330 Lynn Drive: A familiar sight

These boots are favorites of our boys!  They were lined up neatly in our garage this week, and it made me smile.  This is just a glimpse into our home and the home that our house at 330 Lynn Drive has become.

In case you're wondering, the other 'cow' boot was outside drying in the sun.  Son #1 wore them down to the creek, and "It just fell in, Mommy."  Does the fact that he was talking on my cellphone to his grandmother have anything to do with it just 'falling in'?  I'm sure that it did.  Never a dull moment at 330 Lynn Drive!

Saucer Magnolia

Thanks to the help of my aunt & a dear friend I've solved the dilemma about the tree in our front yard.  I've wanted DESPERATELY to know what kind of tree it is, so I'm thankful to have learned that it's a Saucer Magnolia.  Yes, we WILL be planting one of these at our new house when we move.  It will always remind me of this sweet little house that I will dearly miss.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about it if you'd like to read more.  Enjoy!

The Nashville Flood of 2010 and a sump pump

If you haven't heard, Nashville experienced one of the worst floods in our state's history last weekend.  I can't begin to articulate what it's been like to see friends all over our city who lost everything in the flood.  However, the beautiful story that has unfolded is our city's citizens coming out in droves to help loved ones, friends, and strangers as they seek to rebuild.  WE ARE NASHVILLE is the mantra that we now chant as our community has come together, embraced each other, and fearlessly pushes forward to heal, to help and to rebuild.  If you're interested in donating to flood victims, a friend had a great list on her blog of agencies working w/flood victims.

Before we moved into 330 Lynn Drive, I never HEARD of a sump pump; I had no earthly idea what it did.  The original owners that we purchased the house from had put in this REALLY, REALLY nice waterproofing system including a sump pump before we bought the house. Over the past years that we've lived here, it's worked beautifully when we had an occasional storm, and I was thankful.  However, my thankfulness SOARED this weekend as the STORM of ALL STORMS came through and as I watched our neighbors on both sides (and many others in our neighborhood for that matter) have flooded basements.  Our sump pump was working overtime, and it beautifully did it's job.  I wanted to HUG the sump pump last weekend and even told a friend I wanted to make it some cookies because of my gratitude to it!  And, our sweet little creek in the backyard, oh how it swelled, but it never crept over into our backyard.  How thankful we were for this!

So tonight, we sit in a nice, warm, dry house and so thankful for the foresight of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the original owners. (Remember, I mentioned they built it like a tank!)  Our hearts, however, are heavy and burdened for those around Nashville who have lost so much.  Please consider giving monetarily to support Nashville Flood victims.

Rain, Rain GO AWAY

In case you missed it, Middle & West Tennessee got hit w/MAJOR rain and flooding this weekend. I must confess that I didn't believe the "hype" that we'd heard from the meteorologists all week long. They kept telling us that we were going to get LOTS of rain. I, honestly, didn't think anything about it this morning when the rain began. However, after running to the post office twice in one hour (it's a LONG story!), I noticed a VISIBLE change in the amount of water on the streets.

When I got home, I looked in our backyard. My husband and I had been watching our creek all morning. The water was clearly rising, and we actually laughed, "Wow, the water's getting higher and flowing quickly." This time, however, I was a big more alarmed as our creek turned first into a raging river followed by a pond; finally, it was a growing lake in our backyard. Thankfully, the water finally subsided, and it never got over the "hill" into our backyard. I didn't get a great picture (I was trying to protect my camera), but maybe you can see how large our lake got this morning.

This will be another story that we add to 330 Lynn Drive's history--the day that the creek turned into a lake. So, we're very thankful that our house didn't flood and are mindful of those experiencing the chaos that these rains have brought.

The Office

I remember the first time that we looked @ 330 Lynn Drive over 4 years ago.  My husband and I were scouting out the basement and downstairs bedroom & bath and immediately thought about the possibility of renting out that space to a single friend from church (which we did for 18 months and was a FABULOUS experience!).  We exited the basement to check out the two-car garage; we were SUPER excited about this "amenity."  Our former house had a detached, one-car garage.  All I could think about was NO MORE DRENCHED clothing on rainy days!!

While scouting out the garage, we stumbled upon an Office at the opposite side of the basement nestled in the garage.  Every wall in the Office was lined with bookshelves.  If the screen porch and creek hadn't already sold me, the Office DID!  You see, my husband LOVES books....like REALLY loves books!  Most of them are in his office @ work, but he still has a ton of others!  The Office was PERFECT! 

After learning more about the previous owners, we learned that they had one son, who lived at home after college and attended law school here in Nashville.  His parents built the Office for him to use for his law studies and the separate bedroom & bath for him.  He, too, loved books like my husband, so we knew this house was a perfect fit!  Man, we're going to miss this place....

2 Little Ducks...

We had 2 guests @ our creek this week...a male & female duck! My father-in-law was here that day, and he said they were looking for a place to nest. I was HOPING against hope that they would nest in our creek. We would LOVE little ducklings around here (well, I guess they probably would hatch after we move. sigh.). Sadly, they were gone the next morning. :(

We had another pair of ducks a couple of years ago. They were so cute swimming in the creek! We tried to convince them to stay by bribing them with bread. The bribery didn't work for them; they were gone the next morning, too. :( There's lots of wildlife to enjoy in our backyard, which has been a pleasant surprise since we're in the middle of Nashville! Squirrels, chipmunks, deer, minnows and frogs in the creek.

Spring has arrived @ 330 Lynn Drive--Part 2!

I love Spring at our house! I mentioned it previously in this post. I'm IN LOVE with this pink tree in our front yard. I wish, wish, wish that I knew what kind it is because I'm DEFINITELY planting one at our new house when we relocate.