Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. Henry David Thoreau

Monday, January 24, 2011

This is the Year

Dear sweet bloggie friends, I have been having so much fun sharing our house building experience with you all over the past year and a half! I appreciate that total strangers became followers and left such sweet comments   to encourage me along the way.
Fellow bloggers -  I feel like I have really " met" some awesome people, and have learned so much from you all!  Thanks for all of your fun, informative, crazy, and beautiful blogs!  You inspire me to read, write, learn and share. Someday I will buy a real camera and learn how to take pretty pictures like you!



A House Building Blog Gone Astray.


Here's where the madness all started...


A barren hill 
covered with trees, vines and cow dung.

Just waiting for some suckers to come along and try
to tame it.

fast forward here.


Ive been doing some thinking about this blog and why I started it, and how it has changed.  It freaks me out to look at all of the changes and progress and things I've learned on this journey.  I started writing and taking pictures mostly to keep our overseas and over Kansas kids in touch with our house building project. Now that the house is "finished" and we are living here, I feel like I need to close the door on that aspect of my life and move on.  I still have a lot to say and share, but can I just say right now that

I AM SO GLAD THIS CHAPTER OF MY LIFE IS OOOOOOVVVVVEEEEERRRRRR!!!!!!!



 Don't get me wrong, it was fun..wink wink. but building a house with your husband can be an all- life- consuming endeavor, that may or may not wreck your marraige, your relationship with all your friends and family, and kill your health. Don't do it.  At least don't do it twice! Let me also say that I LOVE MY HOUSE AND THANK GOD FOR IT AND FOR MY HUSBAND WHO WORKED HIS BUTT OFF BUILDING IT! Now, that said, I feel free now to embark on other things that I love to do and feel called to do, now that I'm FREE FROM THIS JOB!  Thank you Lord!



I've been thinking about what I would like to accomplish this year. This month, this day, this hour! 
I've been enjoying these cold winter days, doing more reading, more praying, and more thinking about what God has in mind for me to do. He has planted a few seeds in my heart and I am sorting those out, but in the meantime, I have thought of a few extra things I would like to see happen this year:


Visit Oklahoma Joe's again.
(Not in line in the rain though!)






Eat more of this.





Do more of this!






Do something with this fabric!
(and never look at paint chips again in this life!)






plant some of these...




and these...




and these...




Remember what the heck I had planned to do with these...
and then do it!






learn how to play this.
Look at how mean my teacher is...







get one of these and ride down the highway
on a regular basis...





visit more flea market /barn sales with 
these two babes!






stop sitting on - laying on-looking at this ...







finish this...





find help for these people...






buy my husband a smoker
whether he likes it or not!






get brave enough to do this...





find hardware for these girls...






visit this store again...


and maybe the Greek Islands and Turkey...


hold this baby again...






learn to shoot a gun...




maybe...

Until the weather changes I also want to:
learn how to: make homemade tortillas, homemade pizza crust, (sorry Jim for all the trials you have to eat)
and in general be a better cook. 
So you see, this blog could take any number of changes, go down many different roads, and be a whole new breed of time killer!  I just want to warn you in advance, in case you were expecting something predictable.

Stay tuned though, it's bound to be interesting! 





9 comments:

  1. You will be a very busy woman!!! LOL

    I love the stone work on your home....I love that kind of look. We have similar but ours are more rounded like river rock.

    Your photographs are great!

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  2. What a fun list - I'm tired just reading it! I remember the wonderful feeling when we finished our remodel....and I remember vowing to never do anything like it again! Enjoy your new home.

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  3. yes, you need to come over here and hold that girl! she still thinks she should be entertained/played with all the time. her mommy needs you to come play with her! :)

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  4. Great pictures! You always make me laugh - especially the mean guitar teacher, and the sad couple with the ballcaps on cockeyed! I have made my own "bucket list" for the year; one thing, like you, to see MAYA (oh, Matt and Kellie,too,ha! This is crazy, but I actually think I may know what those wood blocks were for!!

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  5. Hi Mary Beth- I saw your comment over at The Simple Wife and being a fellow Mary Beth I thought I should introduce myself...so...hello! Also, the name of your blog caught my eye...I live near Pittsburgh, PA. ; )

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  6. Could one of those barn/flee market trips be to the Barn House in Vancouver, WA? Please oh Please?

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  7. When I've been here, I've loved watching the progression of your new home and life therein. I, too, have some things I'd like to learn/do in the upcoming year. As you move throughout the newness, I pray God's peace and joy be your portion.

    Enjoy the ride, sister.

    peace~elaine

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  8. Hello Mary Beth, Good to hear from you my dear, your new home looks fabulous, I really love your stone work on your home. Also the new look of your blog is excellent!!! I really like the feel you have here.
    Nighty Night...
    Rosemary...XX

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"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Welcome to my happy place. A place where I can share ideas, projects, and dreams. I am a nester, a crafter, a creator and a dreamer I hope you will find inspiration and encouragement for the journey you are on. I am a Jesus follower, wife, mother and nana. Blessed beyond measure, just trying to live my life gracefully and make a difference in my small world. Join me!