The Bacon House

06/18/2026

06/13/2026

After and before of our beloved porch. We searched for 3 1/2 years for just the right house in Crystal Lake. We knew we wanted to land in CL for our next chapter and we had certain criteria but did we ever anticipate landing exactly here (with one daughter walking distance across the downtown from us and my sister down the street by a block and half no less!!!)? Not in a million years. We gave up on the search too because after the Covid year of 2020 and following the advice of our accountant and bank on how to handle our finances business wise, no black and white mortgage lender wanted to give us a mortgage so we gave up for the time being. Our daughter sent us one more listing and we fell in love. The house wasn’t in great shape. The garage was leaning, propped up against a walnut tree by a 2x4. The thin, cheap “carpeting” was buckled and full of cat litter (🤮) and there were several BIG dying trees that would need removing right away. The flow in the kitchen and living room was hard to figure out. But it has a library!!! And great builtins, including a built-in bed/bookshelf situation in one of the rooms - perfect for grandkid’s sleepovers. We were OBSESSED! But again, the mortgage situation. I asked our realtor if she knew of a lender who thought outside the box. Enter Charles Matheson of Great Lakes Mortgage who dove into the actual health of our finances and found that we qualified for much more than the asking price. No bidding war and we were able to negotiate the price, which was unheard of at the time. While we waited for the closing on our old house and this one, we would come park at the high school and walk the neighborhood and imagine it as ours. And now here I am 4 1/2 years later thinking about not one but two incredible comments I received this last week about our house and I just cannot get over the fact that it is ours. Last week at the pride parade, a friend of a friend who I just met was telling me that she grew up in crystal lake and had just moved back and we were sharing where we both lived and she said, “wait a minute… your house and what you’ve done to it is the reason I decided to move back to Crystal Lake. Cont. in comments.

06/10/2026

Just popping on to share and document how massive our clematis is this year. Never in our married life have we had such success with one before. Must be the good vibes that this house, neighborhood and city give. And we’re here for it all!!! 🤗

06/07/2026

We sure do get a front row seat to a lot of neat things, living across the street from a high school. Parades start in front of our house, the sounds of the band and so much cheering from sporting events, the ping of baseballs hitting aluminum bats during practices and games, graduations, proms and winning teams coming home from a shot at a state championship. This one has me misty eyed (okay, I’m full blown crying) as the girls soccer team returned from the IHSA championship game, the winners. It takes me back to my years of playing for the Palatine Celtic club and eventually for travel teams. When we all entered our respective high schools, 3 of my teammates and I went to our principal and asked him why there was boys soccer but not girls. Next thing you know, we’re playing for Fremd against the other high schools starting up girls soccer - Palatine High, Rolling Meadows and Conant. I know it would have eventually happened regardless but being a part of the beginning and getting to play a sport I LOVED for our high school will always hold a very special place in my heart. Go Tigers!!! Congratulations from The Bacon House.

06/04/2026

Best year yet at The Bacon House for the clematis. My little 12” maple tree twig that I planted three years ago is at 83” this Spring. The edible raised bed is coming in beautifully (I see you, red nasturtium) and the petunias from Mini Earth are so vibrant. I love all of the metal garden art we have from Steel Heart and Henri Studios. So much history from the latter. The gardens are off to a great start this year.

05/31/2026

Beautiful day to check out the Three Oak Lake Path. We spotted a Green Heron in the swampy area and a man with an iguana and snake on him. I highly recommend downloading the Merlin bird song app to have open as you walk as it identifies all of the birds you’re hearing and then you can watch for them overhead (yes, I am a diehard, lifelong bird watching geek). We rewarded our 3 mile walk in the blazing sun with an ice cream at the beach. Speaking of eating, I am down 5 pounds on Noom. I relate each 5 pounds of 30 that I want to lose as a bag of sugar that I am lugging around, so I am down one bag. And it already feels so much better. Now on to yard work on this gorgeous day. Happy Sunday, friends!

05/26/2026

This made me very sad this morning when Randy pointed it out to me. We have been so happy with and humbled by our 5 star reviews on our Business Google Page that we work so very hard to deserve and then some random liar of a person comes along and leaves us a 1 star, completely fake review. I cannot even imagine having a large following on any social media platform that opens you up to crazy, sad, scary people who find joy in knocking people down. I feel like my reply was a good one but whoever this person is who did this, knows what they’re doing as it falls right between the rules of what constitutes a complaint reason on a bad Google review. It’s things like this that make me want to just melt away into the background of life and to keep my circle small, tight and oh so safe. Someday…

05/24/2026

If not with family and friends, you will find me in my other happy place, my gardens. I could not feel more at peace than when I am tending my gardens, harvesting from our gardens or decorating our gardens. This isn’t at all just for us, we do this too to bring moments of peace and joy to passersby and our neighbors. I always feel the closest to my parents in my gardens too. Both so passionate about gardening, nature and birds, who passed on those passions big time to their girls. Could not be more grateful for that. So many of our decorative items and plants are from local nurseries and stores - Countryside, Soil and Spade, Mini Earth, Steelheart, Henri Studios to name most of them (friends please do your best to shop local for things like this. Our local and favorite places need us!). It could not be a more beautiful day today and I hope you are all finding moments of happiness in your day today too.

05/18/2026

Making it official …Randy and I started Noom and I’m trying to work my way up to running a 5k. I’m starting out by walking 2 blocks, slow running 1 block. I didn’t die trying this morning, so there’s hope. If you see Randy and I out and about on our walks, please give us a honk. We need all of the encouragement we can get. I’d post the sideways pic I took of myself in a store window, but if it’s too startling to me… that’s okay. We’ve got this. 💪🏻🏃🏼‍♀️🥗