Finding Home: Day 31 The Finale

Here we are on the final day of my 31 Days Challenge, set up by a beautiful blogger named The Nester.

I was one of like 1200 bloggers that took on this challenge. And I think it has been fun....I could actually keep writing about "Finding Home" for more than 31 Days! There are so many different ways I could have taken the meaning of my topic choice. 

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DAY 31

I have wrote about what HOME feels like for me....

And even though we all live in different types of homes, from the farm to the city. 

And from our home in the great USA to living abroad, 

Some of our homes are really small, and some are quite large....

all we really want and need is a place of our own.

Somewhere to be comfortable.....

somewhere to relax, play, eat, sleep....

have fellowship with friends and family, be alone....

celebrate births, mourn the ones who have gone....

enjoy the magic of Christmas, plant flowers...

raise our children, snuggle with our spouse....

H O M E

is such a powerful word

Some search for that feeling their whole lives....what they may have felt in their childhood.

Or maybe have lost and are searching for a way back to.

Whether you are searching for a new home.....needing to feel "at home" in the space you are in...... or are unsure how to get there....

I hope everyone can see the path to FINDING HOME. 

I want to thank all my friends who have stayed with me during this 31 Days challenge...if you would like to see a list of all 31 days, click here.

I hope you all continue to "follow" me on my blogging adventure....

this little blog is like my personal journal, scrapbook of our farm, 

and also my creative outlet that I love!

~Kim

Finding Home: Day 30 Our Halloween Home

Day 30

Ok, so this post won't EXACTLY be about Finding Home....but it will be based loosely on the theme.

How about finding a Haunted House?

OR looking for a Home to TRICK OR TREAT?

This year, I was the "driver" of our little pumpkins for their trick or treatin expedition. You see, when you are country folks, we don't walk door to door to get our candy....you drive door to door. And Baileyhusband had to work late :( 

So this is what most of our guests had to be greeted with this year:

Those 3 pumpkins were done by MY 3 pumpkins (my #4 is away at college).

Actually 2 of them have turned into Dracula and a Werewolf. 

Team Edward or Team Jacob? haha

There is nothing more pure, more sweet....than watching your children dress up and have such child-like fun!

Well, one more year of Halloween has been completed.......

Bags are COMPLETELY FULL of future stomach aches and cavities!

Good night all....

and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

~Kim

Linking to: The Nester's 31 Days Challenge

Finding Home: Day 29 Your Story

Day 29

Your Home Tells the Story of You...

What Does YOUR Story Say?

I hope OUR Home tells the story of our family of six....

A husband and wife..and their two daughters and two sons....

I hope OUR Home tells the story of Christians who are perfectly imperfect....

A home that feeds our faith.....

I hope OUR Home tells the story of hard workers...and hard players...

Our busy life....which is full of love, comfort, fun, laughter, tears (good and bad).....

I hope OUR Home tells the story of friendship and family ties......

For family, friends, and faith IS what Home is all about.

Hope YOUR Story is what you WANT it to be!!!

~Kim

Linking to: The Nester's 31 Days Challenge

Finding Home: Day 28 Weekends at HOME

Day 28

To me, there is NOTHING better than a weekend at my favorite place....HOME.

Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy watching my son play football, my daughter cheer at her college games, going on little field trips with my kids, taking them to 4H meetings, and visiting family.

But, as rare as they are, having a weekend completely at home is by far....the best!

And although this may not be a fun time to most people....this is what I am so happy about:

15 loads of laundry....sorted, washed, dried, folded, and put away!

Didn't think anyone would be interested in pics of that! :)

2 little boys' bedrooms (including closets!) cleaned, organized!

I will post pics on another post someday....still not completely happy with the arrangement of their rooms.

Living room re-arranged (again!)...now, I am happy with it! (I think?)

Front room, which is our music room/ library/ home office....cleaned!

Which is no small feat....I had huge stacks of paperwork/ mail/ catalogs/ school papers that had accumulated over the past several months that needed purged.  

This room has a floor now!! YEAH!

Coffee room, all cleaned, re-arranged...and cozy-fied....ready for these cold days that are ahead...and it makes you now want to go snuggle by the fireplace.

Rented 4 movies...and have managed to watch 2 of them so far!

Tried to mow our lawn for the last time this season....but just as I started a few paths....the mower acted like it was going to blow up.....turns out the belt blew...now we have a large lawn ornament until we have time to fix it! (Hopefully this week, so I can finish OPERATION YARD CLEAN-UP)

like my shadow? 

Helped BaileyHusband work with our calves, except I forgot that I was wearing my nearly new hot pink tennis shoes....oops! They have been initiated by the cows :( I so need a good pair of work boots.

I want work boots like Baileyhusband! 

Swept turkey poop off of my front porch....and off my back deck...those darn animals.....

Now I think that I am going to go watch the other 2 movies we rented and VEG out on the sofa for the rest of this lovely weekend!! *so tired*!

~Kim

If you want to see all my other posts from this 31 Days Challenge..click here.

Linking to: The Nester's 31 Days Challenge

Finding Home: Day 27 Home Abroad

Here we are at Day 27 of my 31 Days Challenge,
if you would like to see all my posts for the month, click here.
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Day 27

I have quite a large family.....but we remain extremely close-knit. There are 4 of us sisters and we had a total of 12 children among us. We are very proud that they have grown up close and each other's best friends.

"The Boys" playing their AIRSOFT Gun Wars....so funny!

One of my oldest nephews, Nick, recently joined the AIR FORCE!! And is now stationed in Japan!

What an awesome experience for him.....for he gets to see the world!

At the airport...heading to Japan!!

So, for today's post, I thought that I would get an insider's look into the life

 of FINDING HOME in a foreign land! 

And here is how my "interview" went:

So Nick....tell me about your thoughts when you first arrived in Okinawa:

When I first arrived in Okinawa...I was kind of numb to everything that was going on around me. It was probably because I was really tired or just shock.

Where do you live?:

 I live on Kadena Air Base which is located in Ginowan-shi, Okinawa, Japan.

Finally getting all his "stuff from home" after being there for 2 months!

View from his dorm on base

What have you done to it to make it FEEL LIKE HOME?:

Well I really haven't done too much to make it feel like home. I try to make home-cooked meals when I can. But on base it's just like in the States so it's not bad. But as soon as I go off base...it's an entirely different world. 

McD's in JAPAN!! 

Is Okinawa what you thought it would be?

 I thought Oki was going to be a lot smaller, well it's still small compared to Iowa, but there is a lot to do here. The streets are packed full of business, restaurants, and apartments. No space un-touched. 

meeting actors from Big Bang Theory...all in a day's work!

What is your favorite part of that city?

 I really do not have a favorite part of the city. I have yet to explore all Oki has to offer. So i'll have to get back to you on that.

What do you do on your free time?

 I don't have a lot of free time. But the time I do have I try to work on my photography, go out to eat, and shop. 

his "baby, he purchased

A Fishing Expedition 

Pottery making

Is this a place you think you will visit again...would you ever go back?

 I'm not sure I will during my service. But I would like to visit again. Hopefully have someone with me so I may show them the island. 

2 years is a long time to be away from home buddy! And we are SO VERY PROUD of the service you are doing for our country! 

Love you (stay safe, God Speed)

 ~Aunt Kim

Linking to: The Nester's 31 Days Challenge

Finding Home: Day 26 Traditions

Is it REALLY day 26 already??? Where, or where has October gone???
But, here we are...with only 5 days left of this 31 Days Challenge set forth by the awesome NESTER.

Day 26

Traditions....I love family traditions, and apparently I have passed that trait onto my children.

I didn't know when I started out being a mom that BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS would turn out this way. But like any good mama...what I started, I MUST keep doing!!

When my children go to bed the night before their birthday...busy little bees (usually just me)

decorate our dining room table, and usually the kitchen too....with whatever "theme" that child is into at the time. This includes birthday banners, pictures, place settings, table-scapes....(you get the general idea.)

When they wake up on the morning of their birthday...it's always so priceless to see the looks on their faces....

I could show about a million pictures of the different themes that have been done....

you can only imagine what my Party Supply Closet I have is stuffed with!!

I never do the same exact thing twice, and I have 4 children: You Do the MATH!!

So if anyone is EVER at a loss at how to quickly pull together a birthday tablescape, let me know....I am BRILLIANT under pressure...especially at 5 am when a child is due to wake up at 6:30 and mama didn't get the table done the night before *shhhh*

So, friends, these are the memories that will last a lifetime...I LOVE giving these memories to my children, and I hope this helps in the great FEELING of HOME I am instilling in them!

~Happy Memory Making~

~Kim

Finding Home: Day 25 For the Birds

I am doing a challenge of writing about ONE topic for 31 Days in October, if you would like to see a list of all my posts for the month, click here.

Day 25

Today I thought I would discuss a different kind of home.....for other inhabitants at Irishman Acres.....

OUR CHICKENS!

Besides our garden shed, this was the first structure we built on our little farm here.

circa 2008

And we have been quite happy with our little chicken shed....and it's enclosure to keep the hens safe from predators. 

And happy (and safe) hens, means lots of EGGS! And boy do we get lots of EGGS!

In all sizes....

 And colors.....

But, now that we have our barn....we have been unhappy with where our chicken coup is located....it blocks the view of the barn....

We now have made plans to move things around...the coup and our garden are going to switch places....and we have plans to add some much needed upgrades to all things involved: the coup, the garden, the garden shed, and the barn!! Hopefully ol' Man Winter will stay away for quite some time while we get some things checked off our  to-do list at Irishman Acres!! And don't worry, my huge contribution to the projects will be "photographer and director". (Like any good wife would be! :)

Looking forward to the weekend!

~Kim

Linking to: The Nester's 31 Days Challenge

Finding Home: Day 24 Why I started this blog thing...

Good evening friends! Seems to be harder and harder to get these posts in EVERYDAY...but since I signed up...I am "in for the long-haul". :)

If you are just tuning in or new to this blog, I am in a 31 Days Challenge, set forth by a fellow blogger to write about the same topic every day for the 31 Days in October....whew, I have now made it to day 24!!!! With only one little hiccup (oops, Days 19 and 20)....so far, so good. If you would like to see the list of all the days in my challenge so far, click right here.

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Day 24

I know a lot of you have asked me how (or why) I starting blogging. And here is where it all started:

Hooked On Houses

I actually started at " GOOGLE". And typed in "Celebrity Homes", because I am OBSESSED with celebrities.....and their homes. And the great Google wizards brought me to that FABULOUS blog of  Julia's. She blogs about everything I LOVE to snoop about. And I had NO IDEA that there were other people in the world just like me!?!?

Julia blogs about movie houses....yeah!

She blogs about TV houses.....yeah!

She blogs about REAL celebrity homes.....YEAH!

She actually blogs about real estate listings and other open houses that we might want to sneak a peak at!

And I have been following her ever since!!

I wanted to leave comments on Julia's blog, and I thought that you had to have your own blog to do that. So that is how Irishman's Acres came to be.....and how I started calling myself "BaileyWife". Even though that IS what I am....the wife of a Bailey! :)

So thank you, Miss Julia, and " Hooked On Houses". For you have shown me that I am not alone in my obsession with ALL THINGS HOME.....and you have shown me a creative outlet that I needed.

~Kim

(BaileyWife)

Linking to: The Nester's 31 Days Challenge

Finding Home: Day 23 Home of the Free

Day 23

Home of the FREE....

Because of the BRAVE!

Finding home is more than just our house we live in. Home is our RIGHT, our GIFT...

A gift that was given by so many and paid with their life:

~Kim

P.S. Thank you to one of my dearest friends who brought this POST to my attention!

Soldiers are so near and dear to my heart...as they should be to every American.....

Linking to: The Nester's 31 Days Challenge