Well, here we go! This blog has been a long time in the making, I've blogged in the past, I love to write actually, I find it a great release from the everyday stresses of life. In the past though, I've always blogged about my personal life, and for a while, life was nothing to blog about, it was rough, sad, and some days just downright ugly, and that was never the purpose of my blog, so I stopped. I let that moment in life remove the joy I found in blogging. Fast forward a few years............or 5, and I'm immeasurably happy, a few years wiser and happy to be moving forward in life! I've completely overhauled the blog, I've updated and renewed and am excited to be writing again! So fast forward five years, get yourself updated on the cast of characters and come along as Jesse and I completely gut and reno a 1900's home into our "downtown farmhouse" Let me tell you about the property, the Pike St. house as I often call her! Built in 1900, this house had an amazing amount of history buried (literally) in her walls and rafters as we gutted the property completely! We have found stacks of letters ranging in date from 1940 to 1944, in perfect condition, handwritten and quite the history to behold. We have removed 5 layers of walls, and 7, yes SEVEN layers of flooring later, we finally found original 1900's hardwood that we hooped and hollered about like kids when we uncovered it! Christmas had indeed come early this year!~ While the internal walls and structure of this home were in desperate need of TLC, the bare bones structure was in pretty darn good shape for 1900! Now for the cast of characters! Polly, that's me! I'm a mom, a sister, a daughter, a girlfriend, a friend, a believer, a hobby photographer, a crafty gal and an all around lover of life! And recently, I've added construction-ista to my titles! ha! I love to antique, repurpose and refurbish and hope you will see that come to life in the restoration and decoration of this new downtown farmhouse I am already so in love with! Jesse..........what can I say, he's the love of my life and just a really good guy! Jesse is a dad, a brother, a son, a hunter, a woodworker and a construction guru!!! A country boy at heart and a lover of all things manly, he is really the muscle and brains behind this operation! Without his knowledge and ability, this project would never have taken flight! Jesse has 2 teenage daughters, Tori and Lexi whom he adores. While we don't see them often, we do try to keep up with their lives, and they may show up occasionally in print as they choose. (One thing to note, I try not to blog about personal lives without the permission of the people involved, because my blog is at my interpretation, I never want to involve others who have no editorial opinion in the process!) Gunner............the world's most spoiled Labrador Retriever who quite frankly is unaware he is a dog! We brought Gunner home when he was just a mere 8 weeks old and he has ruled the roost from that moment on! At just over a year and just shy of 80 lbs and growing, there is a never ending story in Gunner antics alone! He plays quite the starring role in the story of our lives! "The Girls" Allyson, Allysa and Alizabeth...............they're hilarious, just ask them!! 2 of my girls are grown and out of college making their own way in life, and then Lizzie, "the baby" is currently in her Junior year at Culver Girls Academy. Lizzie is the biggest contributor to this project, always helping when she is home and ALWAYS texting her design upgrades and ideas, she's become pretty decent with power tools and is constantly looking for her next repurposing project like her momma!~ So, that's us, and this is our new and updated life. We hope you enjoy the progress on the house, and can't wait to bring to life our "downtown farmhouse"!