Emberly house has seen many changes since we moved in here a year and a half ago with Nathan as our first renter. After him, came Steve and Emily last August, Chris this May, Katherine this August, and now Steve and Emily are moving out Nov 1st and Hayley and Alesha will be moving in.
Communal living isn't as crazy as it sounds. With the right people, it can be awesome. In our experiences here, we have really lucked out with awesome people. Steve and Emily's 14 months here have been a lot of fun, packed with great conversations, and some really good memories. Of course, they have always had their own privacy as they had their own 2 bedroom apartment with their own living quarters, but we still saw them often and valued the time we all had together. They are heading back to Barrie into their own apartment and we are very excited for them!
In God's perfect timing, Hayley and Alesha were looking for a place with Katherine and it just worked out perfectly for them to move in November 1st, so we won't even go a day with the apartment empty and unrented - God certainly knows our needs and has worked everything out with no stress involved for us with that side of things.
A couple weeks ago Chris was in a bad car accident (no injuries!) and was rear ended by a transport truck on his way home from work so he has been back in Angus with his family until insurance is all figured out and he can pay for a new vehicle. Hopefully that is resolved soon! We all miss him around here!
So that's the renter's update. The apartment is about to get a whole new paint job and will change a lot in the coming months. I will try to get some pictures :)
As for the roof, we got a quote on steel and let's just say having a bell shaped roof makes steel cost us almost triple what it would have costed for a normal roof done with steel. With steel out of our budget now, we are moving forward with some high quality shingles and just working to book that in soon.
Scott leaves Saturday morning for a missions trip to the Dominican where he is joining a team of builders to lend some practical help to the people there. He is away a lot lately, which is another reason I am so thankful for our communal living situation: I am not alone for extended periods of time. I get plenty of my own space and alone time, but it still feels nice to know I am not completely alone and that people are nearby.
So...the other night the dogs happened to get sprayed by a skunk. That experience was SO much worse than I could have even imagined. I feel like anything I have heard about this happening to people could never have prepared me for how disgusting it really is! Our whole house smelled like strong pee...Scott even woke up from his sleep thinking a dog peed in the bed. Skunk smell is bad enough but when they actually spray it's like a stale old pee smell and it gets trapped in curtains, rugs, everything! I am sure having two dogs get sprayed made it double the nightmare but I am now so scared to let the dogs outside. They got sprayed in our backyard because a family of skunks lives under our shed. It seems mother nature loves seeking refuge in and around our home lol. We also have a chipmunk who actually lets himself in through a piping hole in the wall and makes himself at home. He keeps eating the dogs food out of their bowl. I am too laid back because I love animals and I don't really know what to do with them. I can't kill them. Even killing mice is super hard for me. We have bats in our attic too although they will be evicted when we do the roof and insulation. So our house is more like a safe haven for wild animals. Hopefully this is a short lived season because it's a bit ridiculous lol. With such an old house (130 years old) there are so many cracks and nooks and holes throughout that animals can make their way in. We obviously plan on filling those spaces and getting the house to the state of condition where these things can't happen but thankfully none of us are terrified by little creatures. If it wasn't for sanitary reasons, I wouldn't even want to kick the chipmunk out...he's so cute and has been living under our house all summer so I feel like I know him now. The skunks can go though...the memory of that smell will forever haunt me. lol
Another exciting little piece of news is that Nathan and I have started a business refinishing barnboard, antiques, using modern calligraphy on old wood, selling thrifty finds, etc. and we are opening our own booth in the local thrift store. We have no idea how it will go but are so excited! I will update about that soon.
Well those are the updates! We haven't done a lot of renos or anything since Scott is gone so there hasn't been a whole lot to show. I still need to feature the new dining room but my office is in there right now while Katherine occupies that room. Once it's set up properly I will take some photos of it :)
Communal living isn't as crazy as it sounds. With the right people, it can be awesome. In our experiences here, we have really lucked out with awesome people. Steve and Emily's 14 months here have been a lot of fun, packed with great conversations, and some really good memories. Of course, they have always had their own privacy as they had their own 2 bedroom apartment with their own living quarters, but we still saw them often and valued the time we all had together. They are heading back to Barrie into their own apartment and we are very excited for them!
In God's perfect timing, Hayley and Alesha were looking for a place with Katherine and it just worked out perfectly for them to move in November 1st, so we won't even go a day with the apartment empty and unrented - God certainly knows our needs and has worked everything out with no stress involved for us with that side of things.
A couple weeks ago Chris was in a bad car accident (no injuries!) and was rear ended by a transport truck on his way home from work so he has been back in Angus with his family until insurance is all figured out and he can pay for a new vehicle. Hopefully that is resolved soon! We all miss him around here!
So that's the renter's update. The apartment is about to get a whole new paint job and will change a lot in the coming months. I will try to get some pictures :)
As for the roof, we got a quote on steel and let's just say having a bell shaped roof makes steel cost us almost triple what it would have costed for a normal roof done with steel. With steel out of our budget now, we are moving forward with some high quality shingles and just working to book that in soon.
Scott leaves Saturday morning for a missions trip to the Dominican where he is joining a team of builders to lend some practical help to the people there. He is away a lot lately, which is another reason I am so thankful for our communal living situation: I am not alone for extended periods of time. I get plenty of my own space and alone time, but it still feels nice to know I am not completely alone and that people are nearby.
So...the other night the dogs happened to get sprayed by a skunk. That experience was SO much worse than I could have even imagined. I feel like anything I have heard about this happening to people could never have prepared me for how disgusting it really is! Our whole house smelled like strong pee...Scott even woke up from his sleep thinking a dog peed in the bed. Skunk smell is bad enough but when they actually spray it's like a stale old pee smell and it gets trapped in curtains, rugs, everything! I am sure having two dogs get sprayed made it double the nightmare but I am now so scared to let the dogs outside. They got sprayed in our backyard because a family of skunks lives under our shed. It seems mother nature loves seeking refuge in and around our home lol. We also have a chipmunk who actually lets himself in through a piping hole in the wall and makes himself at home. He keeps eating the dogs food out of their bowl. I am too laid back because I love animals and I don't really know what to do with them. I can't kill them. Even killing mice is super hard for me. We have bats in our attic too although they will be evicted when we do the roof and insulation. So our house is more like a safe haven for wild animals. Hopefully this is a short lived season because it's a bit ridiculous lol. With such an old house (130 years old) there are so many cracks and nooks and holes throughout that animals can make their way in. We obviously plan on filling those spaces and getting the house to the state of condition where these things can't happen but thankfully none of us are terrified by little creatures. If it wasn't for sanitary reasons, I wouldn't even want to kick the chipmunk out...he's so cute and has been living under our house all summer so I feel like I know him now. The skunks can go though...the memory of that smell will forever haunt me. lol
Another exciting little piece of news is that Nathan and I have started a business refinishing barnboard, antiques, using modern calligraphy on old wood, selling thrifty finds, etc. and we are opening our own booth in the local thrift store. We have no idea how it will go but are so excited! I will update about that soon.
Well those are the updates! We haven't done a lot of renos or anything since Scott is gone so there hasn't been a whole lot to show. I still need to feature the new dining room but my office is in there right now while Katherine occupies that room. Once it's set up properly I will take some photos of it :)
