spring is in the air
...and a young woman's thoughts turn to love.
Except I'm not so young anymore, and I'm married. So my thoughts turn to more practical things like home improvement and gardening.
We are getting ready to employ a contractor to work on the little cottage out back here at the old homeplace. This "Little House" as we have always called it in my family, is a 400-500 square foot house located about 25 feet behind our big house (which is about 1000 square feet, so 'big' is a relative term in these circumstances.) My great-grandparents built this Little House about 40 years ago to have parties and to have a separate area to cook smelly stuff like fish and collards, and 'put up' the fruit of their garden. They had a big backyard veg garden and canned or blanched (for freezing) everything in it- beets, beans, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, etc- as well as making pickles, hot sauce, and jelly every summer. It used to have a gas stove and heater, a water heater, washer and dryer, and an extra freezer and fridge. All the appliances are gone now, and the w/d have been moved in the house, which has been very convenient for my great-grandma.
However, now we're here, and we need a little more space to breathe, so we're looking toward rehabbing the Little House. Our dream is to make it into an 'in-law' suite, and add back the appliances, an electric heater, and a bathroom (woo hoo, an extra bathroom! If you have ever lived with anyone other than yourself in a house with only one bathroom, you know how excited we all are about this prospect.) We are also excited about having a 'private' space where we can go practice the 'married arts.' I'll leave the rest to your imagination. Just know that our current bedroom shares one wall with my great-grandma's bedroom and one wall with where the Kid sleeps, so we need some 'adult' space in a bad way. Moving on...
The contractor we hope to use is actually a man who helped his father build the Little House when he was a young man. He's still working, and we're excited to see if he can work on it again. Only in Bertie County.
We also just ordered a shit load of berry bushes. We've never grown berries before, but hey- the catalog said they were easy to grow! And we wanted plenty of berry alternatives for Noah, as he is allergic to NC's favorite summer berry, the strawberry. Say it with me- awwww. How terrible! We hope he'll outgrow this horrible affliction, but in the meantime, we will have loads of blueberries, elderberries, and blackberries to eat. In about 3 years, of course. These things take time.
I feel so old, getting excited about home improvement. Don't remind me that I'm going to be thirty this year. Sigh. But hey, when the berry bushes get laden and heavy, and we're overflowing with juicy goodness, we could pick a couple of bushels, and fill our new private bath tub, and...hey, I think I am feeling young and frisky thinking about gardening after all! If you'll excuse me...
Except I'm not so young anymore, and I'm married. So my thoughts turn to more practical things like home improvement and gardening.
We are getting ready to employ a contractor to work on the little cottage out back here at the old homeplace. This "Little House" as we have always called it in my family, is a 400-500 square foot house located about 25 feet behind our big house (which is about 1000 square feet, so 'big' is a relative term in these circumstances.) My great-grandparents built this Little House about 40 years ago to have parties and to have a separate area to cook smelly stuff like fish and collards, and 'put up' the fruit of their garden. They had a big backyard veg garden and canned or blanched (for freezing) everything in it- beets, beans, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, etc- as well as making pickles, hot sauce, and jelly every summer. It used to have a gas stove and heater, a water heater, washer and dryer, and an extra freezer and fridge. All the appliances are gone now, and the w/d have been moved in the house, which has been very convenient for my great-grandma.
However, now we're here, and we need a little more space to breathe, so we're looking toward rehabbing the Little House. Our dream is to make it into an 'in-law' suite, and add back the appliances, an electric heater, and a bathroom (woo hoo, an extra bathroom! If you have ever lived with anyone other than yourself in a house with only one bathroom, you know how excited we all are about this prospect.) We are also excited about having a 'private' space where we can go practice the 'married arts.' I'll leave the rest to your imagination. Just know that our current bedroom shares one wall with my great-grandma's bedroom and one wall with where the Kid sleeps, so we need some 'adult' space in a bad way. Moving on...
The contractor we hope to use is actually a man who helped his father build the Little House when he was a young man. He's still working, and we're excited to see if he can work on it again. Only in Bertie County.
We also just ordered a shit load of berry bushes. We've never grown berries before, but hey- the catalog said they were easy to grow! And we wanted plenty of berry alternatives for Noah, as he is allergic to NC's favorite summer berry, the strawberry. Say it with me- awwww. How terrible! We hope he'll outgrow this horrible affliction, but in the meantime, we will have loads of blueberries, elderberries, and blackberries to eat. In about 3 years, of course. These things take time.
I feel so old, getting excited about home improvement. Don't remind me that I'm going to be thirty this year. Sigh. But hey, when the berry bushes get laden and heavy, and we're overflowing with juicy goodness, we could pick a couple of bushels, and fill our new private bath tub, and...hey, I think I am feeling young and frisky thinking about gardening after all! If you'll excuse me...
posted by gabrielle at 6:17 PM
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