We have bought some new furniture for the house in the last few months. Some we bought while on vacation in June (kitchen table, chairs for the living room and a sofa table for the living room), some we've bought in the last few weeks.
Here's the chair we picked for our great room. This is the fabric we picked as well. Can't wait to get it!
This is another piece we picked while on vacation. I wanted something to go on the long wall in our great room. It looks so much better in real life. I like that it's a little different. I plan on doing a gallery wall display above it. It will have a super tall wall behind it and that's how I plan on using the space.
And here's the last thing we bought while on vacation. I know, we're getting a lot. Our little table we have had in the kitchen for the last 10 years was too small for the eat-in area. It was rather cheap when we bought it so we found something nicer and longer. I wanted for us to be able to comfortable sit 6-8 in the kitchen when we have guests and not have to use the dining room (although I enjoy eating in the dining room!). I wanted a trestle-style table and picked this one. It will have a light-colored top and charcoal bottom.
Our chairs will be charcoal. I love the antique Windsor type chairs so went with these for the table.
I wanted something different for our foyer - some type of bench to sit on there. I had grand plans of finding one of the old church pews from our previous church's location. The church we attend is the oldest church (of any denomination) in our state. It was founded in 1779. My parents started attending it before I was born so it means a lot to me. Our former pastor was the pastor for 46 years! I helped edit his book on the history of our church. When I was young I remember the church giving away the old pews from the prior location. Oh, how I wish my parents had got one. I talked to a few of the "old timers" in the church to see if anyone knew of a place to find one - someone who would want to sell one - but no luck. I even called the funeral home that has been in the location all these years to see if there were any lingering in the basement. Nope. So that idea was out. I even looked online for vintage pews. (Really, I wanted what is called a deacon's bench as it's shorter than an actual pew.) But alas, that idea had to quietly fly out the window.
Then I found this at an area furniture store. I felt it fit the bill. We waited over two months to purchase it and almost lost it when they moved it to one of their other area stores to sell but we tracked it down (thanks to taking a photo of the item number with my phone!!). It now sits in our storage unit awaiting the new house.
Our house plan was considered "French country" and while the way we have chose to do the outside is a little different than the plans, I still think it has that feel and thought this bench had that look.
So that's some of the things we have bought. I can't wait to get it all moved in!
I had some vintage images printed on canvas and am buying some frames and mats from Michael's to frame them. I found them on a wonderful site called The Graphics Fairy. The lady shares mostly vintage images she has bought and scanned over the years. The images I had printed were a collection of trees. Here is one of them.
I printed them on 8x10 canvas through Arts Cow when they were having a special - it was like four for $20 plus FREE shipping! I love ordering cheap-o but high quality prints from them. I love having pictures printed on canvas and then framing it to look like some high quality artwork! Check out those sites! You can do searches on The Graphics Fairy if you're looking for something in particular. If you sign up for an account on Arts Cow then you get 100 free 4x6 prints a month for a YEAR. Yes, it's true. I've done it and used it and my mom has (I helped her). All you have to pay is shipping which usually comes to $6 for 100 prints.
This is for my friend, Susan, who recently requested an update on the house on Facebook. ;)
Here's the house as of yesterday evening. They started grading the front yard now that all the stone work is FINALLY finished. (Taken with phone)
Here is was on Saturday when they hadn't started any grading yet.
And here's something I'm SUPER DUPER excited about - my front door. LOVE LOVE LOVE. See how the amazingly talented trim guy is fancifying an already beautiful door? I told him us plain folk ain't gonna know how to live in such a fancy house. :D (Yes, I *did* say that!! Hee hee.)
And a sneak peek at my bathroom so far. Eeeek! This photo (this one is from my phone too) does not do the space justice. The deco trim is a brown umber look with some iridescent shiny stuff going on. I'll have to get a better picture soon. I'm not going to know what to do with myself, am I? Seriously, I think I'll be working my patootie off cleaning this place.
I have updated my June post finally now. Life is too crazy to have free time to blog. When I do have down time I am usually vegging out on Pinterest or "catching up" with friends on Facebook. Let's not forget my nightly games of Scramble with two of my friends. :) I feel bad for taking the last hour blogging now. Oh well! Those boxes will be waiting on me when I get off, right?
This is what makes my boy happy. Projects. Experiments. "Scientific" play. *grin* On Tuesday we skipped ahead a bit in our Science book to get to a project. We needed it. Or should I say Andrew needed it. ;) We made a light box and planted some seeds (chamomile, basil and lettuce) . . . .
and then went ahead and made some soap which was the next project (for when the herbs began to grow). I had bought a silicone star ice mold at Target for $1 a while back and we used it. It was already packed but with my organized packing skills I knew exactly where to look and fished it out of a box.
However, our little semi star-shaped soaps don't look so star-shaped because while I was getting the mold out, Andrew was microwaving the glycerin and I barely got it to the kitchen in time before it began to cool and set. We could have microwaved it more I know but we had already added some basil and peppermint extract (because we didn't have any essential oils and that was the closest we could get to what we wanted). We were trying for the mint herb spa soap smell. LOL It does smell pretty good. It was fun and super quick to make. We didn't add any conditioners or anything this time. We'd like to make more in the future for fun (and hopefully have some essential oils). At this point our soap doesn't smell too minty but I'm thinking if we tasted it, it might taste a little minty (and soapy too). ;)
I mentioned packing, here's what my house looks like right now. A pile here, a pile there.
I researched a bit on packing before I started. I haven't packed a house up in 10 years and our possessions has at least doubled. I found some good tips on The Flylady's website. Here's my method adapted from her, her reader's tips and what I've read. I am typing labels for each box with large letters for which room it goes plus a brief description of contents and if it's heavy or fragile I have that in bold and in larger letters under the contents. For some rooms I have color-coded them. Such as the laundry room is bright green. I type the room name in that bright green.
After I print out the label, I number it. If I happen to have to pack a garbage bag (clear bags are recommended but we didn't have any and I didn't want to buy new ones) then I wrap the top of the bag in a bright green ribbon (I'm using the cheap Christmas ribbon) and number the bag with a permanent marker. I keep a piece of paper as I'm packing with my number, what room it's going to and a brief or sometimes more detailed description of what's in the box/bag. The "contents" part of the label is kept to a few words.
Pros of packing in this detailed, organization way is that the movers will easily know where the boxes go. If I'm looking for something in particular, I can look on my list. If the list is so long that i feel it would be hard to find what I'm looking for then I can use the "search and find" feature in Word to find my "paper cutter" or whatever. Cons of packing like this is that it may take a bit longer than throwing it all into a box. My organized-driven conscience wouldn't let me get by with that though. Ha ha.
We hope to move the workshop, garage and attic this weekend. The movers are coming in about two weeks. We have to be out of our house August 30. I have a lot to do between now and then with packing, purging, homeschooling, cooking, cleaning, and picking out the final things for the house. One reason we started school early (last Tuesday) was so we can take off when we need or go "part time" when it gets hectic.
Most of our friends and family now know that we decided to homeschool Elizabeth and Andrew this year. I want to eventually do a post on it as to our reasons why. It's something I never thought I would do but here we are! That's how it is sometimes when you say you'll never do something, right? *smirk* BUT we are all excited about starting it. In fact Elizabeth has started some of her math curriculum already and likes it.
Last year I thought I was smart by ironing the kids first-day-of-school outfits the day before and taking pictures that afternoon not early in the morning when nerves and sleepy eyes are rampant. ;) Well, this year we just took pictures AFTER school which ended up being around noon. The kids are liking that!
Here are a few shots of them (unedited) doing their school work. I'm wondering how this is all going to work with us moving out of this house soon and then schooling in the rental house a month or two. I can't wait to get that new school room though! :)
Andrew's current set-up:
So that, my friends, is an intro into our new venture in schooling. Like I said, we are pretty excited! We'll see what the future holds. ;)
I've been so busy updating on the house building when I do get to blog that everything inbetween (which is a LOT) is getting left out.
Here are some photos and a little bit of what's been going on besides the house building. :)
Let's start with May. I think that's the last time I left off on our REAL lives.
On May 11, we had a super full day. Andrew had an all day field trip to Oak Hill School where he had to dress up in late 1800's clothes, pack a lunch in a metal pail and learn how to write with a quill. That evening Andrew and Elizabeth had a piano recital at 6 pm but then Elizabeth had to be at a voice recital (about 30 minutes away) at 7 pm (but we were supposed to be there at 6:30). Our piano teacher let the kids go first and then we rushed out the door for the other recital.
For Elizabeth's twelfth birthday we had family over and one of her friends, Riley. There was a lot going on in our family at the time and a few people didn't get to make it. My dad being one. He was in the hospital having some blood pressure problems. We went to the land and rode our four-wheeler after the party. The kids (and Wade) played some corn hole too. It was a beautiful evening.
Andrew was super excited to get to drive the four-wheeler around on his own . . . at a very slow speed.
I went to a Living Books seminar in Rogersville, TN to visit a lady's private library and learn about "living education". It was fascinating. It was inspiring. Robin Pack, the lady who gave the seminar, currently has over 15,000 books accessible to the homeschool community. It's in the basement (finished basement) of her home. You join her private library for a fee - because it costs quite a bit of money to purchase books and takes time to have this set up. Really, I would LOVE to have a library in my house. It has, in fact, been a dream for many years (remember, my degree is in English - I LOVE books, I LOVE to read!!). A dream that to me was unrealistic until I saw Robin's. In our house we are building there is a large unfinished area upstairs that is screaming LIBRARY! It's maybe around 700 square feet.
The weekend after I came home from this seminar (it was on a Thursday) I told Wade what I would love to do. Basically, he just looked at me. I don't remember even getting a grunt out of him on that one. LOL I told him I would just pray about it. He took his dad to the doctor in Chattanooga the following week. The morning after he had returned home I was getting the kids ready for school and he was leaving to go to work. He brought a box in the house from his truck and said with a smirk on his face, "Here's something to start your library." His dad - our conversation completely unbeknownst to him - had sent us a box of vintage books from the 1940s and a few from the 1920s. These are the books I want to have in my library. The GOOD books that are out of print. The books that teach morals. We'll see what transpires in the next few years - if it doesn't happen then it wasn't the Lord's will but if it does . . . . :) Here's another "living book library" close to our area.
At church the children's choir had the kids sing "Sweet Hour of Prayer" and any who played a musical instrument was invited to play the last verse. Elizabeth worked hard and learned the song from the hymnal to play! I was proud of her hard work.
One Wednesday night after church we came home to find Daisy, our outside cat, up on the tip top edge of the roof! She wasn't up there alone though. A fat robin was up there with her provoking her to no end. LOL (Not the best picture since it was getting dark but just to see her little blob up there on that steep roof is enough.)
Wade and I celebrated our SIXTEEN year anniversary on May 25th. Instead of going out to get sushi like we had planned, we made a few trips to Lowe's, Home Depot and did some general running around for the house. We were okay with it though as we knew what we were spending our time on was for our future. The end of May we went to visit Wade's family. I also got to see my sweet little nephew who I hadn't seen since Christmas (I think) and was almost already a year old. Boo hoo! He's quite adorable and looks so much like Wade's brother now. Wow!
Elizabeth also went from long hair . . .
to short! My sister-in-law, Rachell, spent probably an hour doing a fabulous job cutting her hair. We LOVE it. She looks so much older now too.
On to June . . .
We went to the beach the first week of June (1st through 7th - we came home a day early). Is it sad that we spent another week at the beach and I hardly took ANY photos?
One of my friends had a tie-dye party in mid June.
My shirt
Elizabeth's shoes (we dabbed the dye on with a brush)
Wade's shirt
My skirt (I have yet to wear it as I need to buy a shirt that will go well.)
Andrew's shirt
Elizabeth's shirt
Elizabeth's socks (She grabbed an old pair right before we left.)
Andrew's pillow case
Elizabeth's pillow case
Elizabeth's shirt (We found this on clearance at Target for under $3.)
When we visit our land and find evidence of wildlife, we get happy. In these two pictures you can see we have raccoons, turkeys and deer along our pond on a daily basis. (It's a little blurry as it was getting dark out.)
The last week in June was our church's VBS. Wade and I had 5th grade boys. We averaged around 20 each night. They were good boys and knew what was expected of them, ha ha!. I think we had around four salvation decisions! It was tough participating in it this year with all we had going on but the Lord has blessed us so much, what is another hectic week to do something we know He would want?
Andrew had his friend, who is also named Andrew, over one night. They had fun playing outside in the water, playing LEGOs and then liked the little surprise I let them try that I had found on Pinterest.
Elizabeth went to church camp on July 2 for the week. There they go! Her first week at "teen" camp. She was so excited and came back loving it. She said it was better than junior camp.
One of my good friends, Katy, had a sweet baby girl recently. I helped with her baby shower, making the invites and passing them out. Katy and her husband LOVE sushi so when I saw this idea on Pinterest I knew I needed to replicate it for them. Here is Baby BK's first sushi. ;)
Hot July!
On July 2nd we finally came to an agreement on a contract for our house and signed it! We had been negotiating price, closing costs, property, etc since the prior week. Our house had been listed with a realtor for just around a month when we had our first offer (which resulted in a contract!). With all the houses that are for sale (even in our own neighborhood) it is a blessing to have a buyer! Do you see how the Lord is providing all along the way? Awesome! Sometimes you don't see answers to prayers for months (or even years) and although fellow believers know the Lord is always providing you may not directly see new ways so throughout the buying of the land and building process and selling of our house it has been amazing to see SO MANY ways the Lord is taking care of us. (Take a breath now, that was a long sentence!)
We had a very low-key Fourth of July this year. We spent the evening at the farm. Since Elizabeth was gone to camp (and really having a blast!) we didn't want to have too much fun without her. We picked up some apples from two of our apple trees to take to the back of the property for the deer. :) Our pond was very dry from the short drought we were having.
As we were walking back to head home we were standing around admiring our lovely land and were gifted with a surprise visit by one of our resident deer. It's the little things that excite us! Hee hee.
When we were leaving to go home for the night Andrew declared that we had to get some fireworks. We didn't know where in the world we would be able to find some at that point in the evening. It was after 9. We started toward Greeneville and found signs for a community fire department that was selling some. We made a shot in the dark (literally! LOL) and went to find they were still open and all their fireworks were 50% off. They took cash only and we had around $20 so we spent it on sparklers and a few fireworks. They threw in some bottle rockets for good measure. Ha ha. We went home and shot them off. It made my boy happy.
The day Elizabeth returned home from camp we took Daisy, our outdoor cat, to the vet. She had been coughing around for a while. I really waited too long to take her as we found out she had some type of infection. They gave her a shot of steroids and an antibiotic. We could tell she was feeling better by the next day. (Pictures from my cell phone)
Sometimes you try to take control of things in your life and then realize that if you would give control to the Lord then things would run a lot smoother. We had had two rental houses fall through that we thought were perfect for us. One of the owners Wade knew and he was willing to let us rent for just a month or two which was a big deal. After our failed attempts I told Wade it was okay because it just meant the Lord had something better. And He did.
Our realtor had a best friend who remarried later in life after the death of her husband and had a house that had sat for sale for over a year. She had never considered renting it to anyone but for some reason with our realtor asking her about it for us, she said we could. It's fully furnished including all cooking and eating utensils (silverware, glasses, dinnerware, etc) plus sheets and towels. EVERYTHING. And the rent is a very reasonable price (cheaper than the other places we had considered). AND she is readily willing to let us rent it by the week after our first month. Yes, God is good!
Another prayer that the Lord has answered is my desire to have good neighbors. We had a few incidents happen that worried us with one of the neighbors but one couple who tries to make our rural community a neighborhood invited us over for a dessert social the Saturday after Independence Day to introduce us to the "neighborhood". There were five or six families/individuals who showed up. It was so wonderful. It made me so happy, excited and at peace with where we are moving.
On Sunday, July 8th we had two girls spend the night with us from Crown College. We enjoy having these young people in our home and they are a good influence for the kids. Just a couple of weeks prior we had three college boys from West Coast Baptist College. They were a lot of fun and one of the guys was an UNBELIEVEABLE piano player. He made our old upright one happy piano. I doubt it has ever been played like that before!
We had a fun night out on Friday, July 13th. Wade's office had a family event for employees who wanted to attend an area minor league baseball game. They gave us tickets and had food catered by the ballpark. It started out fun and really ended fun except . . .
It came a DOWNPOUR!! In fact there was a pretty good storm that came through complete with lightning so we had to head out.
When I'm with my friend, Brandy, one of the fellow partners' wives, we always have fun (and usually mischief).
Andrew and one of Brandy's sons, Joseph, sat out in the pouring rain until the thunder started and we had them get out of it. They enjoyed it (as boys would) while they could. ;)
A family in our church has a huge barn that the man has built to use for weddings and ultimately he'd like to use for a church camp. They had a test run this summer just for two days and our fortunate junior boys and girls at church got to try it out. Andrew loved it. It was the 16th and 17th. They had around 16 kids from our church.
Andrew got to leave the following week for the week at camp. This was his second year going.
And that was our May, June and July which means summer is almost over. Boohoo!
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