Working inside the house

Jason and the boys did some work inside the house before winter set in. First things first...electricity. We'd run the electric to the site before the foundation went in, so now we had to run it to a breaker panel. Jason was feeling really bad for me hanging clothes on the line when the temps were just barely above freezing, so he wanted to get the dryer hooked up for me. 1st Electricity, then the dryer, then heat, then....?

Jason & the boys worked on the electricity in freezing rain. It was AWFUL weather! Once they had it to the breaker box and to the panel on the electric meter, then all the work indoors could begin. The Panel was installed and breakers put in, a few outlets were installed (temporary) for running power to the power tools, lighting, etc., while we worked indoors. The dryer was brought out of storage and installed. NOW I could do my laundry and dry it in my dryer in the winter! I was so happy! No more frozen fingers and freeze-dried clothes! Although I intend to still hang clothes on the line in the summertime, it just makes sense to save all that electricity.

Once the dryer was in they brought the pellet stove out of storage and installed it, too. We kept it when we moved from our old place. It really puts out the heat...but not so well in an uninsulated shell...but that will come eventually. For now it's just to warm up the interior when we're working in there...or on the occasions when the kids decide they want a sleepover and the nights aren't too chilly. Yes, they really do camp out there. LOTS of blankets and the pellet stove going full bore. LOL!

Once the pellet stove was installed and a BUNCH of pellets purchased the guys got working on putting up interior walls. The kitchen/dining/living is a combo room, so no walls there, just windows (which we had yet to purchase the window for the kitchen at this point). The other half of the downstairs had the mudroom (utility room), master bedroom, bathroom, and staircase. The walls went up pretty quickly. The staircase is waiting on warmer weather. Jason did get the landing built for it already...he told Shannon that was her bedroom. LOL!

We had a nice Thanksgiving here at the cabin, just us. Our Thanksgiving plans with my in-laws fell through.

Winter weather headed into Missouri EARLY in 2013, snow in early December, freezing temps (like 6*F and colder), not a great start for a Mid-South winter. This was an early warning sign that winter would be miserable!

Christmas 2013 and we'd had plenty of snow already. Most years we're praying for snow on Christmas...this was the year we were praying the LAST snow would be on Christmas! Wishful thinking. :( We had a dinner over at my in-laws on Christmas Eve, but weren't expecting them on Christmas Day...once again we had our holiday to ourselves. Jason's company came through for him again with a Christmas bonus (arrived the day before Christmas...so no time to shop with it) and we were able to gift the kids with money again, on top of their few small gifts, and put money towards the house.

2014...here we come!