we rearranged

Our whole house. And now what was once our dining room is my parlor, where I receive my guests. Hee hee! We actually are calling it the parlor, and it is the first room people see when they walk through our front door.



So this chair was in the living room, but when we moved the TV and sofa to the basement to create a little den, we did not need this to go along. So I put it in the parlor and decided to paint it.







Next will come a new cover for the cushion and a pillow for the back, as well as some additional treatment to the paint to rough it up and make it look a bit old.


I am finally starting to feel like this is MY house!

christmas cactus

After seeing buds on my friend Jenny's cactus the other day, I came home and inspected mine. Sure enough- there are some tiny buds starting to pop out! I am excited about this because it will be the first time I get to see this particular plant bloom.



It (like so many things we will using and enjoying for years to come) was here when we bought the house, and has been doing quite nicely in the spot in my kitchen window where I found it. I have had bad luck with these in the past, so I just left it there and it has been happy. I don't know what color the flowers will be, so I am looking forward to the surprise!

adventures in grilling

We left our not-so-great propane gas grill in California when we left. When we got here, we acquired the one pictured above when we bought our house. It is teeny tiny, and charcoal grilling is a pain in the butt. We weren't ready to fork out the cash go grill shopping just yet though, so we were making due.



Then my mom & dad surprised us with their blessings to choose a new grill and have the gas line installed, on them. What a fantastic housewarming gift! We were thrilled (even though it took us sort of a long time to research grills, find a local dealer, and actually place the order...) at their generosity, and now that it is here we are even more thrilled!



We had the natural gas line run to the deck, so no more lugging propane tanks to the store for refills. And we chose a model with a side burner so that we can cook outside as much as possible to avoid heating up the kitchen during the summer. This one also has a good bit of storage underneath for our grilling tools and whatever else we find we want handy during our cookouts. (Bottle opener? "Kiss the Cook" apron? The possibilities are endless.)



Once we got it home and hooked up, we made a bee line for our new local meat market, Simply Meats. Athens folks: if you are a carnivore, you need to stop in and check it out. We will be returning regularly, I'm sure. They have some great deals on freezer packs, which I plan to pick up very soon. For this weekend though, we picked up several kinds of steak to try (the Porterhouse was out of this world!) as well as some pork chops and Italian sausage. We do not normally eat large quantities of meat at every meal, but we had been wanting to try out the shop and we also wanted to break in the grill and get those grates good and seasoned!



And now for the adventurous part: I cooked breakfast on the grill Sunday morning! Well, I suppose you might call it brunch since we didn't eat until after 10:30. But I heated the kettle for coffee and then the water bath for the maple syrup on the side burner, and did pancakes on my cast iron griddle and sausages right on the grate. Everything turned out great- the top shelf of the grill even worked well to keep the pancakes warm while the rest finished up. And the best part: the kitchen wasn't full of heat from all that cooking, which means less air conditioning required to get it back to a livable temperature. Plus, it was just good to get outside in the morning before it got hot. I think I might start making my coffee out there a couple times a week.



Thanks, Mom & Dad! I know we will enjoy cooking on this for many years to come. And the whole family can enjoy being out on the deck more now too, with our new gates. We love them! (Did everyone see the gates in the pictures? We have three stairways on the deck, and Lyle loves stairs. My dad fashioned these awesome gates for us to keep Lyle nice and safe so we can all relax on the deck, and he really went above and beyond with the workmanship. They are great.)

apartment

Thanks for all your comments yesterday- it made my day to start out by fooling so many people with one simple post. Some of you were too smart, but I got enough of you for me to call our little joke a success! I know you'll be watching closer next year :)


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When we bought our house, one of the bonus features was that it had an apartment in the basement, which the previous owner had been renting out to a college student. Built-in income! It has a large bathroom, walk through closet, huge bedroom, kitchen with room for a small dining room table, and a small den. In addition to the apartment, we still have one large room open to us for a playroom for the kids, and then the unfinished portion is where the laundry is, and a bunch of open space too (full of stuff right now while we get organized).

So we thought everything through carefully, and decided to invite Jason's grandparents to rent it from us. They have been unable to be completely on their own since his PawPaw had a stroke a few years back, but for the most part they do OK taking care of themselves. The private space is the biggest benefit of our apartment for them over the other places they have lived in the past few years. They have stayed with other family but have not had their own kitchen and bathroom space. I can understand how difficult it would be to have to share these spaces indefinitely, and we are very excited to be able to give them the ability to have their own space again. This is not something we were even looking for in a home- it just happened to come along with the house we loved!

So Jason's parents were here last week from Texas and helped get the apartment ready. MawMaw & PawPaw moved in on Thursday and have settled in nicely. We are all going to have a little adjustment period while we get used to our routine with extra people around, but we are very positive about it. I am so happy that we can help them have as much independence as possible right now, and I am thankful for the opportunity for my kids to have a relationship with them. Seeing us care for our aging family members is a good example for the kids too. They seem to be enjoying their little visits down to the apartment (which often include cartoons and sweets!) and I am sure MawMaw & PawPaw enjoy spending a little time with the kids.

So here are a few pictures of the space, before we moved them in. You can see my old electric stove in the kitchen! I am going to try to take some pictures this week of how it looks now- it is amazing how much difference some furniture and a few lamps and wall hangings can make! It's quite homey.






The computer will be off today (I am posting this before going to bed, even though it is actually Wednesday it is still part of my Tuesday!) and I'll have more photos tomorrow. Happy Wednesday!

now we're cooking with gas!

When we bought the house there was an electric stove in the kitchen. We figured we would switch over to gas as soon as we could justify replacing the (pretty nice and almost new) electric one, since I grew up cooking with gas and like it sooooo much more than electric.

Well, the stove in the downstairs apartment (Have I mentioned there is an apartment in our basement? More about that soon) was in pretty rough shape, and the new tenants were very keen to replace it before they move in next week. So we went and picked out the prettiest gas stove around (read: subscribed to Consumer Reports online, read a million and one reviews all over the internet, went to every store in town to see them in person, and finally settled on one) and they delivered it today.



Ohhhh boy. I think I am in love. 5 burners on top, 2 ovens, convection, self clean... the whole 9 yards.

Now if I could just talk Jason into the matching refrigerator (with french doors on top, filtered water and ice in the door, freezer on bottom)...

back yard

I'm finally getting around to sharing some more photos with you of the yard. We haven't done much of anything out there, but things are starting to really come to life! We'll be surprised every few weeks for the first year as we discover which plants flower and develop and when.



Here is what the back yard looks like- you can see the 3 apple trees there at the end which are going to be beautiful when they get ready to flower. Hopefully we'll even have some fruit in the fall! (by then we'll be all set up and ready to bake apple pie and maybe even can a little apple sauce if there are enough...)





Here you can see the deck- there are 3 stairways coming down- one at each end and another which leads directly to the composter. I'm not sure about the state of the compost in that bin though- we need to do a bit of learning in that area. It seems to be a decent bin but it looks pretty dried out and there are a lot of fruit flies hanging around.



Below the deck there is a large raised bed which was planted by the previous owner with a mosaic of sorts, so that as the plants develop they will make a nice design from up on the deck. I'm sure we'll leave this as it is for the first year for sure, just like the rest of the yard.



One of the things I love so much about the house and yard are all the little treasures that were left for us to enjoy- the little mirror in the corner, old wrought iron bits of gate here and there for plants to climb up, and the great little metal rocker (i almost love it more because it is missing one arm rest). I have always admired this type of vintage objects adorning a yard or garden, and I am sure we will accumulate more ourselves. It just gives the space a unique charm, and of course we are always looking for ways to repurpose old things instead of trashing them!







We'll have more pictures in the next few days of some of our projects as we continue to settle in- hope everyone has a great week!

finished

Yesterday I cleaned a rented home for the last time. Ever. Unless maybe a very close friend moves out of one and asks me to help (and even then there would have to be chocolate involved, and possibly money).

Being sick the past few days has definitely made things more difficult. But we've made it through and were able to relax by the fireplace tonight after a dinner out to celebrate. Ahhhhhhhh, it's so nice to be finished. Now on to the next (huge) job: getting everything organized in the new house! It's a bit of a mess around here, as our focus has just been to get everything out of the old house and over here. But now we can begin finding our rhythm and getting everything settled into it's own spot. An adventure in organization! I plan to be relentless when it comes to getting rid of junk- if we don't use it or love it then it has no place cluttering up our wonderful new home. So there is a lot of work to be done but it should be lots of fun too. Let the settling in begin!

sick

I feel like dead warmed over this morning. It's been only a matter of time- everyone around me has been fighting off coughs and stuffy noses and headaches. My body feels like it was hit by a truck while I was sleeping. So I probably won't get much done today. Good thing we have until Sunday- I still have 3 closets at the old house to empty, plus all that little junk that is all over the place after the majority of the stuff is out. Blech.

home sweet home

What a weekend! The closing went very well (other than Lyle running circles around the big table at the lawyer's office while we tried to sign papers...) and we spent Friday evening relaxing with our friends at the house.



You'll notice I did not say anything about moving any furniture. We decided to wait until the weekend to do that. You can do that when the woman you buy your house from practically leaves it furnished for you.



Seriously. She left us So. Much. Cool. Stuff. She is moving to the Solomon Islands next week and was not taking much of anything. So she let her friends and family have what they wanted and then left the rest for us. It's been like an entire estate sale, all for free! Since we are lovers of cool secondhand stuff, it's been so much fun discovering new things in every room. This made things so much easier for her too, since she did not have to spend her last few weeks in the country packing up her stuff for donation. I love when things work out so nicely for everyone.

And, lastly, I cannot close without mentioning our first big milestone in the new house.



Hazel spent her first night in her new room, and woke up to a bright and beautiful Sunday morning- her ninth birthday!



Since we've already given her the house we bought her, ;) she has been very understanding about the lack of fanfare on her big day. We pushed back the date with Daddy to Monday since we had to get the furniture moved today. And the rest of the celebrating will have to wait a few weeks until we are settled in. So watch for cake, ice cream, balloons, and streamers around the end of March or so. Until then, Hazel can be found picking daffodils and climbing trees with her friends. Just like a nine-year-old should.

the big day

Forgive me for having little to say this week. My mind has been whirring, going in circles trying to make sure everything is set for the move. And yet I have been able to do very little in the way of actually getting anything done! I am a ball of nerves! The day is finally here though, and we will be meeting at the house at 1 pm for the walk-through, and then on to the closing at 2 pm. And then it will finally be ours! Every glorious square inch of it. We will be celebrating with friends tonight and I'll be sure to post lots of new pictures over the weekend. Thank you all so much for your well wishes- it is so hard to believe we only started this process 26 days ago. What an exciting adventure! I truly look forward to sharing with you as we settle into our new nest. Have a great weekend!

gardening at the new house

I am so lame for not having a picture to put here today, because there is so much to see in the new yard! But I went over on Saturday to walk through it with the woman who is selling us the house and even though I had my camera with me, she had so much to tell me that I could barely keep up with my notes! She has spent so much time and money on that yard and it is about to explode with color in the next few months. I cannot wait! It would have been such a tragedy for someone who was not interested in gardening to buy the house- I plan to keep it up just as she has and increase it's bounty and beauty in her honor. She is a wonderful woman and so generous- we could not have asked for a better seller.

Anyway, here is a partial list of what we have to look forward to:

Azaleas
Hydrangeas
Gardenias
Lilies- several types
Camelias
Clematis
Nandia
Purple Ajuga
Peiris
Lenten Rose
Crape Myrtle
Vitex
Holly
Purple Fringe Flower
Verbina
Hybiscus
Roses- many types
Iris- many types
Lavendar
Flox
Mums
Sweet William
Hens & Chicks
Columbine
Oxalis
Butterfly Bushes
Ferns
Lamb's Ear
Flowering Quince
Vibernum
Rose of Sharon
Crocisima
Peonies
Rosemary
Plumbago
Autumn Gold Sedum
Rhododendron
Black Eyed Susans
Echinacea
PLUS about 1000 (yes a thousand!) bulbs waiting to come up- a whole bed full of surprises! We already saw daffodils, hyacinth, snow drops and others peeking out.

Some of these may be misspelled- I haven't had time to research them yet. I just had to write as fast as I could in order to get an idea of what all was in each area. I am familiar with many of them but have only cared for a few myself. I am thrilled to have this much already thriving in the yard! OH- I almost forgot the trees! Tulip Tree, Dogwoods, 3 apple trees that bear lots of fruit, a pear tree, a fig tree (actually the neighbors) and 2 gorgeous Maples in the front that she said turn gorgeous colors in the fall.

I'm going to be in heaven. Inside the house and out! Watch this space to see the explosion of color starting in March.

house pictures

Finally! Some photos of the house. It will look a lot different once the seller has moved out and our crazy mixed-up decor is installed, but this gives you an idea of the house itself. I'm sure you can see why we are completely head over heels in love! Click on the thumbnails to see each shot, and mouse over the "Notes" text to see details.

(another) new accessory

The cast came off today! 3 weeks after getting it, and about 3 1/2 after breaking the bone. Not too bad. But I'm still a ways from having my normal arm back- it is really weak and still somewhat swollen and bruised. I will be wearing this removable splint for at least 3 weeks, taking it off a few times a day to exercise the muscles a bit and (hooray!) to take showers. I will not miss the ritual of wrapping my arm in a plastic bag before showering one bit.


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Thank you all so much for your congratulations- we can feel the love flowing right out of the screen, I tell you! This experience is making us both pinch ourselves to make sure we're not dreaming. We woke up Sunday morning with the idea that we might spend our anniversary driving by a few properties and if we liked the outside we would tell Joe so we could see the inside. (Joe is the husband/dad in one of our wonderful new friend families- and while we have never worked with another, we are completely convinced that he is the best (and most definitely the coolest) real estate guy in Athens. Just sayin'.) What ended up happening was we met him at the house at 12:30 and he was typing up the offer by 2 pm. It is that great. Believe me- we do not do things like this. Jason especially likes to plan, to be in complete control of things like large purchases. But here we are making the largest one of our lives, and it is happening so fast it's making our heads spin! We'll try to get some pictures soon- I promise. But the closing date is February 29th, so we have a lot happening in the next few weeks. Did I mention I'm flying to Minnesota for 10 days next Wednesday? Yeah. A lot going on. But it's all falling into place and we're just enjoying the ride!

pop quiz

The people in the above picture look extra happy because:

A) They are best friends.
B) They celebrated their 14th wedding anniversary today.
C) They found an awesome house, made an offer, and had it accepted today.
D) All of the above.