31 Days of Finding Home Day 4: A Dream Vacation Home

Day 4

Every single one of us has a vacation spot that we keep in our heart...

mine is definitely in the mountains somewhere! I daydream constantly about being able to afford my own piece of paradise (if I won the lottery), and what that peace, I mean piece, would look like! 

I wouldn't require someplace too grande, or formal.....

...just a little dwelling that is all mine, I mean ours. (I guess I would have to share it with my family) :)

The interiors would be rustic, but with all the modern conveniences....I don't want to "rough it", this IS a vacation spot after all!

Large fireplaces, stone, wood....ahh, I can feel the cool mountain air just looking at these spaces.

Now this bathroom probably wouldn't fit inside my little dream cabin, but I LOVE the feel that this room gives.....

I have a lot more inspirational photos that I have saved on my Pinterest board: Colorado Design

Maybe if I click my red shiny shoes together and chant the phrase: "There's No Place Like My Mountain Home", then I will magically be sitting right here:

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. "

Eleanor Roosevelt 

Where do YOU dream of living someday? Is it for a second home, or full time dream home?

Until I win the lottery, I will just keep on dreaming.....and visit the mountains as often as I can!

~Kim

Linking up at: The Nester's 31 Days Challenge

31 Days of Finding Home Day 3: The House That Built Me

Day 3

The House That Built Me

I know they say you can't go home againI just had to come back one last timeMa'am, I know you don't know me from AdamBut these hand prints on the front steps are mine

Up those stairs in that little back bedroomIs where I did my homework and I learned to play guitarAnd I bet you didn't know under that live oakMy favorite dog is buried in the yard

I thought if I could touch this place or feel itThis brokenness inside me might start healingOut here it's like I'm someone elseI thought that maybe I could find myself

If I could just come in, I swear I'll leaveWon't take nothing but a memoryFrom the house that built me

Mama cut out pictures of houses for yearsFrom "Better Homes and Garden" magazinePlans were drawn and concrete pouredAnd nail by nail and board by boardDaddy gave life to mama's dream

I thought if I could touch this place or feel itThis brokenness inside me might start healingOut here it's like I'm someone elseI thought that maybe I could find myself

If I could just come in, I swear I'll leaveWon't take nothing but a memoryFrom the house that built me

You leave home, you move onAnd you do the best you canI got lost in this whole worldAnd forgot who I am

I thought if I could touch this place or feel itThis brokenness inside me might start healingOut here it's like I'm someone elseI thought that maybe I could find myself

If I could walk around, I swear I'll leaveWon't take nothing but a memoryFrom the house that built me

 MIRANDA LAMBERT - THE HOUSE THAT BUILT ME LYRICS 

There aren't many memories for me as a child that don't involve my home where I grew up.
I lived in the same home all of my life, until I married. 
That feeling of home never leaves me....the comfort you feel when eating at the dinner table with your whole family on Sundays, movie nights in the basement family room, doing the yardwork with my dad....Christmas morning...oh, my list and memories are L O N G.

Researching photos for this post, looking through my box of my childhood pictures, brought back a flood of memories! I am SO thankful for these memories of HOME.

Sadly, my parents sold this home soon after I was married...they were officially "empty nesters", and wanted to move closer to where my mama grew up. This home will forever be a part of me.
It's amazing that my parents raised us four sisters here...compared to today's home square footages, this was tiny. But it suited us just right, and it was full of LOVE! 

The four of us sisters 

"A house is made of walls and beams; a home is built of love and dreams..."Anonymous

I'm thankful that I have had this feeling happen twice in my life. First, my childhood home, then now my home I share with my kids and husband. Some people spend their whole lives searching for that Feeling of Home. This is the home that built me.....

~Kim

Linking up with: The Nester's 31 Day Challenge

31 Days of Finding Home Day 2: I Found H.O.M.E.

Day 2:

I first blogged about my little design project "Trying to Find Home".

Well, I FOUND H.O.M.E.....kinda, half was purchased, and the other half was made by this BaileyFamily.

And I finally got it hung up ...with some help from these silly girls:

and one good-looking Baileyhusband: (my hero to the rescue!)

No surprise that I am obsessed with ALL THINGS HOME! I am always saying that it is our sanctuary, our family's personal refuge. After a long day at work, there is NO PLACE I would rather be. Walking in, my nerves and heart rate seem to mellow and slow down. Home is a place where the world's cares are gone, and you can just be YOU. 

Since I had purchased the O and E, I looked around our home and farm to see what material to make the H and M out of...and I love the results. H is old barn boards and M is branches.

HOME is my favorite 4-letter word...

This is truly a focal point of our Great Room.......
I now believe our ENTRY WAY is complete! (Well, for now....I AM
a serial re-arranger)
Stay tuned for more of my 31 days series.....

~Kim

Linked to: The Nester's 31 Day Challenge

31 days of Finding Home

Welcome to my 31 Days Challenge...

I will show a link to all days as they are posted, scroll down to see Day 1.

Day 2: I Found H O M E

Day 3: The House That Built Me

Day 4: A Dream Vacation Home

Day 5: Home Quotes

Day 6: This is What I Call Home

Day 7: Finding My Roots

Day 8: Dorm Sweet Dorm

Day 9: Miniature Homes

Day 10: A Revisit to an Updated Farmhouse and Barn

Day 11: Coming HOME

Day 12: My Addiction

Day 13: House Plans

Day 14: My Home is with him

Day 15: Home on the Range

Day 16: What Makes a Home?

Day 17: Where would YOURS be?

Day 18: Lessons from The Notebook

Days 19 and 20: Excuses Excuses

Day 21: Home in the City

Day 22: Home on the Farm

Day 23: Home of the Free

Day 24: Why I Started this Blog Thing

Day 25: For the Birds

Day 26: Traditions

Day 27: Home Abroad

Day 28: Weekends at HOME

Day 29: Your Story

Day 30: Our Halloween Home

Day 31: The Finale

Hello there! It has been a while since I have been on my blog. Life got a little hectic, and I needed to take a breather from some of the things that I enjoyed, to free up time to do things that had to be done.

And now I am jumping back in head first! I am taking on a challenge made by a blogger I follow:

the lovely Nester. She started this a few years ago and now it is a great big hit in the "blogging world".

For 31 straight days in the month of October, she challenges us to choose ONE topic and write about it for the whole month!!!!!!!

So I hope you follow along on my journey of 31 days.....it will be challenging, but fun!

**********

DAY 1:

This one is an easy one for me.....what means more to me than chocolate cake and 

country music, combined....and this is HOME. 

I believe the word HOME is more than just a place where we keep our stuff, or sleep at night.....

it's a FEELING OF PLACE~BELONGING~COMFORT~LOVE.

Think about what HOME means to you....

Is it the place you grew up? Your hometown?

Is it the space you have created with your own 2 hands for your family?

Is it the church you go to on Sundays?

The vacation spot you visit regularly?

From good ol' Webster's Dictionary: Definition # 1

I am so excited to write about my favorite topic for the next 30 days...I hope you come back each day and see what I have come up with for FINDING HOME.

~Kim

Linking to: The Nester's 31 Days Challenge

Poor little babies!

Our little calves, Cassie-Dee and Lil Miss Charlie, have a new brother that has come to live with us...HAWKEYE. They all share the same dad (Bull, Ken). And we have been busy with the weening process here. Which is actually pretty sad, if you have ever heard the cries of calves, you would agree!

Cassie-Dee

Don't let these sweet little faces fool you....they are STRONG as oxen. Along with weening from their mothers, we are trying to "break them" so we can eventually show them at the State Fair next year! 

And can you see their little horns starting to grow in? 

Hawkeye

Our barn has proven to be a great "weening station" for our young calves. 

The Mamas were not far from the barn for a few days...yes, there was LOTS OF NOISY DRAMA!

Claire-A-Belle..aka Lil Miss Charlie's mama (and sweet Dixie)

Carly Jo...aka Cassie-Dee's mama

We have usually had a vet come cut the growing horns off, but then they sometimes grow back....so we did something new this year. Baileyhusband drove them to a vet that specializes in surgical removal of horns...and here are our Frankensteins....cue the sad face :(

yes, there is an extra calf in this pic...we also have a few other calves of our extended  BaileyFamily that we are weening in our barn

Hawkeye is fitting in good around Irishman Acres....his Mama (Katie) lived here once, we actually bottle fed her and his Dad is still here :). We plan on showing him as a bull, and when he gets a little older, he will be sporting that awesome bling, I mean ring, in his nose! He is very sweet and the most tame of all the calves. So far he is NOT showing that horrible temperament of Ken. 

We have lots of Fall plans for our farm....along with trying to get in the swing of things with back to school and all the fall sports my children are involved in,  I also started a new career with our children's school system. Which is why I have not posted very often lately. Hopefully we will find a new normal and I will find time to do this labor of love, blogging!!

~Kim

a DORM ROOM makeover: Moving her IN

A lot of you know that my eldest daughter, Emma, is now leaving our nest :( {sad face, gulp}

packed up and heading off to college

And although, hopefully, we will be seeing her on multiple weekend visits....it will be sad not seeing her beautiful face EVERY day. To make ME feel better about her being "on her own", I helped her make her new space feel more like HOME to her.

 I was extremely skeptical about my baby girl living in a dorm the first year...it resembles a jail cell. 

Here are the "BEFORE" pictures:

2 uncomfortable beds that made the room feel SMALL

Attached double desks, with 2 ugly RED chairs

STAINED carpet, and 2 large closets

Everything is painted this creamy white color and  the walls are cinder-block. She is rooming with one of her best friends from high school, which was so much easier planning the design of the room. 

And here are the "AFTER" pictures on move-in day:

We replaced the red chairs with the ones I redid  here 

Put the 2 dressers together to have the TV be a comfortable height for their beds, they can still use the mirror on either side of the TV

Storage is a MAJOR factor in dorm rooms, and even though these shelves are hideous, the girls made good use of them

I LOVE these black sheers..and the shelf unit holds more storage (along with popcorn and m&ms)

The girls bunked their beds to give more space in their room. Not what they had originally planned, but turned out GREAT!

The ONE awesome thing is the large CLOSETS! I sure hope Emma keeps it looking so organized!!

Their kitchen. The girls have since BEDAZZLED the fridge :)

Emma's "MOVE-IN CREW" 

So completely proud of our daughter....and excited to see what the future holds! 

Emma, your life is just beginning! You have proved to be a hard worker...not to mention an amazing sister to your younger siblings...and you have grown to be one of my best friends!! Good luck, study hard,
have FUN, and come home to visit as often as you can! Love you FOREVER AND ALWAYS!!

~Mama