the new house, part I

I think I've shared before that we recently moved into my Grandparent's home. Since the middle of March we've spent a significant amount of time cleaning and painting and organizing and decorating and making the place our own. In just four months we painted every single wall in the house! However, it still has that Grandma and Grandpa feel, which I love. I love to imagine my grandma at the sink, watching the hummingbirds out the kitchen window while she does dishes; my grandpa outside pulling weeds or fixing things around the house; my mom and aunts growing up here, in the very rooms my own girls inhabit now. They are sweet imaginations, and I love it. Living here is so much more than a blessing and a privilege and an honor. I feel like the luckiest girl alive.

As we've taken the place over, I have taken some before and after pics, but I'm almost ashamed to post them here because they're such bad pictures ... nothing like what you'd see on HGTV. It's hard to tell just how great the place is looking. But, at the request of at least one cousin, and because I've wanted to organize the history of the work we've done, I'm going to try. A little. Here and there. For starters, here's a pic from the back yard. I gathered a bunch of pots, some that were left here and some we owned already, and I've been able to start a small container garden. Well, I've TRIED to start a small container garden. Being poor, I used old soil we already had and bought seeds. Most of them have failed, but a few are doing well! Here's proof of my mostly-black thumb. Next summer I promise to start earlier, and maybe get some actual good soil.

What you can't see is the hummingbird feeder, hanging just above this little garden. It has hung here for years, but had been neglected for some time. So one day I spent about 20 minutes on the thing ... cleaned it out with hot water, did research on what to fill it with (4 parts water to 1 part sugar), and hung it back up. It took the hummingbirds a couple days to find it, but now I have to refill it every two weeks or so. Like my grandmother, I've become enchanted by those little birds, hanging out just outside my kitchen window.

Caleb and I hope to spend some time next Spring getting the yards spruced up. With everything else going on since we moved in, it was simply one too many things to do this summer. But at least I get to watch a few plants grow!