And So It Begins….

Image by luigi via Compfight

I’ve decided to stop the homemade medicine cabinet series for now.  It’s summer, not too many people are needing remedies, and it just wasn’t getting much attention.  It will come, closer to fall…and in a bit of a different way.  You’ll understand in a few weeks why I’m doing this.  And I promise it will be worth the wait.  Instead, I’m going to use Wednesdays to share about our journey towards a new home and farm property, and when there’s no news on that front, grocery tips and mothering thoughts.  It’s summer…time to be a little random, right?

It’s time.

Those of you who have been reading for awhile may know that our ultimate goal is to move to a property with lots of land and raise much of our own food and animals.  If you weren’t aware before, you are now.

I’ve been feeling restless for awhile.  We’ve made noises about looking at properties.  I spent a couple hours scrolling through some on our realtor’s site (yes, we have a realtor).  We checked out one property back when it was still cold outside…I don’t remember exactly when that was.  But the property wasn’t for us for many reasons (I didn’t like the layout of the house, plus much of the land wasn’t usable for grazing animals, among other things).

But now…we’ve gotta make a move.  I feel like we’ve been treading water for awhile, hoping something falls into our laps.  Actually I’ve felt like that in a lot of areas of our lives.  It’s just not working anymore and it’s time to face it.  Over the next few months we’re going to be making some big changes and I hope you’ll join us on our journey.  These changes will include:

• Expanding MAM (look for an announcement towards the end of June!)
• Ben is seeking a new job (within the same company)
• We will be actively looking at properties
• I will cleaning my house UP and OUT!  (WHY do I still have tons of stuff I never use?!)
• I will ‘cleaning out’ my personal relationships and Facebook (I don’t need ‘friends’ who aren’t really friends or people who cause me mostly stress!)

I hope you’ll follow me on my journey as I do these things.  I’ll be sharing our impressions of the properties we look at and the steps it takes to find the right one.  I’ll be sharing how I clean and organize and simplify my life and prepare my house to list.  And of course I’ll be sharing how MAM will be changing!  I am super excited about that one.  Just wait until the end of June and you will be very excited with me!  (And don’t forget my next cookbook, the oh-so-appropriate Simply Summer is coming next Monday.  Very allergy-friendly too!)

Image by Yvonne Eijkenduijn via Compfight

The Houses

Last night, we looked at houses.  Since I didn’t stay up until midnight writing this — in fact, I’m writing on Tuesday morning — you will have to wait to hear about that next week.  Even though you’re reading this on Wednesday morning, pretend with me it’s still Tuesday morning.  Because right now, it is.

I’m excited to check out these properties.  They are between 2100 and 3000 square feet (homes) and the land is 8 – 15 acres.  We really want around 10, but would take up to 20 if it fit within our budget.  One property has a horse barn, another has a gorgeous backyard with a pond, and another has two acres of ‘cleared’ land and lots of woods.

We’re not looking for perfection.  It’ll probably take us 10 years to get the property and the home exactly the way we want it.  We’ll likely be looking into adding onto the home, replacing floors and windows and painting, and possibly larger construction projects.  We’ll clear the land, if it’s wooded, and we’ll set up fences (starting with one near the back of the house so we can create a safe play area for the kids), get a chicken coop, plant lots of fruit trees and bushes, and so on.  All of that will cost money and frankly, after we buy a house we will not have money left to do all of that right away.

I am kind of excited to actually decorate my kids’ rooms, though!  I didn’t decorate any “nurseries” for them, really, we just painted the walls and stuck some decals up.  But now they are old enough to have actual opinions and so I figure we’ll spend a little time really making their rooms look nice.  My 4-year-old wants a “pink and purple princess room with Belle and Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella” and my almost 3-year-old would like “a Lightning McQueen room.”  The 10-month-old does not care, but he will likely be sharing with the 3-year-old anyway.

What am I looking for a in a property?

• Within 10 – 15 minutes of the city (so we can easily get to all the places we need)
• 10 – 15 acres of land, that is generally flat, cleared is a plus — must be appropriate for grazing animals
• Outside buildings/barns are a plus
• Fenced areas are a plus
• House at least 1200 sq. feet and over 2000 is better (but we are willing to add on)
• Open floor plan on the house with at least a large kitchen and two other rooms on the main floor
• Kitchen must have lots of counter space and an easy way to expand it if needed (we plan to add a pantry and double ovens and etc. later)
• Kitchen must have large eat-in area (for meals as well as some homeschooling)
• At least 3 bedrooms; 4 – 5 is better
• At least 2 bathrooms (2.5 is better and a jacuzzi in the master bath would be awesome…just saying…)
• A large basement (finished is a plus)
• Utility room on main floor for laundry, etc. (ideally)

As you see, I’m not that picky.  I’m not concerned about color of the house, or any interior “design” aspects.  I don’t care about floors, windows, walls.  I don’t care about closets or dining rooms or bonus rooms.  Anything that is cosmetic or could be changed fairly easily (“fairly” being relative, since Ben grew up remodeling houses) is not a big deal to me at all.  The house must just have a basic layout that will work with the changes I want.

If the property isn’t good for grazing animals or the house has a closed, tight floor plan that would require major construction like knocking out ceilings or walls — those are deal breakers for me.

What Next?

Basically we are being casual about all this, and will be praying a lot.  We will need to find the home that God has for us, in His timing.  I am not worried about it because I know He will show us the right one, when the time is right.

It would be super awesome to celebrate Christmas in our new home though, and to get to plant a huge garden there next summer.

Next week I’ll share some pictures and our thoughts on the three properties we looked at.  This is such an exciting journey, and I am so glad that we are pushing forward!  Sometimes it is time to wait and be patient, and sometimes it is time to move ahead.  I sense that now is the time to move ahead.  I don’t want to get stuck somewhere (physically or mentally) and look back in 2 years or 5 or 10 and say “I wasted time.”  No.  I’m ready to get going!

Just for fun…here are a couple pictures of my bedroom right now.

Most of that stuff is leaving my house.  I cleaned out my closet (mostly) over the weekend.  I finally looked at it with the thought, “Do I really need that?” rather than “Oh…but…what if I want it again someday?”  And it feels good to pare down.  Over half the stuff we own is going to be leaving because we just have too much of it.  It will be so nice to walk through a house that is not messy simply because I do not have so much stuff to make a mess!

I’ll show you pictures next week of all the stuff that has left my house.  I am determined, it will be a lot.  Are you decluttering, too?  (I’ll probably post more on how to do this in a couple of weeks.)

That is where we are now!

Do you own a dream home, or are you working towards one?  Are you decluttering your life?  Join me, literally or vicariously!