A lot of work, a little rest

My family and I have been working on The House of Goodwill for two years now, getting it rental ready.  And (finally!) we're just about there.  We've set a goal of having the house complete by Memorial Day, partly because we need a specific date to push us to get finished, and partly because we want to have a party here that weekend to celebrate getting it finished.

Chances are it may not be totally done by then.  But hopefully.  Done enough for a party, anyway.

To get there, we have been working really, really hard.  And because of commitments at home every weekend lately (work, Easter and more work), we've been coming and going a lot.  A LOT.

It's been pretty stressful.  "Fun" stress, but still stressful.

We drove back to The House of Goodwill this week on Saturday.  We were going to come Friday night, but my husband realized he had to do taxes, so we stayed Saturday so he could work on them.  (Whenever I'm home, I have yard work and laundry, etc. to catch up on, so I have plenty to occupy myself there.)

As soon as we got here, we realized we'd forgotten two bags of groceries I'd bought for the week.  They were in the refrigerator waiting to come, but none of use remembered to get them, along with a couple of boxes of things I'd found at an estate sale last week that I meant to bring to work on this week.

Oh well.

We noticed when we were at the home/house that we can't put off getting a new roof any longer, and our mailbox is falling apart after twenty years and needs to be rebuilt, but when do we have time?

Managing two properties does get hectic, and though I hate to turn this house over to renters, that is mainly why we bought it, and I have to admit that I'll be a little relieved when we make it to that point.

It will be nice coming here to the lake when we're only needing to do small tasks, as opposed to setting up an entire house to rent.  The trade off - of course - being that we'll then be sharing it with strangers.  After all this work, it's going to be hard to let it go!

Anyway, all that to say we've been pretty busy.  So when we can carve out an hour or two for a fun break, we really, really enjoy it.  I thought I'd share a few of the fun times lately:

We had a Parcheesi tournament at home on my birthday.

I got some great gifts for my birthday; here are two of my favorites!

Above is a bag my mom sent me.  I laugh every time I see it.

The same with these socks (below) that my son gave me.

I learned to crochet last year and made a goal of two crochet projects this year.  My neighbor helped me start making this blanket last year before she moved.

I'm going to finish it; I love crochet!

I find it very relaxing at the end of the day to work on this blanket and listen to tv.

I found this great coffee cup at Goodwill (it says "Make things happen" if it's not clear..).

It matches the dishes I bought AND motivates me! 🙂

It was a beautiful spring day recently, so I sat outside for an hour with my green tea and a great book (free from an estate sale).

I had to be in Nashville for a job last week, and realized it coincided with "Rigoletto" - the

first time we've been able to go to the opera since before the pandemic.

We had a great time!

(That's my sister-in-law Linda with us.)

My other relaxing hobby?  Flowers!

This was the very end of my spring daffodils for the year.  We were leaving the home/house, and I 

knew the daffodils would fade while I was gone, so I harvested them all to bring with me.

My first time using this duck vase I found at a thrift store.

My crabapple tree at home was also in it's full glory when I left, and I knew I'd miss it's finale.  So I cut some branches to bring with me.

I found this beautiful, huge, vintage McCoy vase at an antiques store recently, and thought it would be perfect for fall arrangements.

I'm loving these $5 tulips from Wal-Mart.

Lovely!

And finally: a little Mexican Train this weekend.

As I was fretting over my husband potentially knocking his giant beer mug off the table while playing dominoes, I came up with the perfect solution.

Remember my recently acquired ash tray/plant stand?

Well, turns out it's also an excellent drink holder!

I knew it was worth the $7.50!

And though I have no photos to prove it, while I was home last week I hit up two nearby estate sales with my son.  Although technically I'm "working on the house" while looking for stuff I still need, it's pretty much my other favorite relaxing hobby: looking for secondhand acquisitions for this airbnb.

I just love an excuse to go to Goodwill!