Autumn Walk

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Though I haven’t actually moved into “my” cute little house yet, I do go there often just to walk around the yard.

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It’s like I’m trying to convince myself that the trees and bushes…IMG_0454

and limbs and branches and sticks…

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and leaves on the ground…

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and leaves changing color for the fall…

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and the leaves that want to stay the same…

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and the lovely, mulchy, foresty looking ground cover…

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and the mysterious berries are alllll…

really, truly

mine.

It’s like some kind of dream.

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And the hornets that seem to be getting braver and braver…

they’re mine too.

IMG_0435It’s beautiful…

and I’m so, so grateful.

Interesting Discovery

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So, the guys have been working on the electrical, and as often happens–one project can easily lead to another.

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So, while they were busy removing some of the old paneling–they found evidence of a previous life.

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50 year old wall paper. Awesome. Awesome.

I LOVE old stuff. But I’m still painting it white.

Thanks, Pinterest.

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And The Wall~

came tumbling down!

So as it happens in projects such as these, we started talking about how much more open the kitchen would feel if it were…ummm… you know, open. So one thing led to another and before we knew it, the wall was down. Just like that.

Crow bars and sledge hammers seem to be these guys’ best friends.

Kind of exciting to see things just wished for one moment…

and coming true the next.

This place is awesome. This disappearing wall is awesome.

These guys are awesome!

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Pigwidgeon~

100 Happy Days #99

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 While visiting the house the other day with the family, the kids came in shrieking that I needed to “come out back NOW!!”

There, nestled in the tall grass was an adorable tiny owl. I’m no owl expert, but it looked to me like a sleepy little baby just waiting for it’s mama to swoop down and take him home. We stayed back so as not to scare him. But honestly, he didn’t seem to mind our “Oooooh-ing and ahhhh-ing,” and all the “isn’t he so sweet-ing?” that we just couldn’t help. He seemed to sleep right through most of it, except for the occasional one eye, drifting open for a second and then falling shut again.

He reminded me of Ron Weasley’s tiny owl, Pigwidgeon, from the Harry Potter series. In fact, I’m going to take the fact that he was in my own back yard, as a good omen.

For one who wholeheartedly believes in fairies, unicorns, dragons, pixies and anything else whimsical and sparkling…it’s not too much of a stretch of the imagination to say…

this place feels incredibly…

magical.

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Makes me pretty happy.

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That~ahem~Wallpaper

100 Happy Days #95

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Once the Bald Guy got the insulation off the ceiling the next big deal was this ancient wallpaper. Crazy stuff–I’m telling you. It was probably beautiful in it’s day, and not a particularly cheap kind either. But it made the room so dark and foreign looking to me.

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I did a ton of research on exactly what solutions would take it off with the least amount of drama and I finally found a natural site that promised good results with just a few ingredients.

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We planned a whole day around spraying on a vinegar and water mix and letting it soak. But first I had to take off all the fixtures. The light switch covers were actually very pretty…up close.

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And these little pull chain heater vents were just so cute I wanted to leave them.

But we forged ahead and got all the hardware off the walls. Then April said, “See if you can loosen any of the paper from the bottoms before we spray.”

I grabbed a tiny corner of one panel and lifted it up gently. To my surprise, the whole strip just came off in one piece –from the floor to the ceiling!

I tried it with the next panel and sure enough–without spraying or soaking or ANYthing, the paper came off in perfect sheets–like it had never been used at all.

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Seventeen minutes later we had a lovely, dry, snow white wall just waiting to be painted. It was hilarious!

So, we’ve moved on to the taping plastic everywhere and painting phase.

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In the meantime…

Anyone want some wallpaper?

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Hardly ever been used.

HAhahaa!

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