Introducing Sebago House

 Allow me to introduce you to our tiny little domicile, which Zach refers to as the "Fry Sauce" house. We are significantly downsizing this time around going from about 3200 sqft at our Hamilton house to the new grand total of 1700 sqft at the Sebago house- approx 864 sqft on the main floor with a rather pathetic basement of the same size.
Joseph had been searching diligently for a home for 6 months give or take and we just couldn't find the house that was right for us, that would suit our needs, and be in the area with the schools that we were interested in having the kids go to, and close enough to Joe's work etc. (We got to know the area very well via Google Maps). As it turned out everything kept falling through, the places we tried to rent were just not panning out and we didn't have any leads on houses that we liked enough to purchase. It is not that there aren't any houses that we liked, it was the fact that they were either out of our price range or not for sale!
So we accepted a gracious invitation and moved in with the Stake President and his wife- no pressure right?? We are so indebted to them for letting us stay with them during some of the most difficult and low moments of our lives! It has been a rough journey to be sure, we have tried to weather it well and stay positive, but I acknowledge that it is really difficult to be homeless and I hate feeling like such a huge burden to anyone else, but alas we really enjoyed their company and we did make an impact on their lives, perhaps not always for good, but we left our mark for sure! It was lots of fun working out the showering schedule with 1 shower and 9 people; good times never to be forgotten. Really it all worked out surprisingly well!

Front of the house- it has since gotten much greener due to the addition of moisture- it also has a plethora of leaves falling right there- too bad this isn't one of the colorful varieties of maples.

Anyhow, the way we ended up with the Sebago Drive house is that one day I had my lengthy list of houses to go look at while Joseph was at work and I ended up in this area which is on the border of the two townships that we were interested in living in, Millcreek and Fairview. Mostly I just didn't have any idea where I was since this wasn't an area that we googled much, but as I was looking around I really felt directed to this quiet little neighborhood just on the Fairview side of the border. I drove through the neighborhood and really liked it because it was quiet and tidy and in a gorgeous area, and for my benefit it was not near the airport or train tracks or highway. I called Joe and asked him if he had ever seen this house and he said he hadn't so he called the agent to see if we could get an appointment to come and see it. The agent said that we could, but that there had been an offer presented to them that morning. We decided to take a look at it that evening and had to make a quick decision. 

No it is not our dream house, in fact it has the bare minimum on our want list, but it is do-able. We will just say that we will be cozy 3 small bedrooms 1 bathroom and a small living room and kitchen. I am not sure how long we will stay there, it could be a year or two or 10, I can't really say at this time. All I know is that we have the smallest mortgage we have ever had, with the smallest interest rate and that seems like a good plan to us. We did not want to get in a bad place and over buy just so we could have something like we had before. On that note, it is funny that I just started reading Sense and Sensibility this week and the section where they are leaving their beloved home at Norland to move to a pokey little cottage really rang clear in my mind as we are living that reality. We loved our Hamilton house and it is so hard not to compare everything to that, we have all lamented it at one point or another through this process and I am certain that we will continue to do it some more! 

This is the backyard looking from the door of the garage. There is a very pish posh neighborhood directly behind us and our yard backs up to someone's extra lot (meaning a couple of extra acres of beautiful grass) that is their yard- sweet set up for us!

Well, we bought it and now we are staying in another house while some other friends from church are out of the state on a medical rotation for a couple of months. Another tender mercy from God, which is allowing us to remodel without having to live in it during the process. That is something we have not experienced with any of our other homes- so it is a great blessing. I am wishing I had better pictures of everything and in all the excitement of clearing that garbage out of the house we didn't take any pictures of the huge trash container that we filled to the brim with all the yucky, stinky stuff from the house. It was unfortunately the home of a smoker (or two) and even though it was vacant for a year, everything was permeated with that oder- so out went the cabinets and carpet and 4 layers of kitchen flooring.

Eli living it up on the swing in the backyard!

So as far as the grand plan goes, we intend to remove that wall completely from between the living room and kitchen to make it one "large" open room and we are going to ingeniously add a half bath and a laundry into that space as well. We just love a good challenge!!

 The garage is just behind the refrigerator etc. and we intend to take out the cabinet from the garage side and build an area to shove the fridge back into and add a little pantry cupboard next to that making it flush with the garage wall, then move the dishwasher so it is along the back wall in the corner next to the sink. And if anyone is dying to have that light fixture we haven't dismantled it just yet- we could put your name on it then you could be the proud owner of some classy craftsmanship!

Yuck, yuck and more yuck!! Zach is working on removing the wallpaper, but you might be able to note 3 of the 4 layers of flooring on the kitchen floor. Yes, that would be 2 inches worth that was nailed and stapled every 4 inches over the whole of the floor and 1-2 inches on the seamed areas. Let us just say that this was not the favorite part of the demolition process, and the flooring choices were all hideous in case you were wondering!

We still have the rest of the wall to remove and a beam to add in its place, also need to remove the soffit above where the cabinets used to be, but we were delighted the moment we got all of the disgusting carpets out of the house to reveal the nice hardwood floors, a vast improvement if I do say so myself!

This picture above is just a view from the "Master" bedroom- it kind of doesn't qualify for the title of Master, Minor is more like it! But you will note the beautiful teal carpet leading to the lovely mauve carpeting in the hallway and living room!

The boys room had the most lovely carpet of all- not sad at all that it is gone now!

This is looking into the girls room sans blue green carpeting! 

Gratefully the house is already smelling better, it is a huge relief I assure you! Now this next picture is part of my joyful adventure. Joseph departed on Friday to Lansing MI for the AIO Organ Builders Convention so we worked like crazy up until that point and we got everything out so the trash bin could be picked up on Friday. Thursday night we got the sink and dishwasher out of the kitchen and finished up with the floor removal. Yea us!! I called to have them pick up the trash and proceeded to live the other chaotic part of my life which encompasses the crazy rushing to and fro all the time- luckily the kids had Friday and Monday out of school and that coincided nicely with General Conference weekend. However, Zach and Kaija had band concerts and competitions to attend on Friday night and all day Saturday- so it was back and forth, back and forth and I had no desire to go pull staples out of the floor or wash walls or anything like unto it. I drove by the house on Saturday morning to make sure the trash bin had been picked up and rushed home again to be able to listen to Conference. I intended to enjoy this little bit of downtime that I had been afforded and it was glorious! Sunday we spent at our friends watching Conference and Monday we enjoyed the day together doing some shopping for Zach's birthday. So by the time I got back to the house it was on Tuesday afternoon; Zach and Kaija were at band practice so I just had Izzi, Eli and Spencer. We came in ready to mow the lawn and rake more leaves and pull staples, when we realized that the bucket we put under the faucet hose was overflowing and the kitchen floor was a puddle. DRAT!! I got that all cleaned up and decided to check out the basement where I was greeted with floating wood and standing water! Lucky me, about 2 1/2 inches of water in the front room area and puddles along into the other rooms on the other side of the basement.

I am sooo glad I decided to put the shop vac into the van that day, it paid huge dividends as I hauled 200 gallons of water up the basement stairs. I did count each of the 70 trips I took up and out to dump all that water! Hey, on the bright side though we have well water so we don't have to pay some horrible bill for wasted water and the plants got some extra loving!

Spencer loves to be right in the middle of everything, especially when his daddy is around! 

  Okay so this last picture has a great story... Spencer loves to be a "holper" (as seen above) he wants to be involved with the whole demolition process, and he gets so excited when we go to the house everyday to work. He puts on his mask and gloves and gets right down to business. Well, while I was dealing with the flash flood, he was in the back of the house with all of the yard ornaments and was trying to get Mary to wear the mask and be a "holper", what a priceless moment and a treasured one since I needed a laugh right about that time!