Friday, December 3, 2021

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

The wait is over, and I have so much to share with you!

We've finally got an internet connection, and I can stop inundating you with multiple postdated posts! Not only can we upload and download everything we need to do, but our daughter can also talk on Zoom, which means she can do her spring semester classes online. No eleven-hour drive to New Hampshire, just to have her secluded in her dorm room!

Can I get a WOOHOO?

Renovations are going well for the sewing room. We've painted it, and the color came out so pretty! It really brightened up the room. My husband also decided to take out the carpet and replace the flooring- and I got to choose the color! We also bought a ceiling fan to match the floor. Not everything is finished yet, but here are a couple of pictures of the walls and floor (and the beautiful new air vents too!)


Next up is new baseboards with a fresh coat of white paint. After that is the ceiling fan install and an area rug (for the rolling desk chairs), and we're done! 

Well, almost. My husband wants to build a few more bookshelves before moving everything in, but I can start creating and writing before those are installed. We plan to turn a small part of the space into a reading nook for the three of us since we became avid readers during our disconnection to the Web.

Not having internet has its benefits!

As for the propane issue, the guy never showed for the appointment. Again. After a very heated phone call (from my husband, whose fuse usually wraps the equator several times), we finally got propane the day before Thanksgiving. We were very thankful for fresh-baked bread and turkey!

We learned an important lesson concerning certain gas stations. Some fuel might be cheaper, but not good if it has enough water in it to freeze in the lines overnight. We also learned that the locals sometimes know better than the mechanics when figuring out what's wrong. Leaving the van in the garage and storing a few bottles of dry gas makes for better winter driving.

And speaking of driving, we had a sprinkling of snow the morning we went to pick up our son for the holiday week. And I get to try out the camera on my new phone!





It was the perfect snow- just enough to coat the grass and trees, but not the roads. So pretty!

Last but not least, we are now officially a company! We have our EIN number and can finally start becoming business owners. Grants, schematics, trademarking, and copyrighting- and that's before we do any renovations.

So many more changes happening; my head is spinning. In a good way!

God has taken us a mighty long way into a whole new world of business we only dreamed was possible. I can't wait to see what He does next!

I Reckon We're Wreckin'

(postdated Tuesday, November 16th, 2021)

Oh, so many changes since my last post!

First, we bought new phones instead of waiting for the chips that never came (and are probably still in the depths of Tennessee). The switch to the new phone service allowed us to drive two to three miles from home instead of seven to twelve.

Believe me, it makes a difference!

Second, I've finally broken my plateau in my weight loss journey! My body decided to clean house due to what we thought was me getting used to the water. After three days of sheer bliss, I realized I was probably still overeating during my eating windows and that smaller portions are warranted for further breakthroughs.

Third, we'll finally be able to cook and bake again! The old electric stove had an unusable oven, and though the burners worked, they were all tilted inward towards the center. We think the previous owner used all four burners for a giant canning pot that weighed a ton and bent the burners. My husband refused to cook anything but breakfast on it until the new propane range came in.

It came, but the propane to run it wasn't installed yet, due to a hiccup via the service order. So we were without any way to cook in the house for almost a week.

But we are now sturdy country folk, so my husband decided to make a few breakfasts and a giant pan of pepperoni cheesesteaks on the propane camping stove when we got tired of the pre-prepped fridge and freezer food.

The propane for the range comes in today- I hope!

Four, my sewing room/reading nook is getting renovated, so I can start sewing and writing again until the bakery is up and running. There was a makeshift wooden cabinet in the corner of the room, and let's just say we had a big fire last night that kept us warm outside, despite freezing temperatures. Next is spackling and painting from that insanely bright blue to a more calming periwinkle.

This is what it looked like when we first moved in:



And now:


After a fresh coat of paint, new flooring, and a few more bookshelves, we can finally move everything into the space, and I can begin working and creating! I miss making things so much, and I bought the supplies to make my first project- a giant Christmas wreath for our front door.

No, we still don't have internet, and according to the service, we won't have it until the end of this month. Apparently, they scheduled it for November 29th instead of October 29th by mistake. Thanks a lot, Service-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named.

We're not even sure if the signal will be strong enough to do essential things like uploading videos and Zoom calls. We need both to promote the bakery and allow our daughter to do college from home. At least we'll be able to make phone calls.

We've not even touched the stuff left in the store- including our moving boxes!

We learned more about starting this business. We registered, but it might take a few weeks before we get the tax number. We can't move forward with trademarking and copyrighting our business name without the tax number. We also can't apply for grants until we have our EIN number.

And we can't have the FDA in before everything is built. We must have them in after everything is renovated. If we decide to change anything after inspection (from a bakery to a bakery café, like we originally planned), we must have the FDA in all over again. So we get two inspections before they start charging big bucks.

That changes everything. We can't start as small as we intended. A lot more reckoning than we thought and a lot more wreckin' than we planned.

God got us here. He'll get us up and running. We're sowing the fields, expecting God to bring the rain. And as we wait, I'm going to be letting my muse off the leash and run free in my sewing/writing space.

Step back and watch the awesomeness!