1910 marketing

One of my jobs, marketing.

Being the small business owners that we are, we do it all.  We have to. 
There isn't a team to come up with a plan of attack.  You sort of fly by the seat of your pants ~ as much as your bank account can stomach for advertising ~ hope it will increase sales and call it good.

Marketing strategies isn't something I learned while in college.
I was too busy learning about population fluctuations, ecological impacts and invertebrate classification.

Now I wish I would have taken an accounting class or two.  But you can wish in one hand.....

A new tidbit was found in the wall.

A 1910 postcard invite to attend an annual meeting from a Michigan Insurance Company.

Brady pulled this out of one of the walls the other day.

I was told the property was once owned by the Strom Family, so finding this was pretty great.

Evidently, this would make them the first owners, if the house was indeed built in 1909.

An invitation to a meeting in Traverse City on December 12, 1910.

I seriously can't wait for the Historic Society Office to open up in the spring.

We did find a picture of the house in the Curtis Centennial Book.

It looks to be from the 50s maybe.

At the time, the Portage Park Lodge was AAA approved.





Tales of the 4th Grade Something or Another.

Hunter completed his science project.  He's in the 4th grade.  He just learned what a hypothesis was.  He had no clue about variables and controls until a few weeks ago.  Error.....forget about it.

How permanent are pemanent markers?

If it's a Sharpie....pretty gosh darn permanent.
Those were my conclusions.

He tested five types of cleaning products.

 Against two brands of permanent markers.

On four different materials. (wood, carpet, T-shirt, and white board)

I dare you to try to find another brand of permanent marker in Northern Michigan, other than Sharpie.

That was a project in itself.

 

Once the project was done.

Graphs were made using a really swell online graph maker.

Everything got typed and cut out for display.

Today is the day.

Science Fair Day.

Good Luck, Buggy.

You will always be a winner to me.

Love, your Crazy Mother



Recycle, Reuse, Rebrick?

So this is David's baby.  He came up with the idea for a stoned wall in our main living area.

I pictured it looking like this for quite awhile.

Wondering where or when we would find the extra money for stone.

There are so many other things that need attention why waste it on decorative wall coverings.

Step in this old foundation of some kind on the side of the house.

Which is made of the limestone David wanted for his wall.

Earlier this week he decided to head out there and try to bust off or maybe cut a few rocks and see how they looked.  He was thrilled when it worked.

Salvaging these rocks off the property is pretty fantastic.

He brought in a bunch to clean off and let dry.



Yesterday they started, and by the time I got home from work, they were well on their way.



He added a cedar log mantel, and we will also add one of those not so real fireplaces for a little cozy feel.

These are my boys.

I don't tell them often enough, but they are pretty swell at what they do.

I told them I like it so much, I think they should do the little bit of chimney on the top of the house, so it will match.  Every now and again, I hope to get my way.



President's Day Bathroom Crash

My updates have been slacking. 

I'm a known procrastinator, but actually tax season is taking up most of my spare time.

After our festive Carnival weekend, I decided since the country is in the toilet, I might as well spend President's Day gutting one of the upper floor bathrooms.

I started with the 'kids' bathroom.  The striped shag carpet that was in there was calling my name.

The before picture of that lovely carpet.

The before of the bathroom.

My goal was to get these molded walls around the tub out.

 With hammers and crowbar in hand, my mother-in-law and I went to it. We managed to remove all the molded vinyl tile as well as the plaster and lathe.

We also said goodbye to the shag, which was laid down in strips.  Underneath was this groovy floor.  The colors were fantastic.  We were able to get most of it up without much muscle.  A few spots were stubborn.

The tub itself is in decent shape and we are probably going to keep it, just give it a set of new guts.

One step closer to fine.

A great day in a tiny town.

Saturday was Curtis's Winter Carnival.  This town is tiny, but it pulls off great events.  The Winter Carnival is one of the smaller events of the year, but it's always one of my favorites.  When I moved to the Upper Peninsula, these are the types of things I always pictured.  A 'Grumpy Old Man' type of existence complete with ice shacks and icy filled minnow buckets and staring for hours down an ice fishing hole. 

While I don't do much ice fishing anymore, I still do enjoy the Winter Carnival.

The carnival takes place right on the ice covered lake.

Snowmobiling is a big attraction for Curtis and the surrounding areas and helps brings tourists to town all winter long.

The Carnival has a few vendors selling UP gifts as well as items such as these fur mitts and hats.

There are games at the carnival, such as ice bowling (the ball is a frozen hen) and the ice racer (big wheels on an icy track)

Winter Carnival wouldn't be complete without the fish coop.

The fence under the ice is stocked with rainbow trout. 

Everyone can buy a ticket to fish an ice fishing hole to try to catch a trout.

There are prizes for the biggest trouts that are caught.

Many local volunteers run fishing holes both on the open ice and inside a shack to help if needed.

Here's our friend Gabby with her catch of the day!

Our local Lions always offer Hot Chocolate and Coffee for donations.

The Chili Cook-Off is a big hit.  This was David's second year.  He took second place this year.

His cousin Lucas and his lovely fiance Margaret helped him serve while I volunteered for the Chamber giving out ballots and spoons.

A bon-fire right on the ice gives the crowd a little warm up if they need it.

A chainsaw carver comes to the Carnival each year.

The day ends with a fantastic firework display right over the ice.

It was a great day, and we had a fun group to share it with.

And if you didn't already know, I do love this tiny town.

And so it starts....

After a week of sick children for me, and out of town work for David, we are ready for the weekend festivities.

It has arrived.  Winter Carnival Weekend.
The Winter Carnival comes complete with the Not-So-Famous Chili Cook-Off.

So, today began with David making his famous award winning chili. 

Last year, he took 3rd place.  He was proud and wore his metal the entire day.
Now the kids have it somewhere in their toys along with the chili pepper beads.
So I talked him into doing it again this year.

He's so funny as he tweaks his chili every time he makes it.

It's always good, but never the same.

For the contest this year, there are a few new additions, today he said his key to success is the small skillet.

Probably because it's the only skillet he could find ;-)

Not only are we kid-free all weekend, but some of our out-of-town family are either here, or on their way.

If I survive the weekend, I'll let you know if he wins. 

Cheers to Curtis!

Bye-Bye Plaster, Hello Faux Beam.

Who has time to blog? I mean really.  I work, I mother, I relax, I have an endless pile of dirty laundry to do.

While I haven't written much about our renovation, it doesn't mean the boys haven't been over there busting their humps.  I'm a lucky a girl.  Here are their doings this past week.

Brady de-cabinet-ed the kitchen.

We'll be starting from scratch on the kitchen design.

The best part, is we're kind of agreeing on placement.

And while moving the outward plumbing for the upstairs toilet was declared too costly so therefore impossible.I got a 'sure that's do-able' on moving the kitchen sink and dishwasher placement.  There also to my delight not much resistance in moving the kitchen window into a more user friendly position.

They are really making me say goodbye to my chimney exposure idea.

They are going to frame it up and stone it.

David wants the flat screen to be hung on it.

I'd prefer our main living area not to be centered around the TV.

If the kids get a say, I'm sure I will be out voted.

Goodbye cracked plaster!

Hello drywall and sealing up the walls!

Don't be offended if I don't miss you.

While we are agreeing on the kitchen design.

We are back and forth on this door.

An example of our general conversations:

Why are there two front entrances?

We probably will never use this door.

Does it go or do we keep it?

But it probably was an original aspect of the house.

Are you sure?  Any word on older pictures of the house?

We discuss it and never really come up with a yes or no answer.  Living in Northern Michigan, where we sometimes have brutal winter temperatures, the heat loss factor is the thought for doing away with a probably never-used secondary front entrance to our home.

A decision has yet to be made, so the drywall was hung around it, for now.

If my Soy-Gel paint stripper is as good as I hope it is, I might strip it and vote for keeping it.

The two beams are now in place. 

I already picture them finished and beautifully stained.

They will have to make a 'faux post beam' to hide the plumbing that would be too costly to move.  The 'Y' of this plumbing problem caused them to create this drop down that will be above our bar/island.

Small recessed lights will be added to it so our family dinner time will be well lite.

Each time I'm there, I get more and more excited to move this family into our old house.