10 Things I Hate About My House

Let me just say before you pass judgement on my bad attitude and ungrateful heart that the things I love about my house far surpass the things I don't like.

Whew.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way...

Did you see that movie? "10 Things I Hate About You?" Loved it! Modern (late 90s) high school take on The Taming of the Shrew, full of sarcasm and awesome one-liners that I still quote.

I happen to like being a princess, thank you!

Ahem. Awkward!

So, in no particular order, here are 10 things I hate about my house.

1. It's far!!!!!!!

There's a whole lotta this before you get to town. Ok, city. There are several little towns between here and there, but the city--my husband's work, our church, the stores, many of our friends--is 45 miles away which is about an hour of driving time. You don't just run to the store. Evening meetings are a commitment!

2. Storms.

Storms are bad. Storms can do this:

I live in fear. I know God is bigger than the storm and He will protect me. But I hate storms. I wrote about storms shortly after this happened last summer.

3. My kitchen.

I promise you, it looks better in photographs. What doesn't show up is the cracked, chipped, perpetually dirty (no matter how many times I clean them) floors, awkward cabinets with layers of someone else's grease, no dishwasher, no vent hood, lack of storage and lots of money needed for a reno. Still. 3 1/2 years later. That's life, eh?

4. Projects, projects, projects.

The furnace is on its last leg. The roof needs new shingles. There's a leak in the basement that needs to be properly fixed. There's no landscaping, some trees need to be cut down, the house needs new siding and our barn is falling apart. Not to mention the above kitchen, finishing the basement, adding a garage and a deck...

5. Winter.

There's a lot of this going on in Iowa. Yeah, cute kids, happy smiles, fun snowman, but the snow probably blew in on stiff wind with dangerously low temperatures that trapped us in the house for days on end. Repeatedly over several months.

Did you know that Iowa has two seasons? One is winter; the other is road construction. 

6. Bugs.

This guy was inside the other day. I know all homes have spiders and whatnot, but here in the country the bugs could seriously take over. Centipedes in the basement in the spring, spiders all through the flowerbeds, crickets, fireflies, mosquitoes, biting flies, ticks... Must stop now!

7. One bathroom.

Sure, most parents of small children don't get much uninterrupted time in the bathroom. But no matter how big our boys get, there will be one bathroom on the main level. We do plan to add a complete bathroom to the basement, but there's no hope of an en suite master bathroom.

8. Herbicides/Pesticides.

Sure, crop dusters are fun to watch. So are tractors and combines and spray rigs. But it's not fun to wonder where all that spray is going. I'm not getting all enviro-friendly, and I don't wish farmers would do it differently--that's someone else's soap box. What I'm saying is that the crops are sprayed several times throughout the growing season and I just wonder what we're breathing sometimes. We also have a shallow well. Hmm...

9. Expensive Travel.

Ah... The Pacific Ocean! Ventura, California, to be exact, with a view of the Channel Islands. This is where I grew up and where my mom still lives. I don't particularly want to live in Ventura (expensive housing!), but I'd like to be able to see our California family members more often. I know right now isn't a time for finding cheap flights, but it seems like it's more expensive to fly from the Midwest. Who knows. It takes three days to drive to California--add three more days getting back and there went a week's vacation, not to mention gas + hotels + food = expensive travel!

10. Feeling Isolated.

This is the view East.

This is west. Of course these are particularly gorgeous sunrise/sunset views which doesn't help my case here. Scroll back up to the crop duster picture and that's the view South. North is our barn and garden (pictured in the house collage). I know--I'm not complaining!

But even the most beautiful views and great home makeovers aren't worth much if you can't share them. I have an amazing family, I adore my boys, I'm not ungrateful! I do wish I had a handful of really good friends to share this with. Girlfriends to hang out with that aren't an hour's drive away. Couple friends who could come over for supper on a weeknight just because. Play dates at local parks with my boys and their friends. A sense of community.

So there you have it. Ten things I hate about my house. Do you hate your house sometimes?

No?

It's just me?

Ok then...