At Considerable Cost

Before move-in I found out the weeds between the pavers LIKE salt.   I poured salt between the squares and the weeds have thrived! The ceiling fan was white and rusted, so I just painted it black.   It worked perfectly well; there was no reason to replace it. It's been nearly two-and-half years since we moved into this house.   It's taken almost all of that time to get our back porch together.   And it's not a large porch.   The poor place has been a dumping ground for tools and toys some of that time.   I made several attempts to pretty it up, but each time, something fell apart or I got lazy about keeping it together. We had a mild spring and June this year.   It gave me the opportunity and motivation to get outdoors and spruce up some areas which had been neglected.   My back tells me I overdid it a bit, but that's another story.   In addition to front flowerbeds and the front...

To continue where my last post about our house projects left off,  I have some new pictures to post. I wanted the kids' rooms to be finished before the first day of school, so it was a mad rush to get it all done.   There are still books on C's floor since we have run out of bookshelves!   I know the kids' room colors are terribly traditional and awfully stereotypical, but they chose them. E's Lavender Room  Update: I exchanged the white bed skirt for this ruffled lavender one.   It looks better and it was on clearance at Target for less than $5. This was the girls' dress-up center, but now it's Emmeline's dresser.   The next project for her room is painting this, since the finish and wood quality are not great.   I don't like seeing wood pieces painted, but the damage on this one is too great for a refinish. Mama bought the "Emme" boutique hat box after Emmeline was born.   There is ...

It's been a while since I've written a post of any real length.   My reason can be summed up in one word: MOVING.   In March, we bought a new (to us) home! It's been quite an experience.   We began looking in December and we found our new home in January.   I won't go into the details, but the previous owners' story was very interesting and complicated.   And we had an emergency house blessing the morning after closing!   It's an odd thing to upgrade your living situation.   I kept walking around saying, "This is too nice for us."   I spoke to a friend about it and she said she felt the same way when they bought their home.  I mean, what percentage of the world's population sleeps on dirt floors and I have 3 different eating areas in my new house?   I've felt very guilty, but I've come to realize that I can accept the blessing and share it in the form of hospitality and generosity toward guests in our hom...