Happy Place

It was routine surgery really. But it was my first. I wasn't scared so much as nervous and uncomfortable. The doctor came to talk to me just before I got wheeled into the OR. "How are you feeling?" he asked. I told him where I hurt and he said, "we're going to fix that". Those words were oddly comforting. We are going to fix that.  So nice to hear someone so confident that "it" can be fixed and they can do the fixing. 

Do you remember Pesky Squirrel?

It's hard to believe it's been over three years since our relationship with pesky squirrels began. You may remember that when we first moved here we set out to make our backyard a sanctuary for birds and the occasional chipmunk but a certain squirrel was eating all the food. Thus began our battle:

This squirrel is brash, I tell ya, brash!

At first, it was just a battle of wits. But then the guy made a hole in our porch screen and helped himself to an unopened bag of birdseed.

Seriously! A squirrel was bold enough to come INTO the house.  This squirrel just was not to be deterred.  This bird seed?  Must be like crack for squirrels!  It causes squirrels to commit bolder crimes.

I'm not sure when it "happened". I guess it didn't happen all at once. But sometime between then and now the squirrels have become part of our backyard party. I think it became a game that Jordan and I were winning. We cut back nearby trees so that there was not easy access to the feeders. It actually took two years for one of the squirrels to figure out how to get on the feeders. He was aided by some very rogue shrubs that grew up around the feeders. We had to give props to the little guy when we saw the acrobatics involved in the bird feeder dining.

One fella has gotten fairly proficient. But some of the others have tried and failed. They always seem to bounce back...so there's little to worry about. The birds have shown that they can manage to eat with a silly squirrel on the feeder. So we've kind of taken a let's not let it be too easy...but, we don't mind if one or two squirrels are able to outsmart the obstacle course to the feeder. See? What a difference a few years can make.

Putting the "Home" in the House

This is the kitchen in our first house. I've never been what I would call a cook. Although, oddly, the kitchen is one of the rooms that determines if I'm going to like the home. This was a sweet kitchen though I feel the need to add a disclaimer about the curtains. They were there when we moved in. They weren't great but...they didn't bother us either. So they stayed.

Like I said before, we have very few photos from before digital. It's not that we didn't take them, we absolutely did take them. And I think we put them in photo books. But finding them now...that would be a trick.

Our First House

Earlier this week I wrote about some of the things that make my house feel like home. 

Today I thought I would share similar thoughts on our first house. This isn't our first home but it was the first house. 

Feeling At Home

So, here's what I've been thinking about...home and how we feel about it and when our house feels like home. Why do I think about this? I think because I enjoy reading so many bloggers describe their home and how they are updating it...even if it's just something like new throw pillows.