Wednesday, June 27, 2012

If These Walls Could Speak

As I mentioned in last week's Hodgepodge, we have our house on the market. When you walk through our home, you will see some of the same things that are in everyone else's house....beds, couches, dining room table, kitchen, bathrooms, etc.

You may or may not like how we decorate. You may or may not think our house is the house for you.

But, will you see the stories that this house holds?

Will you know that this is the only house that our girls have ever known? We lived in a previous house when we had our oldest, but we moved here when she was only 11 months old. Our other two daughters have never lived anywhere else.

Will you know that these roses are the same ones that we had at our previous house, and I loved the way they grew there, so I made sure to get the exact same ones for my "new" house?



When you see this picture of Jesus (one of two) in our living room, will you know it's meaning? Will you know that this same picture (although in color) hung in my home as a little girl, and when I had the choice to choose between different ones, I chose this, because it always brought comfort to me as a child? Will you know that, while this may seem like just any ordinary Jesus picture, it is actually made from WORDS? If you look closely, you will be able to see the words clearly written.



When you see this sign that says "Love", will you know that we were given this at church, to remind us to love each other like Jesus loves? Will you know that this statue, the one with the bluebirds, was given to me by a dear friend? She didn't realize that I had always wanted one like this, because someone had placed this in my Gram's casket at her funeral, and now it reminds me of her.





When you look at our dining room table, will you just see a table, or will you see the many family dinners that have been served on it? Will you see the crafts that were made there? The hours of school work? The board games we have played?



Will you be able to imagine how much time and money have been spent on the school books that you will see on bookshelves all over the house?



When you look at our family room, will you know how long it took us to pick out just the right couch for that room? Or, how much we agonized over the color choices?

Will you know that Hubs and I sit here on most days, sipping our coffee, and talking about our plans for the day?



Will you be able to hear the music, as my two oldest girls practice their  lessons on the piano?





When you see my kitchen, will you know how thrilled I was to finally get a refrigerator with an ice/water dispenser? Will you be able to see the many, many meals that have been prepared in this kitchen over the almost 15 years that we have lived here? Will you know that my Dad and Hubs laid the tile themselves?



In the bathroom, will you be able to hear the giggles as my little girls took bubble baths, with the tub so full of toys and bubbles, you could barely see them?


In the girls' bedrooms, will you know how much work went into redecorating them, so that they would be just the way they wanted them?



Will you know that this dresser, in my oldest daughters room, was mine as a child, and has been redone to reflect her taste?



When you reach the master bedroom, and you see this on my dresser, will you know that Hubs and I bought this on our honeymoon at Disney World?




Will you know that these handcarved wooden elephants belonged to Hubs' grandfather, who is now gone?



Will you know how happy just seeing this striped umbrella makes me when I look at it?



Will you know how much love and laughter, joy and tears, pain and sorrow, this house has known through the years?

If these walls could speak, you would....


Thursday, June 21, 2012

Summertime Hodgepodge

1. Summer officially rolls in with the Hodgepodge this week, for those of us in the Northern hemisphere anyway. What song says summer 2012 to you?
Keith Urban's, "Long Hot Summer".
Why did I choose that song? Well...it is only June 20th, and it was 95 degrees outside today. I have a feeling this is going to be a long, HOT summer! I am so very thankful that I live in an air conditioned house.
I also like this part of the song:
It's gonna be a long, hot summer, we should be together
With your feet up on the dashboard now
Singing along with the radio, it's such a beautiful sound
I will often put my feet up on the dashboard while Hubs is driving, and I am always singing along to the radio. I like to think it's such a beautiful sound, but I may be a little partial.
2. What's your favorite quintessential summer food?
Definitely watermelon! The only problem I have with it is, it is so hard to tell whether or not it is a good one, before you buy it. I recently bought one, and waited just a few days to cut it. I was really looking forward to tasting it's juicy goodness, but when I cut it open, it was extremely mushy and very unappetizing.

Does anyone out there have any tips on how to pick the best watermelon?  

3. I've spent a lot of time traipsing up and down the NJ Turnpike in recent weeks. Did you know the rest areas on the turnpike are named after people who lived or worked in NJ? Clara Barton, Walt Whitman, James Fenimore Cooper, Molly Pitcher, Joyce Kilmer, Thomas Edison, and Gover Clevland just to name a few. Of those I listed, who would you most like to have known and why?
I will choose Clara Barton, only because I did a report on her in the 5th grade. I remember that we made a sandwich board, and wore it around to some of the other classes and gave our presentations.
She was a teacher during a time when most teachers were men. She was a nurse in the Civil War, and she started the Red Cross. She was quite an inspiration for young women today! I would love to talk to her, and ask her what it was like for her back then, being a woman in a man's world. 

4. At what age did you move out of your parent's house and what prompted the move?
I was 18 years old, and I was going off to college.

5. What's more satisfying to you-saving time or saving money?
Saving money. I LOVE getting a good deal!

6. Name something you think brings out the good in people.
Christmas. It is a time where people will dig deep in their pockets to help out charities, buy gifts for children who otherwise would not receive any, or even buy food for local food pantries.
People also seem kinder and gentler at Christmas time. It's like the miracle of Christmas gets a hold of you, and you just can't help but be a little nicer to everyone you meet.

7. This last question comes to you courtesy of Kathy over at Reflections...will you be taking a vacation or a staycation this summer? If so where will you go? If a staycation is on the calendar have you made any special plans to fill the time?
We will be going to visit Hubs' family in Maine at the end of the summer. We are all looking forward to seeing them, but also, this year, we will be going to Bar Harbor. We have never taken the girls there, and they are eager to go. Hubs' brother lives there, and he has told the girls about all of the celebrities that vacation on the island, and eat at his restaurant. The oldest is also looking forward to all of the beautiful pictures she will be able to take while we are there.

8. Insert your own random thought here.
We currently have our house on the market, and we have a showing tomorrow. I am busy cleaning like a mad woman, trying to get rid of that "lived in" look. I am throwing things away right and left, and organizing drawers, cupboards, and closets. I know that when I look at houses, I always look in those places!
So tell me....do you?