a proper intro? -- long

Nice to meet you Peggy! I'm so sorry about your friend. Where are you in S. Ga? I'm in Hoschton, about 45 or so miles NE of Atlanta.

You may want to check out the Wm. Holland School

I'd love to try PMC too, but I really need another hole in my head! (Or maybe just another 8 or 10 hours in my day!)

Welcome, Peggy. Nice to meetcha!

Cheers, Carla

Peggy wrote:

Peggy,

I am really looking forward to getting to know you more!

I am studying Instructional Systems Technologies at Indiana University right now and in our intro course I am learning that Instructional Design is one of the many many names for what "we" will do when "we" grow up :)

I am also really interested in learning to use PMC. I promised the guys at work when I left to get my PhD that I would spend the money they intended for a book gift certificate on a HotPot. I haven't bought it yet but I need to hold to my promise and not spend the money on "food or something for the house" :).

Can't wait to see some of your work!

marisa2

Peggy wrote:

Hello again Peggy and yes we do read the entire intros. Your house sounds divine and I would love to be restoring a century old house. The carriage house sounds fantastic too. What I wouldn't do to come and visit. I could even help out with construction. I built my own log house in Alaska including cutting down the trees and then scraping bark before using them. It was a long process and I know how you feel.

Welcome, again, Peggy:)

Welcome, Peggy!! :)

Welcome Peggy. Glad you're here!

Hi Peggy! Nice to meet you! Diana

Nice to know there's another Georgian here, Jerri. I'm in Metter, about an hour and a half west of Savannah and two hours southeast of Macon. I can also get to Augusta in about two hours, but it's back roads all the way.

I've heard of the Holland school. I checked out their course listings. They sound great, and the fees are unbelievable.

And believe me, I know what you mean about needing more hours in a day :-)

Wow! Instructional Systems Technology sounds so impressive. I'll have to remember that.

I studied Psychology at Sweet Briar College in Virginia and the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, where I specialized in Cognitive Learning Theory. After I graduated, I went to work for a couple of years as a Research Assistant on the Computer-Aided Instruction project at Carnegie-Mellon University. Thereafter I switched into the business arena and worked in training, then writing, and then instructional design (as I call it). Somewhat over 5 years ago I decided to go into business for myself and have been primarily developing course materials for both classroom and on-line training, though I do also continue to pull in a "pure" writing gig now and then. I always tell people that I'm a writer first because all of what I do is written, but not all of what I do is instructional.

As for PMC, I am *just* starting out. My biggest problem right now is lack of time. I'd love eventually to be able to take a class, but all I've got for the moment is a few books and a will to learn. I will be sure to keep you posted on my (slow) progress.

Ironically, we jokingly refer to our house as a cabin. That's because it's constructed entirely of heart-of-pine--including the interior walls. And yes, it's slowly becoming divine, but it was a definite shack when we bought it. When we called the electric company to set up service in our name, they came out and instead disconnected the line from the street to our house. They said that the house might "go up" at any moment in a fire. So the fact that we are even thinking of moving in by Christmas is somewhat of a miracle.

It's taken us three long years of working every day on the place just to get it livable, and I still have to see about getting up on the roof later today because we are expecting yet another hurricane tomorrow. Scraping your own bark, though? Well, that makes me feel postively coddled. I am definitely impressed. ;-)

Welcome, Peggy! :)

-Kalera

Welcome Peggy! My hat's off to you restoring a house like that. Sounds like you still have quite a bit of work left to do. Bet it will be gorgeous when you guys get it finished!

We'd love to see some of your work, when you can. Mark's book is the best, in my opinion, when it comes to the basics of wireworking. Sure taught me a bunch! I make lampwork beads and it sure is nice to put them into pendants if I make one that I just can't bear to sell and have to keep for myself. I love to make jewelry almost as much as I love making beads, but it takes me way to long to design a piece of jewelry, so I just stick to making the beads. ;)

Again, welcome and I'm sure you'll learn lots and lots from this great group!

Paulette

Welcome Peggy -

Where in So GA? I'm in Tallahassee...if you ever come down this way, let me know, love to meet another beader.

Barbara

Of all the things I loved doing for our home, scraping bark was the best. I got a hell of a workout and it was meditative. Don't feel coddled. I wouldn't want your job right now with how I feel. My poor hubby would be pulling all his hair out.

I call my house a cabin to -- because it's a trapper style log cabin. Your heart of pine walls sound lovely. With my logs I've found that color works better than anything with white (eg, cream, beige, pastels), because wood has a sort of translucence. Especially if you refinish it.

The logs on my place were originally scraped with the cambium still showing in streaks/scrapes, but they get pretty dark. I like it much better sanded; done after a house fire.

So did you have to completely rewire the inside of the house? Compared to that, putting in a new line to the house is a piece of cake.

What sort of roof do you want, and what is the shape of your house. It sounds very cool, fun, and work intensive.

Tina

Yes, we had to completely rewire the house because apparently the original knob and tube wiring had become so frayed that it was a fire hazard. That's why the electric company refused to connect the line. We also had to partially rewire the carriage house, but in that case we it was because there was only one circuit there, and we planned to live in the carriage house while working on the main house. At least the carriage house was safe. But even there the electrical work was pretty difficult. Drilling through old wood for the conduit is no fun because the wood is just so strong and dry! But pulling the line for the stove was probably the hardest thing. The wire was just so large and (seemingly) unbendable.

We also had to replumb the house in its entirety, but again we only repaired the carriage house. Also, there was no heat when we moved in, and the first winter we lived with space heaters. Of course that was the year that we hit a record low of 16. Now we have HVAC (paid a contractor to install it) in the main house and radiant heat in the carriage house. But as you can see, I wasn't exaggerating when I said that the house started out as a shack.

Your house sounds *really* lovely, so I suppose I should clarify regarding our walls: They are indeed all wood, but it's painted. That was the style when the house was built, and we decided to stick with it. It was also the style at that time to have painted floors--at least for a simple house, which ours is. But I wanted to have *some* wood grain showing, so I compromised and painted the carriage house floors and the kitchen floor in the main house, and then we went ahead and refinished the rest of the floors in the main house except for the baths and the laundry. We didn't use any stain but instead let the natural color of the wood come through--so the floors all have a lovely reddish cast to them from the resin in the heartwood. Very pretty, and though it's not true to the period, I definitely wouldn't change it. In fact, the beautiful floors are the first things that visitors comment on when they enter the home.

Despite all of this, our house does feel very cabin-like to me. We used to live in a cabin in north Georgia, and although the look of this house is very different than that, there's a certain sound and feel to living here that's very similar. I think it has something to do with the way that the wood resonates and absorbs sound. It's hard to explain to someone who hasn't lived in a wood home, but I'm guessing that you know what I'm talking about. Homes made entirely of wood are just different than other homes.

As for your other questions: Our house is folk Victorian (which means that it has simple lines and no gingerbreading). The roof is tin and is the second roof on the house. Parts of the original cedar shake roof are still visible in the attic because the house was built in stages and they didn't bother to remove the old roof once it was enveloped by the new additionl. We are going to have to replace the roof pretty soon, and we definitely plan to hire someone to do that! Ivan spauned a hurricane that took up a corner, and we have spent hours repairing it. Now, Jeanne is headed directly toward us. Eeek!

And you are right: Our house is indeed very cool, fun, and *very* work intensive!

Well, I still feel coddled ;-)

With as much work as we've done around here, sometimes it's *nice* to be reminded that we didn't have to do everything. It sounds like you really, truly started from scratch. That's pretty impressive, though I'm glad to know that scraping the bark was meditative.

I'm in Metter, off I-16, so to get to Florida I usually head down I-95. I'll try to keep you in mind if I'm ever down that way...