It’s been 7 months today, since our last post, while I worked on a great big work project. But we are back now, ready to really rock and roll again! And with a whole new brand design look, too! What do you think? Do you love our rooster? We are totally in love with him. As you can see we kept the meaningful window frame though, which you will notice behind him.
We have been blogging since 2008, and every so many years, we just get the urge to freshen things up. We are extra excited about the new design this time, because we feel like it fits our style more than ever before. We hope you love it, too.
Why the 7 month break, anyway?
Well, there was some serious technical work on the back end that needed to be done. To say it was time-consuming fix is an under statement. I was at it, like, daily and diligently, for 7 months. Y’all really don’t want to hear the mumbo-jumbo of it all, because it was as downright boring as it would sound. But the gist of it is, it was a result of not really knowing what we were doing as a bloggers for the first many years of blogging, and it all really just needed to be done for the sake of optimizing our site, and for the good of it’s stability and longevity. Not to mention we’ve become so huge now, that we needed to move from a shared server, to a private server! Suffice it to say, it’s a monkey off of our back now, that was well worth the time to rectify. And it made us realize too, that we have a lot of awesome stuff in our archives, that we kind of forgot all about! Anyway, that big task is finally done, and now….we’re ready to move forward with a renewed effort and fresh approach!
So what to expect from us now?
Well, we’re going to try and blog at least a bit more consistently, for one thing. Did you know that there are some bloggers who put a post out every single day?! I can assure you, that will never be us! That just blows us away. The truth is, even if we never blogged our projects again, the back end work was worth it for all the more traffic this site will get to our deep archives, and the new look is a fresher representation of who we are, and what we are about.
However, we actually do have new projects and ideas to share with you here on the blog coming right up, and there is more in the plans. We also do think we should be a little more serious and regular with the commitment to our blog. So, we’ll be trying again. Other than that, we will also be really kicking all of our social media accounts activity up a notch! Our Facebook Page has always tended to get most of our attention but, the truth is, they aren’t very good to us. 😉 (All of that algorithm nonsense.) So while we will still be sticking around there with some extra effort, we’re going to be using all of our other social medias more than ever. If you are at any of those places too, we would love to connect with you there!
You can find all of our new links to follow us on the right hand side, at the top of the sidebar!
* We will be updating all of them over the next couple of days, with our new branding.
We just wanted to reveal it right here, first.
If being notified of our new blog posts delivered right to your email is your preference, you can subscribe to us a little further down in the sidebar! Just enter your email, and consider yourself on our delivery list. And no worries……we will would never spam you or share your email with another soul. We just aren’t those kinds of peeps.
If you’re completely new around here . . . . . .
Welcome! We’re so glad you’re getting to know us, and all that we enjoy sharing with you. We tend to blog about a wide variety of things; maybe because we’re kind of all over the place, in general. (?) (Not a question, really.) So, you can expect posts about most all of the things we do and love:
| Natural Family Living
| C
Farmhouse Style – We take photos and share a bit of our home decor accents, our custom-built double-mantel decorating ideas, and the major home renovation projects we’ve invested ourselves in. If anyone knows Michael and I, we love to brainstorm; he loves to draw out his ideas plans on paper, I love to talk his ear off and paint the mental picture about mine, and then we love to fight it out over the final design. No one can ever guess who the winner will be! But thankfully, somehow, we’re both always happy with the final outcome. We love to refinish things to make them look old, and all things, rustic, frayed, patched, mended, cracked, peeling, faded, etc.
We’re Natural Kind of Folks – And more so all of the time. We are anti-GMO, pro-organic, and see the games of big-pharma, and their bottom dollar line a mile away. And it ticks us off. Generally speaking, while we know know there is a place and sometimes a necessity for modern medicinal technology and practice, we also believe that God is the Ultimate Physician, and maybe we should all start right there! Overall, we just strive for optimal health through the most natural means possible. That’s how we live.
Gardening – Here’s the dirty truth. We’ve been trying to grow most all of our own produce, for years. We have grown a lot! But every time we have as many garden beds as we’d want/need, we tear them up and start all over again! But that’s ok; it’s been fun, and certainly a learning process. We still plan to expand our vegetable and flower gardens so, we will see what spring brings. <wink!> Meanwhile, there is always lots of fun photography in the gardens, and at the farmer’s markets, too.
Chickens – Keeping chickens was a little dream come true. We are finally living it! If you haven’t seen our personally custom-designed chicken coop (aka mansion), you need to check it out. Our chickens have no clue how spoiled they are. It’s been so fun.
Our In-House Art Studio – Another dream come true. How lucky are we to have such a custom-built beautiful space, filled with natural light in the daytime, to make a big mess and let our imaginations fly!? Michael works some in there, the kids work and create in there, and I am certainly a happy and peaceful soul, when I am in my art studio! I have resolved to spend much more time in there this year, so you should see the fruits of that, here and there.
Unique Home Projects – After the triplets were born and we expanded on our little house in a big way, we have been finishing all of the inside ourselves, into our big farmhouse abode. Well, Michael has, mostly. So there have been many custom and unique features we have made a part of our home, as well as around our home, and many have been shared here on the blog. We’re never done so….keep watching.
Recipes – We’ve shared many recipes, and most as tutorials. Some of us in our family love to cook and bake more than others. Some of us would rather be taking the photos along the way. We all love to eat, and eat as healthy as we can, with the occasional indulgences. The best part about all of the food we make and grow around here, is gathering around our family table together, saying grace, enjoying the delicious food and our time spent together. And, sharing the recipes with you too, of course! I try to make most of them easily printable for you. We avoid processed food, and as we said, eat organic and non-GMO foods whenever possible.
Homeschooling – Although we are a homeschooling family, currently in the middle of our 12th year, we haven’t blogged about out very much. On occasion, but it’s probably been the least blogged about topic. You can see the posts we have done in the category drop down menus at the top. I have a few ideas I may share more about on the topic soon, that may be helpful for other visiting homeschooling families. But if you have any requests you’re curious about, let us know. Generally speaking, homeschooling is just a way of life for us, and somehow I don’t always have much to say about it, without questions. I’m not unwilling though.
Faith – Our site is a reflection of our life, and our life is reflection of our Christian faith. We are Roman Catholic, specifically. We try our best to live our faith daily, as well as the Liturgical year. We love our Catholic values from our core, and strive to only continue to grow in that way. We are all nobody, and without anything of any value, without all that we believe in faith. We are everything in Him, have everything with Him, and the joy and comfort we receive in the Truth, is the foundation and purpose of our family life. So you will often find faith reflected in some way at times, anywhere we are on the net. We are prayer warriors too, and so are happy to pray for your intentions, if you simply let us know.
So there is a pretty good look at an overview of House of Joyful Noise. Since that is a wide range of topics we write about, if there is a post you are less interested in, no worries. Just skip it and wait on the next one! There is bound to be lots coming up that you’ll be all over!
Coming up next . . . .
. . . . we will be telling you more about our new House of Joyful Noise rooster, and which you’ll see around all of our social medias.
We’ll give you this tidbit right now: This rooster is actually a custom painting, just for House of Joyful Noise! So we’ll be telling you more about that soon, such as the details of his creation, and what he represents.
Also coming up: a big kitchen-change project we are sharing, that really added more farmhouse appeal to our home!
If you are interested, you can learn more about us and this place, at our updated About Us page.
We’re really excited to restart our engines! So stay with us! Feel free to scroll on down to the comment box, and let us know what you are most interested in, so we can get to know you all, and try to give you a little more on that sort of thing. Also, we’d love to hear how you like the new place, as well!
Meanwhile, we are really looking forward to connecting with you, here, and everywhere else!
Love, The Richard Family
Laura, The website is fabulous!!!! SO happy for you and I look forward to tales from the farmhouse. And yes, LOVE the rooster. 🙂 Blessings in all of your beautiful work. xo
Thank you so much, Mary!! We appreciate your visit and message to us!
Laura and Family / House of Joyful Noise blog
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the new look! I’m so glad to have you back too! Sorry the job was so tedious but I know it will be worth it for you and so many more good things will come from optimizing! Now kick back and relax a little bit – you’ve earned it!
Thank you, Heidi! It’s nice to be back. We’re counting on that optimization! We’re so glad you came by to check it all out. Thanks for your support and enthusiasm. (((Hugs!)))
I love the new look!! I’m enjoying so much of what I’ve read already especially about parenting :). So much more to read and looking forward to it.
So happy House of Joyful Noise is back!!! Bigger, better, but still as awesome, informative and creative as ever… Thanks Laura (mouth) 😉for sharing your talents and gifts.
I’ll look forward to getting emails notifying me of a new blog.
Awww, thanks MaryAnn! We’re glad you love it. Thanks so much for your love and support! <3