for dinner?)

I really like these colors.My friend recommends Sherwin-Williams paint. Thoughts?

Michael purchased a scorer and chemicals. 

Chemical we used to get the paper down.

It came off easily at first. Then we realized there were multiple layers - make that four layers of wall paper! The hardest part was cleaning up the little piece of paper and the sticky glue.

What a mess!

Look! I'm helping too. 

It was four layers of paper!

They said they wanted to watch us. 

Everyone pitched in.

The funny thing about working with people on labor intensive projects is you see their true colors.

Michael kept at it. He is determined and a pretty laid back guy. Mamaw and Papaw just jumped in – they are always helpful. Me, I was restless. I just wanted it done. It took four Saturdays!!! Four. I assumed it would take about four hours. I was wrong.

The girls are still at the age where chores are really fun. 

Sanding the walls. 

Get to work Madi!

Michael has fixed most of the gouges and sanded the walls. Needless to say I am ready to get my paint on.

It's ready for paint and a new light fixture. 

Nailed it

I remember the first meme I ever saw. It was a Pinterest fail about a cookie monster dessert. I laughed so hard and thought who on earth could be so bad at making something that looked so simple.

The first meme I ever read. 

But little did I know - I was that person. The person who saw great ideas on Pinterest and tried to recreate them but in the end would create an ultimate fail. (Good thing my kids are young and think glitter glue and googly eyes on construction paper is the ultimate craft.)

I am faux crafty and, to be honest, my cooking creations should really end up on one of those nailed it articles you usually read on Buzzfeed. I can’t help it. I hate reading and following directions on recipes.

But with the farm, I am determined to use the fruit and vegetable we grow as much as possible.

Luckily, there are mature fruit trees. My super impressive mother-in-law made jelly out of the sour cherries. And I wanted to follow suit and make something equally as delicious.

We picked apples from the trees. They aren’t really good to eat raw, but I figured if we added some butter and sugar to them, it would make a great dessert.

I had some action shots of the girls picking fruit, but I can't find them. Instead enjoy this artsy no filter photo of the apple tree at the farm. 

The girls helped me wash them. And after I promised we would make a pie, I realized I didn’t have all the ingredients. So we improvised and took my blueberry cobbler recipe and mixed it with an apple pie recipe I found on Pinterest and it turned out great!

They aren't pretty, but they have a great personality. 

She wore a rash guard so she wouldn't get her clothes dirty. 

Madi lives to mix batter. This is not a typo. She would cease to exist if I told her no to helping mix.

At this point I was nervous. It didn't look so great. 

Surprise! It was edible.

I’m pretty sure Martha Stewart won’t be reading this blog just wondering how I pulled this dessert off. But if any of you want to know, here is my recipe:

The throw it together apple dessert

Ingredients:

• ·         Apples
• ·         1 ¼ cups of Original Bisquick
• ·         ½ cup sugar
• ·         2/3 cup milk
• ·         Brown sugar
• ·         Butter
• ·         Vanilla
• ·         Lemon juice
• ·         Cinnamon
• ·         Salt
• ·         Butter

*Some of these have no measurements because I just eyeballed it.

1. Wash, peel and dice apples

2. Melt butter and brown sugar

3. Pour on apples, add a little lemon juice, salt, vanilla and cinnamon

4. In separate bowl mix Bisquick, sugar, milk

5. Combine apples and batter

6. Either use butter or spray to coat a pan, add batter, sprinkle brown sugar on top

7. Bake at 350 F for 40 minutes.

8. Serve with ice cream if you're a sugar addict like me.

This is my confession

It’s time I let you in on a secret. I have never watched “Fixer Upper” with Chip and Joanna Gaines. It should be a show I would love, but I just don’t want to watch it. To be honest, it stresses me out.

We have a beautiful farm house that is a designer’s dream. My Pinterest board is brimming with ideas. But I am frozen like a deer in a headlight, and I have never been this way.

In the past, Michael and I would go to Lowes, pick up a few cans of paints we both agreed would be ok for our house and that would be it. But I am overwhelmed on what to do with the new house. 

Enjoy some photos of the house. Please tell me your ideas. And if you would happen to run into the Gaines - send them my way, and I will pretend to be their biggest fan while they redo my house for me. 

I would like to redo the entire kitchen. The walls are textured so they need to be smoothed. 

Gorgeous windows let the light in .

Kitchen leads into the dining room. 

My favorite piece of furniture. The previous owner left it there. This will go in the dining room. 

Laundry room.

Laundry room. Cute picture of my mom sitting on my dad's lap. Look I am wearing a romper. I basically look 5. 

This dining room had layers of wallpaper on it. I will tell you about it on my next post. 

This is the one room we've been working on. 

This will be the fancy living room. Look at the fireplace!

The house is full of original pieces like this door and check out the doorknob. 

I want to get a huge canvas and place it here. 

The girls love the doorbell. 

Seriously, I'm not buying Christmas presents. I'll tell them to go play with the doorbell. 

The family room, don't pay attention to the man on the chair. 

Man cave/workout room

View from the second floor. This looks like a painting. 

This is a landing between the bedrooms. We are going to make it a library. 

Abby's room.

Whoever painted the murals is very talented. But it's not really my taste  so they will go. 

Another mural in Madi's room.Why doesn't the giraffe have pants?

A big shout out to Heidi Perry for taking these photos.