How I met my house!

I am so excited to join this party!!!

We were looking and looking for houses for about 6 years!

Nothing was ever right to the point that I thought we would never find a house and we were destined to live in my parents upstairs apartment for forever!

I wanted a Victorian fixer upper and the hubby wanted a ranch!

He was not going to budge.. so I did... reluctantly!

I drove by our house for 2 years... looking at the for sale sign thinking 

"yah it is a brick ranch BUT look ... there is no yard" and every excuse I could think of!

Online too I kept running into our house...3 bedroom ranch I would read... not again I would think... I don't want that house!

But our house was persistent ... in perusing us!

So ... one day I finally said to the hubby that in order to clear my mind I needed to see this house!

Even though it was a ranch he did not even want to see it... it was too small... no yard... too old... too much work!

So we called our family friend/Realtor and asked to see it!
He thought we were crazy and really did not want to show it to us!

So on a rainy, dark and dreary day... we met and it was 

Love at first sight!

It was everything we did not know we wanted!

Within a month we closed on this house and spent the next month making it liveable... and we are now content to spend the rest of our lives making it a home!

We are so blessed!

What am I doing?

You are so sweet... I got a few emails from a few of you asking what I am up to...well,  a lot!

 We are working on our spring to do list and crossing things off slowly!

We got all the bushes removed from the front of the house

Grass planted 

The new shed delivered 

Patio set assembled 

Grill together

And that was just this weekend!

We are now looking for someone to help us put a foundation in for the shed and then assemble the shed!

Here is the one we bought!

It is perfect for our space I cannot wait to see it put together... better yet, filled with all the stuff that is taking up room on my patio!!

My father in law is coming over this week to finish pulling all the sumps from the bushes and then we need to paint the foundation!

One great thing  is when the bushes were removed we gained 4 more feet of  front yard!!!

I am now looking for ideas of perennials that I can plant in the front of the house... not bushes!!

I promise that I will be back to posting more regularly very soon ~ this week is my moms birthday, my dads birthday and their 39th wedding anniversary.... plus in a few weeks,  we are going on vacation and then we have a conference to go to for the hubby 

We are SUPER busy... but I like it that way!!

I just remembered I have not even updated my new year goals yet this month!

I am a week late!!

See... BUSY!!!

Let there be light!

Out with the old... this was a during as the hubby was changing out the lighting fixture on the patio

And this is the after...

Similar but much cleaner and a bit more modern too!!
It is an Oil Rubbed Bronze fixture and we got one for the front of the house too... including new numbers.
Our gift from the hubbys parents this year was a large light for the yard!
I am so looking forward to that being installed!

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We are in the process of cleaning the aluminum siding
Wow is that a task in a half!!!
In this picture I had already scrubbed it with cleanser... the hubby picked up some siding cleaner so maybe that will work!
If not, we will be painting the siding next year!

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As long as the rain holds out my father in law is coming down this Saturday to pull out all the shrubs in front of the house!
I cannot wait!!!

A long winters nap...

If you don't see me around for 2 months... I am in my neglected yard!

We moved here in November and with the exception of raking a bit and taking down some dangerous trees, we did nothing else to the yard. 

Prior to that the house was vacant for 3 years...

Here is our yard... in pictures!

BUSHES... coming out ASAP!

Back yard needs to be tilled and re~seeded!

We took down some dangerous trees in Nov ... the house was not breathing because of them

Buds... I think they are forsythia

Too  many roots!!!

St Francis... keeping watch!

English Ivy... I love it!!!

A stump with ivy... boy does that stuff travel... plus an overturned stone bench!

Our side yard!

As you can see we have a lot of work to do

We plan to do most of it ourselves... muscles here we come!!!

I will keep y'all posted with pictures!!

Click here for the Party!!!

I am joining Susan @ A Southern Daydreamer 

How FUN!!!

and

Stefany @ To Be Thode

House Pictures... in real life

I like to periodically add some house pictures for my away family and friends...

Here they are on a REAL day in FEB!

LIVING ROOM

Making some changes in the living room... painting the tables... hanging more pics... etc!

HALLWAY

drop leaf table was my grams

GUEST ROOM

OUR ROOM

KITCHEN

YARD

Belleek

I collect Belleek China

My favorite pattern is the  Kylemore Pattern 

I love anything and everything basket weave... 
even my wedding gown bodice was basket weave!

Anyway...  

Here is a peek at my Belleek collection

I was blessed to receive many of these pieces as gifts

 

Here is the hubby as a baby in a Kylemore  Frame

Lamp from my inlaws for my 30th and a candy dish (cough drops this time of year)

 

Vintage Sleigh from my Sister in Law

 

Water Carafe from my Parents

 

Small toy spill vase with claddagh

 

Lamp and castle remote control holder 

I have more to show you... as the year goes on. 

I change the belleek as the seasons change

Woodpecker!

Another I spy picture

One thing I enjoy about our new home is the trees in our back yard

On any given day I observe many different birds stopping by for a visit 

Today "woody" as I like to call him made a visit!

We also have a cardinal and a blue jay and a crow. I am looking forward to the return of the Robin Family!

The thing that is crazy about me even taking a picture of a bird is that I don't particularly like birds!

Things change I guess!

Now I buy them houses and feeders and food (many of them show up for the berry suet)...
I am looking forward to the nests and the eggs and the babies!

How I long for spring!

Especially with the blizzard brewing today!

PS: Christmas Tree Shops sells suet for $.89 and suet cages for $1.00 each!

Craft Area Complete

Well I did it... I finished my basement craft area to the best of my ability. 

I say to the best of my ability because right now we are waiting until the spring to paint the basement... we are waiting for the shelving to arrive....

One day too we are going to remodel the basement and I will have an actual craft room but for now... 

I have the space at the bottom of the stairs!

HERE is the before post of the basement

Here too are the BEFORE pics

 

  

As you can see what I really needed to do is to declutter and so it began!

I got rid of mostly all the cardboard boxes and excess papers and things that just did not belong in the craft area

Most of this stuff was from the move in November and then the Holidays arrived and everything was just left there and dumped there and ... forget the excuses!

I then began to compartmentalize everything... stickers and papers and glue and scissors and floral supplies and stamps and punches... well you get the picture!

Everything got a label and a home!

AFTER

I have a beautiful vision for what my craft room will look like in the future... here is what is looks like now. 

It is functional... I know where everything is and it is all easy to put back 

If I have someone over to craft,  they know where things are too

It is easier to be creative when everything is organized... even if it is primitive and not pretty!

Here is the view from the stairs

(yep there is a spool of thread under the ladder)

I love my ladder shelf!

It is so versatile and holds a ton of stuff

Here is the ladder shelf and my cricut table!

The screen in the background is for holding wreaths ~ I still need to hang them!

Here are all of my gift bags hanging from the ceiling!

Much better view than all the clutter

See the cart... well that holds all the projects that I am in the process of completing as well as some gifts too! This cart is right next to my wrapping paper container and above this cart are the gift bags

Here are all the drawers that I keep sewing stuff and tags and paints

(would have been nice if I closed them... keepin it real)

The carpet is a MESS... it is from upstairs... we changed out the carpeting and I moved it to the basement... we are planning to paint the floor soon 

We were planning on tossing all the carpeting but by moving it to the basement I can be as messy as I want and know that when we do finally get rid of it I will know that I used and abused it!

The containers to the right are household stuff waiting for the shelves!

The stuff in the background needs to be organized too when the shelves FINALLY arrive!

All in all though I am thrilled with the space because now I can create and make a mess and when I am done I can clean it up because like a good preschool... everything has a place and is labeled!

LOL

The hanger difference

One of my Christmas gifts from my parents was a set of 50 lilac huggable hangers 

I am sure you heard of them 

But if not here is the link to them

 

I am not a clothes person.  I don't have a ton of stuff!

I typically wear jeans or black pants with a dress shirt under a sweater all winter long. 

I wear everything in my closet

Here is my winter wardrobe before the transformation with the hangers

 

yep, that is it... that is ALL my clothes for the winter! 

This is 1/2 of a normal size closet... the hubby has the other side and he does have more clothes than I do... I even added a new level for pants for him!

Now here is the closet after using the new hangers

 

More room in the closet means I can buy more clothes LOL

Here is another shot... I coordinated by color and moved the over too.

I usually put together my wardrobe for the workweek so under the clothes are pants

I am so excited that this is all the room that these hangers took up

I loved that I was able to hang silky and wider collar tops without them falling off

So far I am impressed by the hangers and will let you all know how they fair in a few weeks!

Thanks for stopping 

Have a great day

Patricia 

I am participating in Strut Your Stuff Thursday