Friday's Letters

L to R: Sister, Mom and Me in Ellijay!

Dear husband, thank you so much for pressuring washing the house while I was out of town last weekend. It look so much better! We need to sit down and pick a date for the house warming party, huh? Dear Bentley, you love your new house. Instead of tinkling to mark your new territory, you kick your back feet out like a chicken on the carpet. I really do appreciate that. Thank you for keeping your tee-tee to yourself and your backyard. Dear apartment, we turned in your keys today. I think I practically threw them at our landlord and ran out. Frankly, you were a crap hole, but you allowed us to save up enough money to buy my beautiful new home in a short amount of time. For that, I am grateful. Dear Ellijay, you were wonderful last weekend. I've been wishing I was back all week long. It was so great to have a mini-vacation with my family (especially since I missed it last year). I'm so thankful my mother was feeling good enough to go! I love her, my dad and my sister so much. Dear Hailey, I'm so pumped for your graduation this Saturday! R.J. and I are so proud of you. Honestly, I can't believe you are graduating. It only seems like yesterday we were driving to Chick-fil-a in that big red truck to get some lunch at Eluminatus. CONGRATULATIONS! And I can't wait to come to your college graduation. ;)

Until next time!
Miranda

Our Moving Announcements

The office is relatively unpacked! Yay! Everything is out of boxes waiting to be placed in its proper spot. However, I still have to get my new desk and corner sewing table before that happens. I've also yet to put anything up on the walls in the office. I want to wait until I know exactly where my desk and table will be going.

That said, here is a before picture of the mess and an "after-ish" picture.

Before

After-ish

Like I said, it is getting there and I can't wait for it to be finished! For now, I'm just happy to have a functioning work space back for PaperLark Studio. I've missed it so much over the last month and I can't wait to jump back on the horse with it.

I sent out our moving announcements the week we closed. I suspect everyone who received one surely has theirs by now which means I will now share them with the blog world. 

If you have been following our moving adventure, you'll remember my love/hate relationship with the boxes. To give some love to the boxes, I used them as inspiration for our moving announcements. I'm not going to pretend like these announcements were not labor intensive. Oh, they were! I made 30 and from start to finish it took a good four hours. I printed, cut, folded and adhered all of them by hand.

Despite the labor intensity, I was so pleased with how they turned out!

They unfolded like a cardboard box! Ha! I still love it. If you can't read the writing, here is what it says:

You can send all future letters, Christmas cards and/or care packages to*:

NEW ADDRESS

Bills, junk mail and dentist appointment reminders need not be forwarded from the previous address. Thank you!

Until next time!

Miranda

Friday's Letters

My petunias and tomato plants on the front porch!

Dear husband, thank you for the pedicure I got today. I earned it after all those errands you made me run yesterday for your end-of-the-year party for the baseball team. It is becoming more obvious that some of the reason you married me is because I make a great personal secretary for you. Just get me a pedi every now and then and we will call it even. Dear Bentley, we are going to the Georgia mountains in the morning on your first vacation. As I packed our bag, you sat on the bed with those sad don't-leave-me eyes. You'll see that you are going to get to go this time soon enough. I hope you behave yourself. Dear Memorial Day Weekend, I've been looking forward to you since going back to work after Christmas break. The January to May stretch is a killer! Thank the Lord I love my precious two-year-old class and my co-workers. They are what made that stretch manageable. Dear new house, I love you. I knew all along you would be worth it and you have not disappointed. I'm really excited (and ready) for our living room furniture to come! Dear boxes, I still don't like you. When we were in the apartment, I hated you because you took up so much space. I thought once we got in the house, it would turn into a love-hate relationship. However, I still hate you because I've got to unpack you...and there is more than one of you. Let's just say it is going to be a very long time before I move again. Dear mailbox, I just got your custom decal in the mail! I've never been so excited about a mailbox in my life. You know you are a homeowner when...

Until next time!
Miranda

Primer, Painting and Polishing

Greetings readers!

It is with great pleasure that I bring you this post live from the living room of our new house. (Insert triumphant victory music here)

I'm still sorting through and unpacking boxes. However, I've made a makeshift work space in our living room seeing as my office is in shambles still.

I have some new pictures to share with you of our freshly painted home. These were taken before we officially moved in last Sunday. Once I get unpacked (and get my new furniture), I will share more.

Since last time, our home has enjoyed a fresh coat of paint on the walls, ceilings, doors and baseboards. It has also gained a new stove and refrigerator (with an ice maker - hallejuah)! The carpets (and gutters) have been cleaned, the shower heads changed and one picture officially hung.

If you'd like to compare the difference, you can check out the old walls here.

The Laundry Room

The Kitchen

The Living Room

My Office

R.J. has quite the "honey do" list to complete! We are aiming to have a house warming party near the end of June. We can't wait to share our new home with our family and friends and celebrate this milestone in our lives. 

Until next time!

Miranda

P.S. If you'd like to see some sneak peeks of our home coming together, please follow me on Instagram at @mrswinslett!

The Lovely Bones of Our Dream Home

Greetings!!!

I've got a special (and much requested) post for you today. Drum roll please....HOUSE PICTURES. The below pictures were all taken during our home inspection at the beginning of April before we had closed. Thus, our house already looks a little different than this, but that's for another blog post! Changes to expect: new floors, paint and fixture upgrades coming soon!

ENJOY!

Miranda

The Master Bedroom

Master Bath

 Kitchen

 Laundry Room

2nd Bath

Bedroom #2 (aka my office)

Bedroom #3

Living Room

 Storage Room (basement)

Basement

 Garage

 Back Porch

The Backyard (aka Bentley's Domain)

Happy Mother's Day

Mom and dad walking me down the aisle

Growing up, I always thought my mother was invincible. She was (and still is) the closet thing I know to a real superhero. Her kisses had super powers that magically made boo boos disappear. Without fail, she knew where my toys or clothes were when I couldn't find them. She cleaned the house and whipped up dinner every day at lightning speed. She always knew (and also still knows) when you needed her even if you didn't say a word.

She also never seemed to get sick.

I got married on a Saturday in September of last year. The Wednesday before my wedding day, my mother was diagnosed with Hepatitis C.  Being the superhero that she is, she kept this from my family until Sunday when she finally told my dad. At first, it really bothered me that she harbored this secret alone for five days. However, it is a testament to who my mother is. She wanted my wedding week to be about me and R.J. She always has put her family and their happiness above herself.

After returning from our honeymoon, my mother shared the news with R.J., my sister and myself. She explained the disease and what lay ahead. Her doctors suggested she had probably contracted the virus when she had me way back in the day. I was born via C-section and she received blood. The virus had lay dormant in her body for 20+ years and may have been spurred on by the hormonal changes in her body.

To be honest, for the first few months after hearing the news, I felt incredibly guilty - feeling like I was the reason she had this virus. However, I know my mom does not regret having me and would not change a thing. It is a price she was and is more than willing to pay for me.

A mother's love is something truly inexplicable. Because I have no children of my own yet, I cannot fully grasp it, but it never ceases to amaze me. It is perhaps the single most purest form of unconditional love we witness on this side of heaven.

Through the ups and downs of her chemo treatments to fight the virus, I have been constantly reminded how amazing and strong my mother is. Lord knows, I get my strong will and perseverance for what is right from her. While I appreciated and loved my mom dearly before this trial, it has served as a constant reminder of how much I love her.

When I do have children, they will definitely have the coolest grandmother and best role model on the planet.

Happy Mother's Day Mom! You are my everything.

Miranda

Miranda, Myna and Madeline

Update on the House

We were suppose to close on our house yesterday. However, as some of you may know, we had to push the closing back. The attorneys had to jump through a few more hoops than expected to get the title cleared. They were finally able to provide a clear title to the seller yesterday evening who has 72 hours to approve the settlement statement.

Basically, closing will be Friday or after (more than likely early next week). Without a doubt, the last couple of days have been stressful and disappointing for us. However, we have faith that the key to our new home will find its way into our hands when the Good Lord sees fit.

That said, R.J. and I once again come before you all for prayers. Please pray for peace and patience. It is hard to have both when you are surrounded by mountains of boxes with no idea when you'll get to move them. However, good things are indeed worth waiting for!

Thank you in advance for the prayers and thoughts. Also, thank you for the previous prayers you've raised on our behalf throughout this entire process. It has been long and difficult, but worth it in the end.

Hopefully, my next post will be brought to you via our new home!

Thank you again!
Miranda