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This week we’re talking about four things – dreamy hand-painted walls and historical patterns, a feel-good story, the best apples in the world, and getting busy with home projects. Enjoy!
What I’m reading
I purchased a “French style generic” and got it in time for my dentist appointment for my 6 month cleaning. I don’t usually have to wait long, but I always carry a book with me. I see waiting as a prime time to get in more reading instead of aimlessly scrolling through my phone. They were a little behind schedule, so I had time to skim through it and start reading A Year French Style.
I’ve been loving this pale neutral mural, and enjoyed reading about the process since I’ve been immersed in painting my own mural. Maybe I need to try something like this somewhere else in the house…
I’ve also bookmarked this page for kitchen shelf inspiration. I still want to build something for the dining area nook, but I haven’t settled on the exact thing yet. I love the brackets, and how deep this shelf is. It would be fairly easy to create something similar designed for the pieces I want to store and display.
It’s a beautiful book and a winner if you like French style. I don’t think I’ll be making a ski wing or some of the other recipes in the book any time soon, but I loved looking at the decor and reading some of the stories.
What I watch
I haven’t been watching much TV lately, but I felt like one of the feel-good classics when Jeff was in a meeting earlier this week and stumbled across a movie that perfectly fit the bill – Secretariat. I first saw the movie when it came out in theaters and have only seen it once since, so it’s been a long time coming. It’s a great movie, and based on what I’ve read, it stays very faithful to the true story. I thought Disney made the races more dramatic than they actually were, but I watched it on YouTube and it was completely filmed. The final race is absolutely incredible. If you’re not familiar with the story or haven’t seen the movie before, you should watch it.
What I like
When I moved to Minnesota, one of the things I was going to miss was living in a small town in PA surrounded by apple orchards. This meant we had great apples during harvest and a few weeks after each year. I’ve become a bit of an apple fan and mourn them every year when October rolls around. When we returned, I was thrilled to be able to buy Adams County apples again from my favorite farm stand – Hollabaughs in Biglerville, Pennsylvania. I’ve already made trips there twice this year to stock up on several bags of apples from their bins. When I ran out, I bought some local (Washington County, MD) apples at the grocery store and they didn’t even compare! You’d think apples grown less than an hour apart would be pretty comparable, but I made the drive back to the Hollabaughs and loaded up more apples.
I’ll be sad when apples aren’t at their peak, but clementines and grapefruit will be in season and that will cheer me up.
What I’m working on
I know I try to fit in a lot before Thanksgiving, but I have a hard time tempering my enthusiasm to get things done! As you know, if you’ve been following me, I’ve been working on finishing the dining room mural. I’m at about 95% and hope to finish it today. It will be finished now and I reserve the right to add, change or modify after I live with it for a while. I finished planting trees yesterday, and I have more work to do away for a while. I’m still strongly considering applying an antique glaze to tone everything down and I’m still playing around with the foreground and distant ground.
On Friday, my mom will come over to help me organize the basement. When we first moved in, we set up a wall of shelves to store toys and games. Since the boys have outgrown playing with them, we will move them into the storage area so they have a chance to sort and see what they want to keep and what we can donate. I didn’t want to push them into making those decisions during the transition, but I knew their days were numbered! Moving and storing these will free up space so I can continue removing glue from the floor and then painting the walls and floors. It would be nice if this area felt more comfortable and comfortable. One step at a time!
You can find previous Four Things posts here.
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