Joys Even When It's Raining

And now the 28th week of the year is over. This week had a good bit of rain and afternoon thunderstorms mixed with some beautiful mornings and one drop dead gorgeous day. Well it was drop dead gorgeous if you like sunshine, blue skies, big fluffy clouds and 90 percent humidity! That is why I wear only cotton clothes during the summer.

Friday: The day was beautiful until late afternoon showers. Fortunately I got my swim in between them. (I don't mind swimming in the rain, but there was lightning and thunder and I just don't go there.)

We were able to stream my DIL's show and loved hearing her and her band of heathens.

Midway through the show, my SIL arrived to stay with us for the weekend so she got to see/hear her too.

Saturday: My SIL was still visiting with us and went with us as we made our Saturday rounds. She wanted to go to Leaf and Petal ( a plant___I don't know that there is a better word than emporium to describe it) They have everything you could ever want beautifully displayed. (Including a cement monkey that I wanted badly, but it cost much more than I was willing to pay)  While we were out we stopped by their clearance store where I found a huge planter (more than %50 off) for the patio and Christmas presents for Book Club. I am going to start going there at least once a month just to see what is newly reduced.

We did a few more errands then picked up lunch to bring home. After that we did a little work around here, sat on the porch under the fans, and talked. We intended to swim but waited too late and the thunderstorms came. It was still a really nice day!

Sunday: My SIL got up early to go to a local church. One of her son's friends was hired as the minister and she wanted to go hear him. Afterward she decided to ride to Tuscaloosa to visit with some of their cousins, so TheHub and I just hung out and read. When she came back we ate and then got a FaceTime call from Pip then spent time watching TV while talking and laughing. 

Monday: SIL left Monday morning. She has 3 grandchildren she often keeps and needed to get back to them. We really did enjoy her visit and hope she will come more often.  My sister and I met at Mom's and set up a few props so we could get some shots of the house to use on the Zillow post.  We laugh a lot at silly things when we are together.

Tuesday: Tuesday's biggest joy was getting to stay home all day. I finally had everything I needed to get Mom's sewing supplies, that had been sitting in a huge box in the laundry room for a couple of months, organized. Yea me! Never accuse me of needing immediate gratification!  Now I just need to find a place for Dad's LP's and CD's, but that might be for another month !?!

Wednesday: My Beloved Sister came over to my house mid morning. The day was gorgeous and we put the pool to good use! Later in the afternoon we met at Mom's to talk with an electrician about changing the fuse box to a breaker box. We need to have things up to code before selling the house and code has changed substantially since my folks built the house.

That night we watched a live stream jazz show from FirstLive in Brooklyn. Aaron Matson has a tight little combo, and has the voice of a crooner. It was very enjoyable.

Thursday: I had a wonderful phone visit with Sluggy. She makes me laugh out loud. In fact, I am glad I was not drinking coffee or I would have spewed a couple of times.

I hope you find your joys each day. They are always there even if you really have to look for them.

Today I am sharing the photos of the rest of the interior changes

There is no point in showing a living room before picture since she only got some fresh paint. The original hardwoods are just as pretty as they have always been.

The dining room had some pretty dated wallpaper but seriously gorgeous hardwoods

Wallpaper removal and a coat of paint made a huge difference. As a frame of reference the china cabinet is about four feet wide.

      

One view of the den

Another angle. The cabinet to the right of the piano was built to house Dad's stereo, and the alcove was built to hold the piano. We had to rethink it when we had everything painted.

Bad angle and bad lighting 

This room is kind of tricky to photograph. If I were buying the house I would change out the outside door to the deck to  a 15 pane glass door, just to let in more light. But that's just me. The new owner can do it if they want to.

Painting everything really brightened the den. We had to rethink the piano nook, but fortunately I had a TV from the lake house hanging out in my basement. We lowered the shelf and it worked.  Staging it for television placement looks intentional. I do have a small sage colored desk from the lake that I might put underneath just to fill the gap.

The fireplace does not look so foreboding now that the walls are painted

This is the multi use room in the basement. It is approximately 37x24, and you can't tell in the photo but the walls are light blue with fluorescent overhead lighting. 

The ecru paint really did warm the room and the recessed lighting looks so much better. For scale that is a regulation sized ping pong table in the corner. The room also had a kitchenette/ wet bar at the back of the room.

Another angle of the gigantic room

Kitchenette/Wet bar with sink, two burner gas stove and mini fridge

All we did in here besides the ecru paint was to reface the refrigerator  and change the color of the cabinet tops

I am not going to post pictures of the bedroom b and a because they were simply painted  and the hardwoods cleaned. There was virtually no change.

Up next exterior shots.