Silver Linings

It’s been a month of finding silver linings. Chateau Gahan experienced flood #4 since we’ve lived here. The first was when the ice maker line blew off the back of the fridge. My parents were picking Harleigh up from school and arrived in my driveway to see water pouring out from under my garage door.  I hightailed it home, tears streaming down my face, and pulled in to find that my parents and daughter had pulled out as much furniture as they could carry outside to the front of the house. It was chaos.

The second flood was the hot water heater expansion tank, the third the hot water heater itself. And because my hot water heater is in a closet in the center of the house, the water damage extended into the living room, hallway, my closet and my vanity area. This time, the fourth, was the water pressure regulator. It was 15 years old and died, causing the water pressure to skyrocket. The pressure was too much for a water line under my vanity sink (the line probably original to the house), and a small pin hole spewed water likely all night. I got out of bed in the morning because I heard water running and knew Harleigh wasn't up yet. Took three steps, and was standing on wet carpet.

As Harleigh and I hauled and sopped, she simply grabbed my wrist, looked me straight in the eye, and said “Mom, we got this.” And we got through it. The last of the shoe molding goes in today.

We twisted through zippered doorways for days on end. 

Endured the 24/7 deafening whir of giant fans and dehumidifiers. 

Gideon ate and drank from bowls on a shoe shelf from the foyer closet.

With most of the furniture temporarily stored in the garage, 

we jockeyed for seating on any surface that wasn't piled with our lives.

And the silver linings, once again as they always do in our make-the-most-of-a bad-situation little household, proved themselves too numerous to count.

• Got gorgeous 5”-plank hardwoods . . . 
• . . . and as everything was moved back into the living spaces I cleaned like a crazy woman, a long overdue deep clean. 
• All the windows got washed inside and out. 
• I got to work with a water damage restoration company that I have built a good relationship with over the many floods — good people, always positive. 
• Harleigh and I practiced and succeeded at taking things in stride, accepting what was, being OK with living conditions not being perfect. 
• We purged a lot; there’s nothing like having to move your personal belongings to make you question what is worth keeping and what just isn’t. My efforts at simplifying got a little kickstart with the great flood of 2015. 
• Harleigh and I also spent a lot of time together, holed up wherever there was space for two women and a giant dog. Her room, with the full bed gone and two twins in its place, was sort of our headquarters. And with this picture above Harleigh’s bed, it seemed the perfect room to escape to for chilling out and counting our blessings amidst the shambles right outside her bedroom door.

Gideon fared the best of all through it. With our house filled with work crews and machines for days on end, he was relegated to Harleigh’s room, where I made up his bed on hers, with the blinds up so he could watch all the goings-on in the driveway. He was in heaven, like a little boy watching a construction site.

A day into the mess, Harleigh came home with flowers for me. It meant a lot. She knows that little gestures like this are part of my love language.

The one project I got done before my craft room became filled with closet contents, lamps and home decor from the damaged rooms was to cover my new Bible. I’ve always wanted a journaling Bible, and I found one at a good price, but the cover was anything but pretty. I took the dust jacket off and used that as the base, covering it in some calico fabric, adhering it with Mod Podge. Then I glued a metal scrapbooking embellishment on the cover along with a mustard seed charm. A reminder that "with faith nothing is impossible" seemed a fitting mantra for the challenging time we’ve just lived through.

And on a final note, this book! What a page turner. Highly recommend.

 

Stay tuned for a post I hope to get up next week of the adoption baby shower I designed.

Lee Ann, who had hired me to design the nautical baby shower, asked me to do all the decor for an adoption shower (the adopting parents also happen to be dear friends, so that made it super special!).

Easter Decorating at Chateau Gahan

I found these little peeps at Big Lots 

and thought they'd be perfect 

amongst my egg trees and bowl of decorative eggs.

Even in its everyday state, Chateau Gahan dons Easter pastels.

Catch-Up

I’ve been gone so long from blogging. I have that feeling that you get when you’ve not seen or talked to a friend in a really extended amount of time. And there’s a hesitation about reaching out. But then I think about my really good friends . . . they’re the ones I can reconnect with, we pick up instantly where we left off, and there’s no guilt, shame or blame. And so, with that as my guide, here I am. I may have lost some of you, tired of coming back and seeing over and over again the December 21 post. But for those of you who haven’t given up and are happy to reconnect, here’s to you, really good friend.

Here are some straggling images from the Christmas break. (Most, if not all of these, were originally posted to Instagram.)

Over the holiday break, I catalogued my collection of decorating books.

Sometimes when I'm at a bookstore or the library, I forget what I have.

So images like these on my phone (and this isn't even all

my decorating book!) serve as a great point of reference.

I wish I'd been more creative this year for Christmas gifts for the neighbors.

But my good-ol'-standby poppy seed cake is just so doggone easy and super good. 

One of those cakes you can eat  for dessert AND breakfast.

Harleigh graduated magna cum laude from Georgia Southern University on December 12.

So proud of her!

(It looks like I cut out an image of just her head and put it on another picture of just a body.

What what???)

Ever since we've lived in our humble little Chateau Gahan (since 1999), 

I've dreamed of putting up Christmas lights, especially icicle lights. 

But without a man around the house, the effort

has always seemed too daunting.

Well, 2014 was the year of the lights.

I drove home from work one evening, and this greeted me.

I came to a halt in the driveway, literally gasped out loud, 

and took it all in, with tears streaming down my face. 

A gift from my dear daughter, no doubt.

She had gone to Ace Hardware with measurements in hand, 

and turned to the red vests to help her figure

out how many strings to get, how to hang them from the gutters,

and how to handle hooking them up to an electricity source.

She got up on a ladder and got them all strung.

She then had the idea to hang lights along the top of the 4 windows you see above the roof level.

She got on the roof (if she weren't 22, I'd have spanked her hearing this!), 

got scared, and luckily had her phone on her, so she called Mr. Clif next door and he came over 

and helped her down. Then he loaned a better electrical cord and a timer!

THE BEST CHRISTMAS GIFT EVER.

Most nights when I was home, I'd stand at the open front door and wait for 6:00 to hit

so that I could see them light up. It never got old.

While down in Statesboro for graduation, we ate at a Cracker Barrel.

All their Christmas stuff was on sale. 

I scored this light-up plastic, life-size baby deer.

And this large ceramic tree with lights.

Money well spent.

Our boy.

Christmas morning at Chateau Gahan.

It really wasn't cold enough to warrant a fire, but

for pete's sake, it's Christmas!

This was our second year in a row getting matching pajamas.

Harleigh told me last year that she always thought that was a cute tradition,

and she'd wish we'd done it when she was a little girl.

It's never too late to start traditions.

(And one more nod to a parent's "wish I would have's.")

This year Harleigh wanted scottie dogs.

The search proved successful at Kohl's.

For gift wrapping, I usually use a variety of papers, ribbons and baubles.

But this year I found this beautiful kraft paper with pine cones and greenery, and I 

decided to dress all my gifts alike.

I ripped red and white seersucker for ribbon, and used vintage

postcards for the gift tags.

I'm in the process of redoing all six Sunday School classrooms at church.

Over the holiday break, I managed to complete one.

They're all underwater/ocean themes.

This one is a "find the hidden" object picture.

Since it didn't take up the entire wall, I painted the empty sides a glossy deep blue,

and then added little water bubbles.

One down, five to go!

Chateau Gahan at Christmas

The advent calendar on our fridge. I open up a door each morning while drinking my coffee.

This year's calendar has glitter on it. 

I just may keep it and pack it away to look at next year. Much too pretty to throw away.

Christmas books collected since Harleigh was little (and a box of vintage Christmas cards).

On the coffee table to enjoy.

With a tree in the living room, and one in the ken,

I alternate my breakfast each morning between the two room.

The old pail is a $1 garage sale find.

Stuffed with greens and fake candy canes.

(Gideon watches from the window.)

Thanks to Pinterest, we've all tied a tree to the top of a toy car.

This car, in Harleigh's bathroom (and, off-season, atop a pile of clean washcloths)

usually has a surfboard on the roof.

I have a church, a sweet shop and a tavern that are all lit and have little 3-D scenes inside.

They grace my mantle.

This S.D. Kluger toy/decor plays the actual Fred Astaire version of

"Santa Claus Is Coming to Town."

[NOTE: S.D. stands for Special Delivery.]

And our Santa from The Forum.

Is he not the best?

And on a side note, here is the kindergarten cabinet that I saved from the dumpster 

and is now for sale in my booth.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Stay tuned for more pix to come of our holiday decor!