I realized a few days ago, that we have officially been in our home for one year! We signed in September and moved in around the 2nd week of October I believe. It seems like yesterday that we were getting new carpet and lights and sitting on camp chairs in our living room until we bought furniture. I remember our fist night here--wanting to leave lots of lights on bc I felt nervous. Excited, but nervous.
To be honest, Erwin and I had our sights high when we were house hunting. We wanted a 4 bedroom, 2 bath home and at least 1900 to 2000 sq feet. We quickly realized that our desires were no where near our small budget, so we started looking at smaller homes. I found this house and looked at it twice with our realtor before Erwin finally could get work off to come see it. At first glance online, I was dead set on saying no, because I thought it was way too small. But in all reality, this house all together, including the basement(storage cellar) and studio, is almost 2000 sq feet! But actual living space for every day use was tiny to me. How snobby of me, huh? I felt that way.
But something I will never forget, was how much I felt the spirit whisper to me thoughts of peace whenever we toured this home. I always felt comfortable and at ease and very peaceful while here. The answer seemed to come strongly that this was where we were meant to be, and Erwin was right on board with me. Thank goodness.
At first, I was still bummed about lots of things about living here, despite the strong spirit I felt. (still am bummed a little, to be honest)
I still thought it was tiny. I don't like being surrounded by busy, busy roads on all 4 side of our house. I don't like living so close to so many industrial work places. It feels like a factory town to me. I really liked the studio, but wished it was connected to our home as another bedroom. Wish our garage was bigger. Blah blah, complain, complain.
BUT, over the past year here, my heart has swelled with such joy with living here, despite the cons of the old house and some other unfortunate struggles with living here.
There are so many things that I have come to love and truly feel happy about.
-We are within walking distance of stores and gas stations and eateries.
-I have the most AMAZING backyard, which was a must for me when we were house hunting. I couldn't believe how we lucked out. My kids are always outside and I love the space we have for running.
-There is an above ground and spacious garden! My dream!
-The house came with a nice sized kitchen and beautiful cabinets.
-We have a wood burning stove!
-The storage cellar is great!
-We have a garage! Not used for cars, but for Erwin's work station and more storage.
-I love our gas stove. Things cook so fast and I can never go back to anything else.
-The studio has been a blessing. John Parker lived with us for 3 months and he got his own room and bathroom and privacy. We are grateful we can use this for a room, or art studio or workout room, if needs be.
-We live close to main street, which is lined with vintage shops and local businesses and a cupcake shop which won Cupcake wars!
-We live down the street from a nice playground for the kids. We walk there all the time.
-We live so close to the Rec Center, which was are discovering that we love!
-The house has lots of rose plants and flowers and beautiful large and mature trees.
-We have 4 different ways to enter our home, so in case of an emergency we can try lots of doors to escape!
-While the master bedroom is small-ish with no closest space whatsoever, we do have a half bath, which is great to shower and use the toilet without ever having to leave our room.
But what I really love, is that this home was a special place to many families before us. There are footprints in the cement with the names of kids who once lived and played here, as well as cute measuring lines to see how tall they had grown in our garage. You can tell with the way the garden was built, that someone spent lots of time there, and the trees that were planted--that someone loved greenery.
I am happy this is where we live. I am happy this is where I am raising my children and learning so much about the area and truly coming to love where we are. It is our home!! Which is so special to me, and is near and dear to my heart.
Happy one year to us as home owners!
(below are just a few things that I mentioned that I loved)
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