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Art in the guest room. Two pen and ink drawings by my father.
To the right on the shelf, a drawing in crayon from Lila when she was a wee lass, and hanging behind it, a painting from Jess when he was a teen. Loved finding these in boxes.
Then two paintings by me.
Feeling more like home again.
My brother is here for a week–and we are SO HAPPY to see him! Except Jack. Who’s surprised?
Jack will be spending lots of time in Fairy Cottage with Aunt Debby, while David will be in the middle guest room. (Lynne still stays with us several days a month, including some of this week, and she’s in the front guest room.)
This was one motivation to get Houndstooth Hall back in order and the reason we finally finished the Pooh Room. The old art is back:
That dresser in Winnie the Pooh color is new, and the top is the hutch from my mother’s old china cabinet. The lower part was destroyed by Harvey, but we kept the upper part. Pictures and mementos of my late friend Steve are in there because Winnie the Pooh and Piglet were our thing, and actually, the two on the top shelf there were gifts to him that were always with him in his hospital bed. On the lower shelf is a little wooden saying from Debby: Sisters are forever, along with a wooden butterfly designed and painted by Tom’s mother.
Two samplers cross-stitched by Mother with hers and Daddy’s names and birthdates, and a quilt she made. The squares are signed by family members and people who were close to my parents or us in the early 1980s. After they signed and illustrated a square, she embroidered it. I’ll share detailed photos of a few of my favorites sometime in the future. It’s the first time the quilt has been on display.
Also for the first time in years, the dolls Daddy brought to me from his overseas tours in Korea–some from Korea, a couple from Japan–are back on display. I love the way they brighten the space above that cabinet.
This room is full of good memories and love, and I hope it’s comfortable and welcoming to those who visit Houndstooth Hall.
Today being one of those headachy days, I worked, slept, worked, slept, in two- or three-hour cycles all day. Sometimes I work in my sleep–like maybe I’m nodding off at the computer, or maybe while I’m in bed, I’m dreaming of work situations that make me wake up in a panic until I figure out they aren’t real.
We were treated to a spontaneous dinner out last night courtesy of Tim, then we came home and Lindsey organized the shit out of my sewing stuff. More useless things in the trash, and more things that I donated today.
It’s a process.
Heck yeah, sewing shelf. The tackle box-turned-sewing-suppplies-box on the left and the case for my sewing machine on the right are two of the things that I grabbed while shopping on Thursday. Still have my sewing patterns in the Dr. Scholl’s box though. =)
These are most of the ornaments that went on the tree this year, but we rushed to get it up because of my work schedule, so we were missing a lot of my favorites.
While Tom was still on “vacation,” in addition to our repacking these, he pulled in all of our bins and boxes of Christmas decorations. We threw away one large garbage bag of stuff, donated two large boxes of ornaments and other Christmas goodies, and reorganized what’s left. This will make future Christmases a lot easier to prepare for.
Decluttering and reorganizing is a theme that began after the flood and will continue through the year. My hope is that the more organized and clear our space becomes, the more organized and clear my brain will be. =)
I did like using Barbie’s horses on the mantel with the sleigh this year.
It was fun to see Santa’s workshop busy again.
I didn’t know until after the fact that Tom didn’t hang all the sleighbells. Apparently some are pretty tarnished. Looks like there’s some silver polishing in my future–unless someone else wants to volunteer?!?
Scenes from the day…
Delta: new toy.
Tim’s and Debby’s stockings.
Anime has claimed the new toy.
Santa showed up with gifts!
My and Tom’s stockings.
Time to eat.
Jack just wants the new Nyla Bone.
Time to open presents!
Don’t forget Tom’s birthday presents!
And birthday cake.
I don’t know where Eva was in all these photos, but THESE dogs are tired.
P.S. Photos do not appear in order that they happened, because no dogs including Jack were in the house while we ate or opened gifts. There was no Christmas miracle in which Jack could be trusted not to be a jerk to Tim. =)
Took this photo this morning because ONE SHELF of the shelves in the craft room is complete. These are coloring books, sketch books, a few art books (and because there’s no other place for them, some music books from when I took piano and when I sang in a choir). Tiny steps will get the craft room finished!
It isn’t finished because the dresser is covered with unwrapped Christmas presents and the art isn’t hung. But we did it! The Pooh Room is back in business.
This quilt belonged to my mother, and we’ve never used it until now.
The original Pooh curio cabinet was destroyed in the flood. This one was in the library, and though it has water damage at the base, we decided to keep it and make it the new Pooh curio cabinet.
Guest ready! With some sentimental touches.
The stained glass dragonfly box was in the guest room at The Compound. The stained glass candle holder was in the living room at The Compound. The butterfly lamp was my mother’s and was once in the Dollhouse (that became the TimLair). The plaid pillow with a Christmas scene in beading was created by and a gift from our friend Geraldine in the 1990s, and the little blue pillow with the teddy bear iron-on decal was made by Mother.
Current Photo Friday theme: Christmas
At our closing on the house in November 2014, our realtor handed us this ornament of Snoopy on his doghouse. It was perfect, as we both love Snoopy and though we didn’t know it, the house was destined to be called Houndstooth Hall in honor of the hat of the legendary Bear Bryant, coach of our alma mater, and in recognition that dogs are an essential part of our lives and history.
Snoopy hung on the tree in 2015 and 2016. Then last year, when the floods of Harvey canceled Christmas… no tree, no Snoopy. It was a profoundly satisfying moment to hang the ornament on our tree this year. What a long way we’ve come in the last sixteen months.
This is the switchplate in the middle bedroom, the room I call the Pooh Room. It is my goal this week to turn this back into a bedroom instead of the place where we “put it in there and close the door!”
I have a feeling work is not going to let this happen.