Big Dreams

 

Oh how I miss owning our home. We actually are blessed with a really great rental home in a very nice neighborhood. Even a bit of land. But its hard when you know its not yours. When something breaks you have to call the "Landlord" and wait for them to get around to fixing it. Living on two acres of land is such a great concept EXEPT when its not yours and you can't do much with it. Although we are able to plant a garden, I would love to have more than "my neighbors chickens".

And then there is the gas fire place. Whoever thought these were a good idea?? Especially when its never been hooked up! Ugh. Wood burning for me. I love the smell and I also never like the idea of relying on a company to heat my home. We had a brutal winter with lows that dipped under 0 degrees. So gas was in high demand and at a premium. For something so basic as staying warm. And having a propane fireplace.....not hooked up......just mocking me. Ugh. Our furnace broke this winter which caused it to run constantly and never getting above 67. Also causing the bill to sky rocket as you could imagine. So sitting in a freezing house.....staring at a fireplace you can't use.....ugh.

This brings us back to our dreams. I am constantly on the craigslist ads perusing back and forth from the "Farm and Garden" section and the "Real Estate for Sale" ads. Just dreaming. We had to short sale our house when we left Washington so that, legally, does not allow us to buy for 3 years. In August we will be starting our second year. So when I came upon two (almost) perfect houses, it hurt like no other.

First house was the perfect Homesteaders house. 15 acres with a pond and homemade firing range. 3 bedroom house almost completed but nothing we couldn't handle. and OFF GRID. $50,000. Le sigh. Just not the right time.

Second house was a bit more promising. Lease to Own. 2 Year contract. Which would buy us the time we needed. 3 bedroom brick home with detached garage. Only 15 minutes or so from our current rental. BUT only 1 acre. 1 Bathroom. And REALLY close to a highway. As Greg puts it "One of the girls would wonder into the road, get hit by a semi, then he would have to go find an Indian Pet cemetery, bury her, she would come back to life and kill me and others." Ok that was a bit of a stretch but just not a good situation for us. And I really want more land than 1 acre.

So we sat down and really talked about what was important to us. We loved our first home.....until we had children. Then it was just too small. And we couldn't do anything with it. We don't want to get into a situation like that again. Where we "Settle". And we are willing to search for it.....and wait if needed.

I want 5-10 acres so I can have my animals and garden. I want a wood burning fireplace. Greg wants 10 acres and some wooded so he can hunt and have trees for our fireplace if needed. He wants a pond. He wants to NOT be on a main road. A house that is set back a bit. These, we've decided, are things that are just so important to us. And we aren't willing to settle anymore.

While its frustrating to know that we will be living in a rental for a while longer, it seems a little less painful to know that the next home we own will be ours. And what WE want. A place for our farm and our children to grow. A place for us. And then I know we will have finally arrived and we can live our dream of the Trupp Homestead.