One year

It's hard to believe, but today is exactly one year since we bought the house. This time last year, we were sitting in a closing wondering if we were making the right decision, or if we were certifiably nuts.

Still haven't figure that one out yet, but whatever.

A year later, there are days when we look around and are completely overwhelmed about how much we have yet to do. And then there are days when we think about the incredible amount of work we have already done. But here are some highlights of what's happened in the past year:

We demoed the pink bathroom...

...and the yellow one.

Then we reassembled them.But not at the same time.

We met some of the neighbors.

We built a wall to make a new bedroom.

We painted both of the kiddo's rooms.

We gained invaluable insight on why chickens cross roads.

We rebuilt the laundry room and put in a tile floor. We also tiled the hallway.

We tore out all the barbed wire fencing and repaired the perimeter fence, put up a sacrifice paddock, and built an additional fence line.

We ate a lot of eggs.

We tore down the carport.

We had the house re-plumbed, and we had a solar water heater installed.

We had our 5 panel boxes consolidated into one, and had 220 amp electric run to the property.

We learned how to snake out a drain...

... and hot wire a tractor.

I tried to grow a garden, but it didn't work out so well.

The family helped us tear down the front gates.

We had a gas line run to the kitchen...

... so that we could install a gas range. We also replaced all the other appliances in the kitchen.

We had a French door installed instead of our falling-apart picture window.

We adopted Anie...

... Maddy...

... and Artemis...

... and we found a home for the stray kitten that showed up.

We had half a new roof installed.

We got the fireplace repaired.

We built out the hubby's workshop and painted it.

Probably I am missing a few things, but I think that covers the basics.

And, we're still happily married, we haven't damaged any body parts with power tools, and we haven't managed to electrocute ourselves or blow anything up. I'd say that in of itself is cause for celebration!

Hopefully in the next year we'll get to a bunch of the projects we didn't complete this year, including:

• Finish both bathrooms (they just need a little bit to finish them completely, really!)
• Build out the interior of the hubby's workshop
• Paint and weatherize the exterior of the house
  
• Tear down the cisterns and the shed and then build the barn
• Build out a front porch and back deck
  
• Finish the back garden and add in some landscaping on the front of the house
• Have the other half of the house re-roofed
  
• Put in a new front fence and gate
• Remodel the kitchen
• Paint the living room and family room
• Start working on the guest house

Doesn't sound like too much, does it? I think we can get most of it done next week... ;)