Feeling Thankful

This week was Thanksgiving week, a week to spend even more time being thankful than usual. This Thanksgiving was a bit different than years past. We had originally booked a flight to come back to Indiana, but with Covid numbers increasing in both Florida and Indiana, travel seemed unnecessarily risky, so we chose to stay home and celebrate virtually with the people we couldn't see in person, and have a small Thanksgiving with my parents, niece, and nephew.

We were certainly missing family, but we did not miss out on excellent food. I think I ate more this past week than I typically do in two weeks.

The holiday also meant some extra time off of work for both of us, so it meant more fishing, and more work on the house.

If you've seen my facebook, you know we started off Thanksgiving morning with a short kayak trip down the canal to do some fishing. On Scott's first cast he snagged quite a Snook, which managed to drag Scott, kayak and all, into some mangroves before snapping his line. That was all I needed to see to realize that I was not prepared to catch a fish from the kayak, so I spent my time paddling around, eyes peeled for Scott's next catch. We managed to hook a couple small fish, nothing like the monster Scott had on his line that first cast.

After and hour or so, we headed back to get a coat of paint on the dining room (finally!).

Last week we got the first coat of paint on the ceiling, so this week we taped off the ceiling with tape and paper so we could spray the walls. It worked out great, the line between the wall and ceiling was awesome, but pulling the tape off took some of the paint/spackle with it, so I re-spackled around the entire room and Scott worked on sanding the living room ceiling (I'm beginning to think we'll never finish a room).

Thanksgiving afternoon/evening was filled with delicious food, Padre cooked a standing rib roast on the egg, and family time.

Friday morning Scott and my dad took off on the boat super early and I spent the day with my mom, niece, and nephew playing games and doing crafts.

I mentioned in my last post that I wanted to work on some non-house projects this week; while I did start two projects, they aren't done yet, but I'm excited about them!

Remember the table I bought from Facebook marketplace? I stripped, sanded, white washed, and re-sanded the table and am in the process of clear coating it.

I love the lighter look without the stain. One perk of having no floors is that I was able to bring the table inside for the clear coating.

Mom and Miah helped me with the stripping process and Miah removed all of the cushions from the chairs so mom and I could work on getting them ready to be reupholstered.

I wasn't great at taking photos of all of this work, but here is a peak at the fruits of our labor:

Brand new fabric on the chair cushion definitely helps clean up the look. The eight chairs I bought with the table are actually from two different sets, four of each kind, so once they're done, the matching fabric will tie everything together.

I also started work on this cute little end table I bought off of Facebook Marketplace for $10. It was in need of new paint, and I wasn't sure what color I would paint it, but wanted to dive right in to stripping it.

With the top stripped and the rest sanded, I really liked the light look of the wood. The clean top is begging for some pizzaz, so I'm thinking I'll stencil a pattern on the top before clear coating. More to come!

If you've paid close attention to our photos you'll know that we don't have any of our air vents in place. That's because when we moved in they were dirty. Like, bad. Like, I took them down with gloves on, chucked them in the bathtub with hot water and disenfectant and let them soak overnight, bad. I cleaned them the first week we had access to the house and they've just been sitting, waiting for white paint. I finally bought the paint and cleared out room in the garage to spray paint them (a feat, all of our flooring, plus the table and 8 chairs, plus the upper cabinets from above the peninsula, are all in the middle of the garage floor).

See how nice and new the painted ones look? We aren't too far from putting them up, we just had to also spray paint some screws because in my rush to get them down I misplaced them.

Sunday was probably the most eventful day we've had thus far, for a couple of reasons. First, we finished touching up the crown moulding in our bedroom, it looks so good. Pictures just don't do it justice. It's so clean, and nice I love it!

We also, started, and finished, the crown moulding in the entry.

Check out these progress pics though:

We went from bumpy, terrible ceiling in the corners, to pretty bad looking crown (maybe "bad" isn't the best word, but it's scary to say the least!), to filling nailholes and caulking gaps for a better look, and finally painting and touching up to show off our finished crown moulding.

What a difference a caulk gun makes. It's like night and day!

The second reason Sunday was so eventful was because we had two visitors... of the MANATEE variety!!

When my parents first moved to Florida I really, really, really wanted to see a dolphin and a manatee in the wild. Not at the same time, that would be awesome, but I would settle for separately. While we did eventually see both, I've been DYING to see manatees in our canal. There are manatee signs all over the place and I'm constantly asking my dad and Scott if they think manatees REALLY come this far up the canals. They've both said yes, they wouldn't have "manatee zone" signs if they didn't. But until Sunday, I was not convinced. On a break from working I was sitting on the lanai looking at ceiling fans online, as one does, and Scott yelled "manatees, manatees!" so I shuffled over (still not convinced they come this far up the canal). When I got outside the pool cage I could see the tell-tale ripples manatees make when they are just below the surface of the water. It was a mom and a baby, floating right by our house! They were out in the middle, and king of difficult to get a photo of, but I did try! Finally, Scott walked three doors down to the end lot (an empty lot with a dock and boat lift), and waited on the dock to see if they surfaced closer. I got the "come here now" text and my feet moved faster than they've ever moved. I ran through a construction zone, jumped over temporary construction fencing, and ran through two other yards in my slippers to get to Scott. When I got there, I looked down, saw the mud stirred up (also a sign of manatee activity) and had my camera ready for when they surfaced.

I wasn't trying to get our shadows in the photos, but LOOK HOW CLOSE THEY ARE!!! They were literally directly below the dock.

Manatees are one of my favorite animals, they're so graceful and gentle and I love the noise they make when they come up for air. The little puff of air, like a sigh. They move so slowly, and just sort of drift around, which is why they have the scars all over them; they are often in the way of boat propellers. This particular Mama has been through a lot it seems.

If you haven't seen manatees in person, you should know they are HUGE. Hundreds of pounds (800-1200 according to google), so standing on that dock and having them slowly rise up underneath us was a bit surreal, and almost overwhelming. The ocean has a way of reminding you you're small, both with the sheer size, and number of creatures it holds and with the overall vastness. It has a grounding effect, putting into perspective just how tiny our lives are, comparitively speaking.

That brings me to what we are thankful for this year. Scott and I are both thankful to have jobs in a time when so many don't. I'm thankful that mine isn't asking me to travel, that has allowed us to buy, and redo, this house. I'm thankful we have the time, and the ability (mostly) to redo this house. I'm thankful to be close to my parents, niece, and nephew. They've been our "people" during the whole pandemic, the ones we have spent time with to help keep us sane, and not feel so alone. They've also turned into quite the helpers (in Padre's case, more than a "helper", he's been the foreman, and lead many projects). They have also made sure we've had home cooked meals while our kitchen is doubling as a tool shed. I recognize that not everyone has that, and I am beyond thankful to be so lucky. I'm thankful for our family in Indiana that understood when we said we couldn't come home for Thanksgiving. This blog is for them, to hopefully make them feel a little bit closer to the "Florida Dittmers" while the world spins on and our projects continue. Hopefully it's a few minutes of weekly entertainment. Finally, I'm thankful for all of the friends and family who have reached out to say they read the blog and love our projects, there are days when this whole undertaking feels a bit overwhelming, so the support is absolutely appreciated!

Hopefully you had a fantastic Thanksgiving and were reminded of all of the reasons you have to be thankful as well!