Porch Therapy

Our front porch has been a big part of our lives since we moved back.

It offers a breathing place.

A peaceful place.

The perfect place to drink sweet tea and ponder.

Ponder work.

Mull over project ideas.

Listen to the wind blow.

Watch the grass and lemons grow.

Start new ideas.

Put the final touches on some old ones.

Watch the humming birds.

Listen to Beaux bark.

Something else thought it was a great place to hang out too.

The Kitchen - After

The kitchen has been a total transformation from start to finish.

What I remember most about working on the kitchen initially was 'What have I done?'

Once I started taking the many layers of contact paper off the walls, part of me just wanted to get a hot glue gun and put it back.

Then, Spackle saved everything.

I don't think we will ever be done with the kitchen exactly.

Small changes, a little at a time.

Now, this is what the kitchen looks like.

Well, sort of, exactly at this moment the top of the table is cluttered with junk, there are dishes that need to be put up, a skillet with grease in it needs to be dumped and washed. But at just this moment I have my back to the kitchen, so the mess doesn't exist.

Did you see the hunky new refrigerator?

That was more of a necessary buy instead of a luxury purchase.

The weekend we were at the food show, our frig decided to give out.

But I'm secretly happy it did.

It has so much more room and came all nice and clean!

I really didn't want to put anything in it.

So, just a peek of how far the kitchen has come.

Contact paper removal.

Newly 'sticky tiled' counter top with painted cabinets and trim.

Re-painted cabinets and trim

Move in

New floor, new refrigerator, new shelves in the back corner (courtesy of Mr. Z)

We have some plans for the sink unit and the bare space above the stove.

50 dozen roses

I like to think that Mawmaw left gifts for us to enjoy.

One of those gifts is her rose bush.

It is growing next to the wash house.

She fretted and worried over that rose bush, and I think she almost killed it.

She would pick worms and bugs off of it, spray it with pesticides, but still it would only bloom a little.

Over the past 6 years, no one has really taken care of it.

It has been left alone to do as it pleased.

Well, it flourished. So Mr. Z and I decided to continue to leave it alone and just enjoy it.

It has broken through the lattice and heaped over from the weight of the buds.

Thank you, Mawmaw. I miss you.

The rose bush makes me think of you every day.

Some how I think I could be easily convinced that was her plan all along.

Baby birds

Not long after we moved, a red bird decided to grace us by building her nest in the gardenia bush at the corner of the screened-in porch

We watched her work and fret to build a sturdy nest. 

She gathered anything she could find and wove it together never forgetting to make sure it was the right size and shape.

You can barely see her in the picture above, but she is there.

She decided the gardenia bush at the edge of our screened-in porch was the perfect place to hatch her little ones.

I whole-heartedly agreed.

We waited anxiously for the little buggers to hatch.

They were so uglishly cute!

They grew so fast!

And got louder.

Thankfully Beaux was completely oblivious.

Then one day, Mr. Z happened to catch them right before they flew away.

It took a little while, but I'm getting past my empty nest syndrome.

The front yard

Mr. Z and I have missed having a yard over the past several years.

Now we have more than what we know to do with.

This is the front yard.

The yard I played in many times as a kid.

The yard I mowed as a kid.

Where I used to hunt Easter eggs.

Where I would play with our dogs.

Where Mawmaw would take me to show me her new plants or flowers that were in bloom.

I like to think about how Mawmaw and Pawpaw used to take care of this yard.

How they looked at it every day.

How they carved out their little homestead.

And now Mr. Z and I can work in it and enjoy it just as they did.

We've added a lemon tree, a hibiscus, and a humming bird feeder around the front of the house.

Now I can watch the humming birds like I did with Mawmaw when I would come over to visit.

There is something simply blissful about that.

Spring Has Dawned at the Little House

Over the past few weeks at The Little House it has been very clear that Spring is upon us.

(Some photos courtesy of Mr. Z)

The tulip tree was the first to burst into a song of color.

The plum tree was covered in delicate white blooms.

Many of the dogwood trees around the house have died in the past few years.

When Momma told me that, it made me sad.

Growing up I loved all the bursts of white flowers that would pop up in the middle of woods that still looked like winter.

There are a few that are coming back.

The redbud tree is my favorite. The bright pink is a refreshing contrast.

I noticed something odd about the "fallen" buds from the tree. They didn't seem to be random.

Then a look closer, I saw the buds were moving.

Carried to be exact.

We call them town ants. I'm not sure that's what the rest of the world calls them.

They picked the blooms fresh off the furthest limbs, managed to get them down the trunk of the tree, and carry them all the way to their home.

Now that is a work ethic.

Ding Dong the Smell is Gone

Ding dong the awful smell is gone.

I just had the greatest idea I could do for this post.

I wanted to put this picture up...

And then a picture of Mr Z's feet sticking out from underneath the house while he was working on the plumbing.

Then I quickly realized I didn't take a picture.

Then I briefly contemplated asking him to get back under the house so I could take a picture.

I thought that would go over like a lead balloon.

So, insert imaginary picture of Mr Z's feet here:

Mr. Handyman installed an 'S' trap under the tub drain, took out a 'T' in the pipe that went to nothing, and carefully placed the remaining pipes back where they were supposed to go. 

So far, no more smell!!

You have no idea how happy this has made me.

The Bedroom Reveal

This is what the bedroom looked like a year ago.

Do you see that blue color? That is what the room was painted before Mr. Z moved into the house the first time. At that time, I was young and dumb and didn't take before pictures.

Here is the bedroom now.

Mr. Z said that this bedroom is the most calming one he has ever had and it feels so clean.

I asked him if he ever thought he would say that about a room in The Little House.

He said absolutely not.

(Please forgive the quality of the photos. I am still learning how to take inside shots with our new camera without the flash.)