Open House

Hi.

Did you come from Mrs. G.'s place?

Welcome.

Nice to see you.

Oh, if you wouldn't mind, please take your shoes off at the door while I run around the hide the piles of clutter and quickly make beds. It has been raining a lot lately.

Well, this is it. This is our house. Welcome to Suburbia in the MidWest. Let me give you the tour.

This is the entryway:

To the left we have the half bath and laundry room/garage entrance. We spent 2 years in Edmonton, Canada with the BEST LAUNDRY ROOM EVER - built in storage benches, extra utility sink, laundry shoot, walk-through pantry to the kitchen. It spoiled us, but it also forever ruined me for laundry rooms. I became so accustomed to the 'drop zone' for backpacks, snowboots, outerware, work bag, etc. that when we returned to Central Illinois in 2007, one of the first things we did was knock through a wall to add a drop zone to our existing closet of a laundry room. We think it is one of the best improvements in our house. Worth every penny.

To the right is the formal living room which is another way of saying WASTED SPACE. Therefore, we use it for our home office. I think it will also be the home of our FUTURE Wii.

Just off the formal living room is our formal dining room which is yet another way of saying WASTED SPACE. So, we use this for children's crafts, homework and coupon cutting. When we have a large group of people around, we will overflow into this room IF I get off my arse and can find a place to hide the piles of crap put everything away.

If you would keep going down the hall in the entryway, you would walk into the kitchen which also connects to the dining room. The kitchen is probably the heart of the home where I spend most of MY time. We upgraded the island and added the pantry last year (we busted out the old pantry for the laundry room drop zone). I love the kitchen. I wish it were about 2 feet bigger in either direction so the island would have been big enough for some bar stools. I love to have people belly up to the bar with me while I cook or clean or whatever in the kitchen. As it stood, though, space was limited so we opted for more cabinetry instead. We use every bit of the storage, so I don't regret it.

This is our family room. This is one of those open floor plans, so the kitchen and family room are open to each other. Open floor plan could also be described as LOUD AND DISTRACTING as far as I am concerned. I think rooms are best a BIT more separated from each other. Don't you think a lovely wall with peek-through fireplace would be nice right here? That is our wood-burning fireplace. Hubby will not let me get gas inserts because he likes dust and ash covering every item in this room and the trail of wood chips on the floor and surrounding the hearth that HE doesn't have to clean the smell of burning wood.

Downstairs you will find my husband sleeping in his recliner watching our big screen TV, our exercise equipment and the rarely played in toy room with the air hockey table never used, yet first game requested at any arcade, as well as a full bath and very small guest bedroom.

Upstairs holds our 4 bedrooms.

Gavin's where on any given day, you will find whatever he COLLECTED that day - rocks, bottle caps, receipts and other scraps of paper he likes to call TREASURE MAPS and I like to call OTHER PEOPLE'S GARBAGE, etc.

Grant's, where on any given day, you will find last night's bath towel and yesterday's clothes on the floor, as well as anything else he can get away with leaving around until I make him clean so he can melt-down for an hour to clean up something that otherwise would have taken him about 6 minutes.

guest/junk room/scrapbook room/Brian's work overflow

boys' bathroom where you will find toothpaste crusted on the sink, toothpaste spit on the mirror, unflushed toilets and toothpaste on the floor.

This is the Master Suite. This where the magic happens, and by magic, I mean that amazing thing I can do called falling asleep EXACTLY 2.75 seconds after my head hits the pillow.

Master Bathroom with our large whirlpool tub which is alternately the boys' indoor waterpark.

Well, that sums up our open house. Please do not think this virtual tour precludes you from coming for an actual visit.

Oh I, almost forgot. The true HUB of our house is our garage. It is in our garage where we keep the vehicles, the yard maintenance equipment, all Brian's tools, our outdoor toys, bikes, but MOST IMPORTANTLY, our second fridge, which we have affectionately and ACCURATELY named the beer fridge. BEHOLD!!!!!

*cue inspirational music*

Yes, all traffic to all parts of the house flows in and around the beer fridge. Come over. We'd love to have you maybe try a beer or 10 you've never had before.

See ya soon.

KEEP BELIEVING

* Okay, because I am apparently coming off too Donna Reed-ish, Here are some photos of what some of those rooms USUALLY look like. I have always been one to quickly tidy before guests arrive - you know that surface clean look.