This is a fairly lengthy post with some explanation of what’s been happening in my world over the last 2 years. If you are more interested in crafty posts, stay tuned as I have a list of 13 crafty blog ideas that I will be writing and posting soon!
In the adventure that is our life, we are currently residing in chaos in Glendale, California. How did we get from farm life in a little town, Pop 1300, in Michigan’s upper peninsula to the largest county in California? It took several plane rides, a FULL moving truck, a car hauler, and a little pixie dust.
My husband received a job offer from the company he had previously been doing on and off-contract work. The farm wasn’t allowing us to have much family time and physically we were suffering. After much talk, consideration, and prayer, we decided to accept the job. We did one last harvest in July (2019) then boarded a plane the 2nd Sunday in August and moved into a house we had found to rent.
We decided that the area we picked to rent was a great area for our family so we began the search for our next home. This California market is a seller’s market and we were blessed to have the guidance of the best real estate agent we have ever worked with. She took me around to see several houses, educated us on the ins and outs of location, location, location. (Seriously 2 blocks one way or another made a HUGE difference.)
We hit the housing lottery and our bid was accepted on a home in January 2020. Escrow, close, termite termination, hired contractors for kitchen, bath, floor remodeling, asbestos & lead removal all happened in a 3 week period then Corona hit. Hubby was furloughed which lead us to decide to move out of the rental house and occupy our now, tore up the new house.
The contractor was very quick and had the demolition started the first Monday after we signed the contract for the work.
This is the kitchen as it was when we purchased the house. Fully functional a bit dated.
This is what it looked like after the demolition. We currently have more holes in the walls with some electrical/pipes added and others removed.
I devised a system for our pantry and using an electric camping burner, microwave, and grill we have managed to have some lovely meals. Our washing station isn’t my favorite,
but I can’t complain about the view or the weather. With only one working sink in the bathroom that was not touched, we have a bottle system and try to keep them full for when we need them.
Before we moved into the house, before the furlough news in our state of happy bliss, we were able to work on making some loft areas in the garage and brighten up the place. I currently can’t see much of the walls, floor, or lofts, but I am looking forward to seeing it again, and in the meantime I have photos.
Because of COVID-19, our eldest came out and finished his first year of full-time college at the rental house with us. This meant the kids and I could make the mosaic in the garage for my husband as this will be his workshop & a place to park a car.
In making priorities over which projects we wanted to be done by the contractor, darn budgets, and which ones we would do, we left the family room as a project for us to tackle. After we settled in a bit to a routine of school for our youngest, learning how best to make coffee, new grocery store, finding recipes that worked in our current “camp kitchen,” we began to talk about the family room. In true Ross fashion, we tore up the floor, ripped off the old brown paneling, and dove in with both feet on our project. This is the before photo from when we purchased the house, and the current photo.
Northwest corner (kitchen to the left) 
Northeast corner 
Southeast corner 
Southwest corner (kitchen to the right)
We have since been able to finish the drywall mud-ding and have the primer on the walls and ceiling. This progress has been slow as my husband did get recalled back from furlough. (halleluiah!)
All and all we are blessed and try to focus on what we have, the good in our world, and the fact that we are all together, healthy and safe. Besides who can be uncheered when we have a view like this out our back door!
I have a list of future blog posts and am trying to make crafting time each day. I would love it if you keep a good thought for our current chaos and that it has an end sooner rather than later.
If you have any suggestions for what projects, techniques, or blog subjects I should write about, please let me know!
Happy Crafting!
by 
I truly enjoyed this window into your adventure! Thank you for sharing all the news and photos. Happy Crafting!