The Gingerbread Living Room

Standing in the middle of the kitchen and looking into the living room. The doorway to the left leads into the room that John claimed as his office. (that green glow on the floor is a turtle night-lite)

We were able to fit all of the L.R. furniture into the new place, except for the coffee table, which was much too big. I just use this little red bench now because there needed to be something in front of the sofa.

Personally, I think John hung the prints a little too high, but he said (I'm paraphrasing here...) "Tough. I'm not putting any more holes in the wall."


I still don't have all of the knick-knacks out yet, but you can get the general idea of how the room looks...


Standing just inside of John's office and looking out into the living room and kitchen...


We lost a little space here. Because of the glider we had to move it far enough away from the wall so it wouldn't bump. We did notice Coconut liked to go behind there to sleep, so there's a cat bed behind the glider now.


There is the buffet that we couldn't use in the dining room. Pretty much looks like a sofa table anyway, so I don't think it's too out-of-place. The "books on the bottom turned backwards" is an idea I saw in Country Living magazine. John doesn't know what to make of it, but I like it.

I love the beautiful 9 pane picture window! You just don't see very many of those anymore. The black strips are the storm windows on the outside.



99% of the time, we use the church office entrance, so the front door is partially blocked off by the chair. Visitors can still get through, but they do have to suck in their stomach and twist their upper body to the right while crab-walking past the chair. I don't think anybody minds...


Same thing in the bottom photo: The rocking chair partially blocks off the entrance into J's office, but it's still workable...

The ledge was deep enough so that I could just lean those frames on it. We've been here 2 months and they haven't fallen yet...

A wooden plaque proclaiming the year of the home's birth.

Love & Miss

John, Robin, N. & J. ---

Somebody in Union City, PA is loving you right back!

Missing you and praying all is well with your beautiful family.

The Gingerbread Dining Room

This is the view walking up that little staircase from the office into the dining room:

Although beautiful, the dining room is a little on the small side at 10' X 12'. The only way we could get our dining set to fit was to take out one of the captain's chairs and push the table all the way to the wall. The buffet table wouldn't fit at all, so we use that in the living room now.

A view of the china cupboard and the door leading into the kitchen.


Standing in the kitchen and looking into the dining room.

Taken by the china cupboard, that's the door leading into the church office.

Another view of the kitchen through the door. We use the closet on the left for our coats and jackets. We also put a small dresser in there to store our gloves/scarves/hats.

A little built-in china cupboard. Through the French door you can see an archway. To the left is the guestroom, straight ahead is the bathroom and to the right is our bedroom.

The top of the coat cupboard has amazing storage space. I keep all of my serving pieces and seasonal dishes in there.

A closer view so you can see how I stack my china Cat-in-Hat style!

There was a fire in here last November. The church office and dining room suffered the most damage, but was fixed-up beautifully. It's a very comfortable home, reminding me a lot of the Bethel parsonage. John and I both feel so fortunate to be living here.

:::Visitors Always Welcome:::

The Gingerbread Office...

The door that leads into the office...



This is the view when you first step into the door...



...and if you turn to the left, there is the space that I claimed for my own...



...another view...




Turn to the right and that's where J. keeps his record player and keyboard. Through the doorway and to the right is a small staircase that leads into the rest of the house.



Standing right outside of the doorway...

...and looking in... (Ben could stand to lose a few pounds)

Little Joe sitting at the bottom of the staircase.

Reasons to Smile...

A sweet little boy's hand-made thank you card....

just for us.

I'm a Crest Cat!

Look, Mom!

No Cavities!!

Flea Market Finds

For $10, I found a set of 6 snack trays, a Pyrex Visions frying pan and a small McCoy planter. I am the most excited about finding the frying pan. When I first got married, my Mom bought me a Visions cooking set. I broke the pan years ago and this is the first one I've ever come across since. Score!

A close-up of one of the milk glass snack sets with a grape cluster design. All of the cups were in perfect condition as were 5 of the plates with one of the plates having a small chip in the top. But for $1 how could you go wrong? Yes! $1!! There was no price on the box when I was looking at them, so I asked and almost fainted when they quoted a buck! Score again!
The McCoy planter was the most expensive piece for $5. It's pretty well flea bitten, but I really liked it.

...and isn't it WONDERFUL (not to mention an extremely rare sight anymore) to see "U.S.A." on something?

The End.

Gingerbread House (backyard view)

This is the view standing at the edge of the backyard. From left to right: our bedroom windows, the bathroom window and then the guestroom. On the very right is the back of the church office. All together, it's a pretty-big yard, just a little over 3 acres. It takes John 3 hours on the riding mower to get it all done. That little white dot underneath the pine tree is Ben laying down. John and I were so happy that he was doing so well with staying in the yard. Then today, he decided to chase an Amish horse and buggy up the road. We had to turn the invisible fence on. He pouted all day and refused to go anywhere near us after we put the collar on him.

If you turn around, this is the view you get:
Aren't they beautiful? There are 3 of them, but the father wasn't out today. He looks like the colt, only much bigger. Up to the split-rail fence is church property, but they rent it out to the farmer for grazing land. (John's glad about that-less to mow).

Although still not completely unpacked and organized, we're feeling more and more at home everyday. John and I are always up for visitors--anyone game?

The Gingerbread House (the outside)

Here is the sweet little Gingerbread House!!

The door on the left leads into the church office, that was a new addition built on about 8 years ago. The two smaller windows are in the living room, the window above the flower box is the kitchen and the largest of the windows is the living room. The door on the very right side leads into the mud room off of the living room.

Just another view of the outside...

It's a little late in the season to plant anything, but John wanted me to be able to see some flowers from the kitchen window, so he put in some chrysanthemums. Isn't he sweet?

This is the view of the front yard looking out of the office door. The garage that we can't really use right now because of all the boxes we have in there. That patch of weeds on the right is actually the garden (YIKES!). We haven't done anything with it since we moved in, BUT it was mostly strawberries and asparagus (which were done when we got here), so we didn't really waste any harvest. We do have to get in there though and cut everything down for next year.

John and Ben are walking down the hill that leads to the lower level of the yard...

This is the lower level. Just a quiet space surrounded by a lot of trees and the sound of running water from the little stream....

Part of the stream that runs through the yard...

Another view...

Way, way in the back of the property is this little patch of woods where the deer all come to dance...

I'll post more photos of the back yard and rear views of the house later. I wanted to wait until the horses were out.

A Profile in Courage