Stop and Pick The Dandelions + Our Living Room

You all know that we recently moved … AND that I am still unpacking 23790374 boxes… AND that I have severe ADHD when it comes to staying on task to just get the crap put away!!! I will walk into a room to put laundry away and see, for instance, a nightstand that NEEDS to be painted, stat. So I stop all necessary tasks and make it over. Or, I bake a batch of cookies because I get stressed and just need the sugar. Or, I go pick up God knows what kind of items that I sincerely do not need from Facebook or Craigslist because I have issues. Or, I swap out mirrors just because. Or…I spend days researching the history of our house and obtain copies of the Deeds all the way back to 1881! I mean, seriously, I have issues.

I don’t know why, but I work best when I’m under pressure and in a time crunch. So in true Stephanie fashion, I waited until the very last second to clean my house for my son’s “teacher home visit” {I feel like we are living in Little House On The Prairie time – I have never heard of home visits, but I was super excited about them coming} and my son’s birthday party with our whole family this weekend. I was stressing out, working up a sweat running up and down our gigantic staircase a thousand times and loading tons of donation boxes into my van. I finished in the nick of time – 18 minutes to spare! I quickly hopped in the shower and was ready when they got here. Phew!…oh and had freshly baked cookies ready!

However, before they got here, I had received the sweetest text from a new friend that had a message I definitely needed to hear!

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We had been talking the day before about unpacking, getting settled, discovering new plants popping up all over our yard … and the zillion dandelions we have – and the overwhelming feeling of them all.

It definitely warmed my heart! Being new, not having my BFF, knowing anything about the area, etc is just hard a lot of days. It can really be lonely. Plus, not having everything in order or perfectly decorated for some reason makes me feel less adequate because I stay at home. I feel the social pressure of “you should have it all together” because I literally am home all day long.

I think that a lot of people can probably identify in some form or fashion. It may not be related to having your house all perfectly set, but rather it may be related to weight, health, kids, etc. Sometimes we just need a reminder to take a break and be proud of what we have accomplished! A little self-love and self-grace can go a long way!

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Because our house is now clean…and who knows how long it will stay this way, I will take this moment to show you the section of our living room that has our baby grand piano. P.S. if you follow me on Facebook, thanks for the help in choosing which stain color to go with for the floors. We had all of the floors redone in the entire house before moving in.

My uncle, who married Clayton and I, recently passed away unexpectedly so my aunt let us have his piano. It’s a George Steck New York Lion & Healy antique baby grand piano. It goes great in our 1886 Victorian home! My mother-in-law had it tuned for us as our Christmas gift, a great gift idea because Lord knows we need nothing else, every again!

The piano sits in the staircase / foyer area that opens to the living room and dining room. The pictures kind of morph everything into looking smaller than they really are. If you notice my floor lamp is not even as tall as the built in bookcase on the staircase. The staircase is over 4 feet wide, so wide that it actually was dinged on the home inspection saying it wasn’t to code and needed a railing on the other side…no thank you!

The double entry vestibule is through that glass door. I’ve always dreamed of having a double entry front door – two doors to come through before coming into the house and I finally have it, 4 houses later! It was worth the wait!

The rest of the room then opens up to the formal living room. We have temporary furniture in there right now because we’ve rearranged a lot of our old furniture into other rooms. Likely there was a wall somewhere in here, way back when, but when the addition was put on to widen part of the upstairs years ago, it was probably taken out. Through my research, I’m hoping to find out when this addition was built!

The living room boasts the most unique and gorgeously (and extremely dirty!) fireplace I have ever seen in my life. Through some research my hubby did it is an Aldine fireplace and we believe it was made in 1906.

Aside all of the stress of moving and getting acquainted in our new state, I am beyond loving our new house and my new friends who lift me up and make me feel loved. Our house is not without it’s flaws by any means but I sincerely love it…and often times try to hug it! *my kids are slightly embarrassed by me.

I hope that you find just the encouragement you are needing on this day and that you take the time to pick the dandelions and enjoy them!