September 1st, I turned 50 years old! September 2nd, we headed up Hwy 395 to stay at our new ranch for the very first time! What an adventure! Best birthday present ever! The first night was really just us walking around the property asking each other if this was all real.

We walked through the barn and when we opened the doors to the setting sun and beautiful fields I started crying. I just can’t believe we did this. Things this great just don’t happen to us.

Steve watching the sunset

Emma watching the sunset.

The next morning was when we were really able to look around and see all the stuff that will need to be done. We also got to see all the spiders and dead bugs and dust and weirdness of the house. Later that day, I just looked at Steve and said “I can’t believe we slept in this our last night…” Seriously, so gross.

I spent about 7 hours the first day vacuuming every nook and cranny. I vacuumed all the base boards, windowsills, wooden beams, and corners. I even took the small attachment and vacuumed the walls. Seriously, every wall was vacuumed. What a difference it made in the air quality. After moping all the floors and cleaning all the bathrooms, we decided what rooms we really wanted to sleep in and set up camp for the second night. PS My girlfriend Laura, told me she finally broke down and bought a Dyson vacuum, and it really was all they said it would be. This inspired me to get one at Home Depot, and she was right. That carpet looked like new when we were done with it. Great purchase!

So, speaking of the carpet, two of the bathrooms are fully carpeted. This includes carpet around the 80’s toilets. The pink dusty rose carpet just all snug around the toilets… Really, what else should I be saying about this? Let’s just say, when we used our fabulous suction vacuum around those toilets thirty years of urine smell engulfed the master bedroom. Again, inspiring us to move our little floor mattress to the “cowboy” room.

I had to leave this picture of the master bathroom toilets unedited. Don’t you just love how the window light really shines on the toilet? Steve is a little terrified of this bathroom.

This would be the cowboy room. Named for obvious reasons. Hello! Cowboys!

Even with all the crazy things about this house, we were so sad to leave when the weekend was over. We set up some candles and  planned what to demo on our next visit. This place is so full of dreams I can’t stand it. We met the neighbors and set up property maintenance. We are getting things squared away there. I feel like the hardest part of owning this property, besides the fact I’ll be running two households, is going to be not living here. It’s amazing.

I guess I could show you all the loveliness of this house and smooth things over to look only fabulous, but the thing that is so exciting to me is how much I want to do to it. Over the four days we were there we had conversations with the neighbors about the house and it’s history. The bottom line is that the house has been ignored and neglected over the last 20 years. All the neighbors have been taking care of it and staying up on the yards and fields because the owners have been living in another state. The residents have been either renters or not present at all. I heard several times how nice it’s going to be for everyone to see the house finally get the TLC it deserves. If you know me, you know that hits the deepest part of who I am as a girl. I’m really love a mission. When we had our inspection done the inspector said the house is good and strong but just needs the right person to come in and make her new again. I’M THAT GIRL!

Poor Steve…

Seriously, I can’t wait to share everything with you! Home Sweet Home!