Homestead Facelift- A Work in Progress

This summer has been a very busy one at the Milbrandt residence - our house is in the process of receiving a complete makeover! 

I want to state for the official record that I am in awe of my husband and his ability to do all of these amazing things.  Construction has been his trade since long before I knew him, but seeing these things happen right in front of my eyes is very impressive.  I don't think I will ever be able to say thank you enough for all the hard work and hours he has put into this project, so I will just take the before and after pictures and stick to the non-structural improvements like flowers!

I am also in awe at the amazing people in our life that have been willing to help.  Evenings after work,  beautiful sunny weekend days, even in 100-degree temps, you name it they have been there.

Thank you to all of you - you know who you are!!

Note: I will update this entry as we progress through the to-do list, so please check back and see what we have been up to since your last visit!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Before: Old Roof

After: New Roof

Thank you to Adam, Al, and Dylan for your help!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before: Front of House Getting a New Garden

Thank you Becky and Diane

 

During: Layout starting to take shape

 

 

After: Front Sitting Garden Complete

Thank you to my mom Sue! 

This project started YEARS ago and is finally completed with the exception of the growing part!  I call this my "Secret Garden" because you can't see it at all until you get right up to the house!  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before: Side of Garage In Progress

Tehya and Ada helping (tool belts and all!)

Dan with Tehya on the Roof - "Hi Mom!"
(as moms heart skips a beat!)

After: Side of Garage Complete
New siding and Cedar Trim around windows

Thank you to John for all your help!!

Note: "We" decided that the blockwork at the base of the house needs a fresh coat

 of paint now too -  oh no, another thing added to the to-do list! At least it's something I can do!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before: Fence looking pretty drab next to the new siding and trim on the house.  I decided that it MUST be feeling left out and should get a make-over as well:

During: Ada helping mom stain

During: Beth and I staining

During: Front side half done - what a difference!

 

After: To Come Soon!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before: Back of House

After: To come Soon!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

House Plant Update

My peace lilly is currently blooming, and the rubber plant and african violet love there new spots on our kitchen counter by the window
My other violets that used to be at my office are doing beautifully by our other kitchen window. They seem to like being at home more than at work.....I think I agree with them!

How many Milbrandts does it take to fix a toilet?

After having our upstairs toilet innards give out on us, Dan bought all new guts for the repair. I decided that I could do this all on my own and took on the task.

After removing all the old parts and scrubbing out the tank it was time to start deciphering the bi-lingual instructions that were not as clear as the box promised.

Flange A goes to Fill tube with a cone siphon gasket...blah did de blah blah blah. Who writes these things?!?!?

The parts appear to be assembled correctly and I decide it is time to turn the water flow back on. No leaks from the wall connection, no leaks when the tank fills so it is time to test flush....

DISASTER!!!! There is definately a leak now!

After employing Dan's assistance (and being reminded that I really need to tighten things harder) it was determined that the flood really wasn't my fault. The rubber gasket between the tank and base that came with the new kit was not the same size as the old one causing a gap allowing the water to come out. A quick change back to the old gasket and we have a functioning toilet...with no leaks!

A New Play Room for the Girls

Recently Tehya decided that she wanted to move back upstairs and share a bedroom with Ada. We moved the bunkbeds upstairs and Ada is now in a big girl bed! The first project was to turn Tehya's bedroom downstairs into a playroom for the girls. Above is the before picture with Grandma Sue helping me get a game plan for the day of hard work ahead of us!

This picture is the after look. A wallpaper border was added, some fun girly paintings were hung and all the toys were sorted organized and put away. We turned the closet into dress up central and now the girls have a closet full of fun dresses and coats and such to play with. I have a couple of long mirrors that I need to hang on the one wall and then the room will be complete!

Tornado Hits Hugo

Sunday evening around 5pm an F3 class Tornado hit the town of Hugo. The twister touched down about a mile up the road from our house and left devistation in its wake. Several families are without homes, a 2 year old little boy lost his life and there are millions of dollars of property damage. A large majority of the town was evacuated from their homes due to gas leaks from the destroyed homes. Over half the town lost their power and for hours there were over a hundred people that were considered as missing. The elementary school was turned into a makeshift shelter where reports say medical attention was given to over 200 people that were injured in the storm. The storm itself lasted about 5 minutes, and as scary as it was, we got off lightly compared to others so close to us. The summer will be filled with sounds of repairs.
The average size of hail that hit our area was about the size of a golf ball. It sounded like a machine gun was shooting them out at our house they were coming down so fast.
3 sides of our house have hail damage. You can see some of the holes in this picture. We will need all new siding, soffits, facia and roof. We also had hail damage to our trailer that was sitting in the driveway.
I was amazed that even though there are holes in the siding right around it, my favorite ceramic planter doesnt have a scratch on it. My flowers in all my gardens and planters were shredded.
A hole in our kitchen window screen - look how big that is! We know how lucky we are to have our lives and good health after this storm hit so close to us. Thank you to all of you that called and sent text messages to check in on us...it is heartwarming to know that so many people care. Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine the little town of Hugo would be the center of attention on the news!

The Crud Hits our House

Easter Sunday Dan wasn't feeling well so he stayed home to rest up while the girls and I headed to Kasson to visit my grandparents for Easter.
When we got back home I found Dan in bed running a 104.4 temperature! It was quite scary as he was a bit delerious and wasn't quite sure what was going on.
Grandma Sue was able to come up and sit with the girls while I took Dan to the ER to get checked out.
After several hours, three bags of fluids, a gammet of tests, a round with the nebulizer and some pain meds that finally knocked him out it was determined that Dan had Influenza B. The doctor told me that Dan was not to be left unattended for the next 24-hours and that he needed his temperature to be checked every hour to insure that it was not peaking again. I was really worried about him, especially when they told me that people die from this!
A HUGE thank you to my mom for staying the night to take care of the girls so that I could attend to Dan. I was worried that after taking care of Dan that I would make the girls sick if I got too close to them.
An even BIGGER thank you to my mom for staying through the next day and night as well since I ended up getting sick too! She became a master at chasing after our sicky butts with the Lysol spray! Knowing what we were dealing with my doc was able to get me on the meds right away to keep the fever down so I didnt have near as a bad run as Dan did.
We are now at Thursday evening and we are just starting to get back to normal. Dan and I have both been home from work all week and have been struggling with not being as snuggly with the girls as we like to be.
We thank our lucky stars that neither Tehya or Ada have gotten sick, and thanks to everyone that has called and checked in on us. I think we are finally ready to rejoin the world of the living!

Our New Front Entry Floor

The before picture with our icky green and gray linoleum

Tehya helping Dad lay down chalk lines
Tehya helping Dad lay down our new floor tiles - what a great helper!