Watching Paint Dry

Literally. That's what we did in the days just before Thanksgiving, when we had our house painted! It had been on our to do list, probably since move-in day, and it felt so good to finally check it off! The house looked like it hadn't been painted since it was built; the paint was very faded and peeling in several places, not to mention covered in mildew. Plus, we found a good painting crew that also did minor trim repairs, power washed and treated the mildew, and caulked the whole thing back together. To the before and afters:

The mister and I did agree on a color, which we thought was a slight miracle. Because the cream color tends to show dirt and mildew easily, we thought a darker color might be better. We borrowed some paint samples from a neighbor and found a few medium grays that played to the darker bricks in our red house. We tried them out in a few different places and picked one, but when the painters put it up in large scale, we second guessed our choice!

It looks much greener on a large wall, when our little sample looked mostly gray, so we were a little concerned it would look like a Christmas house. But the second coat helped a lot. In some light, it even leans brown. Either way, it will be good to disguise mildew and dirt! I think it's still growing on us, but it's definitely an improvement and feels like the house is at least in better condition than it was.

We also replaced a dead tree in the front yard. It was a red oak that just didn't seem to grow much, and we put another in its place with an improved watering system, so hopefully this one will be happier than its predecessor.

We had a mini-Thanksgiving on Tuesday at the ranch, in between unpacking boxes and assembling lamps for Granna and Grandad. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures, but I borrowed this one from my SIL. I was in charge of the meal, while everyone else was working, and it was a little exciting to be the first to use the oven, microwave, stove, utensils, and bakeware in a brand new kitchen. We were so glad to be there to help them "break in" their new house. The only snag was the brown water coming out of the tap... It seems there's always something.

However, on Thursday, we had our first Thanksgiving by ourselves in our own house, and it was delicious! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Despite this insane year, we have much to be grateful for.