What's Tom's latest project??? He's helping to remodel the Fountain Mission Home in Hustler, WI.
The church could no longer afford to run this as an Assisted Living home (my Grandmother lived there for a little while).
The new owners want to operate it as an Eco-friendly Bed & Breakfast...in Hustler! You must understand Hustler has 2 Churches, 2 Taverns, a bowling alley called the Hooterbowl (that was the Elementary School, years and years ago), a cheese factory that closed and is being turned into a museum, one bank with one teller that closes at 3pm!, a convience store, the Hustle Stop, that SOMETIMES sells gasoline...when they can afford to buy it, and about 157 (MAX) residents. It sounds like it has a lot, but believe me it is SMALL! Gary Gladstone, who wrote a book called "Passing Gas and Other Small Towns along the American Highway" wrote a bit about Hustler...basically he said it was so small that driving through it "made his hair hurt." I think he did come back and posed with one of the Happy Homemakers Gals who was holding two bright orange bowling balls at chest level in front of the Hooterbowl.
At any rate it's pretty exciting to think that our little one horse town (as my late cousin Dee Dee (from Chicagoland) affectionately called it when visiting my Grandma Corky at the Mission Home) will have an eco-friendly B&B. The new owners want to cater to bicyclists...as it's right on the Omaha Bike Trail that connects Camp Douglas, WI to Elroy, WI and in Elroy you can get on the Elroy-Sparta Bike Trail...the first Rails to Trails bike Trail in the Country. Sparta, WI is the Biking Capital of the United States. The other exciting thing about this B&B is that one of the owners is Grammy Nominated "Simply J.P.", aka JP Olson (married to the Town Chair of the Town of Fountain...our little Township with 367 registered voters...the same little Township that I'm running for Town Supervisor in the April 7th election this year!). We just met JP at our neighbor's birthday party and she is a lovely person. I talked a good long time with her about organic foods, and where to buy them around here. She ran a restaurant in Memphis, TN and really wants to serve healthy food at there B&B...she even mentioned VEGAN dishes!
Our other exciting news is that we have a new DISHWASHER...AKA the DYNAMIC DISHWASHING DUO, starring Reeve & Kyle!!
They BEGGED me to do the dishes the other night. Believe it or not, I was hesitant at first. I had visions of the boys sopping wet, sponge throwing contests, and a water-soaked kitchen. I think my reluctance actually did the trick, because when I finally said YES they were sooooo excited. I told Reeve that I'm very picky when it comes to dishes. I can't stand it when people do a half-arsed job and leave food or soap scum on the plates.
He really took my warning to heart, and really took his time to make sure the dishes were totally spotless. It's nice to know that I can count on these two to help me out in about 6 MORE WEEKS!
Reeve scrubbed the dishes, and Kyle rinsed them, and Tommy put them away. I didn't have to do a thing, but smile, smile, smile.
Here's a really bad picture of me that Kyle took. These overalls are really the only comfortable thing I have to wear around the house. My belly is so big that I can't even do the side buttons up!