Our Home
Hello! Welcome to my home! As you come down the road approaching our home you will probably think that it was once the original home that sat on all this ranch-acreage which is now a landowners' development. Well, it wasn't. We moved this house, saving it from destruction, from a different town and placed it on five acres of land in the late 1980's. It is a Craftsman-style house. I tell people that we paid for the house out of our grocery money and that is partially true. We paid $152.51 for the almost 3600 square foot, two-story-on-a-full-basement duplex at an auction. We knocked out walls (which is really fun and a great stress-reliever!), made two doors into one entry, chose which side would contain what parts of the house. It took us well over a year to make it habitable. Habitable, that is, if you don't count plumbing, hot water, a kitchen sink and don't mind sharing your living quarters with mice who have over-wintered there while there were missing windows, outside doors and walls being added, all while it sat in various locations in the several-day move. Our cat, Tigger, promptly took care of each and every mouse. But I think those who gave their lives to feed our cat must have told others about this house because we do get "visitors" now and then. Tigger is gone but Sophie and Sadie, our two adopted feral cats, try to keep up with his record!
The house is beautiful if you can see past what still needs to be done and what is now needing to be done again. Let's say it has possibilities. Possibilities that will probably out-live us, but possibilities none the less.
I think of our drafty, un-insulated, old house as I think of my own heart. Drafty because my heart can easily be blown here and there without the grounding of the Word of God. Un-insulated----only insulated by the Word of God and prayer. Old---well, let's not go there. I already told you I am almost 65!
Like our house, my heart needs constant maintenance. Some old things (habits) need to be done away with, mortified. New things need to be done as long as we occupy this house, just as my heart needs to be renewed daily. I have come to see that old homes are not as charming as one might think before having lived in one of them. As with an old house, one must deal with other people's dirt (sin), construction flaws, quirks and aggravations. Coldness is always a problem in a house this size, heated with wood and mostly un-insulated. Drafts find their way in the oddest places in old homes. Just like coldness sometimes invades our hearts.
The kitchen is usually thought of as the heart of the home. My kitchen is so tiny that more than two people could not use it at the same time. We have no upper cabinets, no pantry, no wall oven or island range as planned. We use the basement oven meant to be used for canning, our wall oven hole for our pantry, our pantry is not yet built but is hidden by sheet rock "temporarily" which I have textured and painted and put my mother-in-law's curio cabinet filled with antique kitchen items against. I have hung baskets and other things hiding the temporary-ness of the quick-fix wall as well as wall cracks, unfinished trim and other house blemishes. If it is the heart of this home it is a heart that will not hold much. Hearts can hold ever so much , so, we will go outside on the large porch with the great view of the foothills, mountains and wildlife. We will consider first impressions. Just like our first impressions upon others, the outside of a house can draw others inside to see what the porch merely hints at. And always we will make comparisons of the physical to the spiritual and give ideas that are accomplish-able with little expense and various degrees of work.
Generally the first thing one sees about a house is how it looks from the street, the yard and the porch anyway. Right now the only place to sit outside is our porch. So, all things considered I felt I should start here.......later. Hopefully, I will do this tonight. I must go to town to shop for groceries and a couple other items. First things first.......
See you later.........on the porch........brrrrrr! Kathi~
The house is beautiful if you can see past what still needs to be done and what is now needing to be done again. Let's say it has possibilities. Possibilities that will probably out-live us, but possibilities none the less.
I think of our drafty, un-insulated, old house as I think of my own heart. Drafty because my heart can easily be blown here and there without the grounding of the Word of God. Un-insulated----only insulated by the Word of God and prayer. Old---well, let's not go there. I already told you I am almost 65!
Like our house, my heart needs constant maintenance. Some old things (habits) need to be done away with, mortified. New things need to be done as long as we occupy this house, just as my heart needs to be renewed daily. I have come to see that old homes are not as charming as one might think before having lived in one of them. As with an old house, one must deal with other people's dirt (sin), construction flaws, quirks and aggravations. Coldness is always a problem in a house this size, heated with wood and mostly un-insulated. Drafts find their way in the oddest places in old homes. Just like coldness sometimes invades our hearts.
The kitchen is usually thought of as the heart of the home. My kitchen is so tiny that more than two people could not use it at the same time. We have no upper cabinets, no pantry, no wall oven or island range as planned. We use the basement oven meant to be used for canning, our wall oven hole for our pantry, our pantry is not yet built but is hidden by sheet rock "temporarily" which I have textured and painted and put my mother-in-law's curio cabinet filled with antique kitchen items against. I have hung baskets and other things hiding the temporary-ness of the quick-fix wall as well as wall cracks, unfinished trim and other house blemishes. If it is the heart of this home it is a heart that will not hold much. Hearts can hold ever so much , so, we will go outside on the large porch with the great view of the foothills, mountains and wildlife. We will consider first impressions. Just like our first impressions upon others, the outside of a house can draw others inside to see what the porch merely hints at. And always we will make comparisons of the physical to the spiritual and give ideas that are accomplish-able with little expense and various degrees of work.
Generally the first thing one sees about a house is how it looks from the street, the yard and the porch anyway. Right now the only place to sit outside is our porch. So, all things considered I felt I should start here.......later. Hopefully, I will do this tonight. I must go to town to shop for groceries and a couple other items. First things first.......
See you later.........on the porch........brrrrrr! Kathi~
Can you include photos? I want to see if it is what I imagine from your writing ;)
ReplyDeleteHello, Janet. Yes, I will be posting photos soon. I hoped to do this today but things came up as they do in life and I wasn't able to. Thanks for reading my post. I will continue the section on the porch and add pictures of it, thanks for asking!
ReplyDeleteKathi,I am enjoying this so much!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad! I'm enjoying writing/sharing..........
ReplyDelete