If I could go back in time, I wouldn’t have bought this house. Don’t get me wrong, it was a good house, in a nice neighborhood and I met The School Teacher who ended up being one of my favorite neighbors of all time {she taught me how to make mashed potatoes properly with sour cream, butter and cream cheese, and the best strawberry cake ever}. The house was a nice upgrade from the cookie cutter house, it was brand spanking new, and in a better school district, but still, looking back, we should have just stayed put at our old house for a few more years.
{Annual Father’s Day Hawaiian Shirts}
The neighbors to the right of us were from Germany and about 10, maybe 15 years older than us. They were super kind and enjoyed talking to our kids {and treated them like mini adults}. The wife didn’t really understand why people had so many garage sales or why the trash cans in the US were so big or why recycling wasn’t offered.
{Getting ready for the first day of school}
The summer after the neighbors moved in, they installed an above ground pool and the woman would sun bathe topless in the {privacy of her own} backyard. Monkey Boy was 3 at the time and since my husband was gone at work during the day, it didn’t really bother me. I wondered though, what the young married {and very religious} couple next to them thought about the whole au natural sunbathing thing. 😉
The day after we moved in we had the linoleum in the kitchen pulled up and hardwood floors installed. Which in hindsight was totally dumb because we only lived there like 3 years and it didn’t make a difference {profit wise} when we sold the house.
We took some serious painting risks in that house and painted the front room red, the downstairs and kitchen area brown and let the kids pick out some pretty funky colors for their rooms as well.
Although the thing that gets remembered most about being there when we go through pictures every once in a while is how Monkey Boy accidentally hit The Girl in the head with a golf club and we had to rush her to the hospital to get patched up. I remember my husband being incredibly irritated because it took so long for a Doctor to give her stitches and he was afraid she was going to have this huge scar on her forehead for life. These days, you couldn’t see a mark on her head even if you had a magnifying glass.
I LOVED the location of the house, and walked the kids to school practically every single day. Even when it was raining {which I don’t even remember it doing that much, probably because the kids used their lady bug and froggie umbrellas and walking in the rain was fun}. My parents would come and stay at the house when the HH and I had to go out of town {for his work} and they too felt at ease there. We were one of the first families to move into that particular development and the kids could ride there bikes up and down our road and write messages with chalk in the driveway.
My brother and his friend built Monkey Boy and The Girl a play house and I planted fruit trees and built my first brick garden path on the side of the house. The HH built {yet another} fence and although there were more flowers than vegetables growing in the backyard, digging in the dirt {both me and the kids} was high on the priority list at that place. Until we {I} ran out of projects to do {idleness seems to be a reoccurring theme in my life}.
So after a few years, we decided to move yet again. 😉 And I’ll tell you that story, tomorrow.
Have a great Sunday everyone,
~Mavis
P.S. How about you… Have you ever bought a house that at the time seemed like a good idea at the time but in hindsight you wish you hadn’t?
We want to hear about it!! 😉
More stories in this series:
- The First Apartment
- The First Mobile Home
- The First House
- The First Home in a Suburban Development
- The House with the Hardwood Floors
- The First House We Built
- The House Where This All Started
- The HOA House
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