Shake It Up

I'm still trying to figure out what day is the best for a weekly blog update.  I'll try Sundays for awhile and see how that goes.  At this point, with the Covid-19 pandemic and an order by our Governor to stay home except for essential things, I could blog any day, they are all the same to me.

It's been so crazy to come home from our mission and not be able to do the normal things we do.  Go out to eat, visit our grandkids, hug friends and family, attend church, go to the temple, shop whenever and wherever it pleases me, take Ollie the River Dog to the groomers, and so on. I know that I'll not take those things for granted again!

Mike modeling some of our son Scottt's new
merchandise...looking good! 

Walking back to the little river house after the earthquake

We have been doing yard work, filling bird feeders, and working on other projects.  We've been able to stop and get take out food a couple of times, been to the grocery store a couple of time, and I even went to my cousin's to get my hair cut.  I've made face masks from left over fabric and we use word and phrases  like: social distancing, quarantine, stay home..stay safe.  

Doing a lot of weeding 

Through it all, I feel calm and safe and that's because of my faith.  This weekend was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints biannual general conference.  It was so comforting to see and hear from a modern day prophet, President Nelson and other as they helped us focus on faith over fear by "hearing" our Savior.

Sewing facemarks whilst watching a session of conference

How do you Hear Him?

Our kids and grandkids were over today and we had to all stay six feet apart.  We were practicing physical distancing but definitely not SOCIAL distancing!  It's so good to see them even if we can't give them big hugs.

That's it for now..  Stay Home..Stay Safe and soon this will be over and we can move on with life...maybe as better people than we were before Covid-19.  We will be appreciative of our medical heroes, our families, time spent with others, and we may even be happy to hug strangers on the street!

After the storm, the. sun will shine again!

Happy Trails!

Back on the River!

Welcome to The Little River House blog!  It's been three years since I've done any blogging on this site, which is crazy.  For the last year and a half, my hubs and I have been in England serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and I kept a blog: palmersenglandmission.blogspot.com during that time that was specific to our mission. If you're curious, please go check it out!

Good bye England...

I'd like to continue to blog, so decided to start up this blog once again, so here we go...

We arrived home after being whisked out of England due to the Coronovirus, or Covid-19 as it's now being called.  They sent all senior missionaries and the young missionaries with health issues home very quickly around the middle of March.  Once home, we were all required to self isolate for two weeks!  I couldn't think of anywhere I'd rather self isolate than right here at The Little River House.  It brings me so much joy and peace to be here.  It's my heaven on earth, for sure!

Home, sweet home!

The welcome home sign our son, Scott brought to the airport!  Made us laugh!

Our son and his family (and dog and cat) have been living here and taking care of our dog, Ollie and the homestead. They did a fantastic job!  We will be forever grateful to them for all they did to keep things running and for loving our little sidekick as much as we do.  We're sorry they had to move to their new house on such short notice, as we had to come home eight weeks earlier than planned.  

Getting ready to move their chickens..

Chicken coop getting loaded up

And now the "girls"...

We arrived in the dark of night, but it still felt wonderful to drive down our dirt lane, pass Pat and Donna's place, pull up to the house and walk in to our home once again!   Life is grand!

Look at this little surprise the kids left us on our bed.
Such jokers!

He's trying to decide if he still loves me or not.

We've spent the last ten days sorting things out here.  We've been unpacking our luggage, bringing things down from the barn that we stored while we were gone, setting up internet, cell phones and catching up with friends and family as much as possible.  

This is how our box we sent home from England
looked when it arrived.  Needless to say the post office "dropped and ran"!
Luckily only one little item was broken.

The weather has been mostly sunny and just a little chilly.  The river is running about normal.  In years past, the river has been very high this time of year.  They didn't have as much snow this year, so the run off is either behind schedule or not going to be as significant. 

I look forward to Spring and all the life that it brings..new leaves on the trees, new babies for the ducks, geese, pheasants, quail and new projects here at the house.  

Some of our upcoming projects include re-decorating the library, an update to the bonus room, new veggie plot, and a lot of new landscaping.  It's going to be a busy spring and summer!  

Getting the four and wheat out from our food storage in the crawl space.
We might need it!

We had to resort to buying a roll of industrial style toilet paper!
It's all we could find...anywhere...at all.  Just "Say No" to hoarding!

An important note: The world is in the middle of a pandemic. The Covid-19 flu. Today the governor of Idaho issued a stat at home order for the next three weeks. Idaho is one of the last states to be infected but it's numbers are growing quickly.  So many businesses are going under, our son was laid off his job in Alaska, the economy is tanking.  And who knew that everyone would want to hoard toilet rolls?   Stay safe, keep 6 feet apart and hopefully we can all ride this out!

Happy Trails!

Chalk Paint to the Rescue

I've been way to lax with updating the Little River house blog.  It was a long, cold, snowy winter.  We set records for how much snowfall we had and for how long it was on the ground.  Sometimes I really wondered if Spring would ever come.  Winter may have been long but I really didn't mind.  It was so beautiful here and we were cozy and warm in our new home.  But...now it's time to catch up and tell you about all the projects we have in mind.  

First up, a redo of this nice little sofa that I bought from brother and sister in law's place, Cherry Consignment Furniture, in Meridian.  I love the style and the tufting but the fabric was a green and brown swirly pattern that I didn't love.   I've always wanted to have a sofa or settee at the end of the bed that looks at the television.  We've lived in three houses since I bought the couch and it never fit where I intended it too.  Finally, it fits right where I want it but the fabric was not working at all!  I toyed with the idea of having recovered which would cost me about 450 dollars and I really had so many other things to spend the money on.

A few months ago, my friend came out to visit and see the house.  When I showed her the sofa and told her my dilemma, she said she had painted a chair in her house with chalk paint and that it had turned out so good.  I was amazed that you could paint a piece of upholstered furniture...who knew!?

I toyed around with it for awhile and finally tried a little section on the back. I figured I was pretty safe..if I didn't like it, no one would see it.  

I didn't like it.   

The color was too dark and it felt rough and stiff.  I pushed the sofa back against the bed and just didn't look at it for awhile.

You can see the dark gray color I painted first in the corner.

Fast forward to today.  I was at BiMart and saw a nice shade of light gray chalk paint and it just seemed like it was now or never.  I thought "hey, if I don't  like it for sure this time, then I'll go ahead and have it recovered.  


It went on really easily and in about an hour, I had the entire couch painted. It only took one coat and it would of been okay with me if the pattern had subtly shown through, but it didn't.  

The point of no return..

Perfect!

I loved the color!  The fabric did seem really rough at first and then I remembered my friend had told me to sand it lightly when it was completely dry.   I sanded it and it made it so much smoother.  It's certainly not the softest, cushiest couch I've ever sat on, but it's not stiff and unyielding.  It has some give and feels sort of like old leather and looks like suede.

The bottom line is that it looks 100 percent better and I can live with the stiffer feel of the fabric.  I don't think I would do this to a piece that you plan to sit on a lot or that you want to be really cozy and squishy.  I do think it's a perfect solution for occasional chairs and if you have something you don't want to spend a lot of money on.   

Thirteen dollars for a can of paint versus 450 dollars to recover....you decide.



The Master Bedroom is still a work in progress and I'll have a future post showing more of the entire room when it's complete.  I'll be blogging about some of our winter fun, the arrival of spring, and our solar panel project over the next few days and weeks.  So come on back to check in on The Little River House!

Christmas Home Tour

Welcome to The Little River House Christmas home tour. 

 

Christmas is my very favorite time of year.  I love the lights, scents, excitement, and the warm feelings Christmas brings.  It's SO festive!

I made the BELIEVE sign a couple of years ago.  The other side says BLESSED.   The old ladder and stone crock I bought in Germany.  The fat little snowman is a Costco find from about 10 years ago.

A few years ago I decided I just had to have an outdoor nativity.  Mike and I worked together to make this one.  I drew it out on plywood, Mike cut it out and I painted it all white.  It normally has a big star hanging over it, but we haven't got to that yet.

Come on in!  The antique German sled by the front door has an old pair of skates from the Netherlands hanging on it and an old cow bell from Austria.  It's so fun to use some of the things we brought home with us after living in Germany for three years. 


I used a neutral color palette in the great room, with just a little green and a lot of silver and white sparkle.   The J-O-Y sign came from inspiration on Pinterest.  I bought the letters and the snowflake at a craft store.  Then I just nailed them to one of our scrap pieces of old barn wood that we used for our siding.  I felt I needed something large and wanted to do something other than a wreath.  It fills the space pretty well and it makes me smile!
 
Our tree seemed a little too short for the vaulted room, so Mike built a box out of our old barn wood to put the tree on.  I put some batting around to look like indoor snow and now the tree looks like we just cut it down and brought it in the house.  I love the rustic box and it looks great with the barn wood J-O-Y sign, too!

These are a few of my many nativities which I've collected for years.  I have over twenty.

I went a little more traditional in the kitchen and dining area.  Red and white looks so festive and fresh.  The hand embroidered table cloth is a find from a German flea market.  I recently painted the old wooden toolbox white and filled it with glittery red apples and greenery. 

The hutch is filled with Christmas dishes and a Santa Claus village that the grandkids all look forward to seeing each year.

Too many stockings for the fireplace, so i put them on the staircase.


The bonus room at the top of the stairs...

This room is still so bare, but really..what grandkid wouldn't love to spend the night here under a glowing Christmas tree? 

That's it for now.  Next year, I'll expand the decorating into the guest room and the master bedroom.

I hope you enjoyed your Christmas tour through The Little River House.  We wish you a very Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year!!