Closing out

 As the year of 2025 starts to wind down, the finish line--at least on the calendar--looms larger and larger, and we are pushing harder and harder to wrap things up. This post is going to cover A LOT and jump back and forth, because honestly, that is how every day went for us! Woodchuck had nearly 3 weeks of vacation to use up, and we crammed nearly everything but fun into it. I take that back, we did two fun things, lol. It's something I really want to change in this new year, but in looking ahead at everything that needs to be done, I may need to wait until 2027, lol.

Work continues on the shower area of our oldest sons bathroom. As the weather goes back and forth, and the temps go up and down, there really is no great area to store things as plug along. We had all of the drywall standing up nicely in his garage, as well as some wood, only to come out to this and we had to rearrange things all over again.

The good thing about us working over there is that we get to see so many moons and sunsets! Woodchuck likes to be closed up in the house most evenings by 5 p.m. and I am the kind of girl that rarely likes to be inside. We got to witness a lot of powerful Full and New Moons along the way of working.

The last Super Moon was so bright that you can't tell this is was taken late at night! 👇

Working on the plumbing brace wall. Fresh wood smells wonderful!

One of the fun things we did was to go to a holiday concert with our oldest son. Set in a wonderful old theater that happens to be where Woodchuck and I had our first official date, we got to see a band called Classical Blast. Our oldest had seen them many times before, and it happened to be on a night where Woodchuck was off the next day (this was right before he started his vacation time), and it was affordable, supports local businesses, and was something new for us! I had a nice time!

On another trip back to the sons house, we got to see what the outside of the house looked like! I have it on my list in 2026 to go to the library and try to find some old pictures of the house!

And more lathe boards to pull off. I hate doing it, it was such an art and feels so warm and nostalgic to see them.

For probably the hundredth time, we dry-fitted the surround walls, and will likely do it 100 times more. I love that we aren't rushing, but SWEET BABY JESUS, I feel like we are doing the same things every time we are there.

Back here at home, I have taken on the OCD my mother has of trying to salvage Yule lights on the tree. I think Woodchuck put around 11 strands of various kinds of lights on it, and right away one strand blew and little by little strands blew out until we had more not working than we did working. I tried fixing this one while it was on the tree, to no avail. I checked the fuses and changed out every light bulb, and it still wouldn't come on. Not to mention that the caps over the light bulbs are glass and I shattered a couple trying to get them off. Glass in the tree, on the floor, cuts and bleeding on my hands. We've had the strands for a few years, and I never pay full price, but I just feel like things should last longer than they do even for how little we pay for them. (spoiler alert, when we took the tree down, and I went to "fix" any strands that had blown out bulbs, three of these strands ended up going into the electronic recycling, as well as two other strands of different lights!)

With a couple of significant storm systems that have come through, it triggers that DNA in me to want to track things. I don't kill them, I just love looking at the ground and seeing what utilizes it to get around. I noticed this pile of dirt, looked at it a couple of times. It was like somewhere in my brain kept trying to tell me something about this dirt, but it wasn't clicking right away. Then an image of a mole in his little recliner down in his den, with a fire going, came to mind. OH! Now I know what I am looking at! And sure enough, not far away, was the hole.

Once we knew the surround walls were going to fit properly, it was time to make the hole for the water handle. 

Every step of the process has me holding my breath!

Time to start putting in some hardware and get the plumbing dialed in

 

And the back wall, where the window is, is finally closed in.

Once we are home for the evenings, Pierogi jumps right up into my lap for some snuggles and naps. This girl is seriously my heart.

One of the things I was working on was my brothers Yule gift! The backstory to this is that our grandmother used to make these plastic canvas trains when we were growing up. Every Christmas, she would pick one item to make and would make that item for all of her daughters: 4 total. Usually they would pick the colors of the item, and this train was one that they got to pick 2 colors for. I was even offered for her to make me a train and got to pick my colors! That was a rare thing, because she had her hands full making for the others, and I am sure that she was over working on the same thing by then!

When my grandparents estate went up for sale, I stopped by in the hopes of finding the things that I loved as a child, including grandmas many craft patterns. Unfortunately, they were all gone to one of the girls (which I understand!), so I began looking for the pattern booklet online and found one on Etsy! Now I will be able to make a train for anyone in the family who wants one, all in memory of Grandma.

My brother picked purple and gold. The lighting did not pick up the purple well in this picture, it was a very deep color. What looks like just plain beige was actually a beige with metallic gold running through it!

Time to work the surround again.

The house is small to begin with. The drum set doesn't help us to have a lot of space, lol.

The pan (floor of the shower) is in!

We've got the foam seals on the sides of the wall

Liquid nail is up and waiting for us!

This was the scary part to me! I wanted it to be perfect.

And it was, except for this little gap. It was filled with the foam edging as far as we could tell, but we didn't want to take the chance that water could get in there and into spaces that weren't filled in with it, so we plan on caulking at some point.

Some friends of ours are really being put through the trials, starting in 2025 and carrying into 2026. Woodchuck and I made a trip to the viewing of the Mother/MIL, and were greeted by her glowing in the Universe when we walked outside to the car. Her flowers were the bright, vibrant colors of the sky, so this did not surprise me one bit to see when we came out. Apparently her personality was the same!

We ran behind in the holiday baking, and I don't know that our heart was in it like usual. But we knocked out the Pierogi, and Woodchuck made a new dough this year with flour that a co-worker uses from a Polish delicatessen. We have decided that next time we make them, we will use the original dough recipe, and will only do potato and cheese. This time we got 47 potato and cheese and 29 sweet potato.

My brother was busy being creative as well, and sent various Christmas-themed decor and ornaments, as well as this beautiful moon!

Then we took a day to cram a bunch of running in starting with getting another driveway permit! We needed the permit to apply for the building permit, and although we HAD a driveway permit, we gave it to the contractor we hired a few years ago to put in the driveway, clear trees for building, and for making the new ingress/egress road for the government (and us) to get to the watershed. He was supposed to take that permit and have it filed after the work was done, and while the permit NUMBER was on file, the permit was not. So we had to apply for another one (luckily, they are free for us). So we went and picked that up when it was approved. One step closer!

Then we went to the land. The pond was covered in ice, even where it normally wouldn't be at the corrugated pipe. We could see LOTS of tracks on the top! It's always been my fear that we will come here and see an animal in distress that fell through. 

The turkey were out and about!

I put all of the white pumpkins in the area that we thought might work best for them. If we continue with pond work this year though, this is not going to be a good spot for them, lol.

The clouds were playful today!

The ditches to and from the pond were full!

And there were all kinds of tracks to see!

The sun was really trying to break through the clouds.

Lots of canine prints this time too!

From across the pond, we saw a deer come out of the forest and graze before heading off as we got closer to the area. That is when I noticed a bit of blood where it had been.

Precious tracks

And a better picture of the tracks on top of the pond! It's a super highway!

Then we went to our sons house to see how everything held up on the surround. This part is finally DONE, but there's a lot more to go.

I don't think Woodchuck understands how seeing these sunsets (not to mention the moon and stars at times), makes my heart soar. I am trudging through every day, usually on auto-pilot, working, working, working, doing the same routine nearly every single day and missing a spark. Seeing things like this gets me close to it again.

With bad weather on the way again, we went out for a nice dinner with friends. Our last chance before my surgery and the next handful of months becoming about doctor appointments, recovery, and physical therapy. We went to one of our favorites, Parea' in Valparaiso, Indiana. Back in the day it used to be called The Court, sitting across from the courthouse and on one corner, what used to the old jail. 

I got a blood orange mocktail, which was ok, but not worth the price. 

Woodchuck got the Schnitzel, which is one of the best we've ever had! I normally get it too, but changed things up this time. Mashed potatoes and broccoli topped with capers.

I got a rice bowl with blackened salmon. It was spicier than I expected it to be and it was good, but I keep looking at the schnitzel picture and drooling! 

We managed another day of baking. I say "we", but it was all Woodchuck, lol. Nut rolls hot out of the oven.

                                                        And then glazed once they cooled.

He also made some poppy seeds rolls for the first time! They were ok, not my favorite. 

Back to the shower. That sure looks different than it did before we remodeled! But spoiler alert, this will not stay the same.

Had to cover the surround walls up again to get ready for drywall mud. No way in hell that I am taking a chance of damage!

Woodchuck and I handle any sort of mud and spackle differently. I am not saying that either one of us is right or wrong, we just do it differently. I am a thin layer (maybe in multiples) kind of girl because I abhor sanding and the mess it makes, and the feeling like I wasted product just to sand it off. His idea of thin layer and mine are also completely different, lol. I let him do his thing though!

As I've mentioned before, we have been looking for an older truck. Woodchuck wrote down his criteria, and after not being able to find anything that met that, a friend of mine also started keeping an eye open. Turns out his criteria was a bit too modest and I could have expanded my search, but everything happens for a reason and it was meant for my friend to find this for us! Meet Bruce, as in Springsteen (yes, we named the tractor, riding lawnmower, and now the truck). A 1994 Chevy that brings back a lot of good ol' memories! 

Notice the fridge in the bed? 👆That was from the workshop of the seller and it doesn't work, and we have a local guy who scraps and is always in desperate need of money. So we agreed to take the fridge with us! This was on our way home, I was in front of Woodchuck, and he called to say that he needed to stop and get gas. What a beautiful sunset, and buying this truck felt so right!

Notice the dent in the front, side panel? The sellers son hit a deer and had to replace the front grill/headlights. Was no biggie for us, and all of the other small things that need to be addressed, Woodchuck can handle. We all kept looking outside at it like proud parents, excited to finally have an older truck again!

We got it on the insurance the next day, and Woodchuck stopped at the BMV for plates and title. Then we hooked up the trailer to it and took it the land where he can work on it in the barn. It was just another goal met in getting prepped for living out there!

I finally got to sit in the truck too. It was really in good shape and the interior smell was so nostalgic! I doubt that I will ever be able to drive it....I most likely won't be able to reach the pedals!

The last New Moon of 2025, I did what felt right, and that was to create color, sparkle, and scent. 

We also went on a Winter Solstice hike at a property we hadn't been to before. Honestly, I wouldn't do it again. The trails were icy, the young lady in front of us slipped and fell and her friend slipped numerous times (neither had the proper shoes on for hiking at this time of year, but we did and we were still slipping in spots). Because of having to watch where we walking, and the fast pace of the walk, it was a bit harder to just enjoy the surroundings. But I am glad that we did it! We got outside, we hiked, and this year, we will be able to do that at our own land!

Thankfully we had the sun for awhile!

But Woodchuck can't go for any walk outside without getting attacked by something.

Another quick trip to the land, which is getting less frequent due to the weather. Everywhere there was standing water, it is now ice. I don't know how this nursery web spider is surviving in the barn, because it's still below freezing in there too.

On another trip to town, we stopped and visited the same friends who are going through the Valley of Darkness right now. It was after the viewing of his mother/her MIL, and before a major surgery that he was going to be having. This cat, Indie, is the biggest snuggler ever! 

On our way home, we saw this Sun Dog! I always feel so hopeful and cheered up when I witness these! Unfortunately, our friends situation just doesn't seem to be getting any better and I am sending Love and Light to them!

The sunsets have been stellar to see!

As we draw closer to Christmas, the last of the baking gets done (by Woodchuck). He makes Pagach each year, but we are the only ones that eat it. It is a bread dough, stuffed with cabbage. It's baked, then when we go to eat it, we pan "fry" it in a little butter, cut it into wedges and sprinkle a little sugar on top. We froze one and kept the other for eating at the holidays. This is what it looked like being made, then coming out of the oven.

Someone listed the same vintage light on FBMP that our son has in his bathroom. They didn't know if theirs works, but we know his does! They were asking $50, and we do want to try and sell this light, but aren't sure yet what we are going to ask. I think it's really neat looking, but he struggles with the glass globes to change the lightbulbs out. 

One more spot to demo......this should have all been done at the start, but at least it's getting done at all.

At this point, we are at Christmas now. Woodchuck originally quoted 3 days to get the job done, though the extension wasn't all his lack of knowledge on how long things take, factoring in unknowns that we would find after demo, and he also couldn't have known that parts would come in damaged and need to be re-ordered. He told our son that it WILL be done in time for him to take a shower on Christmas. That didn't happen either. Stay tuned!