This is where I grew up...

I was talking with my best friend the other day. Tricia (Patty) and I grew up together living right next door to each other. We met when we were 2 years old. I don't remember meeting her. She was just always there in my life. Anyway, she still lives in Illinois. She said she was by our old neighborhood and drove past where we grew up. She saw that my old house was for sale. Together we pulled it up online. I lived in this house from the time I was 2 until I was 18. We have been here in Florida for 17 years. This was the house that makes me feel like home. I loved where I grew up. I loved our house and I loved our neighborhood. My sister, Michelle, probably doesn't agree with me about where we lived. For me... it was perfect. So many good things in my life started right there in that house or somewhere very close to it. It doesn't really look the same at all except the layout. It is AMAZING to see all the changes they have made. Here is the funny thing... just recently I had a dream about this house. Savannah and I were visiting Illinois and I took her by this house. I was bold enough in my dream to walk up and stare into the front window trying to get a glimpse of the inside. In my dream, the owners pulled into the driveway. Oops! They had caught us looking in their windows. I explained that I had grown up in that house and was trying to show my daughter. I thought they might be really nice and let us in. They didn't and that was where my dream ended. I woke up and told Tim all about. Then I found out it was for sale and thought I may be able to find pictures of the inside! Wow! There they were! Very neat! I like most of the updates, but it doesn't really even look like I remember it. I guess that may be because that was the 70's and 80's look that I was used to! Anyway, here is the link to the virtual tour if you really want to see it more in depth. It was fun getting to visit my old house all from the comfort of my home in Florida.

Tricia says the trees are so much bigger than she remembers.

Other than the fact that the kitchen is still the same size and the sink, fridge and stove are in the same place - this looks nothing like how it used to be. We didn't have a dishwasher either! Well, for awhile we had one that you wheeled over to the sink and hooked up. How fun!



We didn't have a sliding glass door there. We had a window and then there was an air conditioner below it. The days BEFORE most people had central air.

I like the walls and floor better, but not so much the furniture and curtains. I was just telling Savannah how I would pull the curtains around me at the window. The heat vent was right by the window. I would close the curtains and hold in all the heat while I watched the snow fall at night. I can still see it so clearly in my mind.

My mom had wallpaper on the whole wall. I don't want to think what it took to get the two layers down.

This was my mom and dad's bedroom. It was white back then too, but they had bigger furniture or something. It just looks different.

The basement. It used to be yellow and had carpet that was a whole bunch of rectangles put together. Each rectangle was a different type of carpet. Lovely, huh? Then my parents spent the big bucks and redid the whole thing. It had dark wood paneling and new carpet, etc. It was really nice for the time. I do like the lighter and brighter look though.

The person that took this pictures was standing in "Kari's Korner". I shared a room with my sister until I was 12. She was 8 years older than me. She didn't much want to have my stuff in her space. So my mom invented "Kari's Korner". It was a pretty good sized part of the basement. I had all my toys and things there. I loved it! I guess it is not there anymore, but it still in my memories. My mom was so good at doing things like that.