July On Our Front Porch

Hi there!!  Have you had a good summer so far?  Since I haven't been posting much, I thought I would take some time to do a re-cap of July.  First of all, it's unbelievably hot here (for us).  These temps. would be no big deal for people in Texas and Arizona, but whew!  I even saw that North Carolina was mentioned in the The New York Times yesterday in reference to the heat wave we're having.  I'm not a fan of The New York Times, but I get e-mails from them because I play Wordle on their website.  Anyhoo, the temperatures have been in the 90's consistently, with the heat index in the triple digits.       Aside from this heat wave, July has been a nice month for us.  We made homemade ice cream to take to my mom's house for July 4th.  We had a cookout, and I got to see my niece's little foster child; I tell you I'm smitten with that child. 😊 I've gotten some really nice fresh vegetables and fruit so far; this has been a good summer for the produce.  We're engaging in our annual tradition of watching the Tour de France here.  It actually ended Sunday, but we're a few days behind.    

Progress On Our Yard Part 2

Hello Friends.  Are you having a good week?  Ours has been pretty good so far.  Thank you for your comments on my previous post.  We are still sad about Duncan; we do plan to get another dog, but not for a little while.  We have a lot going on right now and more work to get done on the house.  Speaking of that, we have gotten some things accomplished in the yard.  Actually, I should say that the man we hired to clean up the yard for us has gotten some things (a lot) accomplished, and the yard already looks so much better.  We are excited!         

   

   

Progress On The House

I wrote earlier about our house getting a "facelift."  I don't think I mentioned in that previous post that the house turned 50 years old this year -- it was built in 1971.  It was definitely time to make some repairs and improvements.  We were actually ready to get started on this last summer, and then Covid came along.    

      

Top Ten Posts For 2020

Hi folks.  Aren't we glad this difficult and challenging year is drawing to a close?  Obviously, Covid 19 has been the big talking point, but I know many people have had difficulties not related to the virus.  My husband's aunt had cancer and died from a stroke before her treatments started.  One of the bloggers I like to read, Mike, who writes A Bit About Britain, was sick earlier in the year.  Believe it or not, I'm still having lingering effects from the Bell's Palsey I had back in June.  In fact, I've just been online looking at exercises to strengthen my facial muscles, which don't seem to have fully recovered.  And sadly, both of our families know people who have died from Covid 19.  Needless to say, we're all hoping for a better year in 2021!      Out of curiosity, I thought I would look at Google Analytics to see what my most popular posts were this year.  What peaked your interest the most on House at Forest Manor in 2020?  According to Google Analytics, these are your ten favorite posts this year.   In the top two spots were -- Attract More Birds to Your Outdoor Feeder.     

   

   

The Winter Dining Room (And a New Piece of Furniture)

Happy Monday and Happy February everyone!  Wow, where did January go?  I hope you're all having a good winter and staying healthy.      

Our Master Bedroom

Happy Friday everyone!  As promised yesterday, I'm back today with a post on our master bedroom.  I've been working on this room for the last few weeks, and I'm ready to have it finished.  I don't have before pictures for you because I just forgot to take them.  At any rate, I'll share again when I've added the finishing touches.        

  

Spring Snow and A Closet Project

Happy April everyone!  Here in our part of North Carolina, we received our April Fool's Day "joke" on April 2nd.  It snowed here yesterday.  Yep.  Saturday it was 72 degrees and sunny, and yesterday (Tuesday) it was low thirties and snowing.  I guess I should say it was a "wintry mix" as our meteorologists charmingly refer to this combination of rain and snow.  By 5:00 p.m., the sun was back out and the sky was a perfect blue. 🙃    

Summer Kitchen

It's officially summer, yes?  Whew, is it hot here!  It's supposed to be in the mid-to-high 90's all week, with high humidity.  Welcome to the south!  At this point, the catch phrase around here becomes, "Hot enough for you?"  After hearing this so many times, no one even bothers to reply.  😜  It's almost like the dead of winter because everyone stays inside, where it's air-conditioned, as much as possible.      Today, I want to share a few pictures of my summer kitchen.  I've made a few little changes in here since the big renovation in 2012, namely a new dishwasher, new replacement windows, and wood floors.  All those things were money well-spent, and we still love our kitchen.  

 

Christmas in the Dining Room

Hello dear readers.  The eve of Christmas is such a special time.  I'm sorry I've been absent here, but my dad had to be hospitalized again week before last.  He was there five days this time, and we're all thankful he can be home with us for Christmas.  I know some of you are missing loved ones this year -- some are spending first Christmases without a spouse, parent, etc.  I hope you will find comfort in the Christmas story more than ever this year.

I'm still decorating and haven't wrapped a single present, yet here I sit, typing away.  😉  Our dining room feels very Christmasy this year, so I'm sharing some pics with you.

The Fall Den

Hello everyone!  I'm trying really hard to get some "photo shoots" of the various rooms in the house while it's still technically Fall.  I told my husband that in a few weeks, I'll be seeing posts about Christmas and Christmas home tours in blog land.  Here are some fall pics for you before we all have to start thinking about Christmas.

Eufy the Robot Vac and a New Mirror

Hi everyone!  How was your weekend and your Monday?  Rainy and rainy are the answers to both questions here at Forest Manor.  We've had buckets of rain, and it's turned cold again.

So, Mr. Forest Manor made a secret purchase online a few weeks ago, and when it was delivered, I had no idea what it was.  Hal was acting kind of mysterious about it, and that evening I found out what it was...

The Curio Cabinet

I like to think that I have a mind of my own, in decorating as well as other things.  But one of the fun parts of blogging is that I do sometimes get wonderful ideas that really click with my own style; I  love that other bloggers share their ideas with the rest of us.

I mentioned Laura Ingalls Gunn at "Decor To Adore" a few weeks ago when I wrote a post about some of my favorite bloggers.  I wrote that I love Laura's decorating style, and when she posted about curio cabinets a few weeks ago and told us the history behind curio cabinets, or cabinet of curiosities, as they were originally called, this post really resonated with me.  Laura then shared her own "cabinet of curiosities" Here, and after seeing it, I was on a mission.  I immediately went into our living room and started putting together my own curio cabinet.  I didn't have to buy a thing for it; everything was collected from throughout our house.  Thanks for the inspiration, Laura -- I hope you don't mind my copycatting!  :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day -- And the Floors are Done

A Happy St. Patrick's Day to you!  I love when St. Pat's Day falls on the weekend, but I'm sorry to say I haven't prepared anything Irish for today.  We've just been too busy here for the last month or so.  You can click on my sidebar pictures to read older posts from St. Patrick's Day.

As for the new floors, yesterday was Day 2 and they finished everything!  The job was scheduled for three days, but it only took two.  They had three men here working hard both days; I was really impressed with their work.  The upshot of this is that I have an extra day before the weekend to start putting things back in place.  The verdict on the floors -- we think the flooring company did an excellent job, and we absolutely love the floors.  What a huge difference they will make to the look of our house.

Today Is Flooring Day

Day 1
Whew, what a pain!  Last night I told my husband that I was not having fun.  I wouldn't want to do this again for a long time.  I know -- what a whiner, right?  As I type this, we are sitting here waiting for the hardwood floor installers to arrive.  They'll be doing our foyer, living room dining room, and kitchen, over a period of three days.

Since this past weekend, I've been packing up dishes, more dishes, stemware, and dishes.  When it comes time to put all this stuff back, I plan to take some to the Goodwill or give some to my niece, who's getting married in August.  Who's idea was it to get all this stuff anyway?  Heaven help us if we ever move.  😨

Upcoming House Projects

Happy Wednesday everyone!  I hope you're having a good week.  I've mentioned off and on for about two years now that we're going to get our den carpet replaced.  Well, we've finally started moving with that project.  We've made our selection and are waiting to hear when the installation date will be.

The Kitchen at Christmas

I'm pretty sure these will be the last Christmas pictures I make you suffer through share with you this year.  ;)  I hardly ever show my kitchen decorated for Christmas, so here goes.

Christmas in the Living Room

Hi everyone!  I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and are taking things easy today.  We did and we are. 😉

In an earlier post, I promised I'd share some pictures of our Christmas living room and foyer.  I don't have the foyer pictures ready yet, but here is the living room all decked out for Christmas.

Our Thanksgiving Table

My husband read an interview with a British actor many years ago.  The actor had been temporarily living here in the U.S. while filming a movie.  The interviewer asked him what he thought of American holidays, and the actor replied that he really enjoyed Thanksgiving.  He said it had many of the best qualities of Christmas -- time spent with family and good food, but without the pressure of gift giving.  We had never thought of it that way before, but we realized he had made an excellent observation.  Thanksgiving is special, and we love it.

We have much to be thankful for here at Forest Manor.  We have each other, our son, our extended family, and Duncan.  ;)  We also have a home, plenty of food to eat, medicine, clothing, and money left over to enjoy our hobbies.  We are thankful, also, to live in a free country.

I'm Starting Early

Hi everyone!  I hope you had a great weekend!  Our son, Will, got up lots and lots of leaves here while my husband waxed Will's car for him.  I made a double recipe of chili in the crockpot, and sent some home with our boy.  ;)  Here in North Carolina, there have been serious forest fires in the western part of the state, and we're all hoping the fire fighters will soon be able to get those under control.  It's so dry here in our Piedmont region; we just really need to get some rain soon.

Well I've always said I wouldn't start on Christmas until after Thanksgiving, but every year I find it harder and harder to get everything done in time, so this year I'm going to start early.  It feels a little strange, but next week is Thanksgiving week, and wow, I already feel like I'm behind.  I know, right?!

Autumn Mantel

Hello my friends!  I got my fall mantel finished, and hubby was kind enough to take pictures for me last night.  Believe me, I've tried taking pictures of this mantel on several occasions with very sad results.  ;)  This is the WORST SPOT to take pictures because it gets no direct light.  Hal uses something similar to a softbox to reflect his flash, but he has to get everything just so because of the light reflecting off the picture above the mantel.