Favourite Thing Friday

My Favourite Thing this week is our home. We are approaching the 9th anniversary of the day we purchased our home. October 23, 2001 was the day our house was for sale by public auction. For those of you not familiar with the concept, the house is auctioned off to the highest bidder with the approval of selling price [by the owner]. Typically this is common in a house formerly owned by an elderly widow(er). In this case, the son of the former owner lived out of state and was anxious to settle the estate quickly. The new buyer is responsible for paying 10% the day of the sale and will inherit any liens or back taxes on the property.

When we first toured our house, I reached the foyer and then turned around and left. The previous owner had raised German short-haired pointers and was unable to care for them when he became ill. To say the house was filthy is a gross (emphasis on gross) understatement. Rob toured the house and was inspired by the potential. We were pre-approved for a mortgage and our budget was $100,000.

The house was dirty and the yard was overgrown, but it was a solid brick rancher with three bedrooms, 2.5 baths and in a great school district. It had central air, a relatively new roof and relatively new furnace/hot water heater. Rob's aunts were visiting and attended the sale along with my parents and grandmother. Once the auctioneer passed $100,000, I was disappointed and lost interest in the back and forth banter. When the auctioneer yelled "going once, going twice, sold" to Rob I shrieked, "WHAT"? I know, I could have come up with something a little more colorful, but that was my first response.

Little did I know, but my grandmother also fell in love with the house and was whispering and tugging on Rob's arm not to let this chance get away. She said, "I'll give you $11,000 today if you buy this house". She knew, like he did, that $111,000 for a house was a steal.

So, we bought the house. She gave us $11,000 - in cash. I'm not kidding. We spread the money out in Rob's parents living room, sprayed it with Febreze and then took it to the bank.

I love our house. I love our neighborhood.  It may not be the biggest house (it's one of the smaller neighborhoods in our district), but it's ours.  I hope our kids look back some day and call this, "the house that built me" like the Miranda Lambert song. Our kids are the first children to live here and my dad always says that this house is really lived in.

We've brought home two babies into this home, we've had countless birthday parties here. We've had fights here, we've made up here. We've laughed and cried. We've had sleepovers, we've had sleepless nights (filled with puking). We've refinished wood floors. We've installed carpet (and uninstalled it). We've treated termites, installed bathrooms, and painted every room.

It's usually dirty (somewhere), it's old and small, but it's one of my favourite places to be [with some of my favourite people in the world].  It's home.

Josh's room, love the bullets, football, and the American flag!

making memories in the front yard

the girls room - it's not usually this orderly!

our living room

beauty shop in the hallway bathroom

our "retro" original marble bathroom floor

the shower in the "master bathroom to be"