If you give Macy a cookie....

Friends, I'm a natural born gypsy. I prefer to wonder where the breeze blows me and not commit to staying any one place too long. Imagine my surprise when my heart turned toward planting roots and staying last year as I longed to buy a home of my very own.... and it happened! None of this to news to any of you lovely folks following my blog but sometimes it sneaks up on me as a surprise still, especially since I purchased a home that I was renting!

Well, that gypsy personality is still here, loud and clear ringing in my head... but not in the ways you might think. No, I have no desire to move. Buying a home was a killer process that kept me from many nights of sleeping, I'm not likely to want to do that again for another couple decades. Instead, my gypsy soul was best described by a dear friend and confirmed completely by my husband : I am EXACTLY like the books "If you give a mouse a cookie (moose a muffin, pig a pancake, etc)... Like, literally, that so perfectly fits me I could try to deny it but every one around me would roll their eyes and laugh knowing all too well that I'm stellar at not planning anything but instead, I can roll with anything that comes at me. Blessing and a curse I promise you! 

Here's a stellar example - A couple years ago, I was thinking about self sufficiency. I was thinking how self reliance mattered to me and pondering if I was doing "all I could do" with the resources I had... so that lovely question lead me to reading many books on self reliance and homesteading on small properties. And reading about homesteading lead me to learn about tiny livestock options for the back yard homestead. Reading those books lead me to learning about goats. Learning about goats lead me to searching, and searching lead me to "go look at some goats" (to which my husband said "if you are just going to look, why do you have the trailer attached to your vehicle?!"... uhhh....) And that "looking" ended up with two amazing goats in the back of my trailer for a few days while we set up fencing, built a shelter, all in the middle of winter and our well froze over in the middle of all that............. yea. Well, I am getting better about planning but it's NOT my strong suit at all. 

Owning this home is no exception to my whimsical and wondering thoughts and desires. I want to knock down walls, renovate the kitchen, add a bathroom, get a concrete pad out by the shop, grow some grass to play in, plant more fruit trees.... yadda yadda yadda. My poor husband works endless hours toward our personal and professional goals and I worry that sometimes all I display is my discontent with what I have in front of my eyes. Yes, I'm the master at introspective thoughts in hindsight! So, this lovely little dialog is to bring me to our recent "macy was given a cookie" project! 

I forgot to take a true "before" picture. Our mailbox was a sad sorry sight. That rusted thing looks like it had been hit by a car then pounded back out with a hammer to continue to use it! The lovely thing on the left is our new mailbox... but really, we have a white house, more white might be a bit too boring for a home that was mine, don't you agree?

So we set to work... 

And we were completely serious. We're professionals at fixing houses... We told the kids NO messing around. No jokes. No laughter..... HA! Totally joking. We had a blast and let them truly "do it yourself" because it's their home too!

And this is what we came up with....

And because I'm miffed that I don't have a before picture... Here's the before picture for the up and coming project!

Yes, I am painting that boring white door YELLOW too! And the tan surrounding it? It's going deep blue. And that deep blue is going on shutters around the windows. .... and well, I'm sure I'll come up with something to put in those empty pots. And and and.......

We are going to have some stellar changes in this house, I promise. What exactly? I have no idea, I'm about as great as planning as you would expect a 2 year old to be. Isn't it lovely that my husband is the exact opposite? He's saved the house from me tearing it apart and being overwhelmed with his thorough planning... sigh. Smart man, I'm sure... patient too to live with me. 

Many more blogs to come as I get wild hairs to tear apart and beautify this home of mine!