Friday I went to the Slater Museum with my mother - The building looks just like you are entering a Harry Potter movie. Heavy wooden doors, stained glass windows, a large old brick turret, and little hidden details everywhere. We are lucky enough to only live about 3 blocks from it and could walk there if we wanted. It's part of our cities high school and when we went school was in session. Art students filled the rooms with little stools and notebooks, studying and drawing. I felt a little disruptive as the old wooden floors throughout the building creak with every step, even if you try very hard to be quiet. In the gift shop they have a Bill Stanley book, the book that I thought had the history of house in it. It wasn't the one but the tour of the museum was worth it.
So I began the hunt again online for more Bill Stanley books about Norwich. As luck would have it someone just listed three of his books on Craigslist that same day. After contacting the seller with a hopeful note about finding our home she gladly offered them to us and for free. A pleasant surprise! So on Sunday dear hubby and I packed all the kids into the car and took a small ride to a neighboring town for them. On the way home I was a bad navigator, too busy flipping through the pages scouring for any little detail that may get us closer. But no luck yet.
Sunday night there was a beautiful sunset and a crescent moon. I called the kids in from leaf sledding down the hill in our yard - a much better alternative to the giant boulder filled mountain that heads straight into the road, the one they were originally sledding down! With all hands on deck, we started taking down the dining room wallpaper. Right away we realized we lucked out again. No watered down fabric softener, no scrapper, or hours needed - all you had to do was start at the top and pull down sheets. Aries and Odyn helped take turns pulling the sheets off the bottom, while Rob stood on a chair pulling at the top. The whole dining room was stripped in 45 minutes. A new record. Leaving me with plenty of time today to finish a crochet sampler blanket, a knitted scarf, or maybe even start painting.