Reunion Weekend

On July 31, we hosted the inaugural Williams Family Reunion at the house.  In April, I suggested I would like to be done with the house by the weekend of July 10th so we could host a family reunion at the house that would coincide with Mamaw's Birthday.  She would have turned 98 on July 12th.  Obviously, we didn't make the July 10th date.  When it was becoming clear we weren't going to make July 10th, I decided we had to make it in July.  July would have to be close enough.  

I also thought it was probably the last chance we would have to get together in the house we've been gathering at for over 60 years.  

If I'm being honest, I was nervous.  I wasn't sure my family would think it was appropriate for me - a grandchild - to be putting together a family reunion.  I took a deep breath and suggested it to my Mom.  She was on board!  She is (almost) always on board with my big ideas.  We set the date of July 31 and that was that.  

We all worked hard to get finished by July 31.  There are still some tiny things that need to be done - little things here and there.  No one worked harder than my Mom, Dad and Robin those last two weeks.  They were able to get things done during the week while Scott and I couldn't be there.  Mom and Robin worked tirelessly to get the house clean and ready for the party.  I am so grateful.

It was a great evening with friends and family!  

Mom and Robin set up all the tables and decorations.  Robin graciously brought her prized music boxes to use as center pieces on each table.  Mom and Robin pulled together pictures of the family and brought them as well.  They were on the table in the dining room and on the mantle in Denny's room.  My Dad took a bunch (like 1200) of pictures from Mom's scanning and put them into a slide show.  It played on the television in the distance in the first picture.  

Mom and Robin also set up games, which Mamaw would have loved.  They were a big hit!  I think nearly everyone got in on at least one of the games.

We ended up with nearly 40 people who got to enjoy the food, games, and friendship.  I am so thankful for all those who made it.  It was a truly special event.  Below are more pictures of the crew.  I'm not sure if I got a picture of everyone, but I sure tried.  

I really wanted to make t-shirts, but Scott respectfully asked if t-shirts could NOT be sponsored by us.  I agreed it would be a big expense and actually rather difficult to manage.  Mom and I discussed other ideas.  We finally settled on Christmas ornaments.  It felt like the perfect thing!  Christmas was always such a special time at Mamaw's house, so it seemed fitting to have a Christmas ornament as the memory for this event.  I bought the supplies; Mom provided the labor of putting them together.  They turned out beautifully!  

At the end of the party, we all gathered on the front porch for a group photo.  I adore this photo.  It truly marks the celebration and culmination of the journey of the Myrtle House renovations.  I am so proud of the work we did.  I am so proud of how my family pitched in to help.  I am eternally grateful for all these people.  My family.  My history.  

Weekend #16 - July 22-25

The FINAL weekend!  I can hardly believe it.  

I took off work Thursday and Friday to get in a couple of extra work days to push us to the end of this project.  I drove up to JC on Thursday morning.  Before I left, Maisy and I went for a little walk in the neighborhood.  She wanted me to carry her so I snapped a picture of us.  I'm sharing it here just because we are so cute.  This was the cutest (and most rested) I would be for the next 4 days.  :)

I arrived at the house around 11am.  Mom came and joined me around 1pm.  We worked on finishing up the last of the painting (second coats and touch ups).  We also worked on removing the paint from the faceplates of the door knobs in the bathroom/kitchen.  

On Friday, I started out solo because Mom had a meeting.  She joined me mid-morning.  Robin also stopped by just to visit.  I am certainly going to miss the drop in visits and seeing my extended family so often.  

I set out to tackle the front porch face-lift on Friday.  It was SO HOT.  I started by painting the railing on the porch.  The paint was peeling so they needed a little TLC.  First, I scrubbed the railing with a brush.  I then sanded to smooth it out because I wasn't removing all the old paint.  Lastly, I added two coats of fresh white paint.  I used Krylon ColorMaxx indoor/outdoor paint.  

Before:

After!

So much better!  If we've learned anything doing this house, though, it is that when you get one thing looking better, it usually makes something else glaringly in need of help.  So it was with the porch.  I painted the railing and immediately decided the columns needed painting.  It didn't use much of my paint to do the railings, so paint on the columns it was!  

Before:

After:

Just like that, all prettied up.  Except, now the gray looked dingy and in need of TLC.  So off to Lowe's Mom and I went to get gray paint.  

In honor of the day of working outside, Mom and I took our Friday work crew picture outside by the prettied up front porch.

Mom started working inside wiping down the woodwork with Old English Scratch Cover for Dark Wood.  It really shined up the woodwork.  The wood is one of the prettiest features of the house.  With a little bit of shine, it is really gorgeous.  Pictures certainly don't do it justice.

Also, my Mom is the cutest.  💙

Before we left, I brought up more trash from the basement.  At some point, my Mamaw decided to keep every single orange juice jar that was ever made in her basement.  She also kept mayonnaise jars and old pickle jars.  I carried up so many - I wish I had taken a picture, but alas, I did not.  I also found an old baseball mitt, with just a little bit of dirt on it.  😉  There was also a single crutch, probably used by Denny at some point.  There were a few old soda bottles.  I did keep those.  They just need a bath!  I brought one home already and got it cleaned up.  This Pepsi bottle is from the 1960's, I believe, based on the logo style.  

There is plenty of info out there on how to find the age of a Pepsi bottle.  I love old stuff, so I could read about this for days and days.  I will post pictures of the others when I get them home.  

I also found an old tool used for the coal furnace in the basement.  I don't know exactly what it is.  I've googled everything I can think of and nothing looks like this.  If anyone knows what it is, please share!  I'd love to know more.  It is solid and pretty heavy.  

On Saturday, Scott and Pap joined us.  Scott immediately headed out with the trailer to the dump.  

The weekend was a flurry of activity.  There was so much, it was difficult to keep up.  Pap got the stove fan installed in the kitchen.  He also installed the AC vents in the kitchen and laundry room.  Scott installed the closet rods and shelving.  I stained the backroom closet woodwork.  Scott installed the kitchen cabinet hardware.  Nan continued her work with Old English on the woodwork.  I sanded the floor in the back room and stained it.  Scott installed new blinds.  It was a busy busy weekend.  I'm adding a bunch of photos of the weekend below.

Mom cleaning up after the installation of the stove fan

Installing new blinds - we learned the hard way that length matters.

Installing closet shelves and rods

The backroom closet - rod and shelf installed, before staining the woodwork

After staining the woodwork!  So lovely.

Pap working on installing the HVAC vent in the laundry room.

That's Pap's hand inside that vent.  He was in the basement, all shimmied up in the crawl space.

He won the award for the one who got the dirtiest this weekend.  He was A MESS.

Mom and her trusty Old English.

The backroom floor following sanding, before staining

The backroom floor after staining!  It still needs a lot of work.  I wouldn't walk around in here without shoes.  You're guaranteed to pick up a splinter.  My hand sanding made a difference in the floor, but it needs a heavy duty sanding, for sure.  This room will need a rug!

Finishing touches

While my Dad was working on the HVAC, he was also moving some ill placed electrical line in the laundry room.  It was then that he asked the magical question:  Where will you plug in the washer in here?  We never considered a plug in that room.  So, we called our favorite electrician:  Pap.  See new plug and the other work he did below.  

The end of a project seems to be when you find out all the little things you didn't consider previously.  Haha!

The biggest news of the weekend:  The new fridge was delivered!  We've been without a working refrigerator for weeks.  It was a glorious moment when the new fridge made its was home!  

We finished out the weekend with just a few finishing touches still to do.  The family reunion is scheduled for Saturday, July 31 and the house is certainly ready for that.  Mom and Dad, Robin and Ron have been busy at the house this week cleaning and setting up for the party.  I am so excited to see the family and share this house.  

As usual, I will close out today's post with a work crew picture from the weekend.  I snapped this one while we were having our lunch break on Sunday.  I love these people so much.  I am so proud of the work we've done here.  I am so grateful for the team of people we've had helping us.  We would absolutely not be where we are now without them.  I am incredibly grateful for this journey.  💜