Happy houses

I have a strange thing I do when I'm out walking Molly. I rate houses and yards on my own made-up scale. The highest rating is Happy, then on down the scale is Distracted, Indifferent, and finally Sad. Happy houses are those that have beautifully cared for yards (not necessarily with a ton of landscaping), well painted homes, and everything looks to be in its place. But aside from the aesthetic properties, you know the owners of this house love living there. They just look warm and inviting, and you want to see what they look like on the inside.

Distracted homes have certain qualities of Happy homes, but for some reason or another lately they haven't seemed their absolute best. Maybe because of economic problems they aren't using the sprinkler system as much. Or maybe they're dealing with a loved one in the hospital. There's apparently something going on that takes them away for a short period of time, but the love is still there.

Indifferent houses are probably inhabited by families busy taking kids places on the weekends, or single people always on the go, or perhaps a single parent trying to work two jobs to keep the house. For whatever reason, the owner or owners haven't paid attention that much to their home or yard. These have overgrown yards, slightly shabby looking houses, but the potential to easily fix what's been neglected is still there.

Sad houses are almost beyond help. No or little grass, barely alive or dead shrubs, tons of leaves that have fallen and never been raked up. Shades are drawn all the time, paint is chipping or peeling, and it doesn't seem like anyone actually lives there. Every time you go by, it just....looks.......sad.

The great thing about our neighborhood, though, is that whenever a Distracted or Indifferent house has been put on the market within the last couple of years, the purchasers have changed it into a Happy house. Unfortunately, most of the time the Sad houses just stay that way. At least I can count these on one hand, so they are few and far between.

We strive to make our house a Happy one, and I think when I walk up to it and try to look at it objectively, you can tell there's alot of love that's been put into it.