Crossroad Dreams - part 1

I have so many ideas about my life - dreams in vivid color & detail yet they all go in completely different directions. I would truly be happy with any of them - I am equally passionate about all of them and I feel that any of them could come to pass. But the question now - which should I pursue? So, I decided that I would take a few posts to write them out so that each would come to life, if only on this blog.

Country Farm-
My dream house is not very large because I am lazy and do not want to clean it. More than anything I want it to be as self-sufficient as possible. I am so sick of being a slave to electricity bills/outages.

I would like a modified A-frame with passive solar framing so that it will cool the house in the summer & warm it in the winter and passive solar houses don't look like an A-frame in the mountains. I would like to have radiant floor heating in a stained concrete floor - it is cheaper & if I don't like it, I can always put a hardwood floor over it. I want the ends of the house to be made from strawbales & rock as it is much cheaper & has an outstanding insulation factor.

I would like it to have a rainwater cistern that collects all the rainwater that is then used to flush the toilets or water my lawn & garden. I would like a windmill in the backyard that powers my house & sells electricity to the city! How cool would it be to finally get a check from the power company!!!!

I would also like a little cubby with a drain at the bottom built into the wall next to every toilet - it would be the plunger cubby. You need a plunger close by when there is an emergency, but where in the world are you suppose to put the nasty thing? Drives me crazy. Mine is currently sitting in an old dishpan under my bathroom sink. It has the whole space to itself because, what else do I store next to it? Anyway, in my dream home it has its own space in the world.

I would have tons of built-in's. Bookcases would line the hallways and because I hate the wasted space in A-frames, I would build bookcases, shelves, closets & dressers into the lower portions of the exterior walls. That way it doesn't feel so much like an A-frame too.

I would like a sky light in my room so that I could sleep under the stars every night. The night sky is amazing in the country & I miss it so much. I would love to watch the stars every night. If it turns out to not be practical to have a sky light, I would like a balcony off my bedroom so I could drag a mattress out on a spring or fall (or winter or summer!) night and watch them all pass by. I would also like a deck or a patio with a pergola where I could grow vines. And a campfire pit where we can roast marshmellows & s'mores over hot coals & read Patrick McMannis books and laugh until we cry.

I would have a wood stove in the living room with a wood cookstove on the kitchen side of the chimney and a brick bread oven. I would never have to worry about another power outage again! The kitchen stove would be mostly decorative (I would use a regular gas stove most of the time), but it would be so reassuring to have one when the power goes out. (And yes, I have used one for days at a time before, so I know full well the work involved)

I would also have a sewing/craft or office area at the top of the stairs. The top of the stairs is a cool place - it is one of the crossroads of a house. You can hear upstairs & downstairs & everyone passes you. I want my passions to keep me in my families path, not tucked away in a room elsewhere. I would have lights in every closet that come on when the door opens and possibly a universal vacuum (I haven't decided on that yet.)

I would have a large herb & flower garden outside my kitchen because I love flowers & herbs are a joy. I would have a large veggie garden where I could relax in the early morning weeding & then find joy sharing the harvest a few months later. I would grow green beans, tomatoes, pumpkins, spinach, broccoli & asparagus (other things too, but I love these!) I would also build a small greehouse so that I could have fresh salad whenever I want. I would have fruit trees on one side - especially the Sappington Apple tree that my grandpa Sappington developed. I would have a huge Elderberry tree as there is nothing so good in this world as homemade Elderberry syrup on pancakes.

I would have a root cellar to keep all the good stuff we grew & if we lived here in tornado alley, it would be a storm cellar as well. I would have a clothesline in the backyard. I would have chickens, rabbits, bees, & maybe a goat (Dad, can you believe I said that!) or a cow, as well as a couple of barn cats & a dog or two. I would have an outdoor kitchen where I could can food & not heat up the house.

I would not have tv but I would have a built-in projector screen in the ceiling above the fireplace so that we could watch movies. I want it above the fireplace so that I don't have to decide where the furniture should be pointing. :) Or maybe a flat screen - maybe by that time they will have developed a way to have the screen be one of those digital picture frames when the t.v./movie is not on. Maybe they already have!

I would not have a dishwasher. Shocking huh? I washed dishes by hand most of my life and I love the camaraderie & discussions you have when someone washes & another dries. The job is done when you leave the kitchen - there is no coming back later to unload or half done dishes in the sink because the dishwasher was too full.

My kids (this is my dream so I would have ton of them) would share bedrooms. I have a good friend who has 5 boys in one bedroom. Space is obviously at a premium, but she has a rocking chair in their room where she sits and reads to them every night. I love that! I remember sharing a room with my 3 sisters - there are a lot of close bonds that develop when you share a small space. Plus, it encourages de-cluttering & organization - love that!

So, that is dream number one. I know that it is crazy, but aren't all dreams? If nothing else, it gets to breathe a for minute on this page.