Why the Practical Moose?

(This is a wood sign art piece of a moose by artist Penny Wagner. Isn't it lovely?)

Introductions are always the hardest. You go from: Where do I start? to What should I say? and finish with Oh my gosh, I'm so boring! and then you are stuck sitting in front of a blank computer page with that annoying blinking cursor line.

So I guess I'll just start with the moose. They are crazy looking creatures, aren't they?? Kind of like a cow and elk got too friendly one day.

Anyway....

Anyone who knows my FAMILY knows our affection for moose, loons, or anything rustic and north country. It's just what we love. We love the great outdoors and find nature to be the best place to relax and blow off steam.

Anyone who knows ME knows that I'm very frugal and practical. (My husband lovingly likes to call me Scrooge, but that is so harsh, don't you think?? Yes, I hit his arm whenever he says that. :D ) Truth is I am frugal, thrifty, and practical but as an artist I can make even the cheapest things look amazing with very little money put into it. I can also stretch a dollar, make amazing meals with few ingredients, and have family fun without breaking the bank.

So The Practical Moose just makes sense! Or at least it does to me.

I created this blog initially to write down our journey of home improvement. We just recently bought the house we've rented for the last 5 years. It's a beautiful wonderful house in one of those little town subdivisions that people romanticize about. You know the ones I'm talking about - the ones where all of the lawns are manicured and landscaped, flowers surround every porch, people wave and chat to others walking on the sidewalks...Where everyone knows their neighbors, kids are best friends with the neighbor kids across the street, birds are always singing, and neighbors are always out giving each other a hand with something, whether that be with shoveling snow, mowing someone's lawn who needs it, or pet sitting when they go on vacation (which is actually what I am doing for my wonderful neighbor right now). It's a community, and everything I just wrote about is true. At least it is in our community. Of course, this is also the real world so we have our frustrations, like barking dogs at night, screaming kids, lawn mower noise all the time, and the neighbors put WHAT in their yard?! Yeah, everyone knows what that is like too. Might as well be real about it, right? Right. I'm sure you could add in more frustrations, but who wants to focus on negative things? Not me! So this is home and we love it here. :)

Anyway, I'm chomping at the bit to decorate and make this house more like our HOME instead of the rental it has been to us for the last 5 years. I thought this would be a great way to keep our family and friends up to date with what we are doing. I've also considered putting in other things I enjoy, like DIY projects, thrifty living, natural living, recipes, and whatever floats my boat. Who knows? We'll see how it goes.

So anyone who was bored enough to read my lengthy blog introduction and is still reading wants to see what progresses with our house, I hope you will enjoy our journey with us. It should be fun! Having my fun loving comedian of a husband around is sure to make this a fun process. At least for me. I hope you will enjoy it with us.

Tomorrow I will start the process with my kitchen walls. I'm pretty excited about it and plan on sharing my process. :)