For long time blog readers, you know that we knew exactly what we wanted when we moved.  In fact, we had been looking for a place in the country in MO before we knew we were moving.  We were pretty determined that we wanted 40 acres (we got 45).  For what we want to do with our land, 5 acres would have been plenty but we wanted to be away from close neighbors with barking dogs or dogs that run loose and kill our chickens.  Why do I love to hear a rooster crow at daylight but a barking dog isn’t a pleasant sound?  We’re past the point of wanting to spend money on a home and land and then have someone tell us what we can and can’t do, how tall our weeds around the mail box can be, or what kind of siding we can or cannot have on the house we’re paying for. We no longer wanted a big house. We  left behind 3700 square feet with a four car garage for just under 1700 square feet with no garage.  We aren’t the kind of folks who want a house that folks drive by and drool.  We just wanted to live out in the woods and enjoy out life in peace and quiet.  I’m definitely not saying other lifestyles are wrong . . I’m just saying that we knew exactly what we wanted.

When we started looking for a home here, we hit a brick wall.  There was nothing that fit our needs/wants/desires.  We even threw our budget out the window and still couldn’t find what we wanted.  Finally, after a lot of stress, tears, disappointments and everything else . . you know what I’m talking about because I blogged about every miserable minute of our house search, we found our perfect spot.

I blog about all our efforts here so you know what we’re doing but behind the scenes, we’re working our tails off!  Last night we were laughing about the days when we lived in a subdivision in town.  We had a little bit of maintenance and chores in the afternoons but here . . the work never ends!  We have been in bed by 9:30 p.m. almost every night for the past few weeks and we’re dead tired.  I’m not complaining . . it’s all what we wanted.  At any time we could stop, sit on the porch in the evening and watch the deer, the wild turkeys, the hummingbirds, the cows . . and not do the work.  About the only thing we HAVE to do is cut the grass but we want more.  We want fruit trees, the garden, the chickens.  We want water lines added so I can water the garden without dragging water hoses all over the place.  We want a strawberry patch.

Several of the big projects we’ve had are one time projects.  Getting the garden fenced, the chicken coop built, and fruit trees planted and fenced . . there will still be work with the garden and with the fruit trees but the major part of those projects are done now.

While I’m blogging about our accomplishments and the fun things we do, remember that we’re going into the house at dusk, covered in dirt, sometimes mud, sometimes a bit of chicken poop.  We’re having fun and we’re never bored and no matter how tired we are at bed time, one of us always says “Don’t you love living here?”.  In the end, what else really matters?

Moving is expensive . . especially if you have to sell one house and buy another but I encourage you to think about what you want out of life and work towards that goal.  There may be a time when we move back into a neighborhood with rules and regulations (I don’t see it happening but you never know).  For now, we’re right where we want to be . .