New beginnings

 The Bumblebee Farmhouse 

 The start of a new blog, in a new city.  I haven't blogged in years.  It's been a while.  I've gotten side tracked, forgetful, and lazy.  I apologize.  I apologize to myself also since I've been wanting to get to this for the longest time.  We moved last year.  It was quite the journey.  We went from a small city, very quiet and moved to a huge city.  Second largest in Illinois.  I wasn't familiar with the area at all but my husbands work was out this way.  I had to do what was best.  So we packed up, put the house for sale (one of the most stressful events in my life) tried to put offers on a bunch of homes only to get rejected because at the time our house was still under contingency and by the time we closed everything we wanted was sold.  So into a tiny apartment we went.  I was miserable.  I was tired.  I was confused, lonely and scared.  Yes I had my husband, but everyone else was further away.  To be exact one hour away.  We were renting an apartment with some of the worst neighbors ever imaginable.  I never want to go back to that place with all of the screaming, yelling, and swearing we would hear through the walls for 9 months.  I missed the comfort of my old home knowing exactly where everything was.  I missed feeling safe.  I did not feel safe where I was.  I let my health down in the process of moving as I was so busy packing, house hunting, and stressing that I got myself up to the highest I have ever weighed.  I was unhealthy, inside and out.
  Fast forward to now...almost two years later from the time we sold our house to this very moment as I type this. I am fifty pounds down, no longer have high blood pressure, stress levels have seem to have gone down and i'm finally starting to feel comfortable.  It's home for now and i'm okay with that. My husband felt at home immediately only because he has been driving out here and working in this area for the last five years.  I on the other hand was running around like a chicken with its head cut off in the beginning.  I don't think it is our forever home but it is home for right now.  I've gotten to know our  neighbors whom are all very nice.  It's a quiet subdivision where everyone greets eachother with a "hello , good morning" on our morning walks. 

My husband adding trellis to our Cinderella pumpkin patch.

  We settled into a 5 bedroom home.  We weren't looking for five bedrooms, but it kind of just happened.  We have done small house projects but nothing as big as our last house. So far in this house we have moved the laundry room from the basement to the first floor, turned one of the rooms into a laundry room and walk in pantry, added new cabinet hardware, replaced most of the light fixtures and chandeliers, refaced the kitchen cabinets by painting them white, replaced some of the deck boards, added new curtains and a few other small minor things.  I'm looking forward to installing the white subway tile we purchased for our kitchen and painting the front door and window shutters next spring.  Our last home we refinished the basement, added an addition to the house to get a walk in pantry and added a deck.  I refuse to invest as much in this house because i'm not sure this home is going to be forever for us.  I have major regrets investing so much time and stress into our last home and not see that investment returned at closing.  We are very careful to give this house the love it deserves without breaking our bank account again.  This house had almost everything we wanted (except location for me because I have a hard time embracing everything to be happy)  A good size kitchen, a family room, living room, plenty of bathrooms, a dining room (the one thing on my list I was not willing to negotiate on) and a massive size yard and deck.  This is what sold my husband, not just the house but the yard as well.

Early girl tomatoes.

  How did I come up with the name for this blog?  Other than being obsessed with farmhouse style and giving our home that farmhouse flair  (it's been real fun decorating)  the two went hand in hand. I was going to check on the garden and all of the flowers I couldn't help to notice all of these adorable bumblebees. So many of them, hundreds if not more.  So cute and chunky with their little fuzzy bodies and their black and yellow stripe.  They are hard workers.  They mean business.  They spend the entire day pollinating the garden.  As I check up on my garden, I check up on the Bees, watch them work and thank them for their service.  Without pollinators we would have no food.  No vegetables, no fruit or grains or delicious honey.  We would fail as a civilization without the bees.  So I try to keep my yard as chemical free as possible to give these guys the best home they can have.  In the meantime, i'm going to enjoy our home and all it has to offer and keep life updated on here.  I look forward to sharing my antique and shopping finds, food, recipes, decorating, and everything else that I love.  I decided that I am going to share with the world.  So sit back, relax, grab a drink as I share life with all of you.  Enjoy!

Fresh cut hydrangeas from our garden.