Baking Day

Outside: Today it was either raining or threatening to rain for most of the day. The guys cleared brush while the weather was clear and cleaned out the barn while it rained. Our Construction Manager Scott arrived yesterday and much time was spent in discussion with him as to how construction should proceed.

Inside: We put together an ad-hoc office space in the upstairs dormer room of the Stonehouse. The Stonehouse has a porch, kitchen, dining room, living room, downstairs bedroom, three bathrooms, and three upstairs bedrooms that I call the small bedroom, the big bedroom, and the dormer room (because it has a dormer-style ceiling).

My family and I moved here 8 days ago from Champaign, Illinois. We now live in the Stonehouse itself. The house has been very hectic since we arrived, with various staff members coming and going as they arrive to work for the summer, two kids and a baby, half-unpacked boxes, cleaning supplies, construction equipment, two dogs, and lots of mud making for a lovely mess.

Up until yesterday the house had a working stove but no working oven. I am happy to report that the kitchen is now fully functional. Carissa and Baby Lexi and I made a successful trip to the store yesterday. Today we made dinner for 13 people (mostly successfully). On the menu were brats, roast chicken which refused to get properly roasted and nearly ruined my evening, delicious cornbread casserole, green beans, and Gooseberry Pie made with some very tart berries from my garden in Champaign.

This move has been a big change for us but there is so much going on that there hasn't been much time to take it all in. Today felt like a good settling-in day. We are expecting more staff to arrive at the end of this week and the beginning of next week and will need to adjust once again to fit them in - feeding upwards of 17 people will take some practice!