For us it was a quiet week this past week. The rejuvenation of Jenny Lane hit a milestone with the departure of Roger after completing the drainage work around the foundation, rebuilding the back patio to include three gorgeous granite steps and the rebuilding of the front stone wall, also to include three gorgeous granite steps. It was fascinating to watch him with his little digger machine manipulate, what I can only imagine very heavy granite stone steps into place with the precision of a surgeon. The dogs adored Roger and were always so excited when he arrived. Not every day but most days when the weather was good enough for him to work outside. He even moved the ginormous dumpster so he could spread the blue stone under it and then he moved it back. We could not be more thrilled with the result. First and foremost we have a dry as a bone first level. I won’t call it a basement because that implies that you must go down a flight of stairs to get there. We are actually on the level that you enter the house and you must go up a flight of stairs to get to the living room and the kitchen and the other two bedrooms and bathrooms. So, no it is not a basement. However, it is dry and no longer smells musty and damp. John finished some cleanup on the ceilings and walls in preparation for the coming week. I painted the laundry room white which has made a huge difference. I’m not finished yet but the bit I have done has made things so much brighter and cleaner. Still have another wall and the floor to do but I’ll get to it eventually.

In addition, John put together the new mailbox. We somehow received two of them but we only need one. Not sure what to do with the second one if they don’t come and pick it up but in the meantime, we are officially here.

The Great Bed Shuffle

In preparation for the coming holidays we needed to make a decision about beds. John and I decided that with all the animals loving to join us on our bed at various times that we really needed to go back to a king size bed. That is what we have in Canada and South Carolina so we decided to make the move. Lucky for us we have a niece-in-law who works at Wayfair and we were able to get one of the Nora beds at a very decent price. The great bed shuffle was on. Katie got our queen mattress and her mattress came downstairs for the guest/Jack’s room. We unpacked the Nora bed and watched it come to life. Never seen anything quite like that before. They come rolled up in a box and then they expand when you unpack them. We had to buy a metal frame but we also had twin box springs in the attic that we would hope to use as the foundation. Unfortunately they are not long enough but they will do for the time being. It seems we have done nothing but unmake beds, switch rooms, and switch mattresses since we got down here at the end of September. John and I moved from the twin bed room into Jack’s room at the farm house for a month as it was a much bigger room and it had a queen bed in it. However, Libby had our mattress so we switched that one for Jack’s. Then when we moved to Jenny Lane we moved into Jack’s room for awhile and then just last week moved into what is now our room with the queen bed.

So yesterday we moved that bed back into Jack’s room, moved Kate’s mattress down and moved our mattress up to her room and installed the twins back in our room and the new Nora king on the box springs. Crazy but it shows how flexible we have become.

Holiday Upgrade

Back in September in preparation for what we thought was step one, we bought a new stove and hood for the kitchen. Once we realized that the kitchen project had to be put on hold because of the drainage problem, we stored the stove at the store. However, upon refection, we decided that the new stove would cheer us all up and make the kitchen a little bit better. We have a great dishwasher and fridge but the stove was awful. So we had the new stove delivered on Saturday. We have ridiculous stairs to the second floor but the delivery guys were up to the challenge. They got the old stove out without difficulty and the new stove was installed with a few grunts but otherwise without incidence. After doing the prep work with it, Katie was able to cook us a delicious dinner on the stove Saturday night. Yay for the new stove.

Next Steps

This week will be a big week despite it being Thanksgiving. We have the plumber coming to disconnect the heat pipes in the two downstairs bedrooms in preparation for the foam insulation which will go in on Tuesday. The animals and we have to leave the premises for the day. Cats will go on their porch and the dogs and John and I will go to North Hatley for lunch and to pick up some things that we need from there. One of the reasons John and I moved out of Jack’s room was because of the lack of insulation and the fact that we would wake up with frozen heads in the morning. Hopefully when we get back on Tuesday night we will have sound insulation and no more leaks. I was chatting with my sister on the phone and was sitting in a chair that allowed me to see at a level that you don’t normally see when standing and I mentioned that I could see day light through the wall. NOT GOOD! It is winter in New Hampshire.

We also are hoping for a real wall between the two bedrooms as we continue to use quilt covers for walls. Not necessarily perfect. We have been told that the wall will go up this week. Big decisions about heat sources need to be made this week too. Do we go with mini-splits that do air and heat or do we just install pipes to continue using the hot water heat. I don’t know the answer to that question yet.

Intermittent Fasting

Trying something new this week. I don’t really like to eat first thing in the morning and haven’t eaten before my walks in years. This meant that I was eating breakfast usually after my walk. In the olden days I walked really early. So this didn’t make a huge difference as I would be done about 9 in the morning. Now I don’t walk until 9 or 9:30 so I don’t get back until 11 or 11:30. Therefore, I thought I could do this pretty easily. The trick is to go for 16 hours without eating. So I stop eating/drinking anything by 8 pm and I don’t eat until noon the next day. It is suppose to correct all kinds of issues. Regulate blood sugar levels, help you lose weight, make you brighter and more clear headed and on and on. So far I have done this for 11 days and am coping quite well. Sleeping pretty well, not hungry and have quite a bit of energy. The jury is out on whether I lose any weight or not but I feel better.

Walking this week

The dogs and I have had some wonderful walks this week. The weather has been pretty good except for Tuesday when it rained. We walked in the snow and we walked in some beautiful sunshine and blue skies. We found some friends to walk with and the dogs had a wonderful romp while I had a good time chatting with their humans. I did discover that one of my walking friends ran into the famous bear a few days after we did which made me a little nervous thinking he might still be in the area. I am hoping since the cold weather arrived that he has decided it is time to hibernate. We did have a super cold night and everything froze out there so we had to be very careful walking as there was ice everywhere. It is the one thing that I do not like about winter at all. Ice. However, I was pretty careful and I did have my walking stick. Plan to get my ice picks for my boots when I am in Canada this week.

Thanksgiving Recipe

Benefits of Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients
1 pie crust
15 oz pumpkin pie filling
9 oz evaporated milk
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp cinnamon
3 oz Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey
Instructions

1. Poke holes in the pie shell and bake at 400F for 12 minutes until golden brown. Set aside.
2. Crack 2 eggs into large bowl and whisk lightly until mixed.
3. Add pumpkin pie filling, evaporated milk, sugar, salt, ginger, cloves, cinnamon and Fireball.
4. Mix well and pour into cooled pie shell.
5. Bake at 425F for 15 minutes.
6. Reduced oven to 350F and bake for a further 45 minutes.
7. Use a toothpick in centre of pie to determine if it is done. If it comes out clean, remove pie from oven.
8. Let cool for 2 hours before serving. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream. Sprinkle cinnamon lightly over pie and
   whipped cream