Our Dream House

Though we love our home, JB and I have been talking about our dream home for years. I don't really want to move, and if I could have my way, I'd have this house airlifted to some acreage in the country and call it good. But technology has not advanced that much. And since our yard is very, very small, our driveway even smaller (I have ripped off the side mirrors of JB's car 3 or 4 times now), and the area of yard that gets enough sun to grow vegetables even smaller, we are aspiring to a better place. Or, well, for a better yard.

I often daydream about our driveway neighbors moving away, and their house burning down or something, and us getting to just add on an extra city plot of yard. Yes, I know. Dreaming of someone's house burning down is evil. But it's not like they would be living there! And no one would be harmed in the making of our new yard. The neighbors would get insurance money exceeding what they would sell the house for, we'd get a yard, the city would get an inimpressive house turned into a beautiful garden, we'd save money on sideview mirrors.

But since God is more clever than I, I don't think the house will burn down. A housefire is probably not in everyone's best interests, contrary to what I imagine. 

One thing I appreciate about JB is that he has similar interests to me. We both would love to live on acreage in the country in a cool old home. My dream home is a bungalow, which has garnered JB's interest too. Unfortunately, bungalows were a revolution of city neighborhoods in the 20's, so if we want one in the country, we have to build.

Here is our current pick.

 

 It's called "The Winslow." 

I'm not a fan of the size: 2,500 square feet. Our current house is 1,850 and that's plenty of space for me to have to dust and vacuum. BUT, the extra square footage results in a living room AND a den, meaning that I can have my own quiet place in the living room full of books, and JB and the kids can watch the TV drone on for hours in the den. Or they can play nerf tag. Or whatever. I don't care. Just don't come in the living room unless you are going to do a quiet activity. 

Here are some example interior shots from the Winslow's company:

Looks pretty fancy-pants to me. A little too new looking for my interests, but I'm sure we could break it in in no time. 

So on cold dreary days when the sun has gone off to play somewhere else, and the sounds of Modern Warfare 2 are wafting through the house, this is what I think about. 

We'll see what God's got up his sleeve for us. Even if it's not The Winslow, hopefully it'll be a place with more yard, lots of sun, and some dreamy shade trees.

I miss you, bloggedy blog!

So my mom announced that we are having a Craft Christmas, meaning that we should try to make all of our gifts this year. I love making things, but it has come at a bad time as I am very busy with a baby, a full-time job, and a plethora of holiday activities. And of course, I have taken on some huge crafty-endeavors for this. They cannot be done in one night or even one week.

Because of this, I do not have time to blog. Boo! And I have fun things to talk about!

• Like the rat the size of a hamster that ran across my dad’s feet while he was making breakfast one morning.
  
• Or our trip to Meijer Gardens for my birthday.
• Or the really bad magic show that we had to endure at my office Christmas Party. (They’re illusions, Michael! Tricks are what whores do for money!.... or candy.)
• Or my latest fascination: antique steam trunks
• Or that JB’s brother Austin is engaged! Yay! To a girl we’ve never met! Boo!

So I am alive, just busy. Since JB is not “crafting,” he should have plenty of time to blog, though. (hint! hint!)

Here is Olivia on her first trip to Meijer Gardens. I got a family membership to the Gardens for my birthday, so expect many more photos to be taken there. I love that place!

Well readers, I had all these plans for posts this week, but life took over. Boo to laundry and having to make dinner and feeling cruddy! I haven’t even started packing/planning for our upcoming vacation! Agh!

A few notes.

Friday-Saturday: Sister Krystal came over last weekend. We had a lot of fun. We did things like go to a Whitecaps (baseball) game with Bible Study friends, ate at Mongolian BBQ, shopped for yarn, and played card games. She and JB got to bond over this really cheesy long commercial for “Light Rock’s Greatest Hits,” where you get to see all the worst songs of the last three decades performed by their gnarly artists with the big hair and bitchin’ leisure suits. Apparently this was the source of much laugher for K and JB, as evidenced in some of these photos. JB also watched this with sister Annie when she last visited. I’m seeing a trend here…

Lulu also watched the show with them, but she was more happy just to be chillin’ on the couch with her best friend, Bunny, whom she drags around with her everywhere. Unfortunately for Bunny, Lucy doesn’t realize that he only has eyes on his face, not his butt, so he didn’t get to take in much of the show.

Sunday: K and I also went to the super cool Allegan Antiques Fair with Marian. My favorite purchase was a beautiful pink serving tray. I considered giving it to my sister Smelly for a Christmas present, but greed took over. (I’m also not sure how much she’d use one of these.) The sales lady asked if I had a pink and black kitchen. I wish! I told her no, I have a husband, so I try to be considerate of him and only get SOME pink things. Aren’t I a good wife?

Then Sister Annie stayed for one night on her way back from hanging with Brother Tommy in Chicago. She showed me this beautiful green ring she bought there, which made me green with envy.

Tuesday: I ate of the first fruits of our vegetable garden. Well, just one fruit—one little cherry tomato. But it was so good! I can’t wait for my other tomatoes to ripen!

Earlier on Tuesday I went for my standard pregnancy checkup. I’m still on target for weight gain, but when I asked the Doctor how things looked as he measured me, he said that I was looking a bit large (I’ve been telling everyone that baby will be large, but I know that Doctors can’t always believe everything their patients say). He said if I keep measuring large, he will want to order another ultrasound. He does not intend to change my due date, though. I asked my coworkers what good an ultrasound would be if you suspect a large baby and aren’t changing the due date. Their replies? C-section. No thank you! I am going to fight that one tooth-and-nail. God gave me birthing hips and I intend to use them. Hopefully it will not get to the point where the doctor would suggest such a horrible thing. If you are a praying person, please pray that this does not happen.

The Quickening

Last night I was laying in bed and reading about gardening in this cool book:

JB had already thumbed through it and shared his excitement with me about this latest project of ours. I am so thankful to have such a compatible husband! For the most part, he and I like the same things, though one of us may be a bigger fan of something than the other. It’s really nice to share things that you love with someone else.

As I was daydreaming about giant tomato bushes and homegrown onions, I felt it.

The Quickening.

A friend of mine laughed that “the quickening” sounds like something from the Highlander movies. It does. It also makes me think of some dark Stephen King novel. Or some horror movie (I have a theory that every movie that that has a two-word title that starts with “the” is a horror/thriller movie).

But "the quickening" is just a term for feeling your baby moving for the first time.

How cool is that?

(I don’t know if this is technically the quickening for me, because I felt the same thing last week, but only once or twice while I was reading my baby book, so I wasn’t sure if I was making it up or not.)

So now I feel mini-Hunt swimming around in there all the time. I’m not really a “baby person,” so I am taking time to enjoy one of the few things I find interesting about babies—watching/feeling them grow!

Hopefully I'll be as successful with my tomatoes!

Good News Bad News

This week is filled mostly with good, exciting news. However, as luck would have it, it is also tempered with bad news. Fortunately, the bad news isn’t “end of the world” stuff. Since so much has been happening, though, I thought I’d just make a little chart instead of going into great detail over every little thing. Also, some of this is JB's good news, so he can write about that if he wants.

Good News	Bad News
We got a lot of yard work done on Saturday and the place is looking GOOD!	Our mulch for the yard still has not been delivered.
JB got a grill--YUM.	My vintage bike is not fixable like I had thought, so now if I want a bike, I have to buy a new one.
I got rhubarb from a friend and am making rhubarb jam.	My lemon tree is pretty much dead. Looks like everything got neglected when I got sick from pregnancy. :(
We’ve made plans to have a small vegetable garden this summer.	I gained too much weight last month (though I’m more concerned about it than my Dr.)—better get those veggies growing so I can lay off the ice cream!
The yard is fenced so now Lulu can run around with freedom.	Prenatal vitamins make me sick. The doc has me trying all sorts, but no luck. I’m close to swearing off of them.
JB got a whole week of vacation! (He had originally only gotten four days because everyone else hogged the days off.)	Our vacation will still be cut short because of a friend’s wedding (because all JB’s coworkers hogged vacation time and there was only one week he could pick).
My freelance project is almost done!!!	My eyesight is jacked because of pregnancy and there’s nothing I can do about it.
I have made plans to make curtains for all the upstairs rooms.	I do not have money to buy all the materials and curtain rods for all the upstairs rooms.
JB got a picnic table and has already sanded and stained it. It’s awesome.	I did not get into The Antiques Roadshow’s visit to Grand Rapids. Boo!