The good, the bad and the beautiful

My last two posts were about the current level of chaos I'm living in with The House of Goodwill project, so for purposes of this post's title, I've already shown you the "bad."

Working on this house, taking it from zero to finished (and rental ready as well), has been a much bigger project that I imagined, and taken far longer.

But with a fun project like this, there really is no "bad."  Frustration at times, yes.  Feeling disorganized and overwhelmed often?  Yes.  But if that's the "bad" I'm dealing with, I'll take it!

To balance out the last two posts, today I'm going to share some pics of the good, and the beautiful.  First, the good:

After three days of work, I got the walls behind the appliances completely painted, the floors cleaned and the appliances back in place.  I am loving the brightened up walls!

Also good, here is how I spent Sunday night relaxing:

Before my neighbor Teresa moved in March, she started teaching me how to make a "very simple" crochet blanket that she swore I could make alone.  I started it with her help, but I hadn't picked it up again since March.  I was so proud of myself for watching the videos of her that I made and making some progress!

And now, the beautiful: you may remember, the last time I had to return home for a few days I was HOPING that the azaleas and irises would still be blooming when I came back to The House of Goodwill, as I had been waiting to enjoy them all year.

And I was not disappointed!

While the white azaleas were finishing up, the pink ones were just beginning!

I 💗 the colors of spring!

I found this little pot for a couple dollars at Goodwill.  I'm not exactly sure what it is supposed to be used for - a humidifier to sit on top of a stove, maybe?

But of course I know what I would do with it!

It was perfect for the azaleas!

The irises were in their full glory.  (And still are!)  

So far I have seen seven different varieties.

I picked up these tiny vases at an estate sale and thrift store this year; I really liked the iris images on them and have been waiting to fill them with irises!

The light was terrible when I took these photos, so it's hard to get how lovely the colors in these irises really are.  The shading on their petals is beautiful in the light.

This is one little azalea branch.  Use what you have!

And now that the (22!) azalea bushes are winding down, the peonies are just starting!

There are five peony bushes here; this is the first flower I've seen.

And finally, as I was reading and drinking my morning coffee on the porch, I looked up and saw this!

Three more deer followed behind a few minutes later.

Last year we spent the summer watching a family of house finches nesting on the porch.

They returned this year, and I just saw a baby in the nest for the first time this morning. 💗

Enough posting, time to go paint!  I've got some more "good" to work on today!