To My Husband: Be patient with me.

It seems such a silly thing to say, as you are the most patient person I know. Never raising your voice, or rushing my primping. Always willing to turn back or help me find my keys, phone, purse, or... you get the picture. But please be patient with me.

I can feel moving day creeping in. And along with it the anxiety of change is rustling in my bones. The packing thus far has been surface level, nothing important. Nothing to really make my heart lurch at the thought of moving. But now, now the real stuff is starting to get put away in boxes and I know, I can see, and I can feel the change coming.

You know how I am with this kind of stuff. A forever wildflower and mildly free spirit, the change issue thing would probably surprise most people. But not you. You know me better than I know myself most times, and I know myself pretty dang well. But you have seen me through changes. College, college, college, marriage, moving, college, baby, end of Downton Abbey, toddler. Now, moving, again. So be patient with me.

Be patient with me as I agonize over lighting options.

Be patient with me as delay packing only to overwhelm myself later.

Be patient with me as I obsess over shades of white, greige, and tan.

Be patient with me as I linger at the house I said I couldn't wait to get out of.

Be patient with me as I dread going to the house I loved.

Be patient with me as I weigh every window covering option known to man.

Be patient with me when I say "Let's just stay here." or "I think I'll just be a squatter here."
  --We both know I wouldn't last long.

Be patient with me as I continue to add to our "To Do" list at the new house. I'm just so excited to make it pretty.

Be patient with me as I longingly look at our open spaces outside the kitchen window and suddenly don't notice the hustle and bustle of the farm.

Be patient with me as I dread the noise of town...no matter how small said town is.

Be patient with me as I talk a little less and breath deep a little more.

Be patient with me as I stare off into corners of the house where we started marriage, found out we were having a baby, and then started to raise that baby. It's change. It's hard for me. But I'm working on it.

I think our neighbor who also lived in this house said it perfectly, 
"It was never the house of my dreams but a lot of my dreams came true in that house." 

Her words make my eyes well and I think when I read them to you, they made yours too.

Be patient with me. I will get through. We will get through.

Blessings!

Wooden Egg Crafting With Millie

A couple of weeks ago we had to make a trip to the big city. What makes the place a big city? It has a Target. That's all. 

Confession: I hadn't been to Target in ummm..5-6 months? We don't get out much. So I conned my husband into making a Target run and I was dreaming about the dollar aisle. 

I'm also in the process of packing for an unknown moving date and it has occurred to me that I do not have much of any Spring or Easter decor. It's a travesty I know. I never really cared, but seeing Millie's excitement of getting outside and playing again has made me an even bigger Spring fan. I stumbled on some wooden craft eggs in the Easter section, probably while hunting for my husband-he'd long ago ditched me. I thought they were the perfect craft and addition to my slim Easter decorations pickins.

We had a quiet Sunday afternoon at home so we got the eggs out. I love crafting with Millie. I love giving her whatever colors fit her fancy. I love letting her have free expression and I proudly display a plethora of her creations.

But these eggs I wanted a little bit of control over. If they were to be out for the next forever I wanted them springy. Mixed orangegreenyellowbluepurplepinkgreen wasn't exactly what I was looking for. So I played control freak and mixed up some pretty pastels. Then I let her at them.

I negotiated two eggs for myself and we worked on a craft together. Which actually doesn't happen very often. Usually I have my project and she has hers. I generally write, cook, do my own craft, or read at the table while she crafts. It's 10 minutes of quiet. Or 5 or 3 if I'm being honest. This project was ours and it was fun!

And actually this working together thing made her work longer. We worked on these eggs for around 30 minutes. 30 whole minutes!

And the mix of colors worked perfectly. I love how they turned out. So cute. Probably one of the best $5 I've ever spent.

See? So much concentration. Momma was holding her egg so Millie needed to as well.

We talked about Spring. The reason for Easter, and why we see fresh, new things this season. They all can be seen as a symbol of our new life in Christ.

She's so cute. After each sentence she would look at me and say, "YEAH!" With her expressive little eyes gleaming.

A Sunday well spent indeed.

Blessings!

House Update-Little Victories

Hi there! Crawling out from the rock that has been Spring Forward over here. How about you? Think night owl baby staying up to a time Momma considers late. That's saying something. Think Momma laying on the couch singing, "Go to sleep little Millie. Go to sleep little Millie. Go freaking to sleep little Millie. Please?" It didn't work and I don't know why...

Anyway there's a reason I'm here and it's to give an update on the house. The name of the game this week has been little victories. But these little victories have had big payoffs. 

Little Victories have included:

• Electricians all but done--actually this is a big victory. It's been 9 weeks on and off of them hanging around. Jerrel has learned a lot in the process of seeing the rewiring. 
• Brick cleaned 
• Beadboard going up
• Bedroom walls washed
• Kitchen hardware cleaning--kinda

The electricians have finally gotten to where we can work without waiting on them. Hooray! Our main focus is the kitchen right now and they said we are good to go so we...GO. Jerrel is dabbling in table saw management, circular saw correction, and jigsaw control. It's going fairly well and we are excited to see clean surfaces of bead board and can't wait to add finishing touches like trim and paint...or maybe that's just me. 

We have cleaned the brick and bought sealer. That's on my list to do next week. 

Measure twice and cut once. Actually its waayyy more than that. 

Then I always get to hear. "It's not straight! Why is nothing straight?!" Almost a 100 year old house dear. The wall isn't straight.

That's why we loved it. Looks straight enough to me. 

Hey look we have two outlets on one wall. Fancy that. I'm happy I'll be able to not fear getting electrocuted and being able to do two things that require electricity at once. 

In other news the wallpaper is all down and those rooms now look scary too. You can see the wood work more now, which is good but the dirty walls aren't exactly the kind of character I was going for. So now I'm cleaning the walls of wallpaper paste and bits of paper. This room is ready for patching and painting. The walls look so much better after a scrub down. 

Whoever's wallpaper paste recipe the previous interior designer used, knew their stuff. That paper wasn't peeling hardly anywhere and left quite the residue behind. 

I tell you what, these plaster walls? They owe me. 

I became weary of washing walls one day and decided to try and get the hardware off the cabinets so I could clear them of the layers of paint. Stripped screws later and I was defeated for the day. I took a picture, patted Jerrel on the back, said good work, and went to find food at my parents. This little hinge was my little victory.

The week has been productive. And we had a little bit of an overwhelming moment when the electricians left and it was all on us now. To get it done. To do it right. To move in. It's hard for me to even see moving in at this point. But I've made a list and I'm plugging away. It's how I cope with too much to do and no time.

It's worked for me before so I know it will work again.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming swimming swimming. 

Name that movie.

Anyway, little victories. That's what's keeping us swimming.

Blessings!

On Millie Being Two

When writing yearly posts such as birthdays I always like to go back and read the year before. And it doesn't seem possible that a year has passed since we celebrated Millie's birth. The day that rocks my world to this very moment. 

We all know that I like to get all nostalgic but I'm working on savoring this moment. Celebrating with our girl who doesn't quite understand what a birthday means but is excited for things like going to the park with Daddy, having Mac N Cheese, steak, and making S'mores. Watching her delight in the decorations for her birthday party and giggle and tell Chester "NO!" when he nibbles at the baby doll in her arms. 

So much has changed in our Millie girl this past year but the best things are still the same.  Millie is so bright. She is empathetic. She is persistent. She is kind. She is clever. She is funny. She is rambunctious. She is spunky. She is beautiful. And more and more we are seeing that while we call her "baby" she really isn't a baby. She's our baby. But not a baby.

We have conversations with her, though we carry them. We give directions and she follows. We play jokes and have dance parties...girlfriend has got the moves. We give kisses and she wipes them off...or rubs them in. It's her new thing.

I just remembered saying as I held her for the first time "She's ours." and then thinking "I get to take her home." I am so thankful she is ours and I have loved being home, watching her grow, helping her learn, and loving her with every fiber of my being. Almost two has it's challenges. I'm sure two will be the same but different-because that's how every stage of this raising kids thing goes.

So I think I'll go tuck myself in bed now with my baby and let her sleep so she can start climbing the mountain of 2. She needs her rest. She's got S'mores to eat tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Honey Girl. Love you always.

Momma & Daddy

Blessings.

House Update-Worse Before Better

Right? That's how these things work, correct? Because that's where we are. Take a look. 

This shows the floors after the nasty tiles were taken up. Actually those look better. But the walls. The walls have the linoleum taken down and the house looks...questionable? Like shady deals and hidden secrets happen here. 

But they don't. 

Finally a better picture of the dining room. Sans tile and better-ish but I want to clean so.bad. I want the clutter gone. I just want to fix it! Patience Jessica. Patience.

Cute kittle niche. For a chair? A window seat? A desk? To drink tea? To write? To enjoy my African Violets?

I don't have African Violets...yet.

And the hallway void of yet another mismatched floor covering but revealing a giant terrible, mismatched patch. I have to figure out a solution. Soon. Any suggestions would be helpful. 

I'm thinking of finding a grate to fill the space and add more character. Or trying to feather in a patch...both seem like a pain but something needs to be done.

So lets talk about the kitchen some more. It's first on the agenda. Clearly. 

Ground Up-Floors refinished in a more brown tone--over the years they have yellowed and read more orangey. Bead-board from moulding to ceiling paint in a...color still to be determined. Creamy white? Light green? Light blue? Bright white? I'm working on it. Moulding/door in a color called Whipped Cream. It's a wonderful basic white but yummy color. New Base Cabinetry. All Cabinetry-including pantry in a White/Cream color...again still looking and weeding out paint swatches..I'm just.about.there! Countertops butcher block. Fridge in the corner shown. Farmhouse sink centered under window. Dishwasher to the right.

Brick will be sealed. The area where the built in was will be built up with some old spindles, butcher block will be put on top and I will have about another foot or so of counter space plus a tiny bit of storage-think oven mitts. Stove will go next door.

Pantry will basically stay the same but I'm debating on keeping the cabinet that was hanging here. But after seeing our cabinets I think I might need the extra storage.

It's small but we really think it will be efficient...and pretty. Priorities!

Moving on...

There's a hole in my laundry room floor.

And we have begun de-wallpapering. Thats when the real mess started. 5 layers. Each getting prettier-seriously. I tried to salvage one wall in the bedroom with no luck. It was the last layer and just didn't work. I'm still a little sad. It's a much easier job than we thought it would be which we are thankful for-just time consuming. 

So it's worse than before. And these are good pictures. But we are beginning to see "The House." Not the wallpapers, the nasty curtains, or the bad linoleum. The actual house we bought, the house we could imagine it to be. And thats scary and encouraging all at the same time.

Blessing!

Home Tour-The Craftsman

A house tour! That's what we are doing today. I really feel this is relevant because I know bare minimum-we clean the place it would look lightyears different. Painting will make it look like new. But we have even bigger plans. So the before is essential. Keep an open mind. Remember the "P" word--Potential. And be thankful it's not your project.

We have bought ourselves a bit of a "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" situation.  But the transformation is already so fun. We love old houses and all their quirks. So far we have our sanity intact and are enjoying the process.

Welcome to the foyer. Beautiful new windows fill the home with delicious light. Although not all these pictures showcase that. For some reason this day I didn't want to touch the 50 year old roller shades to let light in every room of the house. 

This closet thing? It's just screaming for some cubbies, shelving, hooks, and pretty baskets. 

I apparently don't have a very good picture of the dining room but I will tell you the floor is awful linoleum tiles with wood under. It has an awesome built in cabinet and the doorway to the hall is an awesome angle.

Kitchen. Hi Grandpa! 

This is it. Original cabinet and cute door pass through are staying. The rest? Needs to go, go, go clearly. So much pattern. So busy. Kinda almost gives me a headache. You too? Weird.

The middle column is the brick chimney. That will become exposed and the right set of built-in is leaving-kinda, to make a bit of counter space by the stove and open the space a little. The left built-in is staying. 

Hello to the reason I bought the house. A pantry. Honest to goodness walk in, prepare in, store in, feel the history, freaking adorable pantry. This space will get a facelift with bead board, butcherblock, fresh paint. refinished floors and, and, and...the list is endless it feels. 

Living room and the second reason I bought the house-these built ins.

Living room again. The house is very segmented I guess you would say. Totally defined spaces. Right now the trend in homes is open floor plan this. Open layout that. I can see why one would like that too. This house has doors, doors, and more doors.  I love how it's almost all in a circle. Connected by multiple you guessed it, doors. So unique and full of charm. We appreciate the architecture. There will be no wall knocking out. We plan to respect the design and find the ability to close off rooms-like the foyer-practical for heating and cooling purposes.

That thought makes me an adult right? Lame-I know. 

Bedroom #1. It has a window seat with storage but a tiny closet. You win some you loose some. But overall is a great sized room.

Built-in again in the hallway with my goofy brother Evan. Just reliving his senior picture posing moments. 

Bedroom #2. Basic Room. No closet. So technically it's not a bedroom but we plan to add a closet. And loose the wallpaper. Millie's already got to work.

Bathroom...dare I say my least favorite room? The bathroom has just been renovated and I'm told it didn't function before the work was done. So for a working bathroom, I am thankful. For the the lack of character in fixtures and finishes? I'm sad. But I've got some ideas to work on the character and maybe someday we will get to all the fixtures and finishes. 

It was all made handicap accessible by knocking out the closet in the Bedroom #2- a positive and negative. However, that made the bathroom a large space, which is nice since it's the only bathroom right now. 

Finally we have the back porch/laundry. Tiny room, another puzzle, just day in the life of the Craftsman Reno. 

The list is long and we are slowly but surely plugging away. Rewiring is happening now and I've started peeling wallpaper. Count is 4 layers so far and some of them are actually pretty, but still leaving. The linoleum is all up and I *think* we have decided on cabinets. 

No clue on move in date. The goal before move in, is to have rewiring done, kitchen done enough, and floors refinished. I'd also like to have our bedroom clean of wallpaper and painted so our clothes and resting space isn't a construction zone. A girl can dream right? 

The basement is large, clean, dry, and adds to the "P" word even more! Sometime I'll go down there and share. Now it's kinda a mess with wiring. So another day another time. I'll update again soon. Maybe I'll have monumental progress...maybe I'll have little bits. Either way it all needs done. 

Pray for us. 

Blessings! 

We Bought A House

Almost a year ago while cruising with Jerrel and a sleeping baby in the back seat I made an arbitrary statement. "THAT is the only house I could consider moving to town for." He said "Oh. It is a nice looking house."

I should really learn to keep my mouth shut.

The thing about living in an incredibly small town is that you hear things and I heard that this house in particular had lots of original character. ...Like has barely been touched since the build...Stuff they just don't build anymore. So I was mildly curious about the interior and the exterior was pretty so that statement seemed safe to say. HA.

Then in October said house had a for sale sign in the yard and I said crap. We went and looked and it needed WORK. But I could see the "P word" (potential) as my dear ol Dad kept saying and I said crap. Then Jerrel said he loved it and I said crap again because I too loved the house. But it was in town. I've never lived in town. I've never wanted to live in town. There's too much town around when living in town. Town was never part of my plan. But the house had me smitten and I didn't want anybody else to have it. They might fix it wrong. Part of my possessive, obsessive, and competitive nature.

So we took it to the Lord and felt the nudge. We made the decision to move forward. Until the last signature was on the paper we just gave it up to Him to either make or break the deal. We were going to be ok with whatever happened. Snags in the process would arise and solutions would just be found. The way things just kept working out was crazy. Slowly but surely the only house I'd move to town for became ours.

So now town is part of the plan-rather this house is part of the plan, not the whole plan but this part and we are hesitantly happy. The house needs so much love and later this week I will do a home tour for you. I'm going to do my best to show progress and keep you all updated because it's already been quite the story! We are calling it The Craftsman and my new name is Nicole Curtis--I love Joanna Gains but Nicole "gets" old houses like I wanna "get" our old house. It's almost 100 years old. I love that. So we bought a house. A little house to make our home. Stay tuned it's going to get interesting.

Holy Crap. We bought a house.

Blessings!