A peaceful Thanksgiving

It's been a strange year that hasn't felt like any other.  But our quiet, Covid-year Thanksgiving was simple and peaceful, and felt just right.  The Goodwill theme was all over, as usual.  Here, a few scenes from the weekend:

I always like to try at least one new recipe for Thanksgiving Day.  This is a pumpkin pistachio "bread" from a Southern Living cookbook.  ($2 from Goodwill, of course.)

I just glanced at the recipe when I chose it, thinking a pumpkin "bread" with a pistachio crumbly topping sounded good.

Then I went to make it and saw that the "bread" is poured into a 9"x13" pan and covered in cream cheese frosting.

Bread?  Maybe not.

But still delicious!

I like to buy a big beautiful poinsettia that will transition from Thanksgiving to Christmas - I just change the homemade pot!

"The First Thanksgiving" on a Johnson Brothers transferware platter, with a glass turkey from the antique store.

At the last minute our neighbors opted not to join us for dinner, due to Covid concerns.

So we delivered them a homemade Thanksgiving dinner with some Christmas carols (from six feet away).

I love this picture because my husband, his sister and my son look like angels singing.

This was the most Thanksgiving moment of Thanksgiving Day.

I love to set the Thanksgiving table, with my antique store turkey candlestick holders and transferware vases.  When your dining room colors are red, green and gold, the holiday decor is easy!

My newest vintage turkey platter.  My larger one is lost! ☹

I haven't yet learned to blend Thanksgiving and Christmas together; they are still separate holidays for me.  I like to savor every moment of Thanksgiving weekend before the door is closed on fall for the year.

Time to put the turkeys away for the year and go pick out the tree!

A work in progress

When I left The House of the Goodwill last week for the holidays, I was in the middle of repainting the hall bathroom.  It was a little hard leaving with the project half finished.  But after six days of painting, it was halfway done, and when I return to finish it, the second half will be the fun part.

I got the tedious part completed, the deglossing and painting of the molding.

When I get back, I get to remove the old wallpaper (fun!), repaint the walls and refinish the vanity cabinet.

It's going to look great when it's completed!

Here are a few pics from before, as well as how it looks at the halfway point:

Before, with the old dark molding.

I just love the avocado step-down bathtub!

The bathroom is divided into 2 sections, this section has beautiful tile work on the walls.

There is also a fantastic avocado colored countertop!

I got to paint more overhead molding here 😒

I am really excited to remove this wallpaper, and I'm going to paint the vanity cabinet a nice shade of orange to complement the counter.

I love the wall tile with it's light green pattern.  

I haven't decided on the wall colors yet.

Step 1 completed: molding is brighter!

I am excited for this unremarkable '70's bathroom to look fresh and cheerful!

The view from the still dark and unpainted hallway into the bathroom.

The change in this house is going to be dramatic!

The unfortunate irony of this house is, it is in such good shape and was so well maintained by the former owners, that if it hadn't felt so dark, and I had liked the former paint colors, I wouldn't have had to do anything.  There were hardly even nail holes in the walls.

Even the wallpaper held up surprisingly well, considering how old it probably is.  

I'm painting over pristine paint jobs most of the time.

But this photo is a good example of how dark this house felt.  It's probably a solid analogy for the year 2020; 2021 at The House of Goodwill will be looking lighter and brighter!

The light at the end of the tunnel

Since June I've been working on The House of Goodwill, mainly painting, getting it in shape to be an airbnb.  (As well as second home for our family.)

The garage is full of furniture; I've put off moving most of it inside till the painting is done.  And the painting has taken me a VERY long time, due to our foster placement remaining with us six months longer than we expected, as well as the dark molding throughout the house needing five coats of paint to cover it up.  (Not to mention that I'm slow!)

So, since June the house has been in some state of disarray, as furniture and "stuff" keeps getting moved around as I paint.  I also keep bringing in "new" things.  Every Goodwill or thrift store purchase goes in a pile to be cleaned before it's used, and then I have to figure out where to put it.  So though we've been living there more or less for the last five months, it's nice to be back at the home/house now for the holidays, where it feels nice and settled.

Anyway, after I finished painting the last bedroom, I was able to move into place two pieces of furniture: a dresser that had been sitting in the middle of a room (it's finally out of the way!) and a queen bed whose mattresses had been leaning against a bedroom wall for the last five months.

Two small things that really made the house feel like more of a home, and less of an unfinished project.

I'm finally far enough along that I feel like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I'm probably halfway done with the painting.  

After that will come the fun part: putting things together.  But I got a little taste of that before I left, when we got to set the bed up and move the dresser.

Here they are:

I found this queen size iron bed for sale on the nextdoor app for $50.

Isn't it lovely?

The seller gave us the mattress and box spring for free.

The bedspread was $35, pillows were $14 (for both) and sheets were $17.

So altogether, just over $100 for the whole bed setup.

Here is the marble-topped dresser I found on the nextdoor app for $200.

I just absolutely love it, and it's HUGE.

The lamp was $5 from a thrift store.

I had been waiting to set up this furniture till the last room was painted, since that's where I was going to put it.  But as soon as we had the bed set up, my son informed me that he "always wanted a big bed, bigger than he needed."  This was a "dream" in his life, which he had never happened to mention before.

(I had been planning to put a daybed in the room he's claimed for himself, with a trundle underneath.  I have the bed already, but haven't gotten mattresses yet.  He's been sleeping on the sofa in the downstairs apartment for the last five months.)

So we took the bed apart, carried it to his room and set it up again there.  I opened the sheets and bedspread and got him set up, so he finally has his own space at The House of Goodwill.  (He chose his room because it has it's own bathroom, as well as a big closet.)

So we're inching forward.  But it's better than staying still!

Another one done

After two more weeks of painting, I finally did it - I got the fourth and final bedroom completely painted.

Are you ready?  Here are the before and after pics:

The dark room before.  That's the closet door.

The former wall color, a matte gray/brown.

The second color strip, "corsage" is the new color.

I just love these changes that add so much more light to these 1-window rooms!

So much brighter!

Even at night, the room seems lighter.

I painted the closet too, which added a couple extra days to the job.

More closet - this house has huge closets for a home built in the '70s.

Looking into the bedroom from the yet unpainted brown hallway.

Tomorrow we will be packing up our things and leaving The House of Goodwill until after the holidays.  My emotions are mixed - I have come to love this house so much, and I'll miss my beautiful dog walks and daily porch reading outside (it's still not too cold for that yet most days).

When our foster placement finally left about a month ago, I was finally able to start working more regularly and productively.  I feel like I'm finally getting on a roll work-wise and am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  It's a little painful stopping now when I feel like I'm just starting to really make progress again.

I will, however, enjoy the break from painting for a while.

The house here is still not settled; because so much of it is still to be painted I have yet to move in most of the furniture and make the additions that will make the house feel finished.  I want to go home and enjoy being in a finished, put-together house for the holidays.

For me, Thanksgiving and Christmas are dining room holidays, another reason I want to spend them at the home/house.  For all I love about The House of Goodwill, it does not have a dining room.

Over the next two months I am hoping to find some of the furniture pieces I'm still missing, namely bedside tables and side tables.  And I need a couple of mattresses for a day bed I bought.

I am so looking forward to having more time to do more thrifting and antiquing again!

I will continue to post over the holidays, so stay tuned for more...

the great estate (sale)

For the last few weeks, I've been so busy working on the house every day (mainly painting) that I haven't had much time to thrift - or do much of anything really, aside from the daily tasks of keeping the house running.

Last Saturday, after five days straight of holding a paintbrush for long hours, I decided to take the day and get out to explore some new antique stores.

Since I was headed to Jackson, a good size city, I decided my first stop would be an estate sale.  I hadn't been to one in months.

Well, this was a good one.  While I didn't find anything on my list of items I still need for the house, it was fun just to browse.

This estate sale company had amazing prices, and had I been needing furniture, I would have had some great opportunities.  

For example there was this:

A $40 Lazyboy recliner, in perfect condition

While I really, really, really hate the look of recliners like this, my husband has lately been mentioning a recliner so often that I probably would have softened and bought this, for the basement apartment.  Unfortunately, I just had my car with me and it never would have fit.

But $40 for a brand name chair in perfect shape?  I would have bought it just to resell if I'd had our SUV.

Here are a couple of things I actually bought, though not for The House of Goodwill:

6 "Ideals" magazines, for 25 cents each

I am always on the lookout for these; if I have a little spare time I love nothing more than to sit and read them with a cup of tea.  The images, poetry and short stories within are beautiful!

They also sell for more - I see them at antiques shops from time to time for about $5 each.  I was told there were a lot more earlier in the day but someone had bought all the rest.

This lot of 19 napkins - that looked clean and unused - was $1.50 for all.

I use "real" napkins most of the time when we have guests, for less than 10 cents each this was a find!

A crudite/chip & dip plate and covered bowl for $3.

Aside from the lid (which these don't normally have), the other cool feature (that you can't see) is a removable "lazy susan" under the bowl so it can revolve.  This is quality!

A vintage port decanter & four glasses with images of birds for $6.

Ok, so I didn't exactly need this, and I love it way too much to put in a rental property, but I couldn't pass it up knowing it would be a great gift for a few people I know if I decided not to keep it.

But I'm going to keep a closet here (locked) with some personal things in it, so when my family is at this house we can have some photos and other nice things to use that I'm unwilling to put out in a rental.  I mean, a cool set of glasses like this for the same price as I pay for a drink at Starbucks?  I had to!

When you're starting from scratch to furnish a house - especially on a budget - I can think of no better place to start than an estate sale.

Just make sure to take a vehicle big enough to transport whatever you find.  Sometimes the greatest discoveries come when you least expect them!

A Saturday score!

In trying to get this house put together on a budget, I've realized that one of the biggest challenges will be finding inexpensive patio furniture.

Outdoor furniture is really expensive to buy new.  And it's pretty hard to find used, because people generally tend to keep it until it wears out, with occasional exceptions, like if they're moving and can't take it with them, or combining households in a marriage, etc.

On rare occasions this summer I'd see something good pop up on craigslist or at an estate sale, etc, but it was always purchased immediately by someone else.  I looked around for something at end of season sales, but the only things I saw leftover weren't discounted at all.

(Even patio cushions are expensive.  It's usually at least $25 to buy a small seat cushion new.)

One other thing that has made my search a bit more difficult: I know exactly what I'm looking for, so just anything won't work.

I don't want patio chairs with straps on the seats or netting, because I've had those in the past and they tend to not to last very long.  I've been looking for furniture that is all metal.

Because the covered porch is a good size, but not too huge, I decided a bar height table with four chairs will be best.  Bar tables tend to be a bit smaller and shouldn't take up as much room on the porch.

I also want to have two chairs with ottomans, and a side table between them.  They can be extra seating when eating on the porch, but will also be my area to sit and read in the morning.  So the chairs will need to be comfortable, I can read for a while!

Anyway, my husband was back at the home/house last weekend, and I saw this posting on nextdoor.com 11 minutes after it was put up:

It was $100 for all 4 pieces, with the cushions!

It was worth it just for the 2 all-metal chairs.  The coffee table and love seat were a bonus.

Because there is a covered outdoor area under the porch, and a "beach house" down by the water, I can use those pieces down there.

So I've got a start on the patio furniture.

Now I can say goodbye to the lounge chair I spent the summer reading in, that came in the carload of stuff we got from Denise's basement for $55.  That chair can be saved for the beach area, when we get it finished.

A lot of great books were read here!

When I find the right dining table and chairs, we will also be moving this little bistro table and chair set somewhere else.  It is SO cute, but the chairs are definitely "10 minute chairs" that are not comfortable any longer than that.  That is why I'm being so particular in my furniture search, for the whole house.

We were given these free from the first mother lode house.  What a blessing it's been to have something to use for the last six months!

It's a little easier to find used patio furniture during the off season, hopefully I'll find another great deal in the next couple of months.

I'm sure I would have really liked them

Today we spent a couple of hours working in the yard.  We bought this house in April; we came to stay (more or less) in June, and it was WAY too hot for any yard work for a couple of months after.

When we had the occasional cloudy day, I was always painting, which seemed more urgent.

Needless to say, the yardwork needing to be done began to accumulate.

Though it's pretty, it's not a no maintenance yard, for sure.

So we've been hedge trimming (not bad), weed pulling (not bad either) and digging up little redbud treelings that have popped up everywhere in the landscaping (VERY bad).  These little guys are tenacious.  While they may just be real spindly and a couple of inches tall, their roots go WAY deep down and seem nearly impossible to remove completely, even with a shovel.

The worst?  The little redbud treelings growing in the center of established shrubs.

Last week while working on one my husband dislodged an underground beehive.  He got stung three times, used an entire can of bee killer and still hasn't managed to eradicate it.

So it's not all beautiful fall walks and kayaking in tranquil waters.  Another property is a lot of work, too.

The house, with most of the yardwork completed.

I didn't think of taking before photos. If I had, you would have seen some seriously overgrown shrubs.  I imagine our neighbors are breathing a real sigh of relief now. 

But you know what was great?

Remember our first day how we found a fake snake on the doorstep next to some fake flowers?

This made me laugh before I ever set foot in the house!

The other day we had a guy here at the house to spray for termites.  He told me he the snake almost gave him a heart attack, but then he told me he thought it was funny.

Well, here's the thing: one night, as my husband was grilling, he looked up at a high ledge on the patio and found a tiny rubber snake looking at him.

Then yesterday, as we were working in the yard, my husband came to get me and told me to look at the floodlights on the font of the house.  I did.  "No, look really closely," he said.

So I did.  And here is what I saw.

The floodlights, at a glance.

The floodlights, upon further inspection.

I just love these people!!  I only met Brenda, the original owner, briefly, but I never met her husband, who I suspect was the snake placement person.

"Call me with any problems, if you have questions," Brenda offered, when we briefly met her at the house closing.  Then she paused, and said, "Well, I probably can't help you with your problems, but I can answer your questions."

Is that fantastic or what?

Election Day tranquility

 

My husband took this photo early this morning.

I was trying to explain to my mother the other day why I could never live in Florida;

this is why.

Matthew 11:28

"Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

Amen.