Category: Building a Home

Building a Home, Coldspring, collecting, Country living, Country Style, vintage style

Using Pinterest and Google Inspiration Boards

Karen

When you have been planning a project for 8 years you tend to collect a lot of stuff and ideas.

I have had a Guest Shed Pinterest board going a long time (7 years) and if you look at it, you will see that my ideas for the house changed dramatically over time. I love Pinterest. In 2017 I wrote a blog post with my plans for the cottage. A lot has changed because reality set in. At first I thought we would go with a total mid century vibe when I thought the roofline of the building would stay the same, the bathroom would be at the back, and the wood burning stove would stay. It felt low slung and sort of 50’s mid century modern look.

After deciding that we would raise the roof (it was less than 8 feet in about a third of the house so wouldn’t count as square footage on an appraisal) I really took a look at what I wanted, what I gravitate towards, and what items are special to me. When you have years you can finally come to he point where you really are honest with yourself. My husband did an awesome job designing the new roof joist structure so that the electrical for the can lights and ceiling fan run through the collar ties connecting the beams at the top of the ceiling. He had a total vision for what it would look like. I did not.

I realized as I looked though my stash of things collected that I had a lot of sentimental vintage items, antique furniture, and more of a time worn vintage look. Most of my collected things have a story.

I returned to my Pinterest board, and started collecting pictures from pins on Google Sheets. Google Sheets work a lot like PowerPoint but it is free to anyone who has a Google account and they are so easy to share with people who can work on them with you in real time.

The results were that even though our house doesn’t look exactly like the inspiration pages, it has the same feel. I did not link the photos or give credit to the creators but the original information is probably on my Pinterest page if you are interested in something you see.

I added notes to remind myself what I was shooting for but I shared this one with a friend so there is more detail.
I still love my sweet little kitchenette.
I really had to look to see the beauty in this tub but it turned out great!
The vanity turned out better than I hoped. The vintage sink I thought I wanted would have been too small to be useful.
This is the paint I chose and the wall where the kitchen and front door are located in glorious v groove wood salvaged from a home remodel and given to us. I love the look.
I did end up painting the cabinet red and did not use the sewing cabinet in the cottage.

As I look back at my notes I see that even though there were changes as we moved forward with the build from these inspiration boards the cottage still has the look I was going for. It feels like going back to my great grandma’s house but with air conditioning!

Thank you for following along on our journey.

We love hearing from you.

Blessings,

Karen

bathroom, Building a Home, Coldspring, DIY, guest house, Real Life, Texas, vintage style

The Inside of the Guest House is Finished

Karen

Finally, finally, finally we have finished inside of the guest house. It was a project that we will enjoy for years to come and will increase the property value but man it was hard. I don’t recommend 60 years olds to take on this type project in the middle of a pandemic with supply chain issues and a shortage of contractors. Seriously.

We still have the porch ceiling to finish, erosion control, septic for the toilet (but it is happening this week!) and landscaping. It no longer stresses me to walk into the building knowing what we still have to do. Now I just get to enjoy being there.

I am going to link all the projects we have done here, mainly for myself, but if you haven’t followed along it might be something you want to check out. I apologize in advance for all the links!

https://theweekendcountrygirl.com/2021/04/01/progress-sort-of/

https://theweekendcountrygirl.com/2021/04/09/weekly-update-on-the-guest-house/

https://theweekendcountrygirl.com/2021/04/16/week-2-update/

https://theweekendcountrygirl.com/2021/05/02/the-struggle-is-real-remodeling-a-home-is-hard-right-now/

https://theweekendcountrygirl.com/2021/07/26/finally-an-update-on-the-guest-cottage/

*** If you are only going to look at one, this one has a good overview https://theweekendcountrygirl.com/2021/07/30/learning-to-love-the-imperfections/

https://theweekendcountrygirl.com/2021/08/02/why-we-hired-a-pro-for-the-tub/

https://theweekendcountrygirl.com/2021/08/04/installing-a-vintage-kitchen-cabinet/

https://theweekendcountrygirl.com/2022/02/12/a-bathroom-vanity-from-scraps/

We now have a functioning 464 square foot house that has the ability to sleep 4. We have on demand hot water, air conditioning, a six foot antique claw foot tub, a 1935 kitchen sink, hardwood floors and a peaceful front porch.

We added these canvas prints of the gust house to remind us how far we have come.

The twin xl beds can be bolted together to create a king and a very cushy topper makes it more comfy than our bed.

We found the perfectly sized table and chairs on Facebook marketplace and the love seat is a double bed sleeper. The kitchenette is my second favorite area in the house. I love that sink and those vintage upper cabinets.
My favorite space is this beautiful bathroom.
Our final project was the closet. we finally have a place for all the stuff that we need but don’t want to see every day.

Thanks for following along on this year+ long journey.

We love hearing from you.

Blessings,

Karen

Behr Paint with Primer, Building a Home, Coldspring, guest house, Repurposed Furniture

The Guest House Porch

Karen

We spend a lot of time outside and porches are important to us. It shouldn’t be a surprise that the guest house has a little porch to welcome guests. The original building had a sort of porch but we took out the original slab and reconfigured the space. We now have an eight foot by twelve foot porch that is blocked by the north wind and rain we get in the winter but open to the prevailing southern summer breezes. It has a great view of the garden and down the road will have a nice front view. I have plans.

The porch ceiling isn’t finished yet ( or the top section of the house caulk and paint) but we are still moving forward.

Our future plans for the porch are to put in a shiplap ceiling painted haint blue, cover the front posts and beams with cedar, and possibly do something with the concrete slab.

I am excited to say that the house got a coat of Behr True Taupewood, it is a gray with brown undertones. The trim is almost done and is painted Behr Dove. It is going to look beautiful with the door, swing, and cedar trim.

Speaking of swing, my goodness this four foot cypress beauty is a show stopper. A friend makes swings and other items in his shop. I love that it was custom made for us, It is stained a cedar stain and has three coats of Spar Urethane so that it can hold up to the weather.

We also have an Adirondack style rocking chair that was literally salvaged from the trash and rebuilt by Mr. Math. It got a good coat of black spray paint and has a place on the porch.

On top of the finishing up we need to do, I also want to make a barn quilt for the blank wall by the door. The view from the swing is just a blank wall and this house is all about quilts.

I found this pattern https://newlywoodwards.com/how-to-make-a-diy-barn-quilt/
I like how simple it is.

The Behr App has a project tab where you can save colors and look at how they go together.

All of the paint is in my shop right now so the 36 x 36 inch plywood is all that is needed.

We are making great progress now and it feels like we are getting somewhere finally. I am so thankful for all the work my husband has put in to get here.

Thanks for following along on our journey.

Blessings,

Karen

Behr Paint with Primer, Building a Home, Coldspring, painting

Finally an Update on the Guest Cottage

Karen

Hello friends. It has been a while since I let you all know what was going on with the guest cottage. Remember what Thumper’s mother told him? “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all,”. We went through a period where there wasn’t a lot to say that was nice. Since I last updated you, it rained, every day for over a month. Every. Single. Day. Then, our contractor flaked on us only to come back and do the worst job possible on our Sheetrock.

I have seriously cried more tears over this silly 486 square foot building than any other remodel we have done. Even our rent house that the city of Huntsville had tagged as uninhabitable.

Soooo, that is why I haven’t had a lot to say but finally we are back on track and moving forward.

First of all, what hasn’t changed since my last update. The exterior hasn’t been touched.

Still looks just like this. No caulk or paint.

What has happened since I checked in last, is the interior and the front door.

The front door had to come out completely and get reinstalled before the doorknob could be put in but thanks to my sister in law’s boyfriend coming to help out Mr. Math but now it works great and gives me a lot of joy. I love that reclaimed door and it makes me happy.

From the inside this morning.

Also, after the terrible Sheetrock job got some love from the hubby, okay, lots of hard work not love but the Sheetrock messes are mostly fixed, we got the ceiling and walls painted.

The Sheetrock walls were painted Helium which is a very light turquoise. It doesn’t photograph well but it is a beautiful color.

We installed v groove planks on the 12 foot tall wall. Nothing about the cottage is plumb, square or level so installing horizontal planks was a challenge. My husband purchased a laser level that made our life so much easier. I am thrilled with how it turned out. One of the smartest things I did was to paint the planks before nailing them up. Being able to paint the grooves while it was laying flat and I was standing on the ground made the process so much easier! Soon I will show you the whole beautiful wall.

The bathroom has been painted. Well, the part that will have paint. The tile isn’t up yet but upcoming.

Canned lights, ceiling fan, and bathroom lights have been installed along with our split unit air conditioner.

There are electrical problems that will be fixed this week but the ac is functional right now which made working inside the building bearable in July.

Finally, I found someone to refinish the claw foot tub and sink for the house and they look amazing.

More to come. I have lots to say now that we are driving the bus on the remodel and lots to celebrate.

Looking forward to sharing our adventure.

Blessings,

Karen

Building a Home, Coldspring, guest house, mid-life

The Struggle is Real. Remodeling a Home is Hard Right Now.

Karen

Well hello there everyone. Sorry I didn’t update you on our progress last week.

Last week was a bit of a challenge. Well actually this whole project has seemed a little rougher than anything else we have done. That is saying a lot for a couple of serial DIY-ers. It seems we, along with the rest of the country, are in a home improvement boom. According to these articles by NPR, and CNBC the pandemic is only partially responsible. The data below is from the two articles linked and a Forbes article on the rising cost of lumber.

  • Deck construction is up 275% ( We built a deck so I guess we were part of the crowd.)
  • Fence construction installation is at 144% compared to 2019
  • Home Depot, sales for the second quarter of 2020 were $38.1 billion, up 23.4%
  • Lowe’s reported $27.3 billion in sales for the second quarter, compared with $21.0 billion for the same period in 2019
  • Houzz, an online home remodeling platform, reported a 58% annual increase in project leads for home professionals in June.
  • Kitchen and bath remodels saw a 40% jump in demand in June compared with a year ago.
  • The Lone Star State added nearly 374,000 residents between July 1, 2019 and the same day in 2020, according to the Census Bureau’s December 22, 2020 report
  • Conroe, our nearest large city, has consistently been one of the top ten fastest growing cities in Texas since 2017. People are moving here. Conroe’s population has doubled since 2000 and continues to grow at record speed.
  • Lumber prices have increased 171% since COVID started.

All that information plus the great Texas freeze means finding construction materials and manpower in our neck of the woods is harder and more expensive than a year ago. It makes the whole building process more complicated and stressful. There have been times on this project where we looked more like Building Alaska than the happy couple on Fixer Upper. We scoured every barn on our property for left over lumber and removed nails and reused lumber removed during the remodel, checked all storage areas for screws, nuts, lock rings… all because getting materials for construction is like shopping Black Friday or looking for bottled water or generators before a hurricane.

All that said, and that is a lot, we are making big progress. Most of the insulation is up, all the interior wiring is done, all the hot and cold water Pex pipe is in along with the drain pipes, and we have cleaned around the house.

We have found a contractor that we really like and his crew is working hard in spite of the electricity to the building going out and rain. I am so grateful for their good attitude and work ethic. Because we have help we now have most of the house covered in siding. They have also started planking the eaves of the main house.

We have had about nine inches of rain in a week, a blowout on our trailer, our washing machine line stopped up, and a friend had to help Mr. Math replace the underground electric line to the shop and guest house. I have to wonder what lessons I am supposed to be learning!

.

In spite of all our little problems, we have so very much to be grateful for. We are healthy, we have friends and family that love us, and in spite of everything, we are still moving forward.

We love hearing from you.

Blessings,

Karen

Building a Home, Coldspring, JJ Lane, Providence Acres, Ranch House Overhaul

Why I Changed my Mind About Board and Batten

Karen

When we started the Guest House I was dead set on board and batten siding. You can see my vision board below.

It is a very popular look right now and liked it because it is a clean look and is something that is commonly seen on old farm cottages around our area. But I won’t be using it for our guest house. While I love the look, and think it would be beautiful, it isn’t for us because of red wasps. Yep, a bug is changing my mind. They love, love, love our guest house which is conveniently located next to our garden where they have a food source- all those bugs that want to eat our hard work.

The view from the guest house looking at the garden.

Every open space in the walls, and there were a lot- like a whole lot- has either wasp nests or spider eggs jammed in. I cannot describe the condition and won’t bore or disgust you with the details, but the picture below is a wasp apartment complex we found included five connected nests. We found over fifty nests in the corrugated exterior.

Now I know this sounds crazy, but I don’t want all wasps eliminated from our property, in fact I am glad to see them in our garden where we don’t use pesticides, I just don’t want them living with us. They are aggressive when protecting the nest and they sting. I want them to keep eating the aphids and other bugs that eat our garden, but living in the wooded area behind the garden so we need to make it more difficult for them to move in.

Our garden today. Green beans, purple hull peas, speckled butter beans, cucumbers, squash, corn, tomatoes, peppers, and watermelon.

Board and batten leaves a void between every board that is covered by a smaller board called a batten, and that will be difficult to totally seal up. Those wasps find the tiniest little crack to get in so I want something more solid.

We are going with our contractor Thursday to look at options. It is going to be something that is a solid panel that can be caulked and sealed. I want it to look like 12 inch planks and he assures me there are options I will like. Fingers crossed.

Also I learned a term from our daughter and used that term this last week. Project creep. It is the “While you are here, could you also…” sentence that apparently happens a lot.

We are adding on the aluminum siding removal around our house and adding new siding to the eaves and soffits. We started the project with the carport, deck and porches but this will finish off the house. I am so excited! We could do it ourselves but it would mean days on a ladder.

Woo hoo! I am so excited to get this projects done. They will be painting the house and guest house too which has me giddy.

Great things are ahead.

We love hearing from you.

Blessings,

Karen

Building a Home, cedar lumber, Coldspring, Country living, Country Style, mudroom, Ranch House Overhaul

Creating a Mudroom 

Karen

Well, after 6 months, we have 99% completed our mudroom.


We started with one large room that at one time was a two car garage.  The room was great, but in a home that is on a dirt road, in the country on 15 acres, in an area that gets a lot of rain, with muddy shoes, and a large dog (get the picture?) I needed a place for messy stuff to stop before making it all the way into our main living area.

IMG_0954

The photo above shows the room without the wall and the previous owner’s stuff inside.

Before we even started, we installed vinyl plank flooring.  I still love it and do not regret the decision.  We also added recessed lighting and a cute little schoolhouse light above the door.

1-IMG_8178


The first step was adding a wall to define the space.  I am crazy about our tounge and groove pine walls that are whitewashed.


The next step was to add a bench.  We hit the jackpot when my dad gave us a 2 inch slab of live edge cedar that is almost 18 inches wide and 90 inches long.  It was the perfect bench seat.  It is installed into the   studs with cleats underneath.  I cannot stop staring at it every time I walk in.


img_1148
We need storage in this home.  Desperately.  So instead of cute open storage that I could fill with accessories, it was closed 30 inch stock cabinets painted white that are filled with bbq equipment, marshmallow roasting devices, tools, light bulbs and other not cute items.  Our thought was that we would put things we keep inside but use outside in the space.  The knobs are plain Jane and functional, but I like them.



We also added board and batten walls with a tall ledger board for coat hooks.  I bought a multipack of hooks at Lowe’s for the space.  I like how rounded they are in case one of the giant men who come in our house should connect their head with a hook.


 Because there was a large open wall space and I hadn’t come up with a plan for a mirror or umbrella storage, we moved a very narrow hall tree that was a gift from my buddy, The Social Planner. It has a place for umbrellas at the bottom, a cool round mirror and additional hooks that will hold caps.


  
 I painted all but the wood detail with chalkboard paint.  I wanted the piece to go along with the large chalkboard on the other side of the door and the oak table.  Don’t hate me for painting wood.   I like a mix of wood and color.   It was in rough shape at the bottom after years of mopping around it, and the metal umbrella holder needed to have the dents fixed.  It will proudly serve us well for years to come.
 The other side of the mudroom connects with our laundry room.  We plan on adding a broom closet in the corner that currently holds all the dog toys. ( Just keeping it real, folks.)   It will have a cool screen door when it is my closet!
 We are also planning to add a pocket door to the laundry room so that the current 36 inch door is out of the way.

As soon as the suburban home sells I will be moving the galvanized tubs from the laundry room under the bench.  I did bring one so I could make sure it will work.  It does.  I will be adding felt bumpers to the bottom of the tubs to protect the floors.


We have not been able to find the right ceiling white to touch up the ceiling. I really do not want to paint the entire ceiling right now so we will keep searching and the patch from the lighting will stay unpainted.   We may have to take out a section of ceiling to color match if we can’t find it soon.  (I have done that before, because I hate to paint ceilings.)

I am calling this room done enough that it doesn’t bug me and can move on to other projects once the ceiling is done.  Our next step is to get the barn door in between the mudroom and dining area and enlarge our master closet.  Slow and steady progress.

Thank you all for following along on our journey.

Blessings,

Karen

Building a Home, Coldspring, Country living, JJ Lane, mid-life

My Dream to Buy an Old Home

Karen

I am about to share something with you all that is probably going to convince those of you who weren’t sure yet, that I am in fact totally insane.  

It has been my dream for years to buy and old home and restore it. (Old homes in Texas are not the same as old homes on the East Coast.  75 years old is an old home.) I always thought we would buy a historic home (100 year old) and bring it back to life when we retired, but providence (or Providence Acres) had other plans.  It looks like we are going to end up on 15 beautiful acres that we love with a 1980 ranch home to mess around with.

The yearning to own and restore and old home has remained even though I love our spot on JJ Lane.  My buddy, The Social Planner, knew my dream and came over with news when we arrived Friday night.  She had seen an old home that needs to be moved not too far from us.  Saturday morning she and I headed out to check the place out. 

  
The land around the house is being cleared. It appears the home was buried in the woods around it for a while.  I was smitten with the front porch.  My guess is that this home was built in the 1940’s.
  

Beadboard barrel ceiling with side lights.
   

The inside…well, let’s just say it would probably scare most folk off. (The sane ones, anyway)
 

The Sheetrock has been removed and only the shiplap is showing.
  

The front bedroom above is a nice size the windows and the hardwood flooring is still there.  All the rest of the room and the bath down the little hall have been gutted.  I saw potential.
   

The kitchen is a mess.  
  

At some point the kitchen was remodeled and a tile kitchen counter was added.  

 

The sun room on the back has beautiful beadboard and a bank of Windows across the back.
   
 

Someone has removed the wall between the two rooms in the front of the house and I am not sure how long that temporary support is going to hold.  There is also a brick chimney on top of the house that would have to go.  The pipe in the wall leads to the chimney.
   

The back bedroom has some shiplap that is 18 inches wide.  Termites ate the Sheetrock paper but didn’t seem to touch the wood.  The lines you see are termite tunnels. 
 

Someone has removed every door and the frames are stacked in the front room.
   

The front door is still there, which I love.

All that sheet rock removal helps to see the structure of the house which is solid.  The old girl is even still level with no sloping rooms.
 

I have no idea if moving this house is possible, if it is feasible, if it is financially possible, or even if this house is worth saving, but it has sparked a renewed desire to have a home to restore.  We have a lot of checking to do before we even make an offer.  My heart will not break if it doesn’t work out.

This may be an opportunity for us.  We live near where the new Houston Area Boy Scout camp is getting built.  They are anticipating 1000 boys a weekend yearly up here with at least that many for weeks during the summer.  That means lots of parents driving up.  We think that a bed and breakfast VRBO or Air BnB type home will be in demand when the Boy Scouts desend. 

Right now we are prayerfully considering adding a cottage along with The Guest Shed for guests.  This may not work out and it probably would be cheaper to build new, but I can dream. Between us and The Social Planner and her hubby I think we could manage.  Especially once I retire.  My buddy has a stash of supplies as big as mine and would enjoy the process as me.

Either way, I will let you know what we decide. 

On a happy note Mr. Math got his tractor Saturday.  He found an 8 year old tractor online with 102 hours on the engine for a great deal and he is thrilled.  

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

I love hearing from you.

Blessings,

Karen

Building a Home, cedar lumber, Coldspring, Country Style, DIY, DIY Furniture, Ranch House Overhaul, reclaimed wood

Making a Coffee Bar

Karen

My kids love coffee, hot chocolate, and hot tea.  I like it all too, but I really love the idea of having everything that our guests need set up away from the kitchen when breakfast/ evening meal prep is underway.

We have just the spot in our home for a coffee bar and we have just the materials to make a rustic coffee bar based on inspiration from The Summery Umbrella.  I purchased windows last winter at an epic garage sale for $2.00 each.  I brought our stash of reclaimed cedar planks and the storage buildings contain more random wood.

reclaimed fencing

We used the windows as the basis for the front of the cabinet.  When we laid out the windows it was obvious that they would have to go into the cabinet horizontal instead of vertical like My Summery Umbrella was able to do.  The vintage windows  are large and heavy and with them hung horizontally, the cabinet will still be slightly taller than counter height.  The length of the bar is 90 inches.  It is 12 inches wide and made from cedar we took off our old lake house, Star Hill that we have stored and moved.  We really do like our reclaimed wood.

The next step was building the skeleton.  We had enough reclaimed wood but a mistake meant we needed two new 2×4’s.

We got a new toy recently…a planer.  Oh my goodness, Mr. Math got a good deal on Craig’s List but I was skeptical.  I did not know how much I would love it.  It makes all my mismatched thicknesses of reclaimed wood play nice with each other and knocks the sanding down to just finish sanding in minutes.  We planed two 12 inch wide planks for the top and sides.

Any time you work with reclaimed wood and supplies it means you have to do a lot of trial and error.  It feels sort of like we are playing a game of Tetris.

We used outdoor gate hinges and black iron handles for a couple of reasons;  the windows are stinkin’ heavy and I liked how the black looked against the white and reclaimed cedar.

The display area will be filled with my pitchers, milk glass, and vintage cookware.  I didn’t have everything  up at the house but I put what I had in for you to get an idea.

We already used it as a serving counter on New Year’s Eve.

The coffee bar is going to serve a lot of purposes when we have a crowd.  Having 90 inches of serving space away from the kitchen counters will be great.

Let’s face it, most of the time it is going to be a drink station.

Left overs from New Year’s Eve.

An all sorts of drinks station. (You have no idea how hard I had to look to scrounge up the drinks above!)

Mainly it will be a coffee/ tea bar, because that is who we are.

  


Here it is in our daily life.  It will be a cluttered mess so my kitchen doesn’t have to be full of stuff.   I am going to love this piece.  It is narrow and provides room for the front door to open, it provides me 7 and a half feet of additional counter surface, and it looks like it belongs in our house.  Be still my heart.

The house is coming along.  I am proud of the progress we are making as we make Providence Acres our forever home.

Mr. Math and I are both thrilled to share our journey with you as we go.  Thank you for the kind words you share. 

Blessings,

Karen

Building a Home, Coldspring, Country living

What’s In A Name?

Karen

Several people have asked what the name of our soon to be second home will be.  The answer is…

Providence Acres

Mr. Math and I had discussed possible names but nothing felt right.  Creekside? Bar S (the name of a family ranch)?  There were several more we thought about but nothing stuck. We decided that whatever the name would be it had to come on its own and it has.  The more we talked to folks about how we had this home placed in our path and how the path has been astounding to us the way that things have worked out, we used the word providence.  We used it a lot. It just stuck.

Ranch House

 It was three years before Star Hill got a name.  My youngest, Baby Boy, decreed that our weekend home needed a name. I believe any place loved by the owners or visitors will be named.  

My mom and dad are practical folk.  They have owned two places over the years that they loved.  He first they called The Farm. The second, The Property.  They probably think I am silly worrying about the right name for our home, but we are not alone in naming our place and it is not a new idea.

outdoor kitchen

  Ever heard of these places?

  
Baltimore Estate

  
Mount Vernon

Outbuildings

  
Castle Hill

  
Graceland

  
Monticello

I m sure you can think of others as well.

Ranches and Farms are almost always given a name as a way of branding their name.  Their way of branding themselves comes from having a name to associate with their product be it produce or livestock.  If you are a middle ager like me, I will bet you remember Southfork Ranch.  

  
I even grew up with fictional ranches.  Do you remember The Ponderosa from Bonaza?

  

There are websites dedicated to helping you name your farm or ranch. 

If you want chance to be how your spot is named, use this generator.

Farm Name Generator

We are also learning that we have to name our outbuildings for practicality.  This is how a lot of our conversations go right now.

“Where is the ladder?” 

“In the shed.”

“Which shed?”

“The back shed.”

“The back shed?  Which shed are you calling the back shed?”

“You know, the one with tractor tire in front.”

“Why is that the back shed?”

“It just is.”

“That makes no sense.  There are three back sheds depending which direction you go.”

“It makes sense to me.”

“What were we talking about before we started talking about this?”

“I have no idea.”

The buildings will be named.  The ladders will be located.

I hope you enjoy our journey.

Blessings,

Karen