Happy Anniversary!

Today, is a year ago, that we signed a contract to buy a farmhouse built in 1850, 90 acres of land and a carnivorous, double barn, filled w/trash, falling down.

Today, a year ago, we spent an innocent weekend up in Sharon Springs NY (another interesting place). We were leaf peeping and land peeping, but who would have thought we'd find something our first time around......????

This all started actually, with an ad for a stone farmhouse for sale, in Country Living Magazine. It looked like the house of my dreams....historic, restored, funky, antiquey....it had some land (not much-but who knows what is, when you live in suburbia)....cheap, or what sounded cheap, to us city folk. A call to a friend, who had relocated to this same area, from our hometown, revealed what the magazine, magically, left out. While this house was indeed a jewel, it was surrounded by dilapidated houses or trailers, a section 8 apartment building across the street, next to a trailer proudly flying a confederate flag. OK, not my idea of idyllic, country, weekends & happily ever after! Hence this house is still for sale.....and it will be, until someone has the money & ambition, to move it, to a better area!

So, I hooked up with a realtor & booked us into a B&B & off we went! Never before had I been in this area...but I guess it was love at first site! And the rest is history! And this Blog!

OK now fast forward to this weekend,,,,Peter took our son Daniel up for the first time, to lend him a hand, installing the boiler & HW heater (YAY)

Daniel, who has always stayed behind, when I join Peter for the weekend, to take care of our 2 dogs,( since there is no room in a tuna can sized trailer, for four people & 2 big dogs) never was inclined to see the farmhouse anyway, once he heard there was no cell phone service (a fate worst than death to a 20 yr old) But, Peter really needed him this weekend & he had no great plans & he's a big, strong, lad.....who owes us big time, so yeah, we made him go up there.

Long story short, he liked it! He didn't realize the vastness of 90 acres. He rode a quad (which he hadn't done in years) all over, explored the barn & the remains of the ice house, climbed the waterfalls, snaked thru the trails, deep in the woods. He was always, my nature boy, so I knew, he would really relate, once he got over his cell phone.

The boiler & HW heater are now installed. It was an impressive job. Next, the sheetrockers. Next, Peter runs the baseboards. And we inch closer & closer to being able to sleep in the farmhouse.

Daniel survived being unplugged, for the weekend. He was rested & good natured about the whole thing. Actually, that's the nice thing about the farmhouse, I think. Its good to unplug.

Our actual anniversary, of buying the farmhouse, is in January, when we closed. We celebrated, by carrying in a box of pots & pans (my idea) & putting the farmhouse back to sleep for the winter.

We've often said, about this spontaneous, almost impulsive, purchase....its either the most brilliant idea we've ever had together, or its our worst decision yet. A year later-we still think it was brilliant!

Crazy Quilting

Well, alot has happened since the last time I wrote.......The Farmhouse was insulated with blown in foam, done by professionals. The Barn's foundation was fixed, expertly by an Amish Mason and a dirt road was made from the driveway, down to the barn.

New windows were installed in half the house. A concrete floor was poured in the basement to replace the dirt one. And both bathrooms have rough in plumbing & showers.

My Husband has been working tirelessly, every week, on the Farmhouse.

That leaves us separated, for much of the time. Its not easy on him. He's always working somewhere....but the way we look at it is, that we want to get it done as soon as possible so we can enjoy it, before its too late.

Right now, it 's a race to get the heat going, so we can continue to work on it & even spend time there, this winter.

Last weekend, I went up for the first time in close to 3 months. And this time we did some meandering. We stopped for breakfast @ one of my new favorite places-Bread Alone. Please take a moment to Google Bread Alone. I was amazed when I found it & I continue to be amazed, each time I go there.

Then we stopped at a quaint little gift shop friends told us about, that had great Adirondacks furniture, blankets, candles etc, just a neat store & although I can't recall the name just right now, you can find it by looking for a GIANT wood chair, right outside on the lawn!

All these places are on RT 28. I really enjoy RT 28. It winds thru different towns from long ago, a mix of history, salvage & funky, artistic, old fashioned stores, restaurants & motels.....each time I travel it my eye spys something I hadn't noticed before.....like Kate's Lazy Motel-owned by Kate from the B52's......or Peekamoose-which we ate an early dinner in on our way home-just blew us away-the structure-the decor-the FOOD-all spectacular! A real "you can't judge a book by its cover" reaction.

So while we have a long way to go, before we can actually stay in the Farmhouse, our dreams seem to be alittle closer to reality....we are in line to have it sheetrocked, and that will be our turning point.

Peter is there this weekend, installing central vac (it gets real muddy there & we intend to bring our dogs, which will increase the mess) and doing other things-the kind of behind the scene things, that needs to be done. I miss him and I feel bad that he toils there alone, but yet I know, that if I were there, he'd get nothing done...so I just try to stay busy, cleaning our "real" house & catching up on things like reading & laundry & maybe just a tiny bit of shopping.....OK so I did join the masses & went to the Mall, but hey, what's a girl supposed to do to pass the time?

One last laugh....last weekend while riding the land on our quads, Peter & I searched the property, for the site of our future house we dream to build, our last harrah...are we nuts or what?? Oh and I definately, want goats!!!