Slowly we are working through the seemingly endless sea of boxes as we get settled into the house. It’s going amazingly slowly – when we moved into our rental house in Smithville, we had the house set up and ready to go in 48 hours. Seriously, art on the walls, everything unpacked and boxes broken down – in 48 hours.
Moving into Smithville, we HAD to get everything set up. Nephew Andrew, his wife Melissa and daughter Kyleigh were coming to spend spring break week with us (which had been planned the previous fall). Necessity really is the mother of invention..
Since we put the lake cottage on the market during the height of Illinois’ lockdown, we hired people to pack and move the contents of the cottage to us here in central Texas. These days I’m unpacking boxes labeled like the one in the pic above. What exactly is “you know” or “n shit”? Or worse, the are labeled like the box below…
So until we get the ranch to a photographable stage, here’s what we learned living in a rental home for 19 months.
- You really can make anyplace feel like home. Just pull out your favorite pieces, make a comfortable seating area, and invite some family or friends over. When our friend Matthew visited last fall he saw our living room (with furniture from the lodge) and said, I know this place!
2. Kitchen layouts really, really do matter. Although our rental had a nice looking and spacious eat in kitchen, it drove both John and me crazy. The sink was opposite from the fridge so to wash veggies or take raw poultry to the sink, you had to skirt around the island. When John made coffee in the mornings he had to do-si-do around the island to get to the water dispenser and fridge. Repeat after me – put your sink in the middle of your kitchen work triangle.
3. Neighbors can really enhance your experience. We got SO lucky with Adam and Ginny next door. I’m sad I cannot find a pic of them together on my phone and super surprised that I cannot find a pic of their dogs, Dixie and Gus. One of my daily rituals was to walk out almost every day to pet those dogs and get a few dog licks across my chin.
Ginny and Adam frequently shared goodies from their garden, homemade boudin and sausages, and even chorizo. Adam also helped us move from Smithville and recently brought his brother and another friend over to help usher the pool table in place in the great room. I really miss our chats at the fence.
4. Make the most of your environment. One of the great things about living in Smithville was how we could easily walk to many different restaurants, shops, the library or even the grocery store. I’m really glad we had the opportunity to experience that, especially since we cannot walk to anything from our forever home.
Another fun aspect of Smithville is that it is frequently used for filming movies and television shows. In fact, while we lived there, they were filming the Amazon Prime series, “Panic.” It’s based off a young adult series of books by Lauren Oliver. The funny thing is that we would notice a new store or restaurant only to find that it was a fake front created just for the show. So let’s play a game – are the following photos of real establishments or fake? Answers will be below.
Ok, have you guessed? Here goes:
- The Blazer – very real and very fun. There is an intimate speakeasy bar in the back, open on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Otherwise, a great place for lunch or dinner outside or in.
- Richards County Sheriff Department – fake. Smithville is in Bastrop County. In fact, there is no Richards County in Texas.
- Front Room Wine Bar – real and another great restaurant option in downtown Smithville.
- Lyle and Sons Pharmacy- fake
- Main Street Convenience – also fake
- Roy’s at the Emporium – fake again
- Dot’s Diner – a great place for home cooking. Just kidding! It’s fake!
- The Grand Movie Theatre – another fake front!
- Smithville General Store – real and a cute home goods store with a coffee bar in the back
- Mane Street Hair – another fake front
- PS Theatre – real, although I don’t know if they are running still since COVID-19 shut down so much this year.
- Rio Social House- real and recently opened cafe and bar.
Pics of the house will be forthcoming (I promise!) as we sort through the boxes and find a place for everything and get everything in place. In the meantime, we hope you enjoyed your Halloween.
Since I had to travel last year for Halloween and could not attend our neighbor’s party, I decided to wear my costume from last year for a socially distancing party of 2.
Stay safe and thanks for stopping by!
Hugs, Libby
Fun Halloween game!! and awesome hat! 😀
Big hugs to you both!
Libby and John~~
I am sure your hearts made Smithville’s big heart bigger.
❤️Lorri
Just visiting your blog to see how “y’all” are doing down in Texas!
I remember going to see the Tree of Life with Gma “Nette” at a little theater in downtown Dayton when it came out – it’s neat your rental home is across the street from where it was filmed! Good memories 🙂
Flora – how cool that you saw that movie with Gma Nette! You know she and her siblings graduated from Smithville High School – John and I walked to the building and were allowed to go upstairs to the large auditorium where she would have walked across the stage at graduation. Same flooring that she and countless others crossed!