Our house is a very very very fine house...

This is the back of our home that we purchased two years ago last week. It was a diamond in the rough. After selling our home in a neighboring town and living in a travel trailer for eight months we were ready for four walls as the long as the property was ours. But honestly we had prayed and prayed and looked and looked. We wanted God's best for us and when we stepped on this property we knew.

We didn't see the junk all over the yard, the ugly paint or the rotting deck. We saw 1/3 of an acre, 4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms and lots of trees. A living room, family room, kitchen, dining room and laundry room all on the first floor. We also saw the vaulted ceilings and brick hearth waiting for a woodstove. Most of all our peace rested here and we knew. Within 10 minutes we said we wanted to make an offer. It was a lesson in people are always watching you. We found out that there was another offer made the same day. Both offers were full price offers and the family selling chose us because they wanted a nice family to live here. They saw our names and knew us from a sport their son had played with ours.

I wanted to post some pictures of some of the changes out back. A few weekends ago my husband completed a phase we have been working on. It's amazing what a little paint, new windows and some greenery can do to a place.

This is our new outdoor living/dining area. We removed the old rotting deck and built a new much larger one. Thanks to Craigslist we now have a nice new patio set. Brand new in the box and for 1/3 the cost of the one that I had priced that was exactly the same.

I would like to get some plants to set around. We have been spending a lot of time out here since it has been done. The hot tub there on the right is another Craigslist find and my husband is grateful for that one, what with all of the back breaking work he has been doing around here. It's so nice to do the work yourself and have it look like you spent so much more than you did. Fine wine on a beer budget? Something like that.

There behind the patio set by the fence we now have a firepit area between those chairs. The kids can't wait for some roasting by the fire. Our resident food critic, aka Bub, asked the first time out if we thought we could cook a crab on top. We had been joking the night before with some friends how long it would take him to ask if we could cook on it. He didn't let us down. If you're ever in the area you should give us a call. Bring your suit and we might even start up the BBQ for ya.