February 2022 – Progress on the Second Floor and Wedding Plans!

February 2022 – Whelp Lodi and I are officially both a year older. My bday just went by and his was the end of January. 40 for Lodi and 36 for me and wow do I have a lot of white hair lol The last couple of months we’ve been getting our wedding plans organized. Its going to be a small ceremony this spring with just a few of our closest friends and our dog Annie, of course. In late summer we’re planning on throwing a big shindig / reception here at the farm for all of our friends, extended family, coworkers etc.

We discussed a honeymoon right after the ceremony but, my gosh, it sure seems silly to leave Minnesota when the weather is finally nice!

So we’ll be taking an official honeymoon, somewhere warm, next January or February when it is literally painful to live here.

After the ceremony this spring we plan on still taking a few days off though and probably going camping!

We saw -20s here in January and not much better throughout most of February. But the days are absolutely getting longer thank goodness as this has been one of the most brutal winters in recent memory.

I have never in my life, so many times in just the course of a couple of months, wanted to get out of the car and kiss our driveway when I managed to get home safely. The driving conditions have just been HORRIBLE. I have been SHOOK trying to get home and I have less then ten miles just to get to my day job.

We’ve got at least three feet of snow and don’t really see it getting better anytime soon. Generally we either have extreme cold or extreme snow so at least when we’re constantly shoveling its kind of nice outside!

Not this year…

So, on that note, I will not be posting more pictures of our winter yard. Its been this way for months, we are over it!

So, please enjoy some pictures of our flowers from past years!

February 2022 I’m beginning to think about spring and summer and what I want to accomplish this coming year.

After last year I refuse to add anything big to our plates as if the wedding isn’t already something big to our plates LOL!

But, you guys know me, I still have some things I would love to work on before winter hits us again. The garage sure could use some love and finishing and the little old well house in the middle of the horse pasture would sure be fun to turn into a bunk house!

And I would also like to put in another outhouse over between the garage and future bunk house. Our current outhouse is so far away from the garage that everyone just goes in the house to use the bathroom inside. Totally what I was trying to avoid when I built the current outhouse lol.

But, I don’t blame them, its a hike!

So we do plan on digging another one at some point.

I always had the plan of a big shindig out here every summer for all of our friends and extended family. Covid killed that idea the last couple of years but, before that, it had been some serious fun.

This reception / shindig will be us starting up that tradition again!

One awesome thing I did for myself last fall was write down exactly what and where I’m planting in the garden(s) this year. I always think I’ll remember from year to year what I’ve learned but that’s just not the case…

I still have my heart set on re-seeding our lawn at some point… and to plant some trees… something I’ve wanted for years now…

Last year’s record breaking heat and drought really killed our grass and our new lower deck really needs to be back filled. I’ve always wanted an ever flowering lawn of native plants… plants meaning what most people call “weeds” lol.

I just despise lawns and not just because I hate mowing but because they do nothing for our local habitat at all.

The idea of our whole yard looking like a meadow of wild flowers just makes my heart happy!

Clover, dandelions, creeping thyme and creeping charlie would be my dream come true.

And Lodi would still get to mow it lol something he loves to do so it would be a win-win for us both.

Of course we have a big party to host here in late summer so if we don’t get our lawn covered with black dirt and reseeded RIGHT AWAY this spring – it will just have to wait for next year or everyone will be enjoying a wasteland of mud…

Unlike pretty much ALL other years I am not making a summer to do list this year.

Getting married is stressful enough!

NO expectations is how I’ll be going about 2022. Last year was just such a ball of stress – this year I refuse to do that again.

February 2022 was a pretty productive month for me here on the house.

With the wedding coming in a few months I seem to be attempting to have several months of blog projects done ASAP so I don’t have so much to worry about this spring!

But that’s just me… I can’t help it.

It does mean though our master bedroom is completely done (can’t wait to show you guys!) and I am underway completing our master bathroom and closet as well.

Which means *drumroll* the task of repainting this entire home (which I began in early 2018) IS FINALLY COMPLETE!

I AM TOTALLY CELEBRATING!

Of course no home is ever done lol and thank goodness!

Seriously, what would I do with myself?

I decided to tackle the second floor this winter as I was just plain SICK AND TIRED of the basement. (There were so many projects on the second floor I’ll be sharing them with you guys all the way into August!)

Winter 2022-23 though I’ll be turning my attention back down there. I have a few ideas I’m pretty excited about for completing the basement kitchen and the stairwell too.

But, as usual, I am getting ahead of myself!

February 2022, looking forward to spring and getting outside again. Every year I think to myself that I really need to take up some kind of winter sport to give me something to look forward to… then I go outside when its -20 and think, “NAH.”