Hastings, Nebraska was incorporated on April 20, 1874. Two years prior, a decision had to be made about the St. Joseph and Denver City Railroad. Railroad representatives wanted to build it near Juniata, the then-county seat, but the funding wasn't approved by the voters. Hastings ended up being the spot where it crossed the Burlington. "Hastings, part of the alphabetical naming system of the St. Joseph and Denver City Railroad following Glenvil, was named in honor of Thomas D. Hastings, construction engineer of the railroad." "In its first ten years, Hastings had grown from nothing to 3,000" (Adams County Historical Society, 2018). Ok, so what in the world does Hastings have to do with our Little White House? Comparatively, our town was incorporated 13 years later, in 1887. Hastings was a booming railroad town that is just packed with a plethora of old houses. When you have old houses, what do you get? Yep! Plenty of architectural salvage. Tyler and I have now made three trips to gather salvage materials for our project. In our first trip, we scored our yellow pine trim, matching doors, and clawfoot bathtub - which I have previously posted about. We have begun using some of the pine trim to match the woodwork in our bedroom upstairs. There will be a blog post about our bedroom when that project is all done! Since I'm on Facebook marketplace daily, (like refreshing the results about 100 times a day - yes, I know - crazy.) I'm apt to find a good deal. Two weeks ago, I came across red oak flooring that was located in Hastings. Perfect! That's what is original to our house. How much? Oh, about 700 sq. ft. I worked out a deal with the seller, and shortly after, another pickup box full of flooring popped up on Marketplace in Grand Island. Fortunately, we were able to schedule pickup on both days, and stopped at Grand Island on the way to Hastings. The pickup box flooring was just scraps from a salvage of a 1950s house. I didn't pay much for it, but we can take all that we can get! The 700 sq. ft. came from a house built in the 1940s. Talking to the seller, his wife's grandparents built the house, and this flooring was original to the house. Rather than refinishing the floor, they pulled it out and put new oak flooring in. The flooring was piled taller than me, and took up a good half of their two-car garage. It took the three of us a good hour to load all of it! We had a 14 ft. trailer, and it got so full that we had to use the back of the pickup too! When we got back home, we unloaded it into our garage so we could begin working on grinding the nails off throughout the week. We weren't able to use our garage the entire week - I was sure hoping a hail storm wasn't going to come through with our vehicles sitting outside. Luckily, we were safe. We had planned on storing the flooring against the south wall of our garage, below our other oak flooring we had previously salvaged. However, my dad called and offered us a place to store it in one of their outbuildings. Deal! Dads are amazing. At the end of last week, I found a "hutch" posted on Marketplace. Where else, but Hastings, NE. In the description, it said that this "hutch" was not finished on one side. It had beautiful leaded glass windows, and woodwork the same color as our house. Hmm...my mind started racing, wondering if this was the colonnade that I had been searching for. Ok, so colonnade isn't a word that comes up in many everyday conversations, if at all. I've had to explain what a colonnade is to many people. A colonnade is simply a built-in cabinet, common in craftsman-style houses. They usually come in a pair, and have columns reaching up to support the ceiling. When we moved in, there were cut-outs in our original oak flooring, indicating that colonnades were more than likely once there. I've been aching to put one back in, but they're hard to come by. After some pondering, I messaged the seller. I asked if this had a finished back. He said he didn't think so, but would get back to me and check. He replied shortly after, and sure enough, it did have a finished back. Done deal. I loaded up my two boys, dragged my two nieces along, and made the road trip to go get it. When I got there, it was even more beautiful in person. I felt a connection to it, and knew it was meant to be in our house. Sappy, I know. We loaded it up and headed for home. (With a quick pit-stop to a convenience store, where the munching of Cheetos could be heard coming from the back seat!) This colonnade was definitely converted to a hutch, with faux marble tiles placed on the top in place of where the column once sat. We will make it a built-in again someday with a rebuilt column, separating our dining room from our den. For now, it is content sitting in my dining room disguised as a hutch, holding my Fiesta serving dishes. 71.3 miles. That's the one-way distance from the Little White House to Hastings. Although it's not a short drive, if it means finding quality pieces to put our house back together, those 73 miles are time well spent. Reference
Adams County Historical Society. (n.d.). Prairie to Prominence: Hastings' First 10 Years. Retrieved from https://www.adamshistory.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=33:prairie-to-prominence&catid=2&Itemid=42
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It's summer break. Although, my summer grad classes begin today, so it feels as if my summer break was rather short. I've decided it's impossible to work on my coursework with my two littles running around, so that will need to wait until tonight when they're in bed. Ok, so I am writing a blog post today, but let's be honest - that requires a whole lot less thought and concentration than my grad class, Educational Research. Tyler and I are co-parents. I know, that seems obvious, right? We both parent our children? Yes, but that's not quite what I mean. I need to brag on my husband a little bit. We both work full-time jobs. (With the exception of my summers.) It's exhausting for both of us. We're both worn-out by the time we get home at 5:15 from picking up our boys from LaRanda, Tyler's sister, who watches them. (I could do an entire blog post on how blessed we are to have her with our boys during the day. She's extraordinary.) Despite being exhausted, we have two little boys who need our love and attention when we get home. Tyler is simply amazing with them. He plays with Easton, changes Case, and we alternate getting up with Case at night. (Thank goodness he's beginning to sleep through the night!) Tyler is a stronger parent than I am. I always thought I would've made a great 50's housewife. I enjoy cooking and baking from scratch, sewing, and gardening. Although, I realize after having kids that would be entirely impossible for me. I NEED my husband's help with the kids. I really wish I could be one of those energetic "super moms" who seem to get everything done, but I'm beginning to doubt that they even exist. We all live in our own glass houses. Today while I was cleaning the house, I had Alexa playing my house-cleaning guilty pleasure music, Taylor Swift. Yep...Taylor Swift, back when she was still country. I had laid Easton down for a nap, but Case was sitting on the couch playing with his brother's Hot Wheels cars. I was getting ready to steam mop my floors when Never Grow Up came on. It hit me like a freight train. I stopped, grabbed my baby, and held him while I sobbed as the song played. Why does time have to fly by so fast during the hustle and bustle of our busy lives? I'm pretty sure if my husband walked in at that time, that would've sent him into panic mode and he would've thought I was nuts. God put man and woman on Earth for different reasons. Mothers nurture their children, and have this unbreakable bond that started in the womb. We are so strong, but even the tiniest thing, like a song, can break us down. We feel things on such a deeper level than our spouses. On the other hand, Tyler is so good at playing with the boys and teaching them all of the things little boys like to do - the different parts of trucks and tractors, fishing, and fixing things. Easton follows his dad around with his play toolbox. Maybe it's because I'm a mom of boys, but children need both their mother and father's strong influences growing up. We both share our love in different ways, and that's what makes our co-parenting so great. For better or worse, our marriage is strong because we can each offer different things to our boys. It's been nearly 7 years since Tyler and I were married. I remember meeting with our pastor before our wedding and picking out our sermon scripture: Ecclesiastes 4:9-12. Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. 7 years later, and describes our relationship to a T. While it's 2019 and the dream of a 50's housewife has subsided, I realized I have created my own dream instead. I am able to cook and bake from scratch, sew, garden, read, blog, play the piano, refinish furniture, further my education, and all of the other things I do, all because of the support I receive from my husband. Oh darling don't you ever grow up, don't you ever grow up
Just stay this little Oh darling don't you ever grow up, don't you ever grow up It could stay this simple I won't let nobody hurt you Won't let no one break your heart And even though you want to Please try to never grow up Don't you ever grow up Just never grow up - Taylor Swift |
Kathryn HollandWife. Mother. Teacher. Lifelong student. Archives
March 2022
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