I LOVE LIFE - ALL AROUND THE HOUSE

My daughter over at http://daeofourlives.blogspot.com/ is hosting her first linky party and I'm thrilled to be part of it! Woohoo!

OK - let's get started with iLove {around the house}!

There are many things iLove about my house. . . mainly the quirky charming little house itself, an old dog-trot.

iLove its wonky charming porch that has 3 sections to it.

iLove gently swinging in it with my hubby and I've also enjoyed times with my 90 year old mom; old friends; children, grandchildren, etc.

iLove listening to the birds; rain; leaves falling; cows mooing and donkeys braying while in that swing.

iLove shelling peas; shucking corn.

and iLove taking business calls there; or sometimes taking a nap!

Yep - this little spot on the porch is very special to me with the quilt made by my dearest friend; day lilies in pitcher transplanted from my mom's yard years ago and moved with me numerous times and other little treasures, special to no one but my hubby and me.

There area lots of memories here but I won't bore you with them. But I must add that the slapping of the screen door almost brings about tears of joy and contentment!

Like I said, there are many things iLove about this home but one that I really appreciate is the lighting inside. Every room that has a window has marvelous lighting.

Come inside and I'll show you what I mean.

Here's a wee bit of the living room. See what I mean?

Glorious light!

The insect boxes are on shelves in the living room and never get direct sun, which is a good thing as they are very special treasures to me, along with the old Stetson that belonged to my Grandpa. See the can of Prince Albert? That's what he smoked in his pipe. Youngest son actually smoked some of it for me so I could recall the exact same smell of my childhood.


Beyond the living room is the Nature Room, with the majority of it decorated with naturey stuff. I'm grateful that my husband agreed that twigs would make good drawer pulls. iLove this room that has somehow morphed into my home office

Our bedroom has since been rearranged with the bed now between the two large windows but here's a glimpse of the great light in there. . . .

A quick peek into the dining/computer/sitting room which has six large windows!

What can I tell you about my kitchen? It is small, really small. I mean tiny! But iLove it anyway. Do you see those two upper cabinets? Yep - those are the ONLY ones I have! There is no dishwasher, but that's okay with me because most days as it's just hubby and me. When there are lots of folks here, well we just all pitch in and wash and dry them and put them away! It's little - but it works and iLove it!

Only a few more things about home to write about. . . . but one I really, really love is the guest bathroom in the L'Hotel. I'll write later about why it's called that. Anyway - when the house was first built the kitchen was separate from the main house, to keep from adding any extra heat to it. Somewhere along the line things got "modernized" and now it's our guest room and 2nd bath. I'm too tired to find any pictures of what it looked like when we moved in. . . . but Bates Motel definitely comes to mind! It had a horrible cabinet and flooring and walls and was just awful. Awful. You practically needed a seat belt to keep from falling off the toilet! Anyway - hubby did all this himself, putting up the bead-board and new flooring and sink, etc. It came with one of those horrid old rusted metal medicine cabinets which got replaced by a spray-painted top of the line mirror! LOL I am so pleased with it all. It is still one of the world's smallest bathrooms (the length of the room is the length of a standard tub) . . . but it is clean and neat and bright. iLove it!

And yes, the tub is pink!

OK- finally coming to the end! iLove the fact that my husband takes care of things that may go wrong and as money and time allow, fixes up the place. He works hard; almost always preferring to just do things himself.

I'm posting this photo of him jerry-rigging the ladder! I didn't say he always did things the safest way, now did I?

We're in the middle of the worst heat-wave/drought Texas has seen in a long, long time. Yesterday a freak little 10 minute storm blew through and broke limbs and branches, most of which landed all around the property. But do you see that really, really big one? That one landed on the roof! I was SO GLAD that Tim and Christiy stopped by and even though he wasn't wearing work clothes, and had gotten only 3-4 hours sleep the night before, Tim jumped right in, offering to help. What a blessing. iLove Tim!

But what iLove most about my home is that I get to share it with that crazy handsome man on the ladder. We've been married 42 years and HE is was iLove most about this house.

He is what makes it all so very special to me.