home owning

I’m a dreamer, always thinking of big plans for the future. One of my big dreams is to have a large open kitchen. I have a folder of hundreds of decor pictures I’ve saved over the past few years. This weekend I sorted through the pictures into specific folders, like pictures of kitchens, bedrooms, living rooms.

Josh and I always love talking about how we’ll remodel the kitchen someday. The great thing is that our kitchen right now is totally usable. So someday when we eventually can remodel it, we can do things to make it all kinds of awesome (not just make it functional). I started showing Josh my kitchen pictures this weekend so he drew up a layout in a free CAD program. He loves the technical, I love the details and pretty things.

I have a few things that I would like to see in my future kitchen. Some (like the white cabinets) are non-negotiable while others are hopeful suggestions.

-more windows and skylights
-breakfast nook
-island with cooktop
-white cabinets
-light wood floor
-large food storage pantry
-functional storage for specific kitchen items (ie. my KitchenAid)
-wide oven

It’s fun to dream with Josh about our future kitchen. I know that someday we’ll do it though it will most likely be many, many years from now. I see the look of determination in Josh’s eyes, mainly because he knows how much it would mean to me. Until that day I will close my eyes and imagine my large bright open kitchen and smile.

My house looked so bare after I took down the Christmas decorations. I have never decorated for Valentine’s Day before but I thought it seemed like a good idea this year.

I cut out loads of hearts from paper I had to make a little garland.

Josh made me this little tree right before Christmas. I liked it so much I thought I would leave it up. So I used some of the paper hearts and made little ornaments for it. I also had made a bunch of pom poms forever ago. Finally got them made into a garland and hung that down the stairs.

I got little beaded sprigs on clearance for 75 cents each. I spray painted them white and put them in vases I already had.

Then I painted two little canvases with an X and O.

I only spent $4.25 since I had everything but the beady things and white spray paint. Not too shabby and the house looks happier!

I recently came across a blog called Words to Shoot By. It inspired me to get out the Polaroid and snap a few pictures. I have a love/hate relationship with the Polaroid. I love the pictures I get but often talk myself out of using it because then I’m using up film.

We got some awesome film from The Impossible Project for Grandma Rosie’s old Polaroid. Of course the camera doesn’t work. I was so bummed out. Josh worked all evening following advice on the Internet to get it to work. Apparently that type is notorious for crapping out. Now I’m watching ten ebay auctions to try and find a Polaroid that will use our film. (Josh said it could be an early Christmas present.)

I’m feeling inspired to shoot in different ways. I’d love to get a nice film SLR and try out shooting film. I’m excited to see where this will take me.

Josh said I could paint our front door so I have been stewing over what color to paint it. I did a quick photoshop of a picture to get a better idea. I just can’t decide. And because I’m so weird I have to think how the color will go with my decorations (fall and Christmas decorations mainly). I knew I didn’t want a red door because that’s so common. I feel like the yellow would be awesome in the fall but not so much in the winter. Josh likes the bottom blue. I’m leaning towards one of the top colors. Ugh, I’m terrible at these types of decisions. What do you think?

Wow, the hits just keep on coming. This summer has just been full of suck. I am still recovering from losing Grace. We had to get a new vehicle even though we couldn’t really afford the extra monthly bill. My camera needed to be replaced which caused me to need Photoshop upgraded. The Jeep, camera and new Photoshop all would have been good things if the timing could have been better. We are still trying to figure out how to pay off the medical bills (two of which have been due for a month and they are still sitting on my desk).

On Saturday night my laundry room flooded. We had so much water that it ran out around the room onto the living room carpeting. Josh and my dad (bless their hearts) worked like crazy to try and get rid of the clog but just couldn’t do it. Roto-Rooter came out on Monday to jet the clog. Four hundred dollars later they left thinking the clog was removed. Tuesday they came back out to scope the line just to be sure everything was removed. The camera guy thought there was a very large problem at the main sewer line tap. I held it together (just barely). Today the came out to jet the line again and see the problem better. Luckily our problem isn’t at the tap (which would have been 10 grand of repairs) but instead in the middle of our front yard. Apparently the pipe that was laid there did not get installed correctly.

We are now looking into how we’ll get it repaired as cheap as possible since they quoted us $3,000. My dad and Josh are positive that it can be done for much, much less. It’s so immensely frustrating though. Now we have the hassle of getting someone else out here to check the line for themselves, getting quotes… Eventually we’ll have our lawn torn up, possibly my favorite tree removed and a day when we can’t run water.

I am very thankful that it wasn’t the more major of problems but it’s still a big problem for us. We really don’t need more bills, more stress and more hassles right now. What we really need is a breather. I feel like I can’t handle much more. And I hate even typing that because I feel like the universe is plotting against me. By putting that out there I’m just asking for something else bad to happen.

I feel guilty even complaining about all of this. We could have it so much worse…so many people do. And yet, I can’t help feel sorry for myself right now. I’m just asking for things to go a little smoother around here, that we could catch a break and get some of the good.

Edited to add: If only I was in a better frame of mind today. I missed a great opportunity when Roto-Rooter was here today to replicate a great scene from a great movie. (Sorry Mom, for the cuss words.)

We finally got around to painting our wall yellow! (And when I say “we” I really mean Josh and Sondra.) Our house is being appraised sometime in the next week or two. In hopes to add value we thought it would be smart to accent our one architecturally interesting wall.

I’m very happy with how it came out and so thankful that it was done in an evening. We are picking up some more paint for touch-ups but otherwise it’s done!

I look at this picture and think, “This has to be someone else’s house. How did I get so lucky?”. I love my house. I especially love my house at Christmas time. I’m pretty sure that the number of times I have said the word “cozy” tallies well past a hundred in the past month.

It feels magical. And I feel so incredibly happy that this is our home.

Saw this on Flickr and decided I pretty much have to do this somewhere in my house. Now just to figure out where…

Josh and I lucked out in the neighbor lottery. Little did we know when we bought the house that we would become friends with our next door neighbors. We also are trading services. Tear down our summer house for some photography. And down the summer house came on Friday…

Once the house was yanked down and cut up, we had a really big fire. By Sunday morning there was nothing left except a pile of roofing that we have to somehow get into a dumpster.

It makes me so incredibly happy to look out back and see it gone. Josh is hoping to get the concrete broke up yet this fall. Our yard looks so much better and a lot bigger! Next Spring we will have room for a swingset.

We’ve been feeling the pull to do a little redecorating. Okay, when I say “we”, I mean “I” but Josh goes along with it. We both agreed that we should paint our one cool wall in the house. (The slightly vaulted wall shared by the kitchen and front room.)

At first I was thinking a warm yellow, then I thought about a true green or maybe a bright light blue. Now I’m at a loss. As you can see we really like color.

So what do you think? One of those colors or something completely different? Eventually (maybe a long time away), all of the trim will be white and the beige walls would be white. I’m sure by then though I would be ready for something new on this wall. If you wouldn’t mind commenting and give your opinion, I would appreciate it!