The Good Weekend
Weekends are very volatile for us. We typically make all sorts of plans for ourselves and they get demolished but unforeseen circumstances. This weekend however, was different.
We woke up Saturday morning around 8:30 AM and had a quick and easy breakfast. Took care of the feedings of chickens, dogs, and cats (inside and out). Gathered up all of the trash bags we accumulated over the week into the bed of the truck. Got ready and loaded up and headed to town. Since we haven’t set up trash pick up yet we have to drive our bags to the dump which charges $1 a bag to drop into their dumpsters. Extra steps but they take pretty much anything you need to toss which can be helpful. After that stop we hit the Tractor Supply.
We are in the midst of building a fenced in area out on the hay field. This project has been messy from the get go with lots of stops and starts for various reasons. Jaken and Steven both have been working on getting the t-posts in the ground and straight, the big fence posts on the corners, and all the supplies out there. While working on it a few supplies were still needed so we grabbed some quickcrete to really get the posts solid in the ground, some clamps for the wire, and a few other things. Once we collected all of our supplies we headed back home to work.
While we worked on the fence a family friend came to collect some of the scrap metal that had accumulated from the barn demo that wasn’t salvageable by us. So he loaded up his trailer and hauled it off for us. We hadn’t had a chance to take it all ourselves so the pile was getting pretty wild with weeds and fallen branches so it is a relief to see that area getting cleaned back up.
As for our tasks with the fence, I got to try my hand at post hole digging and that is not for the faint of heart. It was a super hot day only with a slight breeze but it was still hard work. We got the last couple posts set up and the gate posts measured out and then mixed the quickcrete. We filled in all the holes and got the posts leveled before taking a break.
We drove the truck back up to the house and gathered our new fall flower seeds and seed starting supplies. I recently got a gardening toolkit and was dying to test it out. We got one of our extra tables over to the garden area, spread out all the little pots and Jiffy strips, and started planting. We had ordered several different fall flowers, grasses, and ornamental plant seeds from Johnny seeds. I was particularly excited about the cosmos, dahlias, marigolds, and dusty miller. Hope helped collect the little pots and drove her tractor around “gardening”. Once everything was planted we fertilized and watered everyone and then went inside to get ready to go eat dinner at Jaken’s dad’s house to close out the day.
Sunday morning we woke up and made breakfast. I am notoriously terrible at making breakfast, Jaken is the breakfast chef in our house but I tried. After eating our breakfast we got dressed and headed off to church. Jaken’s mom decided to join us for the service this morning much to Meemaw and Pawpaw’s delight, they just think she’s great. Hope did her best to remain calm and quiet throughout the service but required convincing via plenty of star puff and cheerio snacks. Once over she got to say hello to her cousins and Audrey had been dying to hold her since we got there. After a delightful service we loaded up and headed to The Woodlands to grab lunch with Jaken’s mom.
After a delicious lunch we walked across the way to the Janie and Jack which is a cute little child clothes store that I have been dying to go to since Hope was born. I wanted to find her some shoes that she can actually walk in. There are some truly darling clothes in there and Hope picked out the perfect pair of sparkly gold shoes with a champagne bow. We got them on her and she started laughing and prancing all over the store. After checking out we went onto the green space outside the store for her to try out her new kicks and she had a blast. Then we headed over to Target to grab a few necessary items and a new coffee pot before returning home.
As soon as we got home Jaken popped out to the field to continue work on the fence. He built as many H braces as he could muster and attempted the cross wiring for them before realizing he needed a couple more tools and items from the store. He made a ton of progress and it is getting much closer to being done. Only a few more trips to tractor supply and we may finally have everything we need!
I usually use Sunday evenings for cleaning nd getting prepped for the week so Hope and I busied ourselves with organizing all the new items we purchased as well as assembling the new storage baskets I ordered. Tiny living means smart storage and we have been sorely misrepresenting the tiny house community so far in that regard. So I got my baskets built and hung on the wall. Set up the new coffee pot and coffee station and then did the dishes. I had been recommended by a friend to get this rubber broom thing so I now had the perfect opportunity to test it our on the rugs and it was incredible! Better than any vacuum I had tried so far.
Jaken finished his field work and I got to a good stopping point in the cleaning for us to get dinner cooked and prepare Hope for bed. Once she was bathed, brushed, peek-a-booed, and cozy in bed she fell asleep and I finished up the laundry and prep for the week. With everything done and the weekend at a close we realized what a good time it had been and how lucky we are to be doing what we are. This property is slowly growing into our vision. We knew it would be a ton of hard work and are reveling in the opportunity to be able to mold the world around us to fit our needs. Not many get a chance like this so we are thankful we have been so blessed.