Thursday 13: Cold Water, A Hole In the Wall, and the Mess That Keeps Growing

I almost didn’t write this Thursday 13 because what we have going on is basically nothing in the grand scheme of everything happening in the world right now.  But I didn’t post one last week, and I don’t want to skip another week. 

Most of my Thursday 13s are about whatever is going on in my little corner of the world, so I decided to go ahead and post.  I just want to preface by saying I know that these are very much first-world “problems,” and that we’re still pretty fortunate.  And I’ll try not to whine too much.

1.    We’ve known for a while that replacing our water heater is on the horizon.  It’s about 13 years old.  It’s also in the crawlspace, and we’re fairly certain all of the flooding didn’t do anything good for it.  So, while it was frustrating and unpleasant that the water heater finally gave out for good on Monday morning (why does everything happen Monday morning?!?), it wasn’t at all surprising. 

2.    Our current setup is an electric water heater and natural gas heat.  We’ve wanted to change to a natural gas water heater for a while now, but it’s a fairly complicated process.

3.    The “crawl” part of describing our crawlspace is extremely accurate.  It’s short!  The current water heater is a low-boy.  That wasn’t an option for natural gas.  (From what we can tell, the low-boy gas water heaters have gone on and off the market for years due to fire safety issues.)  So, switching to a natural gas water heater meant moving it out from under the house. 

4.    After meeting with the company, we decided to go with a tankless natural gas water heater.  Unfortunately, the tankless still has to be in the house due to our climate.  They also have to run more gas lines and more water lines. 

5.    The project started yesterday morning.  They told us ahead of time that we had to move some furniture and empty out one cabinet. 

A box of stuff from the cabinet is on the bench in the living room.

6.    Moving the furniture and emptying the cabinet already created a lot of mess and disorder.  The cabinet is the biggest one in the kitchen, and it was full.  The furniture is a big, bulky armoire with lots of things in and on it. 

Kitchen utensils are on a bookshelf in the living room.

7.    As always seems to be the case, existing lines and pipes weren’t up to code or had other problems, so the project has grown. 

8.    The company emptied out two more kitchen cabinets, a kitchen counter, and the bathroom cabinets.  They also had to drill a hole in the kitchen wall. 

Nick ziptied a piece of a cube shelf (the cubes are 13x13 to give you an idea of the size of the hole) to keep the cats from getting into the wall.  If you have cats, you understand the concern! 

9.    So yesterday we came home to a hole in the kitchen wall, the refrigerator in the middle of the kitchen, the washing machine in the middle of the room, lots of stuff moved off of shelves, and more things outside of cabinets than in cabinets. 

10. Today is looking a little better.  The refrigerator and washing machine are back where they belong.  And I did get to clean under and behind where the refrigerator goes without us having to move it.  Tiny silver lining.  Everything else is still in total disarray.  And we still have the hole in the wall. 

11. The company assures us that they’re still on track to finish up by tomorrow afternoon.  It will be so nice to have hot water again!  In the meantime, we both have access to showers at work.  Another thing that I know we’re very fortunate to have.  Yes, it’s inconvenient to pack up everything to shower at work, but it’s also extremely nice to have that available. 

12. Our plans for the weekend are to put everything away, get the house back in order, probably some fairly major reorganization due to the space we lost by moving the water heater inside, and work on figuring out how to fix the hole in the kitchen wall.  And, hopefully, to revel in the pleasure of having a nearly endless supply of hot water.  With any luck, soon I’ll be posting about some of the reorganization.

13. Since it seems like most Thursday 13s involve at least one cat picture (and to keep this from turning into a total whine-fest), enjoy the latest picture of Theodore.  I think he looks very majestic!  

Thursday 13: Cats, Finally Some Good News, and Leftovers

This week’s Thursday 13 is another one without a theme.

1.    Mortimer and Theodore don’t typically cuddle together, but Nick got this cute picture of them hanging out together.

2.    Theodore is at that very active kitten stage where most of the pictures we get of him are blurry or when he’s sleepy.  Here’s one of him napping.

3.    We finally got some good FEMA news! 

4.    As I said last week, we were notified that we needed to submit paperwork from a company detailing the damages and the cost of repairs.  Even though we had already submitted all of that before, we submitted it again.  We heard back fairly quickly that we were approved for aid.  Finally! 

5.    The total amount ended up being just under half of what all of the repairs have/will cost.  After pretty much giving up on getting any FEMA aid, we were thrilled.  It makes sense that they can’t fully pay for everything for everyone, but getting significant aid is a huge help.

6.    Ironically, about half of the aid we received was for “immediate” needs, such as temporary housing.   I wouldn’t call February immediate for something that happened in September, but we’re still very grateful to have gotten aid. 

7.    This is what the backyard looks like right now. 

8.    Remember, once upon a time, it was kind of pretty?

9.    We’re still working on fixing the drainage problems.  Funding and weather have been the holdups.  We’ve mapped out the plan for catch basins, pipes, and dry wells.  The red yarn represents pipes and the orange plates represent catch basins/dry wells.  I know it’s kind of weird, but we don’t always picture things the same way, so something like this works to make sure we’re actually talking about the same thing.

10. We’re still waiting for a decent stretch of time when it’s not raining/snowing and the ground isn’t frozen to be able to start on the drainage work, so we don’t have a firm plan yet.  We’re tossing around the idea of hiring someone with equipment to do the digging, and then doing the pipes, gravel, and catch basin/dry well installation ourselves.  We’re hoping to find a good middle ground between saving money and being realistic about how much digging by hand we can handle.

11. Even though I love to cook, we like leftovers a lot, and it’s nice to have a break from cooking (especially during the week) without going out or getting takeout.  Monday was a perfect leftovers night.  I made tacos over the weekend, and we had leftover taco meat.  So, when I got home from work Monday afternoon, I turned the leftover taco meat into crock pot chili.  I added beans, tomato sauce, and seasoning.  Like this.

12. A few hours later, it turned into this, which was a delicious, almost zero-effort dinner.  I can’t really explain it, but it absolutely delights me when leftovers work out that well.

13. Another cat picture seems like the perfect way to end this Thursday 13, so here’s one more of Theodore.

KonMari Method

It’s practically impossible to talk about decluttering without talking about the KonMari method.  Between the books and the Netflix series, I think almost everyone has at least heard of it.

I like large parts of the KonMari method, and there are parts of it that I don’t care for.  As always, I prefer to get the negative parts out of the way first. 

To me, the biggest drawback to the KonMari method is the idea that you have to tackle such huge projects at once.  For example, clothing is the first category of items to work through.  The KonMari method calls for removing ALL of your clothing from closets, drawers, etc., and going through every single piece, one item at a time. 

I understand that clothing should be relatively easy, and it makes sense to keep yourself from dealing with the same things over and over again.  But, trying to find the willpower, time, mental fortitude, and physical energy for a task like that can be daunting.  It’s easier to put it off for a weekend, then a long weekend, etc.  It’s also the kind of thing that has made me not want to start another project for a long time. 

If we were to pile all of our clothing on our bed, and it took longer than anticipated to go through it, we would literally have no good place to sleep.  We don’t have a guest room.  And spending the night in a recliner or on an air mattress doesn’t sound appealing. 

So, we broke it down into much smaller steps.  I think it’s important to get some easy wins early on.  So, I started with my socks.  I discarded socks that I couldn’t find mates for and even perfectly good pairs of socks that didn’t spark joy.  (More on that later.)  It was a doable project.  I felt good about it and myself when I was finished, and that gave me the confidence to move on to the next category. 

I’ve seen a lot of memes making fun of the KonMari system and talking about how things like a bottle of aspirin or a vacuum cleaner or broccoli don’t spark joy, so that must mean you need to get rid of them.  But, I think my favorite part of the KonMari system addresses that. 

Before you even start with tidying or discarding, the KonMari method tells you to envision your ideal lifestyle, what you want your days to look like, and what you want to surround yourself with.  In my opinion, that addresses the “these things that I actually need don’t spark joy” argument.  Personally, my ideal lifestyle doesn’t include a headache (now the aspirin is a keeper), dirty floors or furry furniture (now the vacuum cleaner is a keeper), or never eating healthy foods (the broccoli will never be a keeper, but plenty of other vegetables are, even if ice cream does spark a lot more joy).

Some of the things I picture in my ideal version of life are not being slaves to keeping the house clean, not being stressed out or late because we couldn’t find something we needed, and being able to have people over to the house any time we want.  If we’ve learned anything from COVID, it’s that time and opportunities are precious.  I don’t want to waste those because I don’t want someone to see how messy my house is.  So, with the KonMari method, those are the goals I’m working toward. 

The “spark joy” part of the KonMari method can take a little while to get used to, especially when applying it to ordinary things.  It kind of clicked for me when I was working on sweaters.  Yes, I broke clothing into very small categories; socks, sweaters, tee shirts, other shirts, pants, jeans, shorts, etc.  Anyway, during the sweater process, I had a lightbulb moment with these two sweaters. 

They both fit me, they’re both colors I typically wear, they’re both a brand I like, and there was no damage (stains, tears, etc.) to either one of them.  I almost never wore the teal one.  I still can’t really articulate a reason why.  Maybe the neckline?  I’m not sure.  Anyway, I never really enjoyed wearing it, but I kept it around because it was a perfectly good sweater, and I had it as a backup if I didn’t keep up with the laundry.   I almost never let it get to the point of wearing the sweater, though, because I just didn’t like it.  The argyle plaid one, on the other hand, I wore (and still wear) all of the time.  Argyle plaid always makes me happy!  I feel good wearing that sweater.  I like how it fits, feels, and looks.  I feel confident in it.  Incidentally, it’s what I’m wearing in my work ID photo because it seemed like a great choice for my first day at this job. 

The argyle plaid sweater (and all of the other argyle plaid sweaters I have) spark joy for me.  I feel good wearing them.  The teal one didn’t.  I was never going to feel great about wearing it.  So, it turns out I didn’t need it, even though it was a perfectly good sweater.  That sweater is no longer hanging in my closet, and I don’t have to move it aside to reach a sweater that I’m happy wearing. 

It sounds almost too simple to make a difference, but when you think about applying it to everything, it adds up to a huge change.  When your clothes are all things you enjoy wearing, your cookbooks are all ones you enjoy cooking from, your pots and pans are all ones you use and enjoy using – you can imagine how much the list can go on - it leads to an overall feeling of being happier and not needing to devote so much mental energy to basic things. 

We’re not 100% there yet, and our house definitely doesn’t look like anything you’ll find on Marie Kondo’s website, but it’s so much better than it was.  We’re benefitting from the things we’ve simplified.  Last weekend, we invited our neighbors over to dinner on the spur of the moment.  We were all outside working on various yard projects and started talking.  Everyone was home, and it was the perfect opportunity.  Because the house was in order and I knew what we had in the freezer, it was easy to decide on a last-minute dinner.  I made a huge pot of spaghetti, so we all ate, talked, and played games.  It was a great evening and one we wouldn’t have been able to have if the house had been too messy for us to be comfortable inviting people over.  That sparks joy for both of us.

So what about you?  Have you used the KonMari method?  What sparks joy for you? 

How I Did With My Third Quarter Goals

I’ve decided to start setting and tracking quarterly goals for myself.  I saw the idea on another blog, and really liked it, so I decided to try it out for myself.  July - September was the first quarter I tracked.  Here’s how I did.  Or in some cases, didn’t.

Home:

We’re still working on getting rid of the clutter, and generally organizing our house better.  My goals for the last quarter were to go through my clothes and get rid of the things I don’t wear.  I also wanted to organize some things and implement some better storage systems.  This quarter wasn’t a complete failure, but it definitely wasn’t a stellar success.

 I did go through my clothes and box up the things I don’t wear to get them ready to ship to Thread Up.  And the box is still sitting in the living room.  I need to print the label, tape it to the box, and take it to the post office.  It doesn’t sound like a complicated thing, does it?  Somehow , though, it’s something I’ve been neglecting to do.  Charlie is thrilled to have a big box sitting around, and is the self-appointed Guardian of THE Box. 

 I did a little bit of food storage reorganization.  I think the changes I made are going to help keep things more organized going forward.  That’s always the real test; to see if whatever system works and keeps working. 

And that’s it on the organizing front. 

Health:

I still need to lose more weight.  I haven’t been as careful with my food choices over the summer.  To be honest, I’ve succumbed to the temptation of summer favorites like ice cream, toasted marshmallows, and grilled hamburgers.  The good news is that I’ve done it with enough moderation that I haven’t gained any weight.  The bad news is that I haven’t lost any weight.  It feels like I’ve just stalled.

On the exercise front, I did meet, and exceed, my goal of getting up to 30 laps in the pool.  35.2 laps in the pool at our gym is a mile, and my personal best is now 36 laps. 

I also wanted to incorporate some upper body weight lifting exercises into my routine.  Nick showed me how to use the machines at the gym, and I’ve been using them almost every time we go and I walk on the treadmill.  I don’t use them on the days I swim because I really feel like swimming gives my arms enough of a workout.  I’m still at 10 pounds, which is the lowest weight, on one of the machines.  I’m up to 25 pounds on a few of them.  And I’m sort of up to 40 pounds on two of them.  I can only do 10 repetitions at the 40 pound weight, and only after I’ve done a round at a lower weight. 

My arms are nowhere near toned, but I do think they’re a little less flabby.  I also feel like my upper body strength, which has always been pretty much nonexistent, is a little better.  I’m still not the person anyone would choose to move furniture with, but I do see a slight improvement. 

I think I did mostly okay on the health front, though I’m very disappointed with myself for not losing more weight. 

Environment:

My main environmental goal for the quarter was to switch from paper napkins to cloth napkins, and to switch from paper towels to reusable cleaning rags. 

I’m very happy to report that we’ve been hugely successful on that front.  The cloth napkins I had been eyeing on Amazon were marked down on Prime Day, so I ordered two sets. 

I was a little worried that it would take some time and be difficult to get into the habit of using cloth napkins instead of paper ones, but it has been an incredibly easy switch.  The cloth napkins are much more pleasant to use, and it helps that I like the colors.  We just wash them with our towels, so it really doesn’t feel like there’s any extra effort required.  

We still use paper napkins for picnics, and I suspect we’ll still use them when we have large groups of people over for a meal.  Overall, though, we’re sticking with using the cloth napkins.

 We’ve also mostly switched from paper towels and Clorox wipes to reusable cleaning rags.  We still use paper towels for some of the dirtier jobs, and I still like to use Clorox wipes in the kitchen to clean up after raw meat, but we’re mostly using reusable cleaning rags. 

I also wanted to be much more consistent about composting.  I’m happy to say we’ve done well there.  Our trash output definitely appears to be lower, thanks to being more diligent about composting and recycling.  And we were able to use some of our own compost when we planted a bush.  That made me pretty happy; not only did that not end up in a landfill, but hopefully it will help our gardenia bush to thrive. 

Personal/Miscellaneous: 

I had the goal of getting caught up on my goodreads goal.  My goal for 2019 is 52 books.  I’m sorry to say that I’m still six books behind.   I also had the goal of reading more non-fiction.  I read exactly one non-fiction book, Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.  I’m planning to write a post about it soon.  So definitely a huge fail on the reading front. 

My other goal was to learn two new crochet stitches.  I did make some progress in learning how to crochet, but I’m not really sure how to classify it.  My aunt helped me with some things when she came to visit. 

I feel much more confident now about counting the stitches, and how to turn the work.  Turning it sounds like such a small (and obvious) thing, but it was something I had missed in the videos.  Knowing that seems to be helping a lot.   She also explained how I kept getting weird humps (from accidentally going into the same stitch over and over). 

Aunt Diana did show me two different stitches.  I haven’t mastered them, but I think I have made some progress.  Mostly she helped me with things that are a little harder to quantify like how to hold the yarn, how loose/tight to make the stitches, and what to try next.  She said the stitches that I learned from videos were fairly good, and that I just need practice, so it was nice to hear that I’m mostly on the right track. 

It doesn’t sound like much, but overall I’m fairly happy with the crochet progress I made.  It’s the little things, right? 

Blogging:

Fail, fail, fail.  Huge, gigantic, epic fail.  My goal was to post three times a week, and I only posted a total of seven times during the whole quarter.  So not even close.

I will say that it’s helpful to look over this list, and to be able to track things for a quarter.  It has definitely given me some ideas as to what I need to work on for the next quarter, which will be my next post.  

So what about you?  Did you have any specific goals you wanted to achieve during the last quarter?  How did you do with meeting them?  

Happy Places

The Lodge @ Table Rock

I think most of us have a place (or maybe more than one if we’re lucky) that just makes us happy. Maybe it’s a place that’s soothing or comforting, or a place where nothing but good things have happened, or maybe it’s a place that for some reason just speaks to our soul.

We need happy places. Everyone needs at least one place to go that will put a smile on their face, make them feel at peace, or just make them happy.

These are my happy places:


Folly Beach, SC

Table Rock State Park: I’ve always liked Table Rock, but it’s also where Nick and I got married, and that made me love it. It’s beautiful there, the lodge has a really neat history (built by the Civilian Conservation Corps), and I loved our wedding. I know it sounds a little cliche, but it really was a perfect day. We like to go back, around our anniversary if possible, and take the dogs hiking. I love that the place we got married is a place we can return to over and over again. 

 Folly Beach, South Carolina: This is possibly one of the most beautiful places on earth. Standing on the shore, it just feels like all is right with the world. It’s also just a short drive away from Charleston. I love the laid back atmosphere of Folly Beach and the fact that the beach isn’t crowded. And it’s dog friendly!

Meerkat @ Riverbanks

Riverbanks Zoo & Garden: My earliest memory of going to Riverbanks is when I was five years old. My grandparents lived in Columbia, so we went to the zoo sometimes when we went to see them. They loved being grandparents, so we were incredibly spoiled by them, and they just seemed to take it up a level at the zoo. It’s also where we went on the last visit we had with them before they died, and it was one of those days that you can look back on as being one of the perfect days in life. Now, going to the zoo is something that I get to share with Nick, and I still love it as much as I did when I was a little girl.

Garden @ Riverbanks


Our House: Our house isn’t big or fancy (if we have a style it’s probably best described as informal), but I love it. It’s where we’ve chosen to build our life together, focusing on the people, ideals, and things that matter to us. I’d like to think (hope) that our house is welcoming. Entertaining family and friends at home is something that’s really important to me, and I always want anyone we invite to be comfortable and happy. Our house is also very pet friendly, and we wouldn’t have it any other way since the fur kids are such an important part of our lives. Coming home just feels right and safe; it’s where I want to be at the end of a long day. 

So what about you? What are your happy places?



Hospitality & Entertaining – Why I Love Entertaining At Home

I’ve been asked more than once why I choose to entertain at home so often.  Many people make the argument that it can involve a lot of time, work, energy, and money. They question whether or not the return is worth the investment.  For me, it absolutely is.

I love feeding people, I love the look on someone’s face when they realize someone remembered and made their favorite dessert.  I love the feeling that friends/family are comfortable in our home and that we can sit around and chat for hours if we choose. 

If I took the time to sit down and write them out, there are probably hundreds of reasons why I love entertaining at home, but I’m not going to do that, so here are my top five:

1.        Entertaining at home is a great way to get to know someone better.  People seem to naturally be more relaxed in a home environment, so you get to know the “real” person.

2.       It’s much more budget friendly to invite someone into your home for a simple meal than it is to go out for a similar meal. Budgets don’t always allow going out to eat, but that’s no reason to miss out on the companionship of a shared meal.

3.       It makes people feel really good when you choose to invite them into your home.  Don’t you feel special when someone likes/values/cares enough about you to invite you into their home?  Chances are you can make someone feel really good by extending an invitation.

4.       You’re in control of a lot of things.  I know, this probably makes me sound really Type A, but fear of certain social situations is a really big deal for a lot of people.  At home you’re more able to work with what you’re able to do.  If big crowds/loud music/strange or new foods cause you too much stress then you can keep it small/quiet/familiar in your own home. 

5.       You get to be part of something timeless.  Hospitality and entertaining seem to go back as far as recorded history.  People seemed to want to socialize and open their homes.  My grandmother’s generation could pull a dinner party together without blinking; it was second nature for them.  There’s just something wonderful about continuing that.

So what about you?  What are your favorite reasons for entertaining at home? 

Home Sweet Home

I think this is the longest stretch I've gone without posting anything since I started this blog.  But, we were on vacation most of last week, and spent most of the time before that getting everything ready and taken care of for us to be on vacation.  I think that’s a good
enough excuse.

We went to Atlanta September 25 – 29th for our anniversary, which was on the 28th.  We had a great trip, and it was especially nice because we hadn’t been able to manage an anniversary trip since our first anniversary.  (This year was our fourth.)

We went to the World of Coca-Cola, the zoo, the Jimmy Carter Museum, and the Margaret Mitchell House, and had an epic fail with our attempt to use the public transportation system there.

The World of Coca-Cola was interesting, though it was a little more geared toward kids than we expected.  The bottling part was closed for renovation, so we didn’t get to see that.  We both enjoyed the history parts, and I really enjoyed the part about the public outcry when they introduced “New Coke” in the early 80s.  I’m a purist when it comes to Coke.  I believe they will never improve on Coca-Cola Classic, so I enjoyed watching videos of demonstrators who felt the same way.

The tasting room was fun.  It was interesting to see how different the sodas available other places are from what we’re used to here.  My husband tried all (I think it was 65) flavors.  He liked most of them.  I probably tried about 30 – 35, and didn’t really care for most of them.  Like I said, I’m a purist.  I like the Coca-Cola Classic.

Zoo Atlanta, my favorite part of the trip, has got to be one of the happiest places on earth.  They have Giant Pandas; four of them.  I have loved Giant Pandas pretty much all of my life.  I can remember my panda bear obsession as far back as when I was seven.  My mom says it started before then, though she’s not sure of an exact age.  It’s safe to say I’ve loved them for a very long time.  I have always wanted to go see them, but it just never worked out before now.

We arrived at Zoo Atlanta when the gates opened, snagged a map, and made a beeline for the Panda Bear Exhibit.  Seeing photos and videos of them just doesn’t do them justice.  Seeing them just a few feet (or inches, depending on the enclosure) away was a trulyamazing experience.

Giant Pandas spend a large part of their day sleeping, so we came and went from the exhibit all day long.  We’d go watch them eat and play,
and then go move on to something else after they fell asleep.  We were
also able to chat with a few very knowledgeable volunteers about the
pandas, and how things worked with breeding them, conservation
efforts, etc.  These people know their panda bears!

We also saw tigers, gorillas, went to the petting farm (where I found
a fat goat I wanted to adopt), and went through a living tree house
(that was really neat) with various birds and monkeys.  Quite a few of
the exhibits had volunteers just kind of hanging out around them
talking to people about the animals, their habits, status in the wild,
etc.  It was nice; they weren’t in your face forcing you to have a
learning experience, but would answer any questions and tell you as
much as you wanted to know.

The next day we attempted to ride the MARTA, which is Atlanta’s
public/mass transportation system.  At least that’s what they say.
They also say it’s convenient and easy.  They lie.  I could say a lot
more than that, but I try not to use profanity on my blog, and I
really don’t know how to share the full MARTA experience without
profanity.

After about four and a half hours of mostly walking, being approached by panhandlers, talking to two very nice police officers (I’m sure we were their “honey you won’t believe these yokels from NC” stories when they got home that night), riding two separate buses for about 15 minutes each, being dropped off on the side of a highway, getting really sweaty and cranky, using all of the dirty words we know, and walking several miles we arrived back at our motel still never having reached our destination of the Jimmy Carter Museum.  Yep, MARTA is that convenient.

We then decided to print out directions in the motel lobby and drive to the Jimmy Carter Museum.  Even with all of my missed and wrong turns we made it there in about a half an hour.  It was much more interesting than I thought it would be.  I didn’t really know what to expect, and I half-way thought it might be a little self-serving, or a blow your own horn kind of thing, but it wasn’t at all.  It was very,
very interesting.

There was a lot of focus on people who helped to shape his life and
ideas, and a lot of information about Rosalynn Carter and her work.  I
knew practically nothing about him and nothing about her, going in, so
it was a nice learning experience.  We left with a very long reading
list of books by and about them that we want to read now.

The Margaret Mitchell House was very interesting, though it was much
smaller than we expected.  It’s mostly a gift shop with tons of Gone
With the Wind items.  There’s also a gallery with magazine and
newspaper articles about the book and movie, and some information
about her career as a journalist.  There’s also information about the
charity and volunteer work she did.  I didn’t realize how much she had
done, and how many causes she quietly supported, including things that
weren’t necessarily very socially acceptable at that time.

The house was converted into apartments at the time that Margaret
Mitchell lived there and you tour the apartment she lived in while
writing Gone With the Wind.  It’s very small, but is cozy and cute.
It’s not furnished with any of the original furniture, but is
furnished with antiques from that time period, as close to what they
had as possible.  The history of the house, and the efforts made to
preserve it was also very interesting.  We left there with even more
books added to our reading list.

All in all, we had a really great trip; we went to some fun places,
and had some really great food.  It was also really nice to just get
way from everything for a few days.

However, we were very happy to come home.  We missed the fur kids and
were very happy to see them again.  And there’s just something about
being at home, in your own space.  It’s comforting and familiar.  The
sheets and towels smell like our laundry detergent, the lamps are in
familiar places, the bed cradles you just right, and it just feels
like where you belong.  There’s no place like home sweet home.