Dream home pt. 2

So. On with the story of this dream house. Did I mention that it was 20 miles from the nearest town with grocery shopping? And we were on a gravel road that filled the house with dust all spring, summer and fall? There was a 'slight' crack in the foundation of the bathroom (that by the way had no bathtub or shower. That was in the half 'bath' in the basement) That meant that in the fall, hoards of mice would get into the house. We used to joke that we had to run a trap line to catch them all. Every night we could lay in bed and hear mouse traps springing all over the house. In the morning we would empty them and start the process all over again. We also had a pair of bull snakes nesting under the wrap around porch. Ron wouldn't get rid of them because they "eat more mice than a cat ever thinks about". So I had to watch where I stepped when I was out on that nice porch. The windows were also quite old and during the winter we could stand in the middle of the kitchen and feel the breeze of the north wind blowing through. There was no heat whatsoever upstairs where all the bedrooms were so cuddling was highly recommended! And one of the first things we had to do with the house was put supports in the attic to shore up the roof. Check out my pictures-kitchen, outdoors and the last was the eternal remodel at the very beginning. (More on that later.) You can see my lovely full kitchen after we had done some work to it. Yikes. I worry about my taste after looking at that picture!

Dream House

Do I watch too much HGTV these days? Ron claims my current remodeling ideas could only have come from there...thoughts of granite counter tops, wood floors and open floor plans have never been in my normal vocabulary so where else could they have come from. (sigh) It's true. I am a home voyeuer of beautiful million dollar homes knowing that will never be my fortune. I need to remember my real 'dream' home. And here's a picture of it, too! My very first house. It had a wrap around porch, huge open kitchen and dining room/living room combination. Four bedrooms up and one down. Even a bath and a half. We owned nearly 3 acres of land with our own barn, machine shed and corn crib, a grove full of trees and even an orchard. In our early search of a place to live we had been given positive proof that this place was where we belonged. I had absolutely no doubt that this was the place we were supposed to be living. This find was pretty close to miraculous. If not this house, we would have been living in Illinois someplace close to our parents and brothers and sisters. Instead we were living the dream life in Iowa of all places! We've been only in Iowa for over 30 years now and this first house was truly the dream house to end all dream houses! I'll tell you about some of the nightmares that went with it in my next post.

Another one of those baby shots

Ok, how about another baby picture? He's started to smile now and he doesn't need too much coaxing to get a grin out of him. I will have to get a picture of the pretty cute dimple he has on his chin too. What's that called? (you know, like the one Kurt Douglas has on his chin)

It used to be that the meaning of a name was thought to determine a lot about that child's character. For instance, the name Ronald means "ruler's counselor." I think that might easily describe my Ronald. Somebody who isn't afraid to give a leader some advice! Jeremiah means the "Lord exalts" It will be interesting to see how this child lives up to his name! Of course the other two grandsons will have plenty to live up to as well. How about Isaiah: "salvation of God; the Lord helps me" or the even rarer name Phinehas: "oracle". Wow! Can't wait to watch them grow into these names.

East going south

Have you ever happily been totally and completely wrong and when you figure it out you're in such a tangle you have no idea how that could have even happened? Wonder what I'm talking about? I got lost on the way to a place I know how to get to with my eyes closed. Yikes! All of a sudden I realize as I'm driving along, that i don't have a clue as to where i am. My mirror compass says I'm going south. I thought this place was east. At least it always used to be. Maybe you really do have to go south to go east....hmmmm. Keep driving. No wait. Turn left here at least make an attempt at east. Now I really don't know where I am and I'm doing that on a gravel road to boot. How did this happen? Talk about being discombobulated!! When I finally run into a road sign that I recognize I'm 10 miles in the wrong direction! And it's not even a nice day for a drive. I have to BE THERE! How to get from this spot to that without going back the same way is my next trick. I actually have to get the map out. Bother. That was a half hour waste and I'm not even sure how it happened. I might need to pay attention when I'm driving!!

A Six week old

We had a great opportunity to see our newest grandson this week. It was wonderful! He is growing and more aware of what's going on around him. I'm sure that everytime we see him he will be so much bigger and changed than at our last visit! He is starting to smile. He sleeps longer stretches. He loves music and hanging out with his mom. But he didn't have any problem with letting his grandparents feed him, burp him, change him, or sing to him! (He got in on his grandpa's songs, even, poor kid!) But I have to say, we love seeing the big kids, too. They make the weekend just as much fun as the little one does.