Get set, get ready.....

         My husband and I walked eagerly into obtaining a worn out spiritless stucco house during the fall of 2014. Life was full of ambitions, pride and a passion to pour our love into a house left for dead. The house had sat vacant for over 3 years and the signs of neglect were beyond apparent. Over the years we had visited numerous houses on the market for sale and we were always drawn to those old houses that smelled, had the visible signs of chaos, dysfunction and neglect. I always felt as if the physical signs of the house were part of all the untold stories. Those stories from the countless families who suffered from their own personal struggles throughout many decades since the houses were built. If only the walls and floors could talk.
           Our journey began in Upstate NY. I vividly remember sitting in a small towns building complex where the attorney kept his office. My husband was deployed overseas and I sat there alone with our two small girls at an oversized mahogany table big enough for over a dozen people. Every inch of the room was taken up by enormous book shelves full of law books that I had no interest in ever reading. I normally rush into situations head strong and willing to conquer and yet that day I suddenly felt out of my element. A million what if's flashed through my head concerning that days agenda. I sat there knowing that I and I alone were about to sign away a huge stack of paperwork that included words only a dictionary could help me to decode. My husband, my best friend and my major source of support was absent. I was on my own left to "keep moving forward." Despite the worry and doubt swirling around in my head I took a deep breath and signed away all the legal documentation. My hand hurt. My mind hurt and yet there I was being congratulated by the real estate agent and attorney on the completion of buying our future. I had no clue what I had just done and no idea of how my signature had just set in motion a whole whirlwind of events, some pleasant and some beyond agonizing. We bought a house. A stucco house on just under an acre that was built near the 1800s. All plumbing had been stripped and the place smelled like a collection of moth balls, blue cheese and mold. The kind of mold that lingers, tickles your nose and encourages a shower. However, now that we are two years in and actually have plumbing, I have discovered that our journey is full of hidden treasures. This blog is a collection of those discoveries with some humor and raw honesty. Come along, take a country seat and read along so you can share with us in life's greatest journey. Our journey that includes daily remodeling.

-Sarah