MN Monday #10: Blair House

Jacob and I moved into our first house in 2001 on Blair Ave in St. Paul.  There are way to many stories and memories from that house to recount in a single post.  But here's a smattering.

• In the process of buying the house, we made a wonderful friend in our real estate agent, Genevieve.  She has been with us ever since and has handled every house transition with wit and humor and great insight.
• The garage burned down the night after we took ownership.  It was a long and colorful story that many of you have probably heard at some point.  If you haven't, ask me over a beer sometime.
• Our next door neighbors (Bob and Gladys) smoked "a bit."  If Gladys baked anything and brought it over, it had to go directly into the trash.  You could smell and taste the smoke.  It was so bad that if she picked raspberries off their vines and took them inside to rinse them off, they were inedible because of the smell of smoke.
• I made my first "from scratch" garden spots at Blair House.  Learned a lot about gardening in an urban environment.  
• We installed a gas fireplace in the living room in a house previously without a fireplace of any kind.  They came out and framed in a fake chimney and then faced it with stone and tile.  It was lovely and we had some amazing built in shelves installed beside it to match others in the house.
• I rehabbed the front porch.  Took down the old crappy bead board ceiling and installed new with ceiling mounted electrical outlets.  Fresh paint.  Nice ceiling fan.  Installed a laminate cork floor.  It made a wonderful retreat even on a hot summer day.
• As we were getting ready to sell, I gutted and rebuilt the kitchen with the help of several friends.  We had lived with a hell-hole of a kitchen for almost a decade and then over the course of 7 weeks we made it into a little gem.  

We made so many memories there.  Family and friends.  Parties and dinners.  Dixie lived most of her life there and Brutus came into our lives there.  I started to learn all the things that homeowners come to know - for much of that time I still had my Dad to call if I had a question about something.  Even after he passed away I've continued to learn all the stuff that he had to teach me.

When we left in 2009, I was truly sorry to leave.  We were both excited for the next chapter, but I had poured so much time, energy, and effort into that little house it was special to me.  It's true that you never get over your first.