Heart

My last post was on how much this house has affected me in a negative fashion. Obviously it’s a feeling well shared by many new home owners. So with that, and a few more days past, I bring you the silver lining on this once dark cloud.

What I Love About This Old House:

1. Mornings.

I will admit I am not a morning person. I love my sleep. Back in the apartment dwelling days, being up before 10am was unheard of. I mean, why should I? Cleaning could be done in an hour, we had no yard to play in and the days passed by with nothing to do. That place made me miserable to be honest; one step away from “having to talk to a volleyball name Wilson” kind of miserable.

That all changed upon moving here.

Without the room darkening curtains to hide behind, the sun blazes in with a purpose. Averi rises her little bed head right with it, leaving no room to sleep in. Yet, I don’t mind it. I open our curtains and stop to stare at the view; birds playing upon the rooftops, the town in the distance buzzing, and sheer quietness of the area, all to take in. Beds get made and rooms picked up before we slide ourselves down the stairs. Shortly after, with coffee in hand and a happy 3yr old playing somewhere, I sit with warm laptop in the silence. And it’s only 9am....

2. Natural Light.
I never had a view in the apartment. A brick wall and nosy neighbors stopped any shed of natural light in that place. Curtains were thick and most of the time never even open. No sense in staring at garbage right?

Oh how that changed drastically!

This house fills with light the moment the sunrises. All curtains, if any at all, get pushed  to the sides letting the world light up each room. Warm weather hits and every window is open with it. I imagine the neighbors get quiet a view of our life since the rare curtains up are sheer and welcomes anyone to peer in. I don’t dare to cover them up, the view is far too beautiful.

3. Lazy Robin

Oh nature, how I love thee (ok, everything but our 100yr old wiggle tree).

Every day I am surrounded by the sounds of nature, birds especially. So it was a rather pleasant surprise to find out one of the porch pillars were a perfect Robin nesting location. The previous nest was knocked down by the contractors but this didn’t deter a certain Robin. Every day, he puts all this findings on our porch, no matter how many times Daddy knocks it off. Branches, string and feather like concoctions sit underneath his building place. Yet we’ve never seen a part of the nest actually being built. He gets as far as his collection, bounces back and forth from the pillar to the world but never has anything there. In a way, he fits us. He has his location, his items but is taking his sweet time putting it all together. I hope to see a nest one morning filled with eggs come summer.

4. Blooming.

Spring is a wild season. One moment its rain and warm, the next cold and snow; but this all has a pay off. I peered out my sunroom this morning to see every tree we have filled with green blooms. I was literally taken aback by this. It’s like watching the world come alive from a long slumber. I anxiously wait to find out the fate of each tree since some are said to bare fruit. We’ve never seen the trees in all their glory yet, being we found this place in the winter. Not to mention the rose bushes and other flowers that have sprung from there wintery beds. Every day brings us closer and closer to a beautiful nature show.

5. “Mom, I’m going to my room.”

Averi’s room is her pride and joy. The moment you step foot in this house she will insist on giving you a tour of it. The room is 3 times bigger then her old one and has a carpet perfect for tumbling. Toys fit perfectly in there with her big girl bed, so there is always something up there to enjoy. She was never one to play in her room in the apartment. I don’t blame her. It was cold, cramped and blah. Now that she has gotten comfortable with the new place she’s often found in her room, playing peacefully. I never thought I would enjoy hearing her say “Mom, I’m going to my room” so much.

6. Diamond in the Rough

That’s exactly what most people called this house when they 1^st saw it back in the beginning. The potential was quiet literally unlimited. And it still is. Sure, the walls and floors are all done. It’s about as up to date as any house can get. Yet there is still untapped potential. Every day this house opens to me and I get a feel for what would look great where. The options are still endless.

7. Visitors.

Very few visitors came to our apartment. I don’t blame them! I hung my head low every time I had to leave my car to enter my place. Those who did brave the complex were always greeted with some form of trash, be it rap music or gangster children. You never felt safe to leave your car.

We haven’t had a “house warming party” yet, but it hasn’t deterred inviting anyone over. Heck, try to keep people away! This house has become a hot spot for anyone who knows us. I’m not quiet use to playing “hostess” but I am getting use to it. It’s nice to actually not be embarrassed of where I live. Sure, the place is still unfinished but no one seems to mind one bit.

8. Old House Smell

No matter how much I clean, how many pretty smelling things I place…this place always welcomes us home with one certain smell, the old 1907 home smell. It’s hard to describe, but it’s not a bad one.

9. Neighbors.

Have I mentioned how utterly nice and cool my neighbors are?

We never sought to get to know our neighbors in the apartment. When we did, well, it wasn’t worth it. So we secluded ourselves, having no part in the outside world.

Here, it’s another world!

Our neighbors are a bunch of wonderful people, including relatives. To the right is an older gentleman who is a gardening enthusiast. He loves Averi already and is always seen out in his yard, working hard. He’s full of information on the house and previous owners.

To left is a family who keeps to themselves most of the time, but the father is always chatting with Daddy when they pass each other. In front of us is our Uncle Marty and Mary, the sweetest people on earth. Marty always yells “Hey neighbor!” when he sees us and naturally loves to come over to visit Averi. Mary is always seen busting on the neighbors and going somewhere all dressed up. The other front neighbor is an elderly-ish man who just merely waves when he sees us. They have grandchildren who visit often , so they can be found taking nature walks around the block. Apparently he also bowled with Uncle Cory at one time. There are always boys riding bikes and playing down the street. People are usually seen walking there dogs through the dirt road behind us. A block down is Aunt Theresa, my fav Aunt on Daddy’s side. We will be visiting her tons as the warm weather continues. Ten minutes away from Daddy’s parents and a easy hop over to mine. The perfect almost made for us location.

10. My Dryer

Unless you have spent 3yrs drying clothes on a drying rack, I don’t think you’ll ever grasp the love I have for my dryer. I never had the luxury of it in the apartment. Not that we couldn’t, it’s just the high risk of them catching the place on fire that didn’t seem worth it. So I was only able to laundry enough clothes to place on 2 drying rack that sat in our bedroom. That is not a lot at all, so I was constantly backed up. The only time I was remotely caught up was on warm sunny days where I could hang them outside. Even then I battled my neighbors for enough line and put up with sexual harassment from the other neighbors. So when I heard I was getting a dryer of my very own, I squealed like a kid on Xmas day. The warmth of freshly dried clothes is a touch from heaven. Getting multiple loads done in a day vs. one small one in 24hrs is its weight in gold. When the wind hits just right it fills our house with a sweet dryer sheet smell. Oh dryer, I may love you more then my Kerig.  Shhh…

“The moment you have in your heart this extraordinary thing called love and feel the depth, the delight, the ecstasy of it, you will discover that for you the world is transformed.” ~Jiddu Krishnamurti

Home

I love your house…

I’ve been hearing this since the moment our feet landed foot in our unpolished home. Before the keys we’re even placed in our hands, this house was the talk of the year.

What a deal! What a find! What potential!

With all this hype, I will honestly admit, I grew a dislike for the house. What’s so special about a roof, cement and some walls? While others made plans and gushed, I just ignored the thoughts of this place. My apartment was my home and as much as I hated the place, it was where I was at the moment. No pressure of color choices or what to do with this or that. No one expected my apartment to be a 5 star hotel, and I liked that.

As much as I tried and fought, I couldn’t completely ignore this home. Every redesign and paint choice included my opinion one way or another. This brought about pressure I never felt before. Do I dare do blue in a kitchen? Where will the couch go? Would my 70’s floral couch even match my now raspberry rooms? My head would burn every time I left this place, worrying if I made the right choice. Yet I pushed through, slowly watching this house become “ours”, not just a shell of a home left behind. The birds outside would sing as I painted every weekend, in a sense welcoming me to these new walls. Before long, furniture was moved in and people given grand tours, but the pressure, oh it has yet to leave…..

Here I am, sitting on my perfectly polished oak floors and in the back of my mind that pressure still looms. What do I put on my walls? What carpets do I put where? There isn’t a day that someone doesn’t ask what’s next. Is there a next? I wasn’t even thinking that far yet!  But it feels as if people have already pictured how this place should be long before I even sat here. Wait! Is this my home or the worlds? It gets to point where I turn stagnate, yearning for the days where anything anywhere would do. Where it was a couch, a radio and just us.

Cleaning this place has even given me anxiety on quiet a few occasions as I am not accustom to so much with so much detail. The thought of having a cleaning schedule actually alarms me, for what use to take an hour will take DAYS. 

I want to love this place, don’t get me wrong, and I am blessed to have it. Waking up to birds singing not stomping neighbors is worth its weight in gold. Not too many people can say they totally customized a house in what literally is the perfect location. I just wish it didn’t come with an audience & panel of critiques. I am not one to make a house look like a picture from a magazine. I am far from Martha Stewart. I enjoy the flaws, our mistakes and insane choice of colors.

Do I have an idea what I’m doing? Nope, not a single clue.

Do I need to? No! Cause then what’s the sense of owning this place.

I’m not out to appease the masses, no matter how much my perfectionism pushes me to. If I want polka carpets and neon walls, so be it. It may not be polished and perfect but be damn if anyone else will make this house feel less then a home to me.

So every morning I sit here, my coffee and this house. I listen to the birds and stare at the marvel that is ours. Sure, there is trimming to do. There is nothing on my walls. My entire upstairs needs a vacuum. But I got time. Right now, I want to just enjoy this. Welcome this house into my heart for a change.

What’s next? You’ll just have to wait and see.

Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do... but how much love we put in that action.  ~Mother Teresa

Simple

"I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best both for the body and the mind."  
~Albert Einstein

Sway

I’m a tree hugger. I even have a favorite tree that I amorously stare at when we’re at our local park. To me they are majestic wise old beings, living long before and after us. Reminding us to be rooted and sway with the breeze….

So it was much to my surprise when I hastily decided the fate of our 100ft old pine tree in our front yard. The strong wind storm yesterday made this tree rock from top to bottom, making the ground wave with it. Something I have never witnessed before. This caused a very uncomfortable panic for me and even unease from the unshakeable Daddy. We decided that the tree is going to me taken down for the safety of our home. Not to mention the power company wouldn’t like the possible damage it could have to the power lines.

Sorry tree. You’ve probably been here since the house was built and you’re still a beautifully green being. You have been through a thousand storms and still stand with pride. But last night showed how much we love this house, with almost a paternal need to protect it. Perhaps its time to go old friend….

Much like the day, we found ourselves also swaying; this time to new foods and ideas. Back in the apartment day, our dinners and food choices reflected where we lived. We weren’t fancy nor tried to be. Usually sticking to simple and easy, for whatever fit in our tiny fridge. Occasionally dining on steak and sushi as a treat to ourselves for making it this far. Now, as this home has opened our views, it opened our pallet. We got giddy over breads to try with drippings. To try new cheeses, fresh new veggies and putting together true thought-out meals. I must admit I am not one with the stove but I am open to swaying my thoughts with it...

“Where desire doth bear the sway - the heart must rule, the head obey” ~Francis Davidson

Echo

I’m an apple that didn’t fall far from the tree. So when I find myself going “balls to the wall” on a passion, I can almost see my dad in my reflection. Everything he does he does 102%. I have found in my current years that I share that same fire. My fire is rather scattered though. Like all 20-somethings, I’m still grasping straws on finding who I am in this world. But once I find something, I throw my heart, sweat and tears into it.

This blog is one of those things….

I am not a gifted writer. My stories weave no exciting tales or humorous antidotes. There are days where I feel defeated as if I’m dropping a rose petal into the Grand Canyon hoping to hear an echo. But I find myself still sitting here, warm laptop on my lap and my fingers clicking away. Inspired by others and motivated by the thought that maybe just one person will hear me. Not that I’m looking for fame or like 1000 readers (that’s just too much pressure). Just like all humans I want to be just heard and accepted. So i keep typing...

Well, enough about myself….

I have been getting tons of requests to see the house pictures from those who are unable to take a live tour. We’ll your in luck! I’ll be throwing together all the pictures so far on the Dupontonia facebook page today.  

(Didn't like it yet?? Well get to it silly!!  Dupontonia Facebook Page )

Since the contractors are finally done making a mess of the place I’ll be spending a majority of the day finally doing a deep cleaning. So look out for the most recent “Now” pictures tonight as well!

I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of hunger for life that gnaws in us all.
~Richard Wright

Sunshine

Oh sunshine, how I have fallen in love  with thee. You slip yourself from behind our curtains, calling to us to rise and greet you early. Old apartment dwelling me would have cringed, cursed and miserably threw myself into the day’s routine. How dare I be up at THIS time! I would refuse productivity till noon.

But not home dweller me!

I sprung up, opened the curtains and took a moment to look out across the city. Birds chirping and flew past in the pale blue skies. I anticipate the sun to warms the air just enough to open all the windows. There’s just something about this place that makes mornings worth every minute. I sit personally amazed that I was washed and dressed before 10:30am and even threw in a load of laundry.
We welcomed the delivery of our counter-tops, which look just as amazing as I hoped. Tomorrow will be another early day as the contractors will be putting there tools to work in the final touches of our kitchen. Old me would have cursed the thought of them interrupting my spoiled sleep. The now me welcomes them with open arms. I only hope I can keep Averi out of their way.

The noon sun calls to me, “Come Lisa. Come outside and play.” And that I did. This time I had the key to the garage and rescued some gardening tools. Averi enjoyed once again her mud making and bubble blowing. I dug up what I thought was random weeds, only to find out I had vegetables! What I believe are called “wild onions” are spewing themselves literally all over my little garden. I filled a bucket full of these apparently editable guys. Although I will admit they are a pain in the arse to even have. I also found that I have/had carrots or what look like carrots growing as well. Google has yet to answer my curiosity on them though

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So as the sun glowed, I de-weeded until my hands and knees couldn’t take it. Averi did about everything a little girl can do outside; including riding her bike, running up and down the sidewalk, collecting “flowers”, rock hunting, just to name a few. In dire need of a dirt break, we set off on a Dupontonian walking adventure. We strolled down the sidewalks hand in hand, listening to dogs barking from what seemed to be every house. But it was nice to be able to go down sidewalks and not be afraid. A block down and we aimed our sights on Aunt Theresa’s house, which is literally only a block down from us. Simba, her orange cat, was sunbathing on the back porch upon our arrival. Averi rang the doorbell and we could feel the excitement of the surprise visit. Aunt Theresa is my true gardening buddy (and fellow cat lover) so we almost immediately chatted about gardening and plans for the yards. Averi hunted down the cats, sadly neither wanted to be bothered too much. I’m sure in a few more visits they will be more accepting to us. A sweet small visit and we were on our way back to home. A little of a rougher walk since its uphill then (our butts felt it!). With the sun setting and the wind picking up we decided to bid the outside a farewell for the evening. I put away our things and we retired ourselves into the living room.

Now the days has ended. Child asleep, exhausted from all the fresh air. My muscles ache, hands are rough with dirt that seems to be etched into my skin and a nice farmer’s tan/burn on my forearms. All of this merely a battle wound I proudly accept.

Sunshine never felt so good.

Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you. ~Walt Whitman

Mother

I always get a little more excited when Wednesdays roll around. It’s the day Averi and I get to go hang out with the coolest women I know, my mom (aka grandma). From the moment we pull in you could hear the barks and excitement from both Ruby and Chloe; our favorite furry loves. A welcome truly fit for queens!  Its not long before coats are off and Averi is off running with Ruby as me and my mother do something we do best, talk. About everything and anything that comes to mind. I don’t honestly think there is a quiet moment when we’re together and it’s a wonderful thing.

Today we adventured to our favorite place to wander on a gloomy day, The Christmas Tree Store. It’s like a refined dollar store, full of trinkets and things you normally wouldn’t buy but when you see its only like $1.99…well its hard to resist! They quiet literally have everything and are always adding more.

So we go up and down every isle like old women, touching and looking. Averi always finds things she insists on needing. I can’t blame her since I never leave that place empty handed either. We once again spent a good hour there, leaving with the usual cart full of random items.

I’m amazed on how fast the day always passes with this wonder women I call mom. But it always feels like leaving a best friend when its time to go. We missed out hanging with grandpa, as he was away doing work-related business that evening. But the great thing about that is there is always next week. Where there is plenty of furry love to go around and the chatter never stops.....

“A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.” ~ Washington Irving