Two years ago, Nigel and John had their first trip to Mt. Airy (a/k/a “Mayberry”), NC. They had hoped this would be an annual activity. After missing last year, they decided they would wait until we were settled in SC to visit, as NC is much closer to SC than NY!
Stewart was able to join them this year.
Firstly, that doesn’t say Jesus. It says Jesus – like – Hey Seuss. Jesus is the painter and he is great. He came out a week or so ago to give us a quote that fit our budget well.
He called Thursday to say his team would be out Friday. Friday morning at 8AM ELEVEN men showed up and they took the house by storm. It was epic. They came to paint the dining room, foyer and hall, living room, stairwell, upstairs hall and upstairs family room.
We worked hard to stay out of the way.
Can you see the stilts he is wearing?
They finished the upstairs family room. This is what was under the tarp.
I love the color – Sea Salt. Jesus recommended it and I wholeheartedly am grateful I listened to him.
They finished early afternoon Saturday. John and Stewart did, too.
Progress!
John also rigged up some boards in the attic and bought some bags for clothes vs manhandling totes up the narrow attic stairs.
Duck Donuts are a thing in these parts.
Since we are in the peach belt, I went for the peach cobbler variety.
They were still warm.
While Nigel was at work, at Stewart was stuck at Houghton, we had a yummy steak and cake party for Daddy.
Having a large deck that we never use is so much fun to maintain.
Last year we decided we would not take a vacation in 2020. (Thank you, LORD, for leading us that way!) We knew we needed to invest in the house a little and update some areas. We’ve already put in new lights and I’ve painted or stained a number of rooms and fixtures.
The old, ugly shower was way out of our league however, and we hired Cunningham Remodeling to fix that. He was able to come and assess during lockdown, but he couldn’t do any work until the governor allowed it.
This is the old room.
I pretty much shopped every chance I had during lockdown. It’s funny how busy Lowes was throughout April and May. It was always crowded and it was nice to see people out and about.
My friend Diane fielded a nice handful of questions along the way.
And then finally Tom and Judah were able to come and do the bathroom.
They started on June 29th and finished on July 7th, pausing for a three day weekend.
They set up this plastic buffer to hold some of the dust out of the bedroom. We had to zip ourselves into and out of the bedroom. It was like we were glamping.
Tab spray painted our light fixture.
After they finished with the shower and the floor, it was John’s turn.
We’d had to wait MONTHS for our sink top/vanity to arrive. I ordered it in May and it kept getting backordered, for, you know, virus reasons. The plant in Indiana that makes them was closed.
When they finally arrived John was able to finish our side of the bathroom.
We wanted to do a ship lap look like we’d done in the laundry room a few years ago.
And then we made some shelves and I had to go to Greece Lowes for the last large round mirror (in my price range) in the region.
And I LOVE IT!
In the midst of insanity, we were lucid enough to recognize the gorgeous gift this day together was.
Family church.
Swimming.
Huge steaks.
Pie and Texas sheet cake.
A three day weekend found Daddy ramping up the yard work. We normally do the minimum, but we are dialing it up this year (because there is nothing else to do).
This COVID nonsense now has us spending so much time at home that we are spending so much money and time on home improvement.
That said, he’s opted to plant less than usual this year. But he did clean the garden up a lot. I’m working to take nice photos of the yard this year.
Another lock down birthday.
This stings a little to be honest.
John turned 50 today.
We feel about as rough as we look.
Thankfully, he has been blessed by a loving family.
Katriel made a beautiful poster for him.
And Marie’s card was inspired by our daily press briefings.
We had steak. Nan and Nene joined us again. They are as over this nonsense as we are.
The cake was chocolate with chocolate frosting.
Because the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Once this lunacy passes, we will do a dinner out. Hopefully for our anniversary in five weeks.
Dayspring Disciples 