Feeling Lucky?

Do you ever feel lucky? Have you ever woken up in the morning, looked around at your life and everything surrounding you and said to yourself...."You're a lucky girl/guy!".... Have you done this?

I ask because lately I have! I love my new house, location and everything else that is included. I love the view, I love the counters, I love my new bath tub, I even love to clean this place( and cleaning is not a fav of mine!).......I love it all.  I have really no desire to go other places because being here every day, all day, makes me happy enough and life is good.  I could easily find a million things to complain about though.....but the choice is mine.....glass half full? Or glass half empty?  We have the choice everyday when we wake up to make or break the day!  I believe one reason I love being here is due to the quiet solitude - free of our complaint filled world.  Yesterday, I ran to get groceries and a gentleman one lane over was complaining loudly about gas prices.  He was pissed!  He couldn't believe that gas was $3.85.  The clerk said to the man, these two stations right up the street are $3.77.  He didn't care, he continued to carry on about the $3.85 and it appeared that he really just wanted to argue.  The clerk was seemingly uncomfortable as he continued to rant.  Really dude! Is your yelling going to fix anything?  Not to mention that he probably just ruined that cashiers morning!  What's the point!?  It's beyond our control.  Am I guilty of doing this in the past? Yes, but maybe not to the same degree.  Complaining is quite easy to do and misery loves company.  When I am around others who complain, I am VERY easily sucked in and dragged down.  I hate it!  I have found that I isolate myself for that exact purpose.  Being alone for an entire day free of complaint with my own thoughts, working out in the yard listening to the glorious sounds of nature is life at its best, in my opinion.  

Some may look at this post as a complaint about people who complain....that may be accurate....I am kind of complaining in a way.....or am I simply stating a fact??  I wonder this....do people ever consider their audience when they complain?  What if the cashier at the store wasn't able to drive or afford a car, and would appreciate the opportunity to buy gas?  Or how about the woman complaining about her kids to a group of friends and how she is sick of being a mother while one of those women is struggling greatly with infertility? She would give anything for an opportunity to be a mother on her own.  How about the person complaining about their home(I was guilty of this in the past) in front of someone who lives in an apartment and would give anything to be a home owner....we often do not think before we speak and I would like to challenge anyone reading this to do so.....including myself!  

I don't actually like to talk.  Some of you are probably laughing really hard at this because you know I tend to talk a lot......heck look at all I have said already!!!  However I often talk a lot because I am nervous or anxious and I can't shut up.....it's bad, I know....but if you are with me and I don't say much....nothing's wrong.  I want the silence to feel comfortable with others but often it isn't and so I fill it with pointless chatter.
To those who have endured this....I'm sorry!

I will leave you with this .....my daily morning view for which I am so very thankful!

Look around you and think about the things that you are thankful for....someone else might just be yearning for what you have today.

Antiques....

We enjoy finding neat antiques.  We go to a monthly antique fair and we also find estate, garage, and barn sales to rummage through to find neat things for around our house.  We started this while at the old house and quickly began accumulating 'too' many things!  However, I am very thankful because everything does happen for a reason.....all of those antiques look great in this new house!
Below I will share a few of our good finds!

Our new rocker




One of the new nightstands

Stained leaded glass hooiser

Stained leaded glass panel my husband picked for me!

One of our many book shelves.  Filled with our many books on things we like. On top we have an antique glass buoy that we picked at a shop in FL and an antique wood level.

Another hoosier....this was one of our first antiques!

Some of my orchids adorn the top.  In the fore ground, you can see my beautiful granite counters.

 

Another book shelf picked at the Antique fair in town.

Another wood level on top as well as a Swazeey's Improved Mason next to the stone bird house with copper roof that was made by Drew's mom!

Stained glass lamp picked online....unfortunately it sustained damage in shipping ! :(

 

Some of my ball jars....do you see the fish pitcher up top?  It is a gurgle pot.  When you fill it with water, it makes a gurgle noise when you pour it....it's neat!

 

Before/After.....

This will be updated multiple times to show many of the before/after shots we have...and hopefully remember to take pictures!!

 

The first thing that I started was this rock wall area.

Rock wall area

Another shot ....lots of weeds

and another....

 

AFTER A LIL CLEAN UP

 

This is through the window & screen but another shot of progress being made!

Take a look at this rock wall area

I am currently working on this....updates to follow.

 

 

**Updates**

After the grass kill and rip out

 

Another view....

 

 

 

Landscaping fabric and plants

all laid out....

 

Another view....

 

 

The stairs...

 

one view....

the ferns are looking good in the rocks

 

another view....

 

So, I still have more work to do, but I am taking a break today to just chill!  Having a friend over and I think we will sit on the deck in this beautiful weather, drink some wine and stare at my hard work! LOL

 

Stay tuned for more updates on my projects!

 

 

 

 

 

History

So I said that I would share a little more about the history of our home.  I took a few old pictures of the photos that were left for us that show what the home used to look like.  Take a look....

 

This is an aerial shot of the house
Photo is guessed to be in the 50's

This is a copy of a painting or drawing of the house (year unknown)

 

This is a winter shot that matches the aerial view

so our guess is again in the 50's.

This is apparently the original homestead

the year is unknown and due to the damage

 of the photo it is tough to see it well.

Cows in the pasture

Down in our Michigan basement the original owners incorporated old bottles and the ones that are unbroken are filled with seeds.  Kind of an early sign of 'preppers' (haa haa) I'd like to know if any of those seeds would germinate anymore. I also find that every time it rains and the ground is washed out in different areas I find new relics around the yard.  While landscaping and digging something new always pops up!  It is kind of neat. 

I hope that we are able to learn more about the history of our new found home and maybe even some more neat 'treasures' along the way!

Cherries!!

So yesterday my husband and I picked some cherries after dinner.  They were pretty tasty and I was kind of wanting to make a cherry pie as it is a favorite of mine!!  Today was the day and I took a few pictures to boot.  Enjoy....

 

One of our buckets of cherries

All washed up and ready for pitting



making the crisscross pattern
 

Ready for baking
 

Well, you are probably wondering why I would want to take all that time to do something like this but it really isn't all that bad.  I find that cooking is relaxing and gives me time to actually chill out.  Not to mention keeps me out of doing back breaking yard work yet again! haa!!  I used good ole Betty Crocker's recipe for this.  I just pulled it out of the oven so I do not yet have a picture or a taste, but I will update you on that once I get to it!  Nothing beats a homemade pie made by you, free of chemicals and preservatives!  It really is the best!  Stop by sometime for a bite to eat, it may not be a cherry pie but blueberry pies are made often here!!

Finished....and ...ready to eat.

Update:

We ate this pie in 24 hrs and I had to make another!  The 2nd was better than the 1st and I want to savor every little bit!...also want to go pick more cherries and make more pies!



Old House~New House

Old House

This is our old house.  My husband built this house himself and poured his blood, sweat and tears into it!  It was a very cute, cozy, nice house.  We just needed more space and room to grow.  We do miss this gorgeous yard!  It will take quite some time to transform the new yard into something this nice, but if we are patient it too will come!  I remember when we first started dating and I visited this house.  The yard was brown and looked like a desert.  This really only took a couple years and some effort!

Well we close on the sale of this home next week!  It will be sad closing that chapter of our lives, but exciting to only have one house payment and one yard to mow!


                                            New house

As you can see, the yard here needs a lot of work!  I am also not crazy about the front appearance as it needs a porch or something.  It also needs landscaping. Nothing like the old house!  We tried to seed it already but it is washing out due to the gutters being clogged!  It seems as though each time we clean them, they clog up prior to the next rain. Of course!!....so, one step at a time. 

View

Different angle

One of our barns

 

Garage/barn...this houses 2 garage stalls and a sliding door with a stall for our tractor.  Basically a 3 stall garage.  It is set up with a wood burning stove. We would like to make it red and add some windows.

 

 

So, I had this done but then tried using my phone & deleted 1/2 of the post!  Let's try it again!

Our home was built in the late 1890's to 1900.  We have some documents from the early 1890's.  We were told that there was an original homestead /cabin that was damaged/demolished in a tornado which led them to build the first part of our current home.  It has had additions over the years to become what you see above.  We have more changes in mind, but we agreed that we would wait one year before doing anything.  I am intrigued by the history and wished that these walls could talk.  Some day I will take some more pictures to share of the neat things around here.

Gotta start somewhere....

Ok....here we go....today I had some errands to run and things to take care of at our old house as we close on the sale next week.  I was looking forward to coming home and working in the yard when a large downpour ensued and left me inside.  I figured well I could start unpacking all those boxes upstairs but that seems overwhelming.  I could mop the floor, but I am not all the interested in doing that either! haa (who is ?!?)  So I settled in on the couch with the I-pad to search grout cleaning solutions. I found something that caught my eye so I thought I would try it.

The next 2 pictures are before shots of the grout in my kitchen.

                                         Below is the little area I tested. Yep it works!!

Started to scrub the middle.....

and more.....

So the corner is where I started, working out.....the tile blends so well with clean grout!  I am amazed at how this is looking in such a short time.  So you are probably thinking that this took a lot of cleaners and scrubbing but the beauty of it is, it didn't!

I did that corner in 10-15minutes.  The recipe I used was a 50/50 solution of hydrogen peroxide and hot tap water.  That's it.  Natural, safe, not harsh on the hands and I used a small scrub brush that I probably intended to use on dishes or in the shower but it now has an official "Floor" label on it. Well I have to get back to work because I am going to shock my husbands socks off tonight by getting the kitchen done!  I am just so excited!!

 

***UPDATE***

I did not get done prior to my husband returning home, but...I did get a large portion done and he was beyond amazed!  Actually, not getting it all done allowed him to see the amazing difference even more.  He hated the tile in our kitchen and wanted to rip it out as soon as possible, but after returning home last night he said that this made it much more tolerable and easy to look at!!  See, sometimes it doesn't have to be a drastic expensive job to make a difference!!  I am now working on the bathroom/laundry room which appeared to be even dirtier than the kitchen.  I do not have before/after pictures but it is looking great!