Hooterville Here We Come!

Do you remember this old TV show?

Successful New York lawyer, Oliver Wendell Douglas (Eddie Albert) longs to leave behind the rat race and complications of modern society to fulfill his dream of living the life of a farmer.  His glamorous, boa-wearing, city-loving wife, Lisa (Eva Gabor), is not one bit happy about leaving her socialite life in the city to move to the country.   Oliver buys a farm and the couple says goodbye to city life to take up residence in Hooterville, USA.   The farm Oliver has purchased is a shambles and  the farmhouse in an advanced  state of  disrepair.

Watch this short video intro to the show if you want a chuckle but beware…the theme song gets stuck in your head!  I’ve been humming it for a couple days now (and laughing).   :)

 

So why am I mentioning this old show, you ask?

My husband’s and my life has just taken a drastic turn.

Drastic.

I feel like we  have just stepped into this old TV sitcom from the 1960’s.  We are mirroring Oliver and Lisa.

Sort of.

My husband isn’t a lawyer…

             but he is in law enforcement.

I am not the least bit glamorous.  A tee-shirt, shorts and flip-flops are more my style than a boa and evening gown…

           but I am a city-loving girl…through and through.

Like Oliver and Lisa, my husband and I  have just successfully negotiated a deal to purchase a farm.

A FARM! 

A 28+ acre horse farm, to be exact.

It looks like we  will be saying good-bye to city life and living the country life…just like Oliver and Lisa.

Uhhhh…. let’s call the new town where we will be living   “Hooterville.”     Yes, eventually this city girl will be leaving “My Cottage of Bliss” for Hooterville, Florida.

Hooterville is about 1 hour away from the CITY where I have lived my entire life…except for the first two years of it.  Trust me, that’s a loooong time in one place!

In 2007, the population of the only CITY I have ever really called home was 249,079.  The population of Hooterville was 3,275. 

3,275.  I wish I could say that is a typographical error but it isn’t.

After we move to Hooterville, my favorite grocery store, Publix,  will no longer be a convenient 8 blocks away.

I’m pretty sure there are no Goodwill stores in Hooterville…and probably no thrift shops either.  No Wal-Mart or Target.  Certainly not a mall.

I’m willing to bet there is a feed store in Hooterville though.   For you city people who might not know, a feed store is where you “grocery shop” for the farm animals’ food, and farm supplies.

My husband is beyond thrilled and excited.  He wants a BIG tractor.  With a BIG scoop on the front.  And a BIG manure spreader on the back.   

Our daughter is thrilled and excited too.  She’s  going  to Hooterville with us to  manage the barns and the horses.   She wasn’t “born in a barn” but she would have felt right at home if she had been.  This is a dream come true for her.  Horses are what she lives and breathes for. 

I am a little excited.  But the city girl in me is  a lot more reluctant, nervous and starting to feel a bit over-whelmed.

The house on the property is not quite in the  state of advanced disrepair like Oliver and Lisa’s farmhouse, thank goodness!   But it is going to require a lot of work inside.

“A lot of work” is actually an understatement.   It’s twice the size of my house and every room needs updating.

Every room.  

Four bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, formal dining and living rooms, family room, kitchen, breakfast room, sun porch, office, and laundry room.  Whew! It wears me out just to think about it.

On the positive side, I’ll probably have enough decorating/remodeling projects to post on this blog for the next 5 years…or more!

If all the decorating decisions and DIY projects  don’t kill me first.

:::sigh:::

I’m sure I will adjust to this huge change in our lives.

Eventually.

Who knows…maybe I’ll love living in the country so much I might end up renaming this blog…

“My Cottage of Bliss in Hooterville.”

More details (with pictures) to follow soon.