Picture of a Home

Dear Readers,

After a quick visit to my auntie's blog post about their new country home, I was left feeling like I should start my post off with a disclaimer. It was going to say blah-blah-blah about how disorganized, unfinished and not-put-together our new home is at the moment. All the reasons why I don't get much done in a day.

You get the idea.

But I stopped myself because as I thought about how to tell you about my life's lack of structure and cohesiveness, I realized one very important thing... It's still my life.

I love my life.

I love every move we've made.They have all been hectic and tiring. But so far they have all been for the right reasons and we felt very thankful to be in whatever place we were in at the time.

I love the memory of having our very first home unpacked, set up and organized in the first week...

I love remembering the faces of our friends that helped us move into an apartment when we told them that not only was it on the second floor but the apartment itself had an upper level so half our stuff had to be carted through three narrow doorways and up two flights of stairs...

I love the memories of the year or so we spent living close to my folks and doing all kinds of things together...

 I love how the puzzle pieces came together for us to move back to the city for a year and the change of pace that got us walking to near-by attractions and enjoying having everything at our fingertips... 

Now I love that we are getting our kids off a busy street in a big city and back to a smaller town.

And I really love that the timing worked out just right and everything came together and we are, for the very first time, living our very happy, and yes, disorganized, lives in a house we bought .

So I'm not going to apologize for what I haven't done.

We're busy living.

And I'm not sorry about that.

Nope, not one little bit. 

Hmmm... that said,  I think I'll send my three children to my auntie's house and we'll see then if I can manage to catch up with her!

***

So here she is.

She's a brick house.

We love her mighty-mighty!

Yay for no siding to worry about! Yippee for only trim to paint!

She sits on a quiet street in a town that I think is just the right size - big enough to have the kinds of things we really need but small enough to still have that small-town feel.

She sets way back from the road.

Yay for safer children!

It is such a luxury to have an attached garage to park in.

Well, I should say it will be, once all the boxes are out of there.

Oh, and then Mr. Loggerhead will probably decide to do some project in there and there won't be room for my rig anyway!

Yay for garage door openers!

***

And in we go.

I included a few of the shots the realtor had from previous owners... it's fun to see what it was like before. The after-shots are much more realistic... at least for us.

I got a kick out of the modern vibes compared to our country homespun style.

The poor interior decorators that did the house for the previous owners is probably rolling over in their silks and brocades, groaning as we dismantle their efforts and set a whole new tone...

Frankly, it looks like a "make-over" show... but backwards.

Modern to Primitive.

This is the formal living room.

It also doubles as the dining room.

The floors are beautiful wood and the walls are a nice sage.

I didn't even have to paint them.

Yay for Someone before us who painted over the purple!

The kitchen needs the most work.

I really need to paint those cabinets.

Someday.

Yay for potential!

This is the den.

We also eat (informally) in here.

This house has more room than we have furniture.

 Don't worry, we'll fill it up.

That's just how it works.

The floor is a wonderful flagstone and the walls and ceiling are completely paneled in tongue and groove wood. It's the warmest room of the house. The book cases in the older photo are on the wall you can't see - across from the fireplace.

Yay for enough book-space!

The children instantly christened the playroom floor with toys and it's never been the same since, nor is it likely to be anytime soon.

The floor is super easy to clean and you can't beat that for this type of room!

Yay for less toys under foot in the rest of the house!

The school room is the heart of our house. It was unpacked second only to the kitchen. We spend lots of time in here so it's the most organized so far.

The walls are a nice mellow, learning yellow.

Again, not my doing.

Yay for glimpses of organization!

Our room.

We hope to get some rest one of these days.

This is where that is supposed to happen.

We"ll see.

Yay for possibilities!

Next door, the boys room.

Already painted a nice blue.

I guess sometimes you get lucky.

But not lucky enough to avoid having your son dump every single box of toys in his room the second after moving in.

Yay for getting lucky!

Or not.

We gave Bee the master bedroom.

It's actually the same size as ours but hers has an attached bath.

We like the bath across the hall from ours better.

We like our closet better.

We like being able to see what's going on in the driveway from our bedroom better.

Bee is just happy to have her own bathroom.

Yay for everyone happy in their place!

Speaking of bathrooms...

There are four.

That is amazing coming from a house with one.

Yay for... well... just Yay!

Then there's this.

A pool.

In the ground.

In the house.

It's empty and people ask if I'm scared to fill it

Really I'm more worried about it like it is.

Because, with three small children, who needs an indoor, in-ground, hole!?!

After all, I can jump in and save them if they fall in the water.

But what can I do if they fall in now?

They can learn to swim...

not fly!

There is also a hot-tub and a sauna.

The people who built this house were apparently bent on having it all.

Our goals were a bit more modest - lots of space and a good deal.

Yay for lots of work, hassle and expense!

Wait, what am I saying?

I request a do-over.

This one's for you.

Yay for all of you lucky enough to have a good friend with a pool!!!

That's worth cheering about.

***

In a lot of ways we bought this house for it's yard.

It's about an acre.

Yay!

It has trees.

Yay!

It is entirely fenced.

Yay!

There is tons of room to garden.

Oh, and tons of yard work to do, of course.

Yay!

The pool room has glass sliding doors all the way around so you can open them all for an in-door/out-door feel with no worries about sunburn --- only worries about drowning.

Yay!

There is a patio.

Yay!

Our neighbors are on large lots too so the houses have big spaces between them and they back up against a lot behind a church so we don't have anyone super close-by. great

Yay for space and privacy!

***

If you didn't gather how excited we are about our new home, well then... well then...

Well then you should be reading something else because your problems must be big.

Bigger than yard work.

Bigger than no sleep.

Bigger than our moving mess.

Bigger than hubby hogging the garage.

Bigger than icky kitchen cabinets.

Bigger than upset interior designers and backwards make-overs.

Even bigger than our pool.

I'm not even sure there is a disclaimer to cover that one.

Love,

Home is Here

in NE