Maezies Parish House

My Mom

2009-05-02T20:57:00.004-05:00

This is one of my favorite pictures of my mom. She looks so awesomely happy here and this is how I want to think of her. She is one tough lady and she's putting up a good fight. I just told her that it's "okay", that Bob and I would be okay and that we loved her. She spoke her first words to me since we have been here in Peoria, she said "I know, I know". Told her she was a great mom and that she needed to go do what she needs to do.

I'm sure it will be awhile yet so I will have a chance to talk to her some more. We never were too big on sharing feelings outloud, so I'm sure it will be hard. I hope I don't come away from this with regrets.

What do you say to someone you will not see again in this world?

I wish I knew her when this picture was taken, I think she was probably alot of fun.

Life dealt her some shitty cards in the game of Love. I believe she only truly loved one man. He came to the hospital today. He didn't ask to see her, he was here more for Bob and I but I wonder if he should have seen her. Her vanity would have made it difficult for her but if I were in her shoes, I think I would have like to have seen himone last time. I don't think he would have handled it well at all. He always cared about my mom, she just wasn't the one he wanted to spend his life with anymore. I know he's hurting too.

This picture was taken the same day as the one above.

Today, this is my happy place...

sitting in this boat, observing this young couple and sharing a few laughs.

SERIOUSLY?

2009-04-26T22:50:00.006-05:00

From the City of Peru, I receive an electric bill for the Church with the address of 1830. Even during my trip to the local library I was able to find out that where our parking lot sits now, there used to be a house. It makes perfect sense to me that the Church would have the address 1830, I mean, if you take away a house, they don't reassign house numbers, do they? I think not.

So, when I first moved in, I put out a mail box with the handwritten address of 1830, just in case. I don't receive mail at the Church, everything goes to the parish house. Shortly, after I put up the mailbox, my postal carrier "informed" me that my address was not 1830 but instead 1828. I wasn't the least bit concerned as I do not get mail at the Church and I think she's wrong, so who cares. I left the mailbox up and never gave it another thought. A few months ago, I noticed "someone" took a marker and scribbled out the "30" of the "1830". Oh whateva!.....again I ask, who cares.

WELL, two days ago I was leaving the Church to go to work when I noticed that "SOMEONE" took a black marker AND WROTE 1828 ON THE FLIPPIN' WOOD DOOR!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously?

I really still cannot believe it. Now, mind you...the door definitely needs to be refinished, so in the big scheme of things...what's the harm? BUT SERIOUSLY? WHO WRITES ON SOMEONE'S DOOR WITH A MARKER? Now, it's not that I'm mad, I certainly am not mad but what gets me is the principle of the act itself. PLUS, I just think she's WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! AND she NEVER, EVER delivers mail to either 1830 OR 1828, so why does she even care?????

Then, I started thinking....there's people out there,

lots of them...

I know quite a few, in fact...

that simply MUST have things just the precise way that they believe they should be. There is just no other way. She must be one of "those" people and I guess her business is addresses, a business she must take very seriously, so perhaps every day she passes that Church door with the "WRONG" address on it, it must drive her

A B S O L U T E L Y C R A Z Y!

Like the door must be calling out to her every day, except Sundays....

"YOU WHO!!!!!! LOOK AT ME, I'M WEARING THE WRONG ADDRESS ON MY DOOR! HA HA HA HA!!!!! TAKE THAT SILLY POSTAL LADY....WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT????"

Well, I guess she sure showed my door who was boss.

Here's a thought at 3:30am...

2009-04-18T03:25:00.005-05:00

I have this card, it's old. I bought it probably two lifetimes ago. It's still in it's cellophane wrapper. I'm up at 3:30am for no explainable reason and I reach for this card. While I knew the gist of it, it's been a long time since I actually read it. I thought I'd share...

"Take surprise in each sunrise and comfort in each moon.
Move often, carrying your Home with you.
Climb mountains. Stroll beaches. Drive cars on busy streets
and sail bicycles
down
big
hills.
Love among the Hate, when love is what you truly feel.
Suck strength from your anger, and then let it go.
Scream at the ocean.
Run when the sign says walk.
Question authority and accept Change.
Fill your soul instead of your pockets.
Have lunch on busy sidewalks.
Dance alone in your kitchen.
Talk to everyone you meet, including the soldiers in your head.
Watch closely. Read something. Listen hard.
Smile in every mirror. Grow with each tear.
With a heart and a brain, loneliness is unacceptable.
HAVE FUN! without maps or directions.
Cherish Happiness. Buy it if you have to, but always give it away freely.
Wear short skirts and long dresses.
Wave at the uniformed and the unsavory.
Keep them guessing, and praying and hoping and laughing.
Struggle. Fight, Try, Reach, Build, Learn,
Crawl, Invent, Rally, Fall, Get up again.
And if the heavens should happen to open,
offering transportation to even the smallest of dreams,
Ride the nearest cloud."
I think that's what Mother said, as she floated by in white.

An interesting collection of words I think. Some things to consider. But perhaps, no more thinking tonight, as I have to get up in 3 hours for work.

Living/Dining Room...mostly Dining Room

2009-04-16T22:47:00.008-05:00

Here we have the "Sunday School" set up that is now the site of my dining room.

We promptly removed the awkard "mini wall" that is in front of the lecturn. Down came the suspended ceiling and we even removed the arch. Now, personally I like arches. It's much more my style of architecture, but I opted for columns to keep the lines clean. This mish mash mutt of a house really didn't have much of a "period style", that is why I decided to just start from scratch.Here you can see the "transoms" I designed between the kitchen and living room. I didn't feel the arch would flow well with this look. Plus the dining room ceiling was a foot lower than the living room so I decided to use that to play with the design of the columns. As I began to consider the columns, I wondered if I should have given them more "shape". Once they were ready for paint I struggled with how to do them, what color for example. I found this idea in a decorative painting technique book. It was called Faux Venetian Plaster, the process was fun and I loved the look but it just wasn't coming together for me. Something just wasn't clicking. So I walked away from it, as I learned long ago...eventually, the perfect solution would come to me. I was looking through a magazine at work, yeah...because I do that, and I found this picture. There it was...The AH HA moment, the BIG CLICK! This is what the columns need to look like. Of course, I was completely dumbfounded as to how I would make this happen but a fellow rehabber said it would be easy. (For him maybe!) Regardless, I know I can get this done, afterall, I know people.
Allow me to introduce you to my Dining Room. Dining Room...Reader. Reader...Dining Room. Picture this ...a large round table, comfy chairs, good food, good drinks and good company. I know this will be my favorite room, I love how the windows surround you.The ceiling had some issues with taping during the drywall process. So I faux painted it to help disguise the obvious lines. I have some touch up to do but overall I was pleased with the result.

The paint color is Behr's Sahara Shade, it is a vibrant color but with the dark walnut floors and white trim it should be amazing. The unfinished pine flooring is down in this room now and is just waiting to be stained. But first, I need to get the kitchen done so I can get all the kitchen cabinets out of the living room.

The Office

2009-04-14T23:10:00.009-05:00

Moving on to the Office, no particular order here. The Church was using the Parish House for Sunday School classes before we took possession, can you tell?

This is the very first picture taken moments before absolutely any demo...

We demo'd all the way to the studs.....

Putting in windows...

This first picture is looking out my bedroom doorway into the office.

The walls are painted with Ralph Lauren Suede in Adobe. I love the finish of the walls but take note that it is near impossible to touch up the paint if you have any sort of "accident".

I'm really happy with the way this room turned out! I can't wait to accessorize!!!

This is just a sample of the floor color that will be throughout the house. It is not completely finished in the picture. There is no polyurethane on it yet.

2009-04-11T18:42:00.005-05:00

Found this cool backsplash idea while surfing the net. Why, oh Why, do I have such good taste and such a small, small pocketbook. I guess this would have to go in my "dream house" file.

I'll file it right next to this picture, which would be my dream deck.

"Pets" and Projects

2009-04-10T00:14:00.001-05:00

This little chipmunk (look closely) is my unofficial pet. I love how he's just laying there flat on his belly.

This is the only artistic project I have made time for since moving into the Church. I needed a gift for my Book Club's Christmas party. Being somewhat broke, I grabbed a chair out of the basement and painted it. I put a quote on it that said "Books are not made for furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house. -Henry Ward Beecher"

It turned out pretty nice, Christine has it at her summer home and still tells me she loves it. I can't wait to be able to "repurpose" the rest of the "junk" in the Church basement.

Inspirations

2009-04-08T20:02:00.004-05:00

The plan is to do this stone wall. Of course, due to pocketbook restraints, I have to improvise. I'm going to take 12x12 slate tiles and cut them into strips. I know it's a lot of sweat equity but isn't it awesome?

Last year at the Kitchen and Bath Show in Chicago, I actually saw this bathroom. I'm planning to recreate this countertop of glass with the river rock under it. I'm sure this vessel bowl is a small fortune, we carry several adequate ones at our store.

This is what I hope to do to the porch. Right now it just looks like a crack house.

My Dream Gate. Enough said.

Kitchen Updates

2009-04-08T19:59:00.000-05:00

Here's where we are with the kitchen. These pictures didn't turn out very good, probably because of the time of day that I took them. I need another coat of Behr's Iced Espresso on the main wall and the soffit. The rest of the walls will be white. I'm contemplating some sort of graphic but it hasn't come to me yet. The dark wall will be almost covered with Thomasville white cabinets. the opposite wall will be Kraftmaid Dennison Maple from their Ascentia line, as will the the island. The wall cabinet in the corner will house a built in microwave complete with trim kit, under that will be the new home for my Keurig coffee maker that I have yet to purchase.

The Kitchen

2009-04-07T23:30:00.006-05:00

The Kitchen as is looked when the house was purchased on October 31, 2006.

Sometime later, this is how the kitchen looked after all the plaster came tumblin' down.

New kitchen windows!!!

Goof ball brother doin' what he does best.

Here a friend and his son are helping out with the electrical.

It may be hard to believe but I actually did some of the work too! Friends do wonder, since I'm always taking the pictures. I really enjoyed mudding...kinda like frosting a cake. Wow, my hair was long....but I digress.

The drywall up, mudding done, now it's sanding time...I left this job for the boys.

Kitchen-pre priming.

Kitchen primed and luan on the floors.

I have to take some new pictures this week to update where we are today.

Wasp Nest, Anyone?

2009-04-07T22:54:00.007-05:00

Early on in the project we were cleaning out the crawl space. Allow me to rephrase... my brother was cleaning out the crawl space. That would be a giant "HELL NO!" for me to get up in there. We knew there was a bit of a wasp problem but not one we were too concerned about at the time. That is, until my brother got to the back of the crawl space. OMG!! This is what he found.

Thank goodness, it was winter and all the wasps seemed to be sleeping.

I have never in my life could have imagined a wasp nest this size. Brother Bob finally released it's hold on our floor joists and he slipped it in a garbage bag, just in case!

Once we got it outside, we were able to take a closer look. It was an amazing sight to behold.

Bigger than a basketball. more like a nice sized beach ball. It had a feathery texture, in somewhat of a "scale like" pattern. Colors of gray, gold, white all swirled together. It was quite beautiful.

We had left it in the garbage bag behind the shed. I was trying to think what we should do with it. Next thing we knew, it was gone. Not sure what happened to it. Wish I had taken more pictures.

City Sights

2009-04-06T23:07:00.001-05:00

Random sights that caught my eye while in Chicago for the weekend.

Weekend of Food

2009-04-06T15:08:00.002-05:00

My friends and I hit Chi-town this past weekend. We ate amazing food and couldn't help but take pictures of the dishes to remind us!

Our Freak Snow Storm...

2009-04-02T00:27:00.003-05:00

On Sunday, March 29th, the alarm went off at 5:30am, I heard the snow plow go by....and I thought "Crap! The snow actually came!" I got up, did a quick, half asleep glance out the window and proceeded to get ready to leave. Honestly, I thought it was a light dusting! I walked out the door and was struck by this image. My arms were full but I managed to slip my hand in my purse and grab the camera, I thought if I made any sudden movements it might all go away! I wish that I would have taken more pictures, I don't think any of the days this winter were quite as beautiful. Driving to Church, the tree lined streets looked like postcards you send out at Christmas. I couldn't help but borrow a line from one of my favorite movies, French Kiss, "Beautiful, wish you were here!"

Little visitors...

2009-04-02T00:20:00.005-05:00

On Monday, March 23rd, a friend and I were standing in the Church parking lot. This adult rabbit kept hopping closer and closer, it was a little freaky, how close she got. We were perplexed for about a second, when suddenly all these little guys came out to eat dinner and check out the 'hood. It was a very cool experience.

O L D S T U F F

2009-04-01T23:52:00.004-05:00

Shortly after we took possession of the Church and parsonage, I went to the local library. I wasn't able to find out a lot of information but I did find these early photos. Someone told me that the Church was originally on Calhoun Street and it was moved. We obviously believe that it was a wooden structure. My brother has been up to the bell tower and the attic, he said there is a triangular window that we do not see from the outside. I'll have to see if I can get him up there to take some photos. There is no way in hell, I'm climbing up the "ladder" that runs up the side of the tower. The bell is still there, a rope hangs to the bottom and you can still ring it. I always let the kids who visit give it a go. Most of them think it's kind of cool. If you look at the pictures closely you can see a house on the left side of the church. The house is no longer there, instead I have a cement parking lot that is 60x120. Makes for a great place to hold an auction or yard sale. Perhaps this summer, maybe a party with the friends.

Temporary Digz.

2009-03-31T23:16:00.005-05:00

In May 2006, I officially moved back home. While the house was to be gutted, I moved into the Church. Little did I know that I would still be living in the Church three years later, but here I am. There is nothing better than waking up to the sun streaming in these beautiful stained glass windows. The accoustics are great for crankin' the tunes.

The down side is that I have no closets, no "real" kitchen, and no way to shower!

While I do appreciate the beauty of the Church, I am much desiring a "real" kitchen and bathroom.

Where to start?

2009-03-27T09:45:00.002-05:00

A fellow-rehabber suggested I blog about my "little" project. I thought it was a great idea and wished that I thought to do it over three years ago. So, alot of this is in hindsight, however I found this entry in one of my journals which kind of sets the stage for my mentality a year into this journey.

June 7, 2007
Somehow I must be proud of this small town I am from, I can hear myself over the years making fun of it, yet it would enter many conversations. I would always end those conversations with a confident chuckle and say “I’ll never move back there.”

So, here I am moved back and I’m listening for that sound that should follow me hitting rock bottom. Yet again, with the same sarcasm.

I left when I was 19 and went out to experience this big ol' world. I have had incredible experiences but I think the time finally came to come home. Now it's a going to be a full three years here in the Illinois Valley and I don't regret a moment of it.