March 2017 Update

Y’all. I’m not sure if I have mentioned this yet or not, but I love the BFF!

We’ve been here about 6 weeks and it just gets better and better every day. It has been exquisitely functional for our needs. There were so many times in the building process that I would have to make a decision and thought “Eek, I sure hope this works out.” I haven’t regretted a single decision so far!

My mom came at the beginning of the month and helped me decorate and now it feels super homey. We went from wood to a house and now we have a home. My style is what I would refer to as “minimal.” If it doesn’t serve a purpose and a function, I don’t really see the point in owning it. Stuff on walls or sitting on tables? It’s all “pretty crap” if you ask me.

We worked so hard to make this home beautiful so I new the decor was a necessary evil to complete the look. Just so you know, decorating is HARD work! Mom and I shopped til we dropped two days in a row and got the majority of our entire house decorated in ONE weekend. Whew! Turns out I actually like “pretty crap” after all. Each room is transforming as we add little touches of decor here and there. It’s still pretty minimal but it’s just enough and I might be biased, but, I think it’s gorgeous! I have never in my life owned a home that I thought was magazine worthy. The BFF will never be featured in Southern Living (because we, um, LIVE here – and, also, my 10 year old is a tiny hoarder) but it’s closer than I’ve ever been before so I’ll take it. 🙂

View the full “before and after” album on Facebook.

My Dad came a few weeks later and helped us with some outdoor projects. My hammock is my new happy place (seriously, it’s divine) and Skylar has a tree swing. He even transplanted 6 elderberry bushes straight from the Circle S Ranch. Yes, that’s right, my family has a thing for naming our properties. We also finished up the chicken coop. Having chickens has been on my list forever ’cause we eat a lot of eggs!

Skylar got her expander this month, which is the precursor to braces in our case. She wasn’t a fan of the speech impediment that it gave her so, I kid you not, she spoke with an accent for 3 days straight. She’s actually pretty good. And also hilarious! I was kinda sad when she decided to finally learn to work around it and speak normally. I promise you won’t regret taking the time to watch this!
After the craziness of the last few months, this mama was T-I-R-E-D both physically and especially mentally. Skylar decided she wanted to go back to Alabama with my Dad for a week and I exhaled a huge sigh of relief. I needed a break and she needed some one-on-one attention, which is exactly what happens at Grandparent Camp. She is so lucky to have so many that love her in Bama. It’s more like Grandparent-Aunt-Uncle-Cousin Camp and I’m thankful for each individual who invests time into my girl. She adores it!

I ran down to Birmingham to pick up tLG and was also able to attend a family wedding. We had the best time at the reception. I’m sure you are shocked (NOT!) to learn that Skylar was the first one on the dance floor and the first one in line for cake. I can’t get enough of her personality sometimes. She is her own little being.

Before heading back home I went with Dad to “see a man about some chickens” and brought 9 hens back to Nashville. It was fine until about Huntsville and then my car smelled like a barnyard for the next 2 hours. Lawsy mercy. I’m sure that story will be one of many in my adventures of chicken farming. Our coop really only has room for 6 so we adopted out 3 of them to my friend Sarah at The FancyPants Farmyard. All of the chickens are settling in rather nicely. In fact, they’ve already given us a dozen eggs.

What’s next for the BFF? Mike and his Dad are going to start on a front porch this weekend. Then it’s gutters and exterior paint. Isn’t home ownership grand and glamorous? Ha! Another big project for this year is a garage. I’ve almost got the wood chips spread on my garden but I don’t think we will be planting anything until this fall. I love gardening with all of my heart but it’s a process. Moving to a new spot is basically like starting all over again from scratch. In the grand scheme of, I don’t know – the rest of my life, missing one summer of gardening is not that big of a deal. Not to worry. I’m sure I’ll have some bucket plants and herbs up near the house just to appease me. Some days it still feels overwhelming to think of all the things we need to do and then there’s my “want” list. Then I remember just how far we’ve come.

I can’t leave this post without mentioning that I took a little ride in an ambulance this month. It was with one of my doula clients who had quite a precipitous birth. I can’t even tell you how much I grow to love and respect each of the families that I work with. This family was a repeat client and both of their birth stories were very memorable! Doula work is a lot of things but no one can never say that it’s not interesting. 🙂

More March pics here.