Christmas tree pictures.

LaraLove said:

That's a Santa, actually. An old-style (Pre-Coca Cola) Santa in a gold robe with a rope tie and a walking stick.

And my kitchen cabinets, ugh... I hate them. They're standard apartment cabinets in light oak and it chaps my bum that we have 170-year-old maple floors and they put in stock light oak cabinets. At least stain them maple! So many lost opportunities in the renovation of this cotton mill...

Click to expand...

MoochNNoodles said:

Thank you.    It's one of my favorite pieces.  DH bought it for our tree when we were engaged.

Click to expand...

Stewball said:

I do apologise to Santa. I do like them but of course I can't see your floor.
Mine are d i s g u s t i n g.
A cotton mill? Do tell more.

Click to expand...

Stewball said:

How long ago was that?

Click to expand...

MoochNNoodles said:

We have a lion with his hat on!

PC020859.JPG

• MoochNNoodles
• Dec 15, 2013

It's actually Mooch's but she doesn't mind sharing.  I've got Christmas things up all over the house.  I've got a long lighted garland that goes all around 3 of the walls in the dining to kitchen areas.  Lights all around the living room, lights in the foyer... I love it!  DH is always too crazy busy this time of year to get into decorating the outside much.  I'd love to someday.  But I get to "do it up" inside for now!
[/quote

No reindeer on the roof then!

Click to expand...

LaraLove said:

That sounds wonderful. You've more or less got everything around you except that some things are too expensive.
I've just looked at Oliver' s pictures. He's gorgeous. Where did you get the paw thing on his collar?
So you're not completely alone with the children with their dad if you've got your boyfriend there. I take it you rent your apartment. Would you not be allowed to paint your cupboards?

The building I live in was built in 1844. It was a cotton mill until 1996 when a terrible storm came through. The building was flooded and a tornado took the roof off. There was so much damage, the company opted not to resume operations. There's also another building, of which we have a view of from our 12-foot-tall windows, that was built around the turn of the century. On the other side of that is a river. Then, up the hill, there's what was a dye mill. They'd spin the cotton into yarn and take it up the hill to be dyed. So a local family with money and a good reputation bought it all soon after it all shut down. After gaining some investors, they went to converting the two cotton mill buildings into apartments. The first floor is a parking garage and then there's a yoga studio, fitness center (which has the scale on which they weighed the cotton so many decades ago), a sauna, and a couple of offices for a life coach and an aromatherapist (or something like that). 

The dye mill has been converted into various things: a music/events venue called the Ballroom, a coffee shop, a pub, a brewery is opening soon, a middle school (of all things), and a gas station/general store with a restaurant that serves high-end fare. It's basically a gas station, serving white table cloth food on wire tables. The strangest thing, but all local ingredients from farms and butchers, bread and pastries baked daily, etc. Entrees average $20/plate. I've never eaten one. Too expensive. But their sandwiches and pizzas a reasonably priced. The general store is mostly organic products along with local produce and meat. Also locally brewed beers and then wines from North Carolina vineyards. A small section of regular convenience store stuff is way over-priced. And behind it all, they've just finished constructing some extremely high-end condo lofts.

Then, across the street, there's the post office, an old book store, and a new store that's just opened to sell local vendors' handmade crafts. There's an annual farmer's market and a summer music series (with folk and bluegrass artists) every Saturday starting in May and running through August where several vendors set up tables. I suppose this store provides the opportunity to purchase those sorts of goods throughout the year. And then there's the properties company that owns the mills and most of the houses around here. It's a little town without a single stoplight. A jewel, really, about 30 minutes from my university. I feel very fortunate to live here. Despite its many flaws (specifically with the quality of the renovations), it's a beautiful place to live.

And specifically about the floors, they have these black grooves, tiny, look almost like little thick staples, and in some places the metal is still there, trapped in the floor under the thick layer of clear coating. They're called travelers. The machines that the cotton ran through would periodically spit out these metal pieces and they'd travel across the floor and settle in the pathways between the rows of machines. The heavy carts that workers would roll by to collect the yarn would push the travelers into the wood. Decades of this resulted in the floors being marked in these places. So as you look at the floors, you can see where the machines were--as that wood looks fairly unscathed; and where the workers walked and pushed their carts--as that's where the floor is all marked from these travelers. That was actually the selling point that made my English major/writer boyfriend fall in love with this place.

Click to expand...

LaraLove said:

The building I live in was built in 1844. It was a cotton mill until 1996 when a terrible storm came through. The building was flooded and a tornado took the roof off. There was so much damage, the company opted not to resume operations. There's also another building, of which we have a view of from our 12-foot-tall windows, that was built around the turn of the century. On the other side of that is a river. Then, up the hill, there's what was a dye mill. They'd spin the cotton into yarn and take it up the hill to be dyed. So a local family with money and a good reputation bought it all soon after it all shut down. After gaining some investors, they went to converting the two cotton mill buildings into apartments. The first floor is a parking garage and then there's a yoga studio, fitness center (which has the scale on which they weighed the cotton so many decades ago), a sauna, and a couple of offices for a life coach and an aromatherapist (or something like that). 

The dye mill has been converted into various things: a music/events venue called the Ballroom, a coffee shop, a pub, a brewery is opening soon, a middle school (of all things), and a gas station/general store with a restaurant that serves high-end fare. It's basically a gas station, serving white table cloth food on wire tables. The strangest thing, but all local ingredients from farms and butchers, bread and pastries baked daily, etc. Entrees average $20/plate. I've never eaten one. Too expensive. But their sandwiches and pizzas a reasonably priced. The general store is mostly organic products along with local produce and meat. Also locally brewed beers and then wines from North Carolina vineyards. A small section of regular convenience store stuff is way over-priced. And behind it all, they've just finished constructing some extremely high-end condo lofts.

Then, across the street, there's the post office, an old book store, and a new store that's just opened to sell local vendors' handmade crafts. There's an annual farmer's market and a summer music series (with folk and bluegrass artists) every Saturday starting in May and running through August where several vendors set up tables. I suppose this store provides the opportunity to purchase those sorts of goods throughout the year. And then there's the properties company that owns the mills and most of the houses around here. It's a little town without a single stoplight. A jewel, really, about 30 minutes from my university. I feel very fortunate to live here. Despite its many flaws (specifically with the quality of the renovations), it's a beautiful place to live.

And specifically about the floors, they have these black grooves, tiny, look almost like little thick staples, and in some places the metal is still there, trapped in the floor under the thick layer of clear coating. They're called travelers. The machines that the cotton ran through would periodically spit out these metal pieces and they'd travel across the floor and settle in the pathways between the rows of machines. The heavy carts that workers would roll by to collect the yarn would push the travelers into the wood. Decades of this resulted in the floors being marked in these places. So as you look at the floors, you can see where the machines were--as that wood looks fairly unscathed; and where the workers walked and pushed their carts--as that's where the floor is all marked from these travelers. That was actually the selling point that made my English major/writer boyfriend fall in love with this place.

Click to expand...

LaraLove said:

Just got the presents under the tree tonight. And Oliver happened to walk by while I was taking the shot!

XmasTree2013-2.JPG

• laralove
• Dec 14, 2013
• 1

Click to expand...

AbbysMom said:

Very pretty trees! I love seeing pictures of trees too! This isn't a great shot, but all I have right now. I'll have to take more. I also have a smaller tree in the dining room.

View media item 191011

Click to expand...

StarryEyedTiGeR said:

image.jpg

• starryeyedtiger
• Dec 17, 2013

Our Christmas Tree this year.

Click to expand...

Stewball said:

That sounds wonderful. You've more or less got everything around you except that some things are too expensive.
I've just looked at Oliver' s pictures. He's gorgeous. Where did you get the paw thing on his collar?
So you're not completely alone with the children with their dad if you've got your boyfriend there. I take it you rent your apartment. Would you not be allowed to paint your cupboards?

Click to expand...

LaraLove said:

The building I live in was built in 1844. It was a cotton mill until 1996 when a terrible storm came through. The building was flooded and a tornado took the roof off. There was so much damage, the company opted not to resume operations. There's also another building, of which we have a view of from our 12-foot-tall windows, that was built around the turn of the century. On the other side of that is a river. Then, up the hill, there's what was a dye mill. They'd spin the cotton into yarn and take it up the hill to be dyed. So a local family with money and a good reputation bought it all soon after it all shut down. After gaining some investors, they went to converting the two cotton mill buildings into apartments. The first floor is a parking garage and then there's a yoga studio, fitness center (which has the scale on which they weighed the cotton so many decades ago), a sauna, and a couple of offices for a life coach and an aromatherapist (or something like that). 

The dye mill has been converted into various things: a music/events venue called the Ballroom, a coffee shop, a pub, a brewery is opening soon, a middle school (of all things), and a gas station/general store with a restaurant that serves high-end fare. It's basically a gas station, serving white table cloth food on wire tables. The strangest thing, but all local ingredients from farms and butchers, bread and pastries baked daily, etc. Entrees average $20/plate. I've never eaten one. Too expensive. But their sandwiches and pizzas a reasonably priced. The general store is mostly organic products along with local produce and meat. Also locally brewed beers and then wines from North Carolina vineyards. A small
section of regular convenience store stuff is way over-priced. And behind it all, they've just finished constructing some
extremely high-end condo lofts.
Then, across the street, there's the post office, an old book store, and a new store that's just opened to sell local vendors' handmade crafts. There's an annual farmer's market and a summer music series (with folk and bluegrass artists) every
Saturday starting in May and running through August where several vendors set up tables. I suppose this store provides
the opportunity to purchase those sorts of goods throughout the year. And then there's the properties company that owns
the mills and most of the houses around here. It's a little town without a single stoplight. A jewel, really, about 30 minutes
from my university. I feel very fortunate to live here. Despite its many flaws (specifically with the quality of the
renovations), it's a beautiful place to live.
And specifically about the floors, they have these black grooves, tiny, look almost like little thick staples, and in some places the metal is still there, trapped in the floor under the thick layer of clear coating. They're called travelers. The
machines that the cotton ran through would periodically spit out these metal pieces and they'd travel across the floor and
settle in the pathways between the rows of machines. The heavy carts that workers would roll by to collect the yarn would
push the travelers into the wood. Decades of this resulted in the floors being marked in these places. So as you look at the
floors, you can see where the machines were--as that wood looks fairly unscathed; and where the workers walked and
pushed their carts--as that's where the floor is all marked from these travelers. That was actually the selling point that
made my English major/writer boyfriend fall in love with this place.

Click to expand...

MoochNNoodles said:

My breakable nativity is in the picture above with the lion in the santa hat.  It's harder to see it; but it's right in front of him.  My Mom picked it up many years ago at a craft fair.  She had a bigger one for under our family tree; so she let me start putting that one up in my room when I was in my early teens I'd say. It came with me when we got married.  I have a children's one under the big tree.  The baby in it in this picture is not the baby Jesus it came with.  He's missing at the moment; one of the kids ran off with several figures and I found them in the living room.  I need to look under the couch.  That cow belongs to the barn set I think too; not the Nativity.  Oh; and that's Noah filling in for a shepherd this year!  :doh3:
View media item 192285

Click to expand...

Stewball said:

I'm sure Noah wouldn't mind standing in for a shepherd.

Click to expand...

LaraLove said:

Thank you. The paw tag is for his microchip. I actually just switched it out last night to this Etsy tag that someone shared on here. 

Yea, my boyfriend is around but he works/sleeps weird hours, so we don't spend that much time together. And we do rent the apartment, so no altering the cabinets!

Click to expand...

Winchester said:

That's really cute; I think my grandchildren have something like that, too. (And there's nothing wrong with Noah being a shepherd.  )

Click to expand...

Stewball said:

I agree there's nothing wrong with Noah being a shepherd but he may complain. After all he was busy building a boat!

Click to expand...