Outdoor Updates!

Man, we have been seriously CHUGGING through house projects! Admittedly, that's helped along by the fact that A) I'm off of work this summer and B) Lukie goes to daycare for a good chunk of the day every week day...but wow, what a change over the last two summers when I was pregnant or chasing a one-year-old. The house tour (link on the right side of the page) is going up probably late this summer so you can see all the fun things in one post, but here are some of the productive things we've been doing...and a lot of them happened this weekend, with Lukie actually on the premises!

First, Pete's been working on the deck on the south side of the house (near the driveway). He's got the posts and rails on it...now we just have to wait a few weeks to paint it. Treated lumber doesn't really appreciate paint until it's a bit seasoned.

Dang, it's looking cute. To the right of the deck is our black-eyed Susan trellis (made of hog panels that Pete attached with hooks so the plants aren't actually on the clapboard siding)...and they are starting to bloom. Fun story, I planted both pots the same weekend but with two different bags of soil. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say something FUNKY was happening in the bag I used in the pot on the right. Anyway, the fist bloom is open, and pretty soon, there will be hundreds of them!

 

There are multiple varieties of black-eyed Susan vines, and lots of different colors. I went with the more cottage-ish one...the one that made me think of the cover of my copy of Mandy. The flowers will be all different colors, but all with soft, mixed tones.

The garden is looking pretty impressively good, if I do say so myself. When I picked flowers this year and had them shipped from Romence Gardens in Michigan (what an awesome experience that was-- they contacted me about my ship date, changed it when I realized I'd be traveling, and quickly answered my phone call when one of the plants arrived a little shaken up. I will NEVER order from a giant nursery again-- small ones are the way to go, and the variety they offer is SO much better), I purposely chose flowers that were enticing to bees and butterflies. As a result, we've had visits from humming bird moths, lots of honey and bumble bees, and tons of butterflies. 

Which has been awesome because it turns out, Lukas is obsessed with anything with wings. I mean, drop what he is doing, throw his toys to the side, run around chattering with his arms outstretched obsessed. So, we chased butterflies on Sunday morning. For, like, an hour.

The butterflies clearly favor a few of my plants, one of them being that coreopsis that I showed you last week. It's becoming more and more beautiful by the day. I think I'll get a few more next year...and plant them in the BACK of the garden, because seriously, it wasn't supposed to be this tall...

The other plant I'm loving? Well, besides the adorable catmint at the bottom of the picture above? The Bells of Ireland that I started myself this year...

Now, aren't those awesome? Those spikes just get taller and taller with more and more bells on them every day. I can't wait to cut some, but I'm holding back until they get taller. They'll look so pretty on the dining room table.

I've been into Bells of Ireland ever since our wedding reception. I ordered all of my flowers wholesale and had my brilliant grandmother make 15 arrangements for the tables at the party, and my all-time favorite flower out of that experience was the Bells of Ireland. They're hard to start on your own; they don't like being moved because they have an impressive but sensitive taproot, and I looked into it too late into the season to start them outside (they require a period of cold, which I suppose you could simulate in the refrigerator). I started them indoors, got them just barely above the soil, and then very carefully transplanted them without disturbing the taproot. Most of them survived, and next year it won't be so difficult. They are apparently very aggressive re-seeders. I'll just pull the ones I don't want.

The garden, in general, has been a serious source of pride this year. Remember when we moved in and it looked like this? 

Four summers and endless weed-pulling later, it finally looks like this:

Ugh, okay, so that picture is pre-weed eater and I'm not going out there to take another picture. But you get the point. Pete built the porch, we painted the back door that welcoming paprika color, and I have added tons of flowers. Four years ago, I thought I'd never get here. It drove Pete nuts that the back garden looked overgrown all the time, but I kept telling him to give me time; I just had to get rid of the seed bed, bindweed, daylily explosion, monkey grass, and overgrown sedum...look at it now! Dang! (Please ignore the mess spilling out of Peter's woodshop. The work has to get done somewhere and when it's closed, his garden shed, built completely by himself, is adorable.)

Next up is finishing this deck:

Pete built two summers ago, but we never got a chance to paint it. I primed the rails yesterday, and we'll paint the decking. then the door will get the same spicy paprika treatment that the other ones have gotten, and we'll have a nice deck. Oh, and there will probably be some posts and rails on the right side, as well.

And the front porch swing had to be repainted to go with the new paint. And that's my vegetable garden. Which is a fancy way of saying tomato and basil garden, because I don't have the space or patience for a real vegetable garden. Priorities. 

And finally, indoor work. Pete closed off the door to what used to be the dining room with a built-in cabinet a few weeks ago. He's been hard at work building the doors for it. Pete does everything with hand tools, which you would think would be slower, but really, it's not that much slower. It's just a bit messier...but you end up with beautiful furniture that fits a 100-year-old house.

I told him the plane (below) looked special. He said, "It should. It was made in England." Thanks for the info, Pete. So thorough.

So that's getting there, too. There are actually two doors on it right now, and I'll have to post about that some other time. I'm still not sure about the blue I chose for the two upper shelves (which will be behind doors with glass panels). They might be a bit too true-blue. Might need to go for a greener or grayer shade...but that's an easy fix for another time.

That's where we're at. Also, anybody have any good ideas for renaming the blog? I'm pretty new to all of this, but I'm starting to realize how incredibly boring "Noll Family Blog" is...I mean...it's descriptive, so that's nice...but if I decide to keep doing this, I probably need a better name for it.

Summer Vacation Begins!

Last August, I accepted a full-time position at Walters State Community College's library. I LOVE my job- I get to do work I'm interested in and good at, I spend my days with co-workers whose company I totally enjoy, and the place is just, in general, a really great place to work. My new job also came with a nice little perk that I doubt I'll find any other time in my library career:

I work a 10-month contract. That means, as of June 15, I am off for the summer! It's been a strange adjustment, to be sure. It's been a long time since I've had a chunk of time off, and I had almost zero vacation time at my previous position, so it's been a huge relief. 

And here's the thing: we have to continue paying for daycare, otherwise Lukie would lose his spot at school. So, I'm working to find the right balance of extra time with my son and some time to get things done on the house. We have two years of deferred maintenance (ahhh, the child gap) to catch up on at the house. There is a lot of painting to be done, cleaning, organizing, all that fun stuff. Pete has to basically rebuild large sections of the porch and its railing, and we have three outdoor decks to paint, as well. So far, our summer schedule has been something along the lines of Lukie going to school at about 8:00 (after his pancakes and obligatory Mommy Snuggle, which has become a morning routine), I work until after his nap (he sleeps better at school, anyway), and then I get him and we come home and play. It's a pretty great life...can't I just always be a stay-at-home mom whose kid spends half the day at daycare? No?

As Pete put it, it's nice not having a job when you have a job. To be fair to myself, I'll note that I have worked my bottom off while at home. Last week, I painted all the bathroom trim and its two doors, in addition to touching up the trim in the kitchen. I planted a new rose bush and have been keeping up with the garden. On this week's schedule: paint the mudroom, paint the dining room trim and finish painting the new dining room window, work on an embroidery project that's been haunting me for possibly 2 years, process an insane amount of basil, and go through the kitchen for things to donate. Whew.

All while spending Tuesday at the Kingsport Splash Pad with Lukie and my dear friend Rebecca.

Now, for some pictures.

Blooming in the garden right now:

Above, those are black eyed Susan vines. They're on a neat trellis Pete hooked to the side of the house. They're right next to the new deck he's building. Below is a picture of the newly painted side door and the brand new dining room window. That's the new deck. Pictures to come when it's finished.

I'm a little obsessed with this flower, below. It's a coreopsis variety called Heaven's Gate. It's pretty and pink and lacy and I love it. I think I'll order a few more next summer...though I need to move this one because it ended up being a lot taller than expected.

I'm also really into this hosta, below. It's an Abique Drinking Gourd, and the leaves have this awesome curl to them which makes them almost cupped. It's in the corner of my new hosta garden. All the plants in here will get much bigger by next year, and whenever we leave this place, I'll definitely be taking starts. This hosta in particular is supposedly really neat when it's full grown; when it rains, the cupped leaves catch water until they are too heavy and then tip it. Apparently, it's like watching a living sculpture. I can't wait to see it next year!

That's also a deck that needs painting. See? Lots of painting to be done.

On to pictures of the inside of the house.

Our house has only one bathroom, but admittedly, it's pretty fabulous. We have plans to possibly add a second half bath upstairs, but they won't be happening this year, I don't think. The trim was poorly painted when we moved in, and over the years, it's taken a bit of a beating. I painted all of it, and also painted the two white doors to match the dark warm gray of the kitchen. I love it when a house flows from one room to another; seeing decor repeat itself in creative little touches makes it seem so much bigger and more cohesive.

The kitchen has undergone a major change or two in the last six months, as well. First, Pete built me a beautiful pantry cabinet for Christmas. Originally, we painted it mustard yellow, but in that small room, it just didn't work. I think in a larger, brighter kitchen, a big, colorful piece like that would have been fun, but in our kitchen, it looked a little forced and a lot too bright. So now, it's a nice charcoal milk paint color that blends with the trim, but has extra texture.

More pics of that to come later; Peter has since sealed it with a coat of polyurethane, so it's darker. I think I'm going to add a house tour page to the blog that I can periodically update with things we work over. So...I guess more on that eventually.

Pete's currently prepping for our big trip up North later in the summer. He bought some new rubber boots to wear when he's fishing in Canada, and Lukas has been very enamored of them.

And finally, I've also had time to work on a project I started a year and a half ago. For Lukie's first Christmas, I wanted to start making a map that would show all the places he visits throughout his childhood and trips we take as a family (and before we were a family). I bought a huge map, and Pete mounted it on foam core. I started embroidering it. I actually put our wedding trip out West on there, and then got busy with life and baby and work and stuff. I finally finished the wedding trip last week, and moved on to trips Lukas has taken. It's going to be fun to see it get filled up with lines as he grows up. Pete is going to build a frame for it, and I have to decide where it will go. I used to think above our bed, but I think maybe the dining room would be more fun, because we could show it to people and Lukie could tell them about his trips!

Above, our wedding trip. We started in Champaign-Urbana, drove to the Badlands, Yellowstone, Craters of the Moon (Idaho), northern Oregon, Cape Disappointment in Washington, down to the Oregon Dunes, and then inland to my Grandma Dot's house in Ashland, Oregon, where we got married. Then, we went out to the coast for a few more days, and finally high-tailed it back, stopping in Iowa before getting to Illinois. We camped the whole way and had so much fun...we can't wait to take Lukas on a southwest version of this trip when he's older. And, Pete and I plan to take a trip to the Northeast next year for our 5-year anniversary!

Lukie's trips, so far, have been mostly local to the South. He's been back and forth to IL a lot, of course, but he's also taken trips to Kentucky, North and South Carolina, and Georgia.

See? It's huge! Pete will be making a BIG frame, and it has to be removable so I can keep up with our vacations. Incidentally, this is not an easy project to embroider. After bruising my finger repeatedly, I finally lighted on a technique of using a pushpin to chart my course and then coming back and flipping the map over and over as I embroidered with floss. There's a lot of looking back and forth, especially since the needle often gets lost in the foam core between the front and the back.

I think the whole project will be worth it, though. Imagine what it will look like when he's a teenager!

Anyway, that's what's been going on lately! I'll be adding a house tour page sometime soon! Lots of things are changing around here!

Pleasant Hill Shaker Village

I promised adventures this summer, and we are having them! Well, generally, time at home just looks like this. Mess, Dad on the floor, Lukie smothering him, dogs trying to escape.

But this weekend, we took one of our first family trips...kind of. See, when you live 10-12 hours from your family, most vacation time is spent driving back and forth to your far-off loved ones. We haven't had a lot of time for trips that didn't involve a 4 a.m. wake-up and a day's worth of driving on either end. We've gone to Georgia a couple times to see friends, had the ISU reunion...but this weekend, we got to do something just the three of us that was very "family vacation-y."

A few months ago, our friend from the Agricultural History Society asked Peter to chair and comment on a panel at the annual meeting and conference. I pushed Pete to do it-- keeps his hand in history, it's a topic he's interested in, we would see friends. The conference was in Lexington, KY, which is about a 4-hour drive away. Pete agreed and we said, "Oh, that'll be fun," and then we kind of dropped it.

Well, a couple weeks ago, Peter realized he had missed the deadline for getting the hotel room in Lexington at the conference rate and that we were going to have to pay $180 to stay at the hotel where the conference was happening. Other hotels in downtown Lexington weren't much cheaper...and then I had a thought. We had been wanting to visit the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill (here) for a few years. It's about 45 minutes south-west of Lexington, and since I had looked into it as maybe a get-away for Pete and me to take someday, I knew they operate as a hotel, as well. Turns out, for $50 less than we would have paid to stay in Lexington, we could stay in one of the buildings at Shaker Village! Sold!

Two weeks ago, then, I booked this lovely room on the third floor of the Old Stone Shop at Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill in Kentucky.

(Okay, this is the Farm Deacon's shop, but it was identical to the Old Stone Shop.)

What a great substitute for a cookie-cutter hotel experience. No, it doesn't have a pool, but there is an old telephone, which, to a 2-year-old, is far better.

On Saturday, we left the house at 5:00 a.m. to make it to Pete's 10:30-12:00 panel. Pete chaired his panel while Lukas and I rode the escalator about 42 times at the conference center, took a walk around the building multiple times, and watched Despicable Me between moments of trying to escape out the revolving doors. We saw friends (briefly-- they were headed back to Iowa, boo) and by about 3:00 in the afternoon, we were at Shaker Village!

Now, in a perfect world, Peter and I would have had lots of time to look at architecture and furniture. We're Shaker furniture geeks-- everything he makes me is somewhat Shaker inspired (how lucky am I to have that guy?). I love the simple lines and lightness (especially compared to Craftsman furniture, which I often find just a little bit heavy, even if it is beautiful). Our house lends itself to Shaker furniture, anyway- it's fairly simple with small-ish rooms but a good amount of natural light, so the airiness of Shaker furnishings complements it well.

So...this is not a perfect world. We saw just a few of the 40+ buildings and very little furniture. But, you know what? Lukie had lots of stairs to climb, rooms to run through, gravel roads to scuff, birds to chase, and fun. Pete and I'll go back and enjoy it our way someday, but in the meantime, it was kind of nice to enjoy it Lukie's way, too.

(That's the Old Stone Shop, where we stayed, behind me.)

(I think we both hoped he'd be into the piglets, since we were, but Lukie preferred the kitties and the chickens. That's okay, too.)

(Small hitch in our happiness: it was really hard to go anywhere. Lukie doesn't exactly follow us on walks very well yet. He's too interested in everything other than getting where we're going. I think everyone was taught a lesson in patience.)

Don't judge me. The iPad is the only way we get to eat our dinner, sometimes, and the kid was tired, hot, hungry, and thirsty. We shut his brain off so we could eat our delicious meal in peace.

Lukie learned that cups with straws don't work the same way sippy cups do. They're hard.

Our night was pleasant and Lukie slept like a log. We got up in the morning and paid one more visit to the farm animals, and then plopped Lukie in the car (after his Benadryl-- whoever discovered that it prevents car sickness should be given a medal) for a nice long nap. We stopped in Knoxville at Trader Joe's to pick up lunch, snacks, and some other TJ staples, and then were home by at 4:00.

Pete and I both felt like we had been gone for a week instead of a night, but I think it was a pretty successful family mini-vacation. We look forward to taking him to these places when he can talk with us about them, but we know Lukie learned some new things, saw some new animals, worked out a lot of energy, and had lots and lots of fun. None of the things we'd look for in a vacation would necessarily be on his list, but his list was completely checked off:

1. chasing birds
2. petting kitties
3. playing in wagons
4. French fries at most meals
5. chasing birds.

That's all that matters, right?