Thoughtful Thursday--Return

"Too much beauty around us for just two eyes to see"

"Get away from it all". The last thing I said 6 weeks ago.

Now when I said that, I didn't intend for it to really happen. But, like they always say, "Be careful what you ask for."

For those of you who don't know, a few months ago, the floor of our kitchen started warping in one corner. We knew this meant there was moisture there somehow. My dad discovered the water line to the ice maker was leaking and fixed that. Then my mom started experiencing some skin irritation, almost unbearable itching.

We had someone come look at it and he made it sound as if it wasn't very serious, that we could fix the warping by using a dehumidifier. His specialty is woodwork and so we had someone come that does work with water damage. He, on the other hand, said that we more than likely had a mold problem and that he could feel it in his throat when he first walked in.

That is when my parents got the insurance company involved and they sent out the mold mitigation people. They came on Nov. 16th in the afternoon. While they were working on ripping up the floor, mom Natalie and I went to run errands. It was after dark by the time we got home and as soon as mom walked in the house, she started breaking out. We realized then that we wouldn't be able to stay in our home while they did the repairs.

So my dad found a pet-friendly hotel and we headed out. 

A couple nights in a hotel was plenty, thank you, and so we started looking for a vacation rental. Apparently, Thanksgiving is a busy time for vacation rentals. We had a hard time finding a place not booked that week. As it was, the place we found, the Little Moose, was only open until the day before Thanksgiving.  Little Moose was definitely an improvement on a hotel. The best thing about it was the seclusion and nature all around. Just up the hill was the Mountain-to-sea trail. We took a few hikes while staying there.

Mountain-to-Sea trail

Each time my parents started talking about needing to look for a new place, I was thinking, "Surely we don't need to. Surely they will be done before then." But these things take time, especially when insurance is involved. Although, it was quite miraculous to me how smoothly everything worked out and continues to. God was in charge the whole time.

Okay, so Little Moose was booked for Thanksgiving and beyond and we really weren't finding anything. We desperately wanted to find something bigger, because even though we're a close family anyways, we all appreciate our space and the Little Moose was tiny. Carroll Sue told us about this friend of hers that keeps a few vacation cottages in Hendersonville with her family as a business. She told us that they had had a booking, but they had cancelled and it was open for weeks. Boy, we snatched that up. And it turned out to be a God-send. A real 'home-away-from-home'.

The cottage was called "Sweet Heather" and was like a garage apartment, or carriage house. A real historic place with a lovely antique feel. You know I love that : ) The best thing about it though, was that when we first walked in, we could breathe! It only had two bedrooms and one bath, but it was spacious!

We ended up staying there for 3 weeks and got to know Hendersonville a little. I don't think I'd ever been there before. Cute little place. We enjoyed being nearby our friends who live in Brevard.

The mold mitigators mitigated that mold and the restorers replaced our floors and ended up refinishing the floors throughout the kitchen and living room, because that way it would all blend with the new wood. A nice little bonus : )

So, we've been home for about 10 days and I haven't taken it for granted. While we were away on our 'odyssey', mom and I both, without knowing what the other was doing, were making lists and schedules for housekeeping and cleaning once we got back home. Neither of us have ever done a regular cleaning routine, but I guess being away from home made us appreciate it and want to take care of it all the more. So, we've been doing a little more lately, but after Christmas, we'll be starting the New Year with a plan. And I'm looking forward to it : )

I wanted to get away from it all and I did. I went a month without internet, email or FaceBook. And while I missed being able to look up information or see what everyone was up to, it really wasn't hard at all. I even found myself really wanting to write letters and that may just have to be a New Years' resolution...we'll see.

Next week I hope to look back over the goals I had made earlier in the year and see what I accomplished and make a new list for next year.

Home again...time to decorate!