Why I want a rancher...

I think I may have confused a few people in my last post about me wanting a rancher. Who in the world picks a rancher as their dream home??? Well, me....for two reasons. #1: no more children falling down the stairs. I cannot even tell you how many times I've heard the trip, then the slip, then the enormous crashing and flipping, and then finally the scream. I am just SICK.OF.IT. No stairs means no baby gates. My mom lived in a rancher for a couple of months (or years??? can't remember...) and couldn't stop talking about how much she loved it! "You live in your whole house!" She would say. Which is so true, if you stop to think about it. There is never a lonely, dark finished basement that sits in quietness while you entertain upstairs where the sun shines! No more steps means you use your whole house all day long, because it's easier to get to your whole house! Okay, that was reason #1. Reason #2 is because most ranchers are just dang ugly. It's true. If you live in one, it's okay to agree. They tend to be very dated and tempt you to think "wow, those people haven't done anything with that place since the day the roof was put on!" But you see people, I have an OBSESSION with turning nothing into something. The ugly into the beautiful. The mundane into the magical. Seeing life left in someone else's garbage. If young whipper-snappers like us don't start taking control over ranchers, no one will! Pictures to prove my point:

You can take something like this.....

and turn it into this!

All pictures courtesy of this blog.

One man's trash...

is truly another man's treasure. You wouldn't believe what I find laying on the side of the road. I normally try to fit it in the car by myself. Otherwise I call on the hubby to drive down and rescue me! :) I don't know what I was thinking by picking up all of this stuff last weekend. Did I not remember my house is on the market? Two days later I would get 3 different phone calls for 3 different showings! Oh well, I had fun with my little projects while they lasted! "Finished Product" photos are coming. Just have to run back to Lowes for some more silver knobs. I thought I needed 4. Turns out I really needed 8. Dang those math skills! :)

The ugly wood color that the antique dresser was originally. Have I mentioned how much I hate the color of stained wood these days? Agh!

This pretty lil lady was perched on the side walk, just waiting for the trash man to rescue her. Lucky for her, I got to her first. :) I think this was after the first coat of paint.

My sweatshop. :)

I wish I had better "before" pictures. You wouldn't believe how hideous this stuff was when it first walked through the door. Can't wait to show you the finished product!

My Dream

We are such dorks. Really people, you have no idea. I skyped my hubby this afternoon and asked him if someday we could invest in solar panels for our home. He said I was turning him on. We are just not the norm. At first I was a little concerned about that, but I think I've learned to accept it. I was at my mom's the other day and she threw this at me. I don't think I've seen one of these catalogs since Y2K. I almost started hyperventilating from excitement. I guess I got my dorky gene from her. My dad would've been throwing the Tommy Bahama catalog at me. :) Our house has been on the market for a week and we've already had 4 showings. We don't really expect it to sell, just because we're not willing to lower our price and the market is SO bad. Not to mention the fact that there are now close to 20 homes in our development that are also for sale. :( BUT, it got us thinking. "What if it DOES sell????? Where will we live!?!?" (insert panic stricken, hormonal female voice here) One of my greatest weaknesses is worrying about what others think. His is too. We want something bigger, but afraid others might think it's too big. We don't want something huge, which we're afraid will then cause "those friends" to think we've settled for second best. We want land, but afraid "those friends" might think we stink after working in the yard all day. We want a really nice, "uppity" community for safety and status reasons, but afraid "those people" will judge us for squandering our money. Oh how I wish everyone would just stop judging! Although, I actually LOVE hearing EVERYONE's opinions, even if they make me upset. So screwed up, I tell ya! :( So here's my dream. Actually this is our dream....

We're up before the sun in our 1100 sq. ft., 50 year old rancher. My hair reaches my waist, so there's no need for styling it. It succumbs to it's daily fate of a pony tail, once again. He makes the coffee and does something super masculine and sexy, like, let's say 50 push-ups right there on the kitchen floor, without his shirt on. A girl can dream, no? :) I slip on a fresh white t-shirt and old, ripped jeans to run outside barefoot and scatter feed for the chickens. On my way back to the house I gather whatever eggs are available and the ripest berries on our 20 bushes for breakfast. He already has coconut oil warming in the old, cast-iron frying pan. The eggs are cracked and the peppers and onions are married together to serve us our first meal of the day. The kidlets slip groggily out of their beds (we would have 6, by this point...) to join us at the large farmhouse table made of old barn wood. He reads the Bible and prays over us before he heads out to check on the cattle and wheat. We have a very strict homeschool schedule because we aren't going the "unschool" route, and we engage our brains heavily until 11am. They get to take a break to spend the next hour on their instrument of choice while I head to the garden to gather lunch. We devour today's menu of sprouts, olives and "dinosaur juice" on the picnic blanket spread out under the sycamore tree. My wonderful children get to discuss with their father what they learned in school that morning, and we take the entire hour just savoring every morsel that the land beneath our feet has harvested for us. One o'clock has come as the children and I head back into the house to finish up today's school. By mid-afternoon we have the entire family in the acre of garden space out back weeding and tilling while we sing in perfect harmony There Is A Redeemer. Have I mentioned that because of our small home and enormous garden, we also live debt free? The solar panels were an anniversary gift last year, so our monthly electric bill is never over $18. The 3 youngest have come down with a fever and runny nose, so to the herb garden I run! The leaves as well as some bones I pulled out of the freezer are simmering quietly on the woodstove to be used for their healing purposes that evening. Dinner is something warm and nourishing. We spend the rest of the evening snuggled up on the couch under all of nana's homemade quilts to listen to his elaborate stories. And as you might have guessed, he gets it every night. ;)

Now of course I don't really think all of this will actually happen. We'd all be cranky and sweaty from a house with no air-conditioning and my kids would be screaming from bee stings and splinters. Just trying to be vunerable in a world where we are all wearing the veil of perfection. :)

A Full Tub!

I love bath nights. Everyone gets kicked, chokes on the water and fights over the toys, but they smell so good afterwards! We still let all 3 of them get in the tub together, mainly because no one has asked awkward questions yet. That could mean one of two things. #1: they are developing at such a slow rate mentally that they still don't notice the difference, or #2: our whole family is naked so much of the time that it has just become the norm and therefore they don't see it as unusual. I'll let you comfort yourself with whatever answer you feel less uncomfortable with. :) As they were splashing in the water the other night I realized what a blessing it is to have a full bath tub. Still amazed that God saw fit to bless us with these three...

These boys are best friends. Last night we let them get their sleeping bags out and camp on the floor in our room. The next morning they told us that they got scared in the middle of the night, so they just held hands until they fell back to sleep. Ah! My heart has melted into a puddle...

They HATE getting their hair washed. It might be because we do the "quick rinse" method. Why prolong the agony of trying to get the soap out???

This is what we got after we asked for a funny face.

This girl needs a sister! If only "reversals" were covered by insurance companies. :)

Here's to the reminder that a cramped house, a loud meal, or a full tub are a blessing from the Lord! :)

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Psalm 127:3 ESV

The 4th

So thankful for the new camera. What a difference it makes in the quality of pictures! Once again you were right, babe. :)

my baby girl and I

our boys with their Uncle Adam

Silas has become completely obsessed with me over the past few weeks...

taking advantage of Caden being still for more than 3 minutes :)

Another Craigslist Redo

Do you remember the 3 tiny rockers I purchased on Craigslist a while back? Yeah, well, they were supposed to go on one of the two porches on that farmhouse that we were whole-heartedly planning on moving into to. But then, of course, we lost the house. Before we lost the house (actually, we didn't "lose" the house. we were the ones who backed out of the deal...) I had also purchased a rocker for me. I also took the time to paint it white, to match the other ones, at 10:30pm. :( ANYWAY, we are not buying the farmhouse and have no intention of buying any other farmhouses any time soon, so the bigger rocker has to go. Let me know if you are interested. It's going in the yard sale on Saturday. :)

Back to the drawing board...

My absence has been the direct result of a lack of a camera. We were thrilled and blessed to be able to purchase a new camera last week, but there is one problem. I don't feel comfortable using it yet. It's a Canon 20D and has way more buttons than our last $100 point-and-shoot. :) Therefore, I do not have pictures to share with you today, but there is an over-abundance of inspiration and ideas floating around in my head to not write something. I also feel like I have so much to fill my readers in on. My children are slowly out-growing their fear of the pool, thanks to a very generous friend who allows us to invade her beautiful backyard every Thursday afternoon. If tonight goes as planned, we will have sold a total of $850 worth of products on Craigslist this weekend alone. There is also a "For Sale" sign now in the window of our home, for which I will be contributing an entire post on how to "show your house". :) I am an expert mover. Seriously, people. You have no idea. I have moved 5 times in the past 7 years. I also want to write something about decorating for the type of house you live in. And another one on de-cluttering and simplify. See!? I told you! Too many thoughts and ideas to not write them down. We had a wonderful 4th of July. The kids survived the fireworks, and we survived staying up past 1am 3 nights in a row to get the shambles that we live in to look good enough for our trusty realtor to take pictures this morning. If you're local and know someone who is looking to buy a house, please send them our way! Or if you're looking to purchase a property as a rental investment for yourself, our home might be perfect for you! We are very ready to be out, for so many reasons. This month we'll be celebrating the fact that I have lived in the same house for 4 years in a row. :) The last time I lived somewhere for 4 years, I was only 17. Lol! OH! And another thing....I desperately want to write something about purchasing a home for your "season of life"! I have learned SO, so much. A lot of things to share with non-expert movers. :) Trying to find the time today to beg my dear sweet hubby to give me the low-down on down-loading pictures. Yes, that was on purpose. I'm a lot smarter than most people think. :) A pictures to share with you to keep you from being utterly and completely board from my ramblings...

I found an a.m.a.z.i.n.g. blog this weekend, thanks to The Nester. Her name is Emily, she is a Bible-believing mother of 4 who has her own design company and is honest enough to admit that at times she has been known to go 4 days without a shower. How can you not love her! :)