3 weeks ago I bought a house. While I knew that I was getting into a mighty big project, I am still standing here absolutely astounded by how many problems a seemingly sweet, innocent house can hold. This isn’t even my first rodeo. I bought my first house in 2016, a 60’s brick ranch with short squat walls and even smaller windows. That house came with a fair share of surprises as well, but we muddled through, made a home, and learned the basics of property maintenance there. Despite my relative familiarity of this undertaking, our 1830s Vermont farmhouse is an entirely different rodeo on an entirely unfamiliar planet. My face feels like it is stuck in a perpetual pout as the bad news continues to roll in, but at the end of the day when I drive away from the little old house (goodness no – I am not currently living there!), I kind of beam a bit inside imagining what beauty she has hidden under her crumbling facade.