Clearing a Sight Line to the Pool
One of the perks of buying a really old home is that the landscaping is mature. But with every rule there’s always an exception, right? In the case of our colonial farmhouse, our landscaping had ventured into a realm past mature. I’m not sure how to say this delicately…so I won’t. Every single tree, bush, shrub, weed, flower, vine and blade of grass on the property was overgrown when we moved in. Not just overgrown, but out-of-control. Not just out-of-control, but rapidly taking over anything and everything in its path. It crossed my mind that if I stood still for more than a minute, the Virginia Creeper vine would probably…
Happy List: #129
Hey, hey! Can you believe it is August already? It feels like summer is flying by. Last week we took time off to hang out with friends visiting from Oregon. We mainly stuck close to home, but we did take a few days to visit Hershey Park in Pennsylvania. This week I shared pictures of our living room and how I turned a dining table into a coffee table. I’ve never had a round coffee table and I’m enjoying the heck out of this one. If you’re curious about our dining situation, we are back to using my original dining table because I have the space for it once again.…
5 Old Books I Found in Our New Home
Old houses are full of surprises. (I’m a master of the understatement.) Our colonial farmhouse has already given us plenty of surprises – most of them electrical related. I also found some old books and magazines in our new home. That’s a WAY better surprise than realizing you only have one inconveniently located outlet in your master bedroom! Since I previously told you the seller left tons of unwanted items in the house when he moved out, you might think that I found these old books in one of the four gazillion dozen boxes of junk on the premises. Nope. I found the old books and magazines in two places.…
My Dining Table Is Now a Coffee Table
Do you remember when I bought a $9.60 round dining table at the Habitat Restore and making over that table almost sent me over the edge? That was fun. Fast forward several months and the scars from the traumatic table makeover experience were healing nicely. Then I realized why that table might have been donated to the Habitat Restore in the first place. The top kept coming loose from the base. I’d tighten it and then people would put their elbows on the table (!) and eventually the top would loosen up again. The solution was clear. Either I could teach my family manners or we could stop eating all…
Breaking In Our Colonial Farmhouse
I’ve heard it said that a new home doesn’t feel like home until you start making memories there. So that’s what we’re going to do! I’m taking this week off to make memories in our new home. Our first guests, friends from Oregon, are spending the week with us. We are breaking in this Colonial Farmhouse with BBQs, pool time and late nights on the deck watching the fireflies. And by “late nights” I mean I’ll go to bed at 10 p.m. and leave everyone else to carry on without me! HA! I’m not even joking. But! I’m the one who gets up early with the kids, so it all…
Happy List: #128 – Instagram Edition
Fancy meeting you here! I hope you had a fantastic week. At a minimum I hope you didn’t have a leaky roof like we did. I shared all about fixing our slate roof and the compromises we made on that situation on Monday. I also hope your kid didn’t break a window. I shared about that experience on Wednesday. If neither of those two things happened to you then I think you’ve got something to celebrate! This week’s Happy List is a clean out of my saved folder on Instagram. When I see something on Instagram that inspires me in some way, shape or form I save it for future reference.…
That Time My Son Broke a Window
It was bound to happen. The only thing that surprised me was that it took almost 9 years to occur. Since we’ve moved out of our rental and got our security deposit back (because priorities!) I can now tell you about that time my son broke a window in our house. It was what happened AFTER the window broke that has me wondering who learned more from this situation: him or me? How did my son break the window? With a ball, of course. *sigh* He threw a ball in his bedroom and with either extreme accuracy or supremely bad luck he launched that ball through a window. Now, in his…
Insight on Repairing a Slate Roof
Here’s something I learned last week. My idea of a crisis is not a roofing contractor’s idea of a crisis. Roofing Person: You have an active leak, ma’am? Me: Isn’t that the very definition of a leak? Roofing Person: Okay. We can come out and take a look in 3.5 million years from now and then get you an estimate to do the repairs 1.5 million years after that. Of course, that’s contractor time, so plus or minus another million years on all those dates and times. Me: My house could crumble to the ground by then. Roofing Person: So should I put you on the schedule? I realize when…
Happy List: #127
It’s finally Friday! Woohoo! Last week I got my new driver’s license. This week I registered the kids for school. Today I’m trying a new hair stylist. I’m on a roll! I’m also terrified because a new person is going to be cutting my wild hair. We are in for another marathon weekend of trying to prep the Carriage House for our first guests coming in one week from today! EEK! Let’s hope Handy Husband can get the water reconnected to the Carriage House. Otherwise…well, let’s not go there. Positive thoughts, people! Positive thoughts! This week I shared more photos of our new home, specifically the doors. I also took…
I Spy Gnome Houses on a Bike Trail
Of all the gloriously random things in the world to discuss, today I want to talk about gnome houses on a bike trail. Why? Because it’s pretty much the most amazing thing ever. Okay. Not EVER ever, but it is pretty fantastic. Hear me out. Imagine a beautiful summer day. The temperature is warm, but not too hot. It is the perfect day for going on a bike ride (or walk) on a path through a lush forest and being able to play an epic game of I Spy. And, no. You’re not too old to play I Spy. Perish the thought! Why are there gnome houses on a bike…
