They Should Warn You

If you knew that someone was going to take a picture of the outside of your home, that would be viewed by the world, how would you like your home to look?
I would like my home to be beautiful, with flowers in full bloom, a well manicured lawn (Allow me to dream! My boys mow the lawn and it's never well manicured). I'd love to have my windows clean and sparkling in the morning sun. I'd like everything to be in it's place, including cars parked in the garage (this too is just a dream), and the driveway would have the look of cobblestone. Yes, that's how I would like my home to appear to the world. Well . . . .
IT DOESN'T!!!
Nope. When you view my home on maps.google.com, from the street view, my dream picture is not what you'll see. What you will see are cars AND the lawn mower parked in the cracked and sinking driveway. Oh, and you'll also see one of my many refurbishing projects sitting out there too, which is really a normal site for our house. Once we had a stack of old doors, that we'd found for free, sitting in the driveway waiting to be put away. They sat there long enough that a neighbor added a couple of doors to the pile just to be funny. But what was really funny, was that another neighbor asked if she could buy those doors! But I digress. . . You will also see a big ol' dead spot in the side lawn. In fact, that's how we could tell what time of year the picture was taken. You can even see some neighbor kids skateboarding down the street. It's definitely NOT a model home picture!
So, since misery loves company, I looked at other homes of people I knew. I saw one home with the barbeque grill in the driveway, one with a big garbage can sitting on the lawn. There was a home with a work trailer sitting out front being held up by a chair, and their front door was left wide open. One home had a backhoe sitting in the driveway (they were getting ready to remodel). There were multiple homes with dead lawns and wilting flowers because the pictures were taken in the heat of the summer.
I know what you're thinking! "She must live in 'red-neck' territory!" I don't. But I wouldn't be surprised if my home won for the Best Redneck Yard. If the prize is a good one, I might just enter it myself.
I just have one question for the google people. . .
WHY DON'T YOU SEND OUT A WARNING NOTICE?
I probably would have cleaned up a little if you had.
Oh well, who said my home had to look perfect at all times. My home is not my life. My home is a place where I spend my life loving, serving, laughing and enjoying my family and friends. It is the place where I house my best memories (even if they appear a little "red neck" to the rest of the world).
And google people, I do have one more question. Do you need someone to help preview the pictures of the worst homes on the block? I might be willing to do that job for free.

Real Life STUFF

I enjoy blogging! It has been so much fun to let strangers into my home and give short home tours about stuff I've re-purposed, built, thrifted and decorated. But at this point I must confess to something, I've shown you only my best side. Yep, I admit that there has been a time or two when I've posted a lovely picture of my home that has been STAGED (insert "GASP!" here). What you see is everything looking perfect. What you don't see is the pile of stuff, off to the side, just out of the photo shot. You know what I mean---all that "stuff" that seems to naturally accumulate when you live in a family. Well, today I put on my big girl panties and I'm going to show a "REAL LIFE" post.

BRACE YOURSELVES PEOPLE!!!
THIS WILL GET UGLY!

This is what my living room looks like today:

Now the advantage of having a living room, AND a family room, is that the living room should be the one room that stays clean so you're never embarrassed when someone drops by. NOT TODAY FOLKS! Today my living room is piled high with stuff.

This pile of stuff belongs to my only daughter. She's newly married and has moved across the country. She flew home for a few days to visit! There's her suitcase, bags of clothes that are belated birthday gifts, as well as more wedding gifts that her in-laws brought to our home. Yeah it's a lot of stuff! And I could clean it, but seeing that stuff warms my heart. It means my daughter is back home, if only for a few days, but she's back where I can talk to her and laugh with her and enjoy every minute I have with her! No, that pile of stuff is just fine, right where it is!

Then there's this pile of stuff:

This pile belongs to my third son. He's doing his Eagle Scout project right now. He is following in the steps of his two older brothers, who also did their Eagle projects collecting much needed hygiene supplies for a homeless shelter. This stuff represents the generosity of good friends and neighbors who are willing to give to strangers and to support my son. It also reminds me that I have MUCH to be thankful for because there are so many, many others who can only dream of the stuff I take for granted every day.

There! I did it! I showed you my REAL LIFE STUFF!
Do you think less of me? Will you come back to visit?
I hope so!

I really do enjoy showing off my beautiful stuff to all of you. But let's face it, it's the messy stuff of life that actually gives us the most joy and happiness and wonderful memories!!!

Old Dog, New Tricks

What is it about learning something new? It's both terrifying and exhilarating! That's one reason I started blogging, I wanted the challenge of learning to use a digital camera as well as learning more computer skills----I already have nun chuck skills (bad joke from Napoleon Dynamite movie). After talking for months about starting a blog, my daughter finally made me do it late one night. I am ever so grateful to her. I also have to thank Kim because she has been there to answer my dumb questions via email. We only know each other from blog land---she couldn't even pick me in a line up. Thanks Kim!
A few years ago I decided to take a stained glass class. I'd wanted to do it for about twenty years and the timing was finally right. We had tackled the job of remodeling our kitchen all on our own, (a future post) and I wanted one cabinet door to have a stained glass insert. The class was challenging but fun! Someday, when the time is right again, I plan to take another class.
The entire class had to make a small sun catcher as the first project. Much to the teacher's dismay I chose the door insert to be my second. Luckily, it turned out beautiful, thanks to a little help from the teacher.

Every time I walk into my kitchen and see my stained glass it makes me happy. It reminds me that it's important to continue to learn and that you can teach an old dog new tricks! What have you learned lately?

The Story of Our Home

Several years ago we were bursting at the seams of our old home----seven people in four TINY bedrooms was just a little too close. We sold our home and had plans to build a beautiful little two story. Months passed and our plans weren't coming together, so we had to choose Plan B. We searched for an existing home. We needed to find one that would be suitable for our entire family. At the time our children ranged in age from high school to toddler. While driving around one day, in a neighborhood we liked, we found this home. My first reaction was, "It's the ugliest house in the neighborhood!"(Please don't be offended if your house looks like this). It wasn't my style and had been a beaten-up rental for years. At the time we knew that our prayers of finding a home for our family had been answered---just not the way we thought. Now we know we were blessed with more than what we had asked. Our family has flourished here.
This home allowed me to develop my designing talents. I enlarged a picture of our home, placed it on a light board, put paper on top and I began to redesign. How could I make this home mine without doing an extreme makeover? Finally everything fell into place (good thing because several windows were broken and rocks were falling off).

We put our boys to work demolishing and found a friend to reconstruct. Now I smile every time I see my home because it truly is my home. If your home doesn't make you smile, think about changes you can make. It doesn't have to be a major overhaul, maybe just a fresh coat of paint on the door or some beautiful flowers planted along the walk. Spring is a great time to make changes to the outside of your home.

This picture was taken last fall when the grass was green and flowers were in bloom.