Victorian House Fixer Upper: Steigerwalt Suite

 This is our old bedroom.  We lovingly call this the Steigerwalt Suite, after my maiden name.  I am in the genealogy business by hobby only.  So I have inherited some nice things from my grandparents.  The quilt hanging on the wall was made by my Great Grandma Floy Witmer Steigerwalt.  I have fond memories of my great grandma.  She lived next door, and I would walk over there a lot.  We would do chores around the house together, then I would get to play some games with her.  She taught me how to cook and sew while I was there.  I learned a lot from my Mom too, but great grandma was special.

 This is the farm that I grew up on for most of my childhood.  I have great memories of playing in the big white barn.  I helped milk cows, collect chicken eggs with my sister, we would build leaf rafts and float them down the drainage ditch on the other side of the brick house.  I remember mom making homemade black raspberry jam,  we would pick the berries at the back of the farm.  I remember whenever she made fresh jam we would have pancakes for dinner with the jam on them.  The little white house in the picture is where my great grandma lived.  She used to bring over a glass jar and 'dip' milk right out of the bulk tank to drink.  There are so many stories, gravity wagon adventures, hay wagon breaking, 200 peeps one year, baby kittens in the hay mow, baby caves that would suck on your fingers, the list goes on and on...

 Right now we have two double beds in there.  We used a farm theme, because that is what my people were, farmers (and carpenters). 

 We made this shadow box.  It has a cow hide print fabric backing...In there are pictures of my grandparents when they were first married (Karl and Normalea Barber Steigerwalt).  My Great Grandparents (George Washington Steigerwalt and Floy Witmer Steigerwalt), plus their family, Verna, Walter and Ray (and my grandpa Karl).  Also Charles and Mary Alice Steigerwalt my great-great Grandparents.  The fair ribbons hanging on the outside are my grandpa's.  He earned them when he was seventeen year's old in 1944 at the Ashland County Fair, he was showing a horse.

 This clock as well as the picture frame on the farm picture are built with barn wood from Grandpa Karl's barn.  Not the one in the picture, but from about 1/4 mile down the street from it.  My sister and brother-in-law had it made for me for Christmas.

Lastly, my Grandpa Karl's diploma from 8th grade.  In those days, you did not have to graduate from High School.  He opted to work on the family farm.  Lots of memories in this room.  Some of the people I have never met (George, Charles or Mary Alice), but some day I hope to get to know them in heaven.

Victorian House Fixer Upper; Story of our Life

When you are in your young 20s and purchasing a house, you might not know everything about the choice you are making.  The fact that it is larger, beautiful, and in the budget makes the most sense.  In my foggy memories, I  might remember something like, 'Dear, I just made an offer on a house, do you want to come see it too'  

He might have been playing golf when I went with the relator, I walked in the house saw the beautiful chandelier and the spiral staircase and my mind was made up.  Besides, my parents used to flip houses when I was younger, how hard can it be

So, good thing Kyle has some skills.  Not like nun chuck, or bow staff skills, but like carpentry, painting, lighting, you know handyman skills.  We have put those skills to good use for the 20 years we have lived in our 1874 Victorian home.  

We litteraly renovate something every year.  With the kids moving out our focus for 2019 was their old bedrooms.  I am going to feature today what we call the Crawford suite.  With out of state living children and Kyle's sibilings coming to visit, we started making guest suites.  Suites are a stretch, because let's face it, we only have 1 bathroom in the whole house.

Dakota's old room has become a nice room.  I just love the calm blue walls.

 My Christmas present this year was the Scottish highlander cow picture.  I absolutely love it.  The Crawford's have Scottish roots and so we have a little bit of a Scottish theme, blue, white and outdoorsy.

 My secret Santa at work made me the Crawford sign, which I truly adore.  We aren't finished decorating, but have enjoyed getting things fixed up.  We are working on our old bedroom which I will feature another day.

 This spinning wheel is a family heirloom.  Archibald and Nancy Crawford purchased it for their home.  He is a War of 1812 veteran, so it has been around the family for awhile.

 We have carnival and milk glass items from Grandma Crawford that we have featured in the room too.

Our latest find are the chairs.  It is fun working on these rooms.  Our guests sure have been enjoying them since we finished this up last September.

2020 has our focus from upstairs to the kitchen.  A couple of weeks ago we started tearing down the pantry.

 We are going to farmhouse up the kitchen.  Removing old floors, planning on taking down wallpaper and painting.

 We painted the blue and white check on the floor when we first moved back in 1998.  We are cycling back around and redoing old things.

This is my work horse Kyle.  My version of Chip Gaines in my Victorian Fixer Upper.

Chicken Wars

 It all started with this cement chicken statue.  Several years ago, Kyle showed me a hen just like this at the Town and Country store.  Around mother's day they have several lawn statues to choose from.  I liked it, but wanted to think about the price.  Well, when we went back it was gone.  So every year afterward for about 2-3 years I went looking for this chicken.  Kayla thought his was funny, so where ever we were she would point out chickens to me.  I told her (over and over) that I wasn't collecting chickens, I just wanted the cement one.  The more I told , the more chickens were pointed out.

Hence, the chicken war.  So, to one up Kayla, I bought her a T-shirt with a chicken and a kitchen towel for her bridal shower.  I guess you could say, I poked the bear.  I brought with me a chicken the first time Kyle and I spent the week at Kayla's.  Well, maybe I brought 2.  Anyhow, she has gone all out and bought several chickens.  She hides them all over my house when she visits.  She even left one in my office when they came up this fall.

 Kayla, has an advantage.  We have lots of hiding places in my house.  She has a small ranch house that she rents, so I don't have the "in plain" sight advantage.

 So maybe, I hide them in and around things at her house.  This past visit, she brought back the stash.

 I found chickens all over my hours, when she left.  This chicken war makes me smile.  It lets me know that Kayla has been there.  Even though I miss her being in our presence more, I have these little bits of ornery girl.

I have some of the collection until our next battle of the chicken war.

Trying New Things: Sausage Making

What do two empty nesters do after all their children head back home from Christmas?  We make sausage.  Kyle bought me a meat grinder for my kitchen aid for Christmas.  He likes to play with toys.

 When we got our hog butchered they sent us home with 15 packages of pork steaks, that we would have had made into sausage.  Bummer, so Kyle said we would just make it ourselves.

 Growing up on a farm, we processed our own meat a lot.  When Kyle and I were young married we did this with my dad and grandpa one weekend.  My family did a salt and pepper sausage.  Grandpa told dad that he should put enough salt in the bowl to track a rabbit.  Interesting way to measure.

So every time I dumped salt into a batch of sausage, I would say, enough to track a rabbit, but I measured with my teaspoon first.  We did use the method dad and grandpa did by making a small patty and sampling until we enjoyed the taste.  We only had to remove one ingredient to make it to our liking.  It was kind of fun.  We have 1/2 the steaks left to do this a second time in the future.

New Beginnings: Happy 2020

With the New Year here and new decade to start, I find myself reflecting.  What types of goals are realistic?  What might I stick to?  Do I want a word or phrase to work on?

Kyle and I decided that we will join in on the children and youth goals, that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are rolling out this year.  Although are children and youth are grown adults we can still learn from this program and apply it to our adult lives.

Here is a link, if you are interested.

So my goals for myself are going to be within these topics.

Spiritual

1. To study the Come Follow Me Program this year.

2. attend the temple 12+ times

Social

1. minister with my partner at least 6 times in person

2. To improve relationships at work and with family

Physical

1. to make better food choices and lose some weight

2. to increase the amount of exercise that I do weekly from little to none to a more regular habit, to go hiking more, and maybe even swim at the Y

Intellectual

1. to develop new skills to be helpful at work and gain new experiences in leading a building

2. to gain new knowledge for genealogy research and clean up my family search account

The best part of New Year's Day is hope.  Hope in a new you, new challenges, new living, but most of all, the ability to see a better you.  I like learning to become better, I like goals, I like trying to become more like my Savior.  I have learned that I can do that, one new year, one goal, one trial at a time; and with each baby step, comes more learning, more wisdom and quiet reflection on the blessings we have earned.

I love fresh starts, repentance for old habits, faith for better things to come.

Happy New Year, Happy New Decade, let's try and be better!

2019 In Review

So, it has been a long while since I have blogged.  My job got real busy and I just never made time for the blog anymore, but my daughter wanted to start her own blog; so I decided to pick it back up.

A lot has happened since my last post the summer of 2017.  I have moved places in my administrative role.  I was working for Mid Ohio Educational Service Center as a Special Education Preschool Coordinator.  I moved to Ontario Local Schools to do the same position and to act a their Assistant Principal as well.  It is a long story for the work journey, that I will post about later.

The family has made a lot of changes over these past couple of years...

October 2018 Kayla and Sterling got engaged.

So from that time until the wedding most of 2018 and 2019 were spent wedding planning.

On Friday, April 19, 2019 our baby girl got sealed in the Columbus, Ohio Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I am so proud of her.

 Our son Dakota flew in from MN to be at her sealing.  Kayla married Sterling Carter, whom she met on the LDS Mutual dating app.  He is from North Carolina.  So, we had two receptions and ring ceremonies, so all family members could participate.  That was a lot of work.  But, I think they all enjoyed it.

It's nice having a Southern gentleman in our family.  

At Kayla's wedding she told her older brother that he needed to have a girlfriend to bring home at Christmas.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the North Carolina reception.  It was truly fitting.  I left my daughter 8 hours away, not to be in her childhood home again, except to visit on occasion.  Needless, to say, we have put over 20,000 miles on our car this year visiting the children who are spread out from Minnesota to North Carolina.  It's an adjustment having an empty nest (at least in the beginning.)

So, Dakota took Kayla up on her challenge to bring a girlfriend home for Christmas.  We met Erica Johnson for the first time this past week.  However, we talked to her a lot on the phone with Dakota for the last several months.  Dakota decided girlfriend, wasn't a good enough title for Erica.

So Erica went home a fiancé.  So just like that we gained a son-in-law in 2019, and are expecting a daughter-in-law in 2020.

The family is growing.  We couldn't be happier.

MN Trip 2017 - 3rd Leg The North Shore

 Kyle's brother Kasey (#6 child), rented a cabin in Duluth.  5 of the 8 kids brought their families along.  We pulled up our camper and Kota and Blair camped in a tent.  We got to explore the North Shore of Minnesota.  This was a first for me.  The North Shore goes along with the point of Minnesota.  We traveled from Duluth to Grand Marais.

 I miss Blair.  She was my favorite dog.  She has such a good disposition and is very affectionate.

It's fun being around the nieces and nephews.

 I miss this guy too.  I'm glad he is getting established, but wish it was not 1,000 miles away in a place where the cell and internet reception sink.  In a day where we could skype, but can't because of location...

 Our cabin, was around the corner from Lake Superior.  I don't know what it is, but I absolutely love that Lake.  I love it from the Upper Peninsula in Michigan, all the way to the North Shore of Minnesota.  Something about it draws me in every time.

 We hiked into Gooseberry Falls, with the family.

 Then we stopped at the Palacade.  This was a super tall cliff over looking Superior.  It was a little scary to be honest.  The rocks were split and I felt that the rocks would slide of the cliff at any moment.

 But it was beautiful!  My favorite was Grand Marais.  I wish we could of stayed here a few more hours, but it was about 3 hours north of the cabin.

 Saturday, we spent some time in Two Harbors.

 Kyle, still likes to skip rocks.  There are no shortage of rocks along Superior's shores.  There are tributaries flowing into the Lake, all over the area.  I think this was the French River.

 There also is no shortage of water fowl in the area.

 Iron ore, is a big resource of the area and is mined in this area and sent out through the Great Lakes.

 Superior is too cold to swim in here, but the Knife River.  This was a natural swimming pool.  It was about 4 feet deep and had a ledge to sit on.  It was fun for the family.

We might had to look for land in this area, instead of where all the family is.  I think I like this a little bit better!