Let it Snow!

Anthropologist Franz Boas claimed Eskimos have hundreds of words for snow. Some people consider it a myth, although some recent evidence may prove Boas right.

But I, Shannon Ryals, have only two names for snow – wanted and unwanted. Think about it. 

There are perfect times for a wintry wonderland. Other times, it is horrible and no one knows if they should try to go to work. Then memes are posted about milky sandwiches and how Southerners can’t drive in snow flurries.

But the snow we had a few days ago came at a perfect time. It started after midnight on a Friday, so we could wake up and be lazy. But then the roads were cleared so we were able to get out to the farm for some fun.

And the day didn’t disappoint. 

The snow by the house was deep and perfect for making angels. The sled run on the pasture hill was amazing, as long as you stayed on the path. One false move and someone was sure to lose and eye. Bailey ran up the hill at least 50 times, while most of us opted to ride the UTV.

I love the pop of red!

On top of the hill.

The girls love riding with Papaw.

The infamous mattress sled that ended up going way faster than expected. Mamaw and Madi ended up in the creek, and it was Madi's favorite run of the day. 

Even Michael took a few turns. 

Bailey is a cold weather mutt.

Abby would only sled with the twins. She trusted no one else. 

Evidence we take sledding seriously. 

Getting our sled on.

Such a gorgeous place. I want to get snow shoes for exploring next snow. 

Bailey gets so close to the sleds.

Snow angels

My pictures don't do it justice. It was so quiet and peaceful. 

It didn't quite freeze all the way. 

Until next snow!

Hope we have at least one more good snow that shuts down the town and everyone has off of school and work. And maybe I can add another snow word to my vocabulary – acceptable. 

New Year = more progress

American author Napleon Hill said, “Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.”

Although people have mixed feelings about Hill – some even calling him a conman – his word are pretty convicting.

Whether it’s pursuing a crazy dream or remodeling a farmhouse, sometimes you just have to go for it. Or in our case – make the time and do it.

We took a month hiatus on farm work due to holidays.

Here are the reasons we didn't work. 1. A new farm toy. 

2. Cousins were in town!

3. We rode the UTV up the mountain.

4. We were just having too much fun.

But we were back at it with a few things on the to do list to accomplish.

Michael and I are spontaneous decision makers. (It sounds petrifying, and I am sure our parents, employers and friends will read that in horror.)

We just go with our gut, but it usually serves us well.

Until today – I could not make up my mind on which chandelier we should buy.

I liked all the choices. I knew they would all look great. I just couldn’t pull the trigger on which one to get.

So as any mature adult would do, I turned to Snap Chat and in the end let my 6 year old decide.

Michael already installed the fixture, and it looks fabulous. 

Old fixture

New and improved fixture

Way to go Madi. You’re now the official decision maker in our house. (Could you imagine? We would drink hot chocolate for every meal, play school and memory non-stop and never ever cut our nails.)

We also primed Abby’s room. The bunny rabbit mural is no more. Hopefully we can paint the room this week. Abby originally wanted a grass green room, but I sweetly persuaded her to choose a more subdued color. She went with a light teal.

Goodbye bunny mural.

She was really getting into her work. 

Ta-da -  ready for Lazy days aka light teal paint. Who gets to name paint?

The plan is to work every weekend the next two months and hopefully start moving furniture over in the spring. Keep me accountable.

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!