Squee! We had our follow up walkthrough with Code Enforcement and, once again, W. Higginson is supportive, helpful, a wealth of knowledge. We are so lucky. In the next day or two, one more officer will come in and we'll be official for guests on the first floor, and I'll get one signature on the application for my esthetics salon. So exciting! 

Frontier Corporation, one of our lovely vendors, sent us a (surprise) welcome box full of samples, and some catalogs. I can't wait to get some of their products on the shelves. We've been adding things slowly, because what good are retail goods if you can't let people in the door, right? 

Magnolia House has completed the application to purchase a sunscreen dispenser for client use (at no charge to them) from the Melanoma Foundation of New England. The dispensers are part of their Practice Safe Skin program and I'm so in awe of this non-profit organization. Last year, I completed the Skinny on Skin program, a "free cancer education program for hair and beauty professionals". Estheticians see a lot of skin; massage therapists see even more. Nail techs and hair stylists are also in a advantageous place to keep an eye out for irregularities under/around the nails or on the scalp, ears, and neck. Even though I am definitely not qualified to diagnose, if you are on my table and I see something suspicious, I will refer you to a physician and then keep on asking you about it every time we see each other. 

​

I have some really great stories about this bathroom already. One involves the time BK took a few little pieces apart in order to do something about the hot water, which was turned off to this tub. 

​Who wouldn't want to soak in this magnificent piece of jade? 
Somebody. Somebody who realized they couldn't turn the hot water off at the spout.

So, we had an adventure.

First was the taking apart of things and the next was visiting a big box hardware store. I'm not naming any names, because we love all the places for home improvement around here. But standing on Aisle 697, looking at forty-eleven parts that weren't the same as part 9s/1H (or something like that) and when the associate approached, she just looked at the piece in BK's hand and said "OLD". 

Lady, we know. Because we don't even know what year the MH was built. Then, the super nice associate did what BK had already done, which was look around and shake her head. She named another place we should try, but warned us that it was going to be expensive, and then suggested we could try True Value. 

We went to True Value.
Everyone should go to True Value.
And give Mr. Michael West lots of love. 

He took the stem from B, started moving these magical upright shelves around and pulling out little parts, fussing with them, making things fit, and said "Okay. Try this first, but it's going to take two of you. One to turn the water on- you do that (he looked at me) and you do the yelling when the water sprays everywhere (he pointed at BK)."  

He went on to suggest that the seal had corroded and was probably in the pipe somewhere and the little parts he fit together on the original could create a water stop but he wasn't going to swear that it would work, and if it didn't he could order more things to get us there. And guess what? It worked.

.30 seal
.50 washer
.50 washer (in case the first .50 washer wasn't exactly the right size)
1.30 total spent, .80 fix. 
Magical. 

(eBay had the vintage replacement handles, Amazon had the shower curtain, Valspar had the right color paint, and someone out there has the hand towels, so this green goddess is getting a makeover!) 

But not really, because we have been BUSY. 

We've been working on renovations and repairs, and that's going really well. A few pictures have been posted to the Renovations page. Some of them aren't finished, but a little peek/tease never hurt anyone, right? Can I just say, for the record, my husband is The Very Best? 

Our favorite roofer expects to start that project next week (Tuesday?). All.the.yays.

We have hit a bit of a snare with the external, metal staircase that is my heart's desire. Every company rep we've spoken with wants to sell us a spiral set (CE is checking on this, but it's looking like a big "no", so my hopes aren't up) and no one wants to build a straight one with a landing or two. (Don't make me go to welding school so I can do it my own self.) Boo! 

I submitted my online application to take the MBLEX and received my ATT (authorization to test) the very next day. I thank BK for paving the way; they must have been like, "Oh, another Cathcart. Fine."

The Trail Guide to the Body hasn't quite killed me yet. We are in the Pelvis and Thigh, wrapping up the muscle section and then it's just the Leg and Foot left. Chair massage lessons start next week and I'm stoked about that! 

Two lovely friends came to see me so I could test out a brand new to me product and their protocol. Let me tell you: it is magnificent. The first one is highly sensitive to everything, and sailed through the facial (and enzyme!) without any redness or heat at all. The second one has some complaints about hyperpigmentation and redness and by the end, they were erased. We were gobsmacked. Delicious. I can not wait to offer this service to my clients who are looking at mature skin issues. They'll be in love. 
​

Thank you to the very kind, patient, knowledgeable ladies at the City Clerks office, for answering my 500 questions and for all the help. This is a steep learning curve! 

You are wonderful and we appreciate you all so much! 

We were so busy all weekend long.  We've got a list of repairs and renovations, along with a list of ideas to tackle. There's something very satisfying about crossing something off of one of those lists. 

If you're following the Instagram account @magnoliahouse42066, then you might have seen some sneak peeks  there. I'm trying to get some pics posted to the Renovations page as well. It's a rough week of waiting until Brian has some free time. After 20 years of marriage,  the gender lines and divisions of labor are firmly established: I don't touch his tools and he stays out of my arts and crafts supplies. ;)

In terms of vendors, we got our spa candles ordered and placed the first order for one of the retail skincare lines. I'm very excited about both of those! We have a few odds and ends on the shelves- no spoilers because I'm going to do another contest soon. The next steps are the business license (tomorrow!), registering for my MBLEX (registering tomorrow,  testing soon!), speaking with a local business owner about the uniforms (tomorrow), and trying to make some progress on the fire escape issue. 

​Happy Monday! 

We got the best news Friday, during the first walkthrough with the City of Mayfield's ABC Officer/Fire Inspector/Code Enforcement Officer, Mr. William Higginson. 

​What does it mean to live in a small town? 

Brian was in the parking lot. William was in his truck, saw him, pulled in and said, "Hey, man. I'll be over here in an hour or so to check things out for y'all". And he was. 

The inspection went great. Except for a few small details, the Magnolia House meets standards. Brian made little notes on blue electrical tape and posted them everywhere we need to address something. We got so many options and good, solid advice. Thank you, William! 

Life is good in a small town. 

I spent my lunch break running errands- to the bank (woo hoo, business account!) and then to go pick out a couple of items for treatment rooms. Brian found the best blinds and curtains- not exactly Confederate Gray and not quite Great White and not quite French Blue but somewhere between them. I mean, gorgeous. His massage therapy room is really turning out lovely. Of course, the windows in my room are an odd width, 51 inches. What is that? 

Brian met with the owner of the roofing company this morning; it went really well, so many things can be fixed, he had a couple suggestions that no one thought of yet, we should have our bid by the end of the week, and that makes me immensely happy. 

This morning our Facebook page had 126 likes, so we had a contest and gave away either 24k bio-collagen masks or Korean beauty sheet masks. That was a lot of fun. I loved how excited the winners were. 

We've been contacted by a few people that have either pictures, stories, bits of history about the Magnolia House and we were so pleased. We've gotten a lot of fabulous feedback from people in the community. My favorite thing to hear is "Mayfield really needs that". Yes, it does! 

When we bought our home in 2002, my mom came over with bread and salt. She said that bread and salt were a traditional housewarming gift. She handed me the bread and proceeded to go around the house, sprinkling the salt.

I thought she was insane. But she was Mom, and southern girls don't argue with their mothers, so...okay. 

Fast forward to today: I took a mixture of salt, dried sage, and lavender over to the House. I sprinkled the salt on all the window sills and the entrances, then saged downstairs, upstairs, and the magnificent landing. Truth: burning sage does not smell like one would expect and it always surprises me. 

A friend asked me why, and the answer is part of the transition. Salt and sage are purifying and protecting in many cultures and belief systems. Lavender offers peace and tranquility, calming. After all of the cleansing, I swept the entire house. It made it more mine. 

After Brian got off work, we moved another truckload of random shelving, chairs, the cash register (happy businesswarming to me!), some paintings Brian picked out for his room (courtesy of the very Nice Rock Shop -this store also carries an excellent sage spray for those of you who have a little interest in cleansing/smudging) and photographs my little brother bought for me because he said they "look like fancy spa pictures". Find this artist (@resa_b_ on IG or here). I'm biased, but whatever. She's fantastic. 
 

The previous owners have begun to move things out, and Brian spent yesterday moving some things in. This is not an enviable task for anyone, although our home seems to be taking deeper breaths as those larger pieces (thank you again, Shannon and Pear Tree Mall) leave. It also means it's time for the damp mop and the Murphy's over here. Hello, dust bunnies! 

This morning, I dodged a bookshelf that is no longer in the hallway and had a laugh about habit and muscle memory. I bumped that shelf approximately four times with my shoulder before learning to twist slightly out of the way. B tasked me with tagging all of the items that I want moved next week. That's exciting.

If you've ever met my husband, you might know, or at least suspect, that he's constantly organizing and reorganizing a to-do list in his head. You might also know that he already works a full-time job and became a LMT to fill up his part-time hours. He's currently at work at his real, full-time job, and won't have much free time until Monday of next week. (Which I think is actually pretty perfect, because the lovely sellers still need time to wrap up things on 7th without us hovering.)

Although he's fond of telling people I made him get his license, the truth is that when I went back to school to become an esthetician, he said maybe he'd go back to school too, and maybe he'd become a massage therapist. Okay, then, Get busy with that. (You can't threaten or tease a person who's been an educator by talking about continuing your education in some way. You'll find yourself enrolled before you can blink.)

So, that's the update on our bit of progress and some BK, my awesome husband and partner. He's also a wonderful father. Just ask the smaller one who started piano lessons a few weeks ago and now has the prettiest little Kimball piano sitting in the foyer of The House.