Our first year on the farm...

For whatever reason, our first anniversary of homeownership completely passed by without me even remembering it. We've now owned this farmhouse for 1 year and 5 days. The past 370 days have been the busiest in recent memory- an absolute whirlwind of activity. This morning, I started at this post and read back through the past year of blog posts. Looking back through like that was a nice reminder of what we've accomplished (and overcome) in one year. Here are some highlights, with a few disappointments mixed in for good measure (all part of life, no?):

• we started this renovation 
• a dream freelance job fell into my lap
• we pressed 480 lbs of apples from our orchard and made hard cider 
• Owego, our little town, suffered a devastating flood
• you helped raise over $3300 to benefit Owego flood victims 
• we found a kitten and named her Velma Dinkley (we watch a ton of Scooby Doo)
• I got really, really mad 
• EZ E started preschool 
• PRH and I celebrated nine years of marriage 
• Kicky turned 2 
• we searched for fossils 
• PRH knocked down a wall 
• we literally dodged a bullet 
• our kitchen started to look a bit better 
• we renovated one bathroom 
• PRH turned 35
• a very old friend died and I've thought about it every day since
• this blog turned 5 
• I signed a contract and wrote a book 
• I turned 35 
• we planted grapes 
• we made a chicken coop, but didn't get chickens
• EZ E turned five 
• we adopted a dog and call her Show Dog
• PRH planted a beautiful garden 
• we started renovating our party barn

Yowser! Add to that list, happy moments spent with family and friends- it's been a great year. There are days when I think buying this house was an excellent decision and, quite frankly, there are days when I think buying this house was a huge mistake. To be sure, tackling a major renovation with small children can be overwhelming, but it's also interesting, rewarding, and humbling; I've learned a lot about myself, my husband, our family, and our friends this year. A little over a year ago, I published this post. It occurred to me that, whether we're talking about love, renovations, work, etc., the advice I gave then rings true now: don't resign yourself to mediocrity. Set your heart on something and just go for it.