Well, Steve and I do love making a mess.If you’ve been reading here any time at all, you have seen some of our chaotic renovating projects and I’d like to announce that we’re right smack dab in the middle of another one. I’ll show you the mess this week and hopefully, some of the finished project next week. Good times!
I know it looks like we are ripping out all the pink tile from the hall bath . . . but we are not.
To be continued next week . . .
Madi and I were lying on our bed last week just chatting about this and that and she said, “Remember, Grandma, when I called you from Florida and we talked about you giving me piano lessons?” I said,” I do remember that and I’ve been looking on Facebook Marketplace for a good used keyboard for us.”
She looked pleased and then said, “There is a lady on our street who gives piano lessons but I would have to give her money. But you know what? When a Grandma gives lessons, you just have to pay with love.”
Oh, my heart. Such a sweetie.
Last week on the Wisconsin post, I completely overlooked a couple of photos of Debbie’s dear house that I had wanted to post. She works hard to make things lovely and comfortable for Steve and me and we always appreciate her and Randy’s hospitality and the serenity of their welcoming home.
Noah birthday’s birthday was almost a month ago but I didn’t want to forget to say what a joy it was to have Frank and Sheri in town to celebrate it. They wanted to come for this birthday especially because it was Noah’s golden birthday (ten years old on the tenth) as well as his first double-digit birthday.
What a joy to share grandparenting with these dear friends of ours.
The most endearing part of the evening to me was when the four grandparents were sitting on the couch talking and Nathan and Meagan were sitting on dining room chairs sort of out of the circle of conversation, listening intently.
Every time I’d glance over at them, their expressions ranged from smirking (what an embarrassing story!) to surprise (we never heard that one before!) to pure love (these four people are the reason we are here.). It was almost like they were watching TV and the four of us were what was on the screen. Such a fun and special evening.
The week after Noah’s birthday, we got everyone together at our house for another celebration. Being Florida kids, the grands haven’t had much experience with leaves so The Grandpa, The Dad, and The Uncle created a pile for them.
After dinner, we went around the table and told what we appreciated about Noah. Madi got choked up while telling why she loved Noah so much and then Sarah also got teary-eyed. Both of those ladies have been blessed with fabulous big brothers.
Steve’s gift to Noah was his dad’s 50-year-old tool chest to which he added a few new tools. Noah absolutely loves working with his hands and he and Steve have spent some fun times together on building projects. Noah seemed to really grasp how special it was to have his great-grandpa’s tool chest.
The Smithsters just hanging out.
Gage pulled out his artistic skills again to make a card for Noah.
The party happened to be the day after my accident so I sat in a chair and pretended to be the Grandma Tyrant, telling everyone what to do.
I look pretty tyrannical, don’t I?
Last week after work, I pulled into the driveway and was struck by the beauty of the leaves and the sun. I knew that it wouldn’t be much longer before the leaves would be gone so I took a few pictures. Then I leaned up against the car for about ten minutes and soaked in the peaceful scene, the luminous light, and the fall-scented breeze.
I am so thankful to live in a neighborhood that has so many trees. Trees are one of my love languages and in the fall–well, need I say more?
So often the temptation for me is to rush by beauty, to give it a quick glance, and move on to the next thing on my to-do list. There was something very therapeutic about stopping long enough to really drink it all in, to appreciate the transitory beauty with which God graces the earth.
In closing, I’d like to say that every once in a while I take a photo that I can’t wait to share with you, my dear, dear readers. These kinds of photos are designed to make the heart sing and the spirit soar, a photo that brings a special kind of beauty and inspiration into your life.
This week, this is the one I chose. Just for you.
You’re welcome.
What about you?
Did you got out and see any leaves this fall? Have they peaked where you are?
Has anyone gotten snow yet?
Do you remember jumping in leaves as a kid? What other fall/Thanksgiving memories do you have?
What was your last home reno project? Did it take a longer or shorter time than you originally estimated?
I simply find it impossible that Nathan has a child old enough to be in double digits! 🙂
Ellen,
I know, right? He’s just a little younger than Nathan was when I started blogging!
We have had a dry summer so I don’t think the trees are as pretty this year as normal. We have probably about reached the peak as many trees are losing leaves already.
No snow here yet in fact the last two days have been in the 70s. I had my furnace maintenance scheduled for yesterday. After they turned the heat on, I had to open the sunroom door and turn some of my ceiling fans on.
My last home reno was getting the lower cabinets refinished. For some reason, they were showing wear after only 9 years. I hired someone to do it though. They took one of my doors so they could send off to match the stain. So that door was gone quite a while before they came and got the other doors. They had some issues with their sprayer so I had no lower doors for well over a month. About 2 1/2 years ago, I ordered all new windows. The windows the builder put in were not that great, you could feel air coming in during winter months. It took over 4 months to get them in. The week before they were scheduled to be installed, my mom fell and broke her upper arm. I was at my parents house almost continuously for about a month. My dear next door neighbor volunteered to sit at my house all day long while they did the installation. She found a book on my bookcase that looked good and just enjoyed sitting and reading all day.
Phyllis,
What a great neighbor you have who would stay at your house all day during installation. I love that she found a good book and was so content with it. My kind of person!
I know you were grateful to finally get your cabinet doors put back on. A month is a long time to stare at the stuff in cupboards!
I always enjoy your “Thing” posts and this one is no exception. I can’t wait to hear your story about the final picture!
Sue Ellen,
Well, the story’s not too exciting; we were just replacing our toilet in the midst of a bathroom remodel.
Glad you enjoy the Thing Posts!
I am envious of your leaves! I am in California where the leaves don’t get nearly as pretty. We got our first real rain of the season today which is cause to celebrate because it means we have just about made it through fire season safely! I have to admit I enjoyed fire season as a child because school would close for a few days or a week here and there and we would have friends who evacuated to our home, which was never in danger of burning. Now I pray for the rain to come! Last year I replaced our sump pump, so this winter should be free of floods in our house.
Robin,
A flood-free home is definitely a good thing!
I can’t imagine growing up knowing about fire season and having friends who had to evacuate. It sounds like you had a welcoming family that provided a safe haven for them. Thankful along with you for the rain today–what a blessing!
Becky, those pictures are lovely….I too love trees and fall leaves, my parents had a house in Vermont and the fall foliage there, was you can imagine, was stunning. Growing up in NJ, we had plenty of leaves! That was back when you could burn leaves, so the men in the neighborhood would do so and bring them to a common area and set up chairs and they adults would sit around and talk and the kids would burn the ends of long sticks in the fire or cook marsh mellows, it’s a grreat memory, I guess you can burn leaves here in NC as well and that smell always brings me back to my childhood.
Dale,
That is so true–the SMELL of fall is a joy all its own. It’d kind of hard to even put that smell into words but its unmistakable.
And fall in Vermont? Be still my heart.
The leaves this year seem extra special. I collected hundreds of them, dried them out and sent them to my niece. She is a third grade teacher and has plans to use them in a special project. I am so glad I did that even if my back and legs suffered. Sometimes you just have to ignore the pain and carry on. I am loving leaning on my heating pad while I sit on my couch. Since it has been so cold I have been reading a lot, usually I feel guilty but it’s helping to loosen up those muscles.
We had our first snow about ten days ago. There was about 2 1/2 inches once it was done. I swept all of it off the deck and wooden walk way, then my friend took car of the rest. He gave me a lecture on waiting for him. I also had him remove the screen door. Last year I got stuck in the house because I couldn’t get the screen open. It has all melted now. I am not looking forward to more winter snow!
Now I am ready to go to the grocery store to pick up some prescriptions. They could be more organized I think since I picked up one two days before those were filled. I have a very short grocery list since I will be there.
Cindy,
Good idea about having your screen door removed; I never would have thought about it being the cause of you being trapped inside.
And good for you for brightening the day of your nieces and her students. What a fun gift to send and a fun gift for them to receive.
You need to sit with your heating pad and read and not feel guilty at all. You’ve earned your rest!
Ah, The Thing post – always my favorite. I love the photos, but my favorite was the close-up of the leaves on the bench (next to the last photo.) Even the way leaves arrange themselves after falling is majestic!
Fred and Lucy,
I loved those leaves too, just sitting there so nonchalant in their beauty.
Love the photos, as always they are perfectly framed. Especially love the porch toilet. I wish I could add a photo here of my favorite toilet pic. The camp I worked at was tearing down an old bathhouse. The guys working on it were trying to decide where to put something and one sat down on the toilet while they were discussing it. I snapped a photo of him sitting there in the midst of the forest.
The leaves in MI have peaked, but I did get out to see them a few times. Driving the backroads was so pretty.
We had about a half and inch of snow on Halloween, but it didn’t deter the kids and I had 66 come to my house.
Growing up in CA we didn’t have many trees that dropped a lot of leaves. I do remember finding a few on the sidewalk and crunching them with my foot. I do like that sounds. I’m sure your grands really enjoyed the pile that was created for them.
We only did one reno project on our house and most of it was done while we were on vacation. We have several we would like to do, but probably won’t get done.
Patti,
I cannot even imagine 66 kids coming my house for Halloween candy. Wow! You must live in a very popular neighborhood. I know it must be fun to see them all coming and going.
Good for you for seeing a great job in the toilet in the woods scenario. Definitely a keeper! 🙂
Doing renvo while on vacation is definitely the BEST way.
Oh how sweet to see everyone together celebrating Noah!.. 😊 I can’t believe he is 10 already!
Our leaves have already peaked. It has been in the mid 20’s at night so now the leaves are really falling! My brother and I used to jump in leaves all the time as kids, and we made piles of leaves for our grandkids to jump in too at our other house. Now at this new home we only have one tree so that’s a bygone tradition.
When we remodeled our bathroom at the old house, it ended up taking about four and a half months instead of 2 months like we had originally planned. That was inconvenient!
LeeAnne,
Four and a half months? Ug. It must have felt like forever, having everything torn up and workers in and out. I’m sure it was a huge day when the last bit of work was completed.
Hooray for memories of leaf jumping!
I think my favorite (or least favorite?) fall memory having to do with leaves is this one:
When I was 9 or 10, we were visiting my grandmother’s sister one Sunday after church. I was bored with all the grown-up talk going on inside, so I raked up a HUGE pile of leaves from the gigantic tree in the side yard. (If you want to see it, this link should get you there – also, I was tickled to see a swing in that tree, which wasn’t there about 46 years ago. 🙂 https://www.google.com/maps/@35.8371007,-90.7215224,3a,75y,202.54h,114.64t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1skf8qWwz6hDiJRF0VxsUPaQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
I decided the BEST thing to do with my pile of leaves was to fall backwards into it. Just: stand straight as a board and fall backwards – like a trust fall in a team-building exercise.
That was the day I learned that even the deepest pile of leaves does not cushion such a fall. It completely knocked the breath out of me, and I had a big old knot on the back of my head for days. 🙂
Renovations: we lived in a hundred-year-old house for about 20 years. We were CONSTANTLY working on it. We are currently in the process of painting our kitchen cabinets. This is the only DIY we’re doing (other than painting walls) in our “new” house. It’s going to be worth it.
Porch potties could be handy, I guess? haha
Stefanie,
Your “trust fall” story made me wince. I hate that the leaves let you down! Madi had something similar happen when they were at our house. Noah jumped into the leaves first and left a big ol’ dent almost to the ground. Madi didn’t think about jumping in a different area of the pile and hit pretty hard. Oh well, it’s a nice thought, isn’t it? Fun to see your picture with that huge tree!
We are getting ready to paint our kitchen cabinets, as well. Amazing what a little paint can accomplish.
Oh no! Poor Madi! I know that must have hurt! 🙁
I can’t wait to see your new cabinet color! Our current cabinets are oak (2005 vintage!), and we are painting them white. I think we will be doing our breakfast bar a deep forest green.
Stefanie,
That sounds like a beautiful color combo. We haven’t made a final decision on our cabinets yet but it won’t be a huge change; just enough to freshen them up. The paint is so old right now you can almost see through to the wood in some places so definitely time for some TLC.