Fun with cousins

We've had so much fun spending time with family here in Tennessee. My cousin Jessica is getting married so we got to go with her to look for wedding dresses the other day. I wish I had gotten some pictures of the dresses because she looked so beautiful, but of course I'll get pictures on the wedding day. They want Alayna to be a flower girl, so I'm really excited about that! We went out for lunch afterward at Texas Road House.


My Aunt Joyce, Alayna, and Jessica. Doesn't it look like Alayna is disco dancing?





My Aunt Patsy, her grand daughter Natasha, my cousin Kenny, and their dog Patches also came to visit the other day. Natasha and Alayna got along so well. Natasha read her some books, and I don't think I've ever seen Alayna sit still for so long when she was on Natasha's lap.

Picking Pecans

We have been going out a couple of times every day to search for and pick up pecans. My dad has several large pecan trees that are producing right now, so we have to go get the pecans when they fall on the ground and hopefully before the squirrels can steal them. (Speaking of that, Dad is borderline obsessed with the squirrels and tries all sorts of ways to keep them away from his trees. I had to yell at him the other day when I caught him outside hunting a poor little squirrel with a BB gun!) Anyway, picking the pecans is really fun because it's like getting to search for Easter eggs every day, and every time you go out, you find more! On average, I would say we find about 100 pecans a day. Alayna especially loves it because the dogs come out with us and she gets to play with them. When we say "Let's go outside and pick some pecans," she goes and gets her shoes and/or the pecan bucket and walks over to the door to go outside. It's so cute!

Norris House

Almost two year ago, my parents, Mike and I went to a tax auction where the county auctions off houses and properties with unpaid taxes. We went just to check it out and see what it was all about, and my crazy dad ended up buying a house that he had never even stepped foot in! It is located in the middle of Norris, Tennessee, which is an adorable, quaint little Mayberry-like town where my dad grew up, so I guess he was just really excited about that. So, after the auction we drove to Norris, found the house, and actually had to call a locksmith to come and open it up for us because we didn't have a key. We were so shocked at what we found!

The house had been owned by a little old lady who was a major collector and pack rat. She passed away and the house went to her son, who just left it to sit without cleaning it out or anything for 5 years. So, when we walked in, we faced an incredible amount of "STUFF" literally piled throughout the house from floor-to ceiling. There was so much stuff, there were little paths through all of it just to walk between the kitchen, living room and bathroom. The lady who lived there actually slept on the couch in the living room because she couldn't get into her bedroom. Now, a lot of this stuff was junk and trash, and actually the whole house reeked of mold and mildew, but we also found a lot of treasures. Like I said, the homeowner was a collector, so there were tons of collector's items like plates, books, stamps, etc., and the place was full of antique furniture, Indian artifacts, and other really neat antique items.

So, we all spent months working on sorting through all of the stuff, throwing away trash, taking things to the Goodwill, and storing the more valuable items. We thankfully found someone in town who knew the family so we took all of the pictures and personal family items to her so she could give them to the woman's daughter. We talked to the son briefly and offered to give him any items he wanted to keep, but then we never heard from him again. It is so sad to think that this woman spent her whole life collecting and saving stuff, presumable to pass it on to her children, and they just let it all sit there to rot or be sold off. It makes you really realize how little value all that stuff that you collect in life really has.

We finally got the house all cleaned out and my parents thought about just selling the place as-is, but they decided to renovate it, add a master bedroom, etc. They plan on fixing up really nice and then renting it out or letting Mike and I buy it if we ever move back to Tennessee. I'm really excited about that possibility because I love Norris and would love to live closer to my parents. We'll see what happens! The house needs LOTS of work. As I said, it had a lot of mold and mildew, a leaking roof, horrible siding, etc. And the yard was so overgrown, a bush had actually come in through the front door and was growing in the living room! But the foundation is really strong, it has some nice original hardwood floors, and it has a lot of character and charm. Dad hired a contractor that has already done tons of work on it, and it's looking like a new place. They pretty much gutted the entire thing, added a big addition to the back of the house, got rid of all of the mold and mildew, are building a nice front porch and back deck, and more. I think it's going to turn out really nice and cute! Here are a few pictures of it in-progress. Keep in mind, it still has a long way to go! I'll post more pictures when the house is finished and looking fabulous.

Here's the Front of the house when we first found it.

The Front after a lot of cleaning:

The Front of the house now:

The Back of the house after cleaning:

The Back of the house now:

Here are some pictures of the upstairs (after we had even cleaned out some of the stuff!)

And here is the upstairs now:

The kitchen after a lot of cleaning:

The kitchen/dining room now:

A few pictures of the new addition and rear entryway so far:

More on our Tennessee trip

Mike left a couple of days after Alayna's birthday party to go back to work out in the field in Wyoming. Alayna and I are planning on staying here until December 1st. It's hard being apart for so long, but with Mike out in the field all the time he leaves early and gets home way after Alayna's bedtime, if at all, so we hardly see him there anyway. This way I have Mom, Dad, and others around to help out and keep us from getting so lonely. Plus now it's already really cold and snowy in Casper so we're really happy to be here in Tennessee. Here we are at our favorite restaurant, The Soup Kitchen, to send Mike off.

Mom's birthday was a few days after Alayna's and then mine was a week after hers, so we have had lots of celebrations and probably way too much cake since we've been here. Mostly, we've been spending our time going for walks, picking up pine cones and pecans, working on quilts and photo projects, eating yummy food, and playing around the house. We went to the Clinton Antique Festival, and every Saturday of course we dress up in orange and watch the UT football game!

Alayna's Great-Grandma Simpson is living with my parents now so it has been really nice spending time with her. She is 91 years old and still going strong! Even with her and Mom helping out, Alayna is still a big handful. When I was cooking one day, she got into the cupboard and found some blue food coloring and of course got it all over herself! She's getting more and more sneaky all the time.

She has also had the opportunity to play with lots of little dogs so far, and boy does she love dogs! She squeals every time she sees one and chases them all around. We may have to get a little house dog some day, if Mike will let us...