Our Little Hobbit Hole

The house next door is for sale. It's been empty, well, mostly empty for the last year. The owner has been gone for a while and his son with all his friends has been using it as a sort of club house for a little while. Much to the chagrin of the neighbors.

it's a nice enough looking house on a double lot like ours. I'd love to see the inside but I can't imagine they will ever do an open house there. It's a foreclosure property and I suspect that the kids did a bit of damage inside. (It's being sold AS IS.)

A few weeks back some of the neighborhood kids climbed in the side window. We called the cops because thats what you do in our neighborhood if you see someone you don't know climbing in a window. Turns out it was nothing, but a few weeks later the owner came by to say if we see anyone over there to call the cops again; we opted to just call him instead. But, there has been no trouble so far and it's on the market finally so hopefully some nice new neighbors will be moving in.

Well, it's the end of an era. After 9 years of doing the desk job thing at a very nice law firm in the city, I'm leaving for greener pastures. Which means that for the first time in 7 years I'll only be working 40 hours a week. Yaaaay! My weeks will consist of being a Nanny in the mornings and working for the church 2 afternoons, 1 evening and Sundays. Which also means I'm going to feel like I have oodles and oodles of free time (and on some days, I will). All the better to jump into projects at the house like stripping the wallpaper and painting the sun room and beginning rehabbing the windows and making window quilts and everything. I have a feeling that this upcoming year will feel like a vacation compared to the schedule I've been doing for so long...

Yeah, I know, it's nothing about the house. (Though arguably I'm sitting, again, on the front porch with the new Pepper Kitty looking at all the lovely yard work I did this past weekend while feeling the acute ache of my forearms from wielding the weedwhacker and the hedge trimmers.. soo, yeah, thats the house stuff...) Back to the more cool things...

These two brothers have vowed to only communicate via un text-ual means and here is their first vid of Jan 1st, 2007. Yay, I love stuff like this!!

We are a cat friendly neighborhood. Each of my closest neighbors has 1 or 2 cats that have adopted them; Outdoor cats that keep the birds on their toes. It's not uncommon around here to find a neighborhood cat curled up in our bushes or in the sun on our front steps. So, when I was outside sitting on the porch, taking a break from trimming the front hedges away from the house while Raendi was downstairs with the plumber replacing the last of our brass pipes, I saw this cat trotting down the sidewalk so I called to it. She came jaunting up the stairs with a little "meow" and proceeded to rub against me and purr. While she looked pretty healthy and was wearing an old flea collar, I could feel her ribs so I called to Raendi and we brought out a bowl of cat food for her. (Here is a picture of our resident indoor feline in all her glory...if she knew we were giving away her food, she'd be pissed!)



Now, Raendi is a dog person. Not that he doesn't like cats but, unlike me, he didn't grow up with them so sharing the house with Miss Kitten-Lo has been an adjustment for him. Luckily she is as easygoing, playful and affectionate as anyone could wish a cat to be, so he's gotten quite attached to her. So, while the stray cat was eating her third bowl of food, Raendi was getting a little upset that someone would not feed her when she was such a nice cat; who's cat was she and why weren't they taking care of her and all that. So, we put out a basket with an old towel in it, some water and more food on the front porch and went to bed.
She was there curled up this morning. We asked our neighbors about her and they said she's been around for a month or so now and nobody seems to own her. So we took off the flea collar (they are toxic), gave her a name, Pepper, and I guess she's ours now.
I'm out on the front porch right now, a storm is brewing south of here so the wind is starting to pick up and the neighbors across the street are playing some Lebanese pop music that isn't unpleasant and the Pepper Cat is curled up in her basket at my feet.
Here she is:



We'll have to take her to the vet, get checked out. And I have a sneaking suspicion that even though she's still a big kitten, I think she might be pregnant. We'll see!

So, our blueberries are in full fruit. And since the POs planted the bushes right outside the window, I don't even need to get dressed to pick, them. Rather I just open up the window and the screen and lean out and pick just enough for my morning cereal! (We had to save some for ourselves so we covered 2 of the 4 bushes with potato sacking...)

The doorbell rang at around 11:30 Saturday Morning. R and I were in the TV room with my Dad and V watching a stunt kite flying instructional video my Dad had brought up from Maryland to show us. That's his new hobby, stunt kite flying. He says it's hard. I don't doubt it. :) I had just squished my thumb in between the 2 sections of the window as I tried opening it; the top section came sliding down and as I tried to catch it, my thumb caught firmly caught in between. Ouchie! I put ice on it and sucked it up as any good homeowner does.
So, when we hear the doorbell, R and I jump up off the couch and dashed through the kitchen, past the breakfast nook, into the dining room and both to the front door all the while chanting "Harry Potter! Harry Potter!" See, we had pre-ordered our copies from Amazon the week before and were anxiously awaiting their delivery. A nice lady in a suit was at the door, a younger guy in a tie behind her.

"We are having an event in the area and wanted to invite you." she said as she hands up the pamphlet.

"Oh... we though you were delivering our Harry Potter books." we said.

"No. Sorry." She said and turned and went down the stairs.

I wonder if Jehovah's Witnesses read Harry Potter?

Oh dear blog, I know I have neglected you. But you see, I've been spending my time chasing dust bunnies (or are they small cats rolling around the house?) out from under the breakfast nook and from behind doors. I had forgotten how easily wood floors showed up the dirt and cat hair, not that our rugs in the previous place were any cleaner, it was just that you couldn't SEE the dirt. :)

My stepbrother's father-in-law passed away yesterday which is sad, but it also means my Dad and V are planning to travel up from Maryland to go to the funeral which means house guests and I get to see my Dad, yay! They have not seen the Bungalow yet and V is going to attempt to sleep in the cat allergen house; we have a clean room upstairs sans cat hair but also sans wall plugs so we have a extension cord going up the stairs for the AC, it gets really really warm up there! If for some reason that room doesn't work for them, we will set up the tent with the surprisingly super comfy air mattress in the backyard. (I slept so well on that air mattress that it was a shock to come back to my regular bed, even though we have memory foam... mmmm, memory foam, like sleeping in a hug!)

So, in other news, my voice lessons are going very well. Working in technique is agreeing with me, finding new resonance, harmonics and color is like finding $20 in my pocket, such a treat. Tonight I have a lesson and then my first rehearsal with the accapella group since I have started studying again last June. We are recording backup for a local folk musician next month. Jim Scott, fun, particular about how we interpret his music, a really good performer. And besides, it's been too long since I've been recording, it will be nice to get back into it. :) You can hear some of Jim's music on his website: http://jimscottmusic.com/

And the berries have sprung... all the birds are currently devouring the blueberries, we really gotta cover those bushes before they eat them all! And the raspberries are almost past; there were so many this year that it was impossible to pick them all, rather they stayed on the bush to feed the bugs and fungus or feed the birds. Who proceeded to make nice dark purple splotches all over our deck as they contentedly perched in the pergola with they full tummys. I can't fault them, those berries are reeeeeeeeeeallly good!

So, that's the update, no pictures, gotta get back on that. Maybe I'll post a pict of the tent in the backyard? *big grins*

So, even though we have not be out to enjoy it yet as my middle school program at the church has been taking up all my extra hours in the last few weeks, we have discovered today that our wisteria is in bloom. I was wondering if it would rebel against us after that hard prune we did to keep it from eating the house, but it seems to have weathered it very well and is wonderfully fragrent. Below are some pictures of the wistera and our last 2 projects. One was Raendi's baby, removing the rotting slats on the deck, facing it and adding a gravel trench in front to help siphon off some of the water that comes down the hill. The other was to build a fireproof patio for our new firebowl that we are looking forward to using. So, here goes!!

So, when I got home from my marathon rehearsal last night I got out of my car and stepped into a cloud of Skunk smell that had surrounded my house. A neighbors cat was sitting on the sidewalk in the shadow of a tree just staring at me as if to say, "Do something about that damn skunk!!" I shrugged and tromped into the house with all my bags.

I could still smell it in the house too, must have sprayed really close and mentioned it to Raendi who then said he had smelled it too but thought it was just the Kitten being Stinky. Note: the Kitten never smells bad, she's a cat, cat's don't smell unless they get into something or eat something that has been festering which the kitten does neither. For being a boy scout, Raendi is a bit uneducated about wild animal smells. (There is a story about trying to explain the difference between a squirrel and a chipmunk... on numerous occasions... but that's for another time...) But I love him anyways. :)

Anna Elizabeth arrived last evening around 6pm via C section at a very healthy 8 lbs 1 oz and 22 inches long. The parents are both doing fine and we are visiting them during lunch today. :)
No news on Raendi's job front but the rumor is that the "5 guys" are 75% for keeping the branch and 25% for closing it. So, we still wait...
On another topic, on our evening walk last night we met a neighbor who has a rescue greyhound from Lincoln Park RI. She is a very sweet dog and I'm a big fan of both the breed and the cause. Raendi is a bit more hesitant because he doesn't have a lot of experience with greyhounds. But, he's warming to it and said to me last night after our encounter, "Hey, I think I'd be happy with one of those." Yay! So, we'll wait and see how the spring and early summer works out and perhaps in July we might start the process towards adopting one.

And yes, our forsythia is now in bloom... things are looking up!

This is the season of waiting for the inhabitants of the Bungalow. Every morning I look outside the bedroom window out to the backyard to check and see if our huge forsythia bushes there have bloomed. Last week, not yet. Sunday, not yet. Today in the warmth of the new Spring sunshine... not yet.

For the last 2 weeks the potential closing of the branch Raendi works at has been looming over our heads, negatively affecting our sleep and putting my career plans on hold. The "5 Guys" who run the company keep putting off making the decision and we figured out last weekend that we both would have rather not known anything was going on than living through this tension of holding our breath every time they have a meeting. Another meeting was had today; I haven't heard any news, which could be either a good or bad sign.

On my career front, my wait in one area will be over this upcoming Sunday with the Annual Meeting at the church I work at. Depending on whether our rapidly growing congregation chooses to move to 2 worship services next fall, my weekly hours in the education program will go from 15 to 20, making it imperative that I do SOMETHING with the full time office job I've been holding on to for the last 9 years because I refuse to work 60 hours a week. (I want garden time, sleep time, children time as they come.) My stomach flips over every time I think about leaving this nice cushy little nest I've made for myself at the office, but I've almost completely grown out of this place and every day I am reminded that I need to move on, no matter how scary that move may be...

And on a much less stressful but equally as exciting front: a good friend of ours is currently laboring to deliver a daughter into the world. Her water broke early this morning and we haven't gotten the SHE'S HERE call from the family so we are sitting in rapt anticipation of the first infant addition to our circle of friends.

So, perhaps our forsythia will bring good news on all fronts: a new baby, a stable job, a solid launching point. But for now, we wait.

Owning a house is exciting. That is after the initial shock of each, umm, well, lets call it an idiosyncrasy of a Home's individual personality gets revealed. I'm grateful that both Raendi and I have basically sunny dispositions, glass half full attitudes, and very healthy senses of humor. :) It turns what might be day-ruining adventures into opportunities to learn something new, get a home improvement ego boost, and get some funny stories for blogging. :)

So, here area a few from our adventures this weekend...

I have discovered the Zen of Wet Vacuuming. Yes, that peaceful serenity of of sucking up puddle after puddle in the basement. The satisfaction of watching a standing pool of water become just a wet patch in a matter of seconds. The delicate hmmmm snort snort snort hmmm of water going through the hose. I could vac up water for hours. Of course, I also might be a bit batty. And another very satisfying activity is pushing water with a broom towards the drainage channels in the basement. Though there are muscles in my back and arms that are sore today from doing just that, I want to say a little yaay each time a wave crests over the edge of the channel and drains out. And, with the flood now gone, I am smugly satisfied that my basement floor is cleaner than it was. Perhaps this evening I'll attack the cobwebs with the shop vac. (Yeah, I just want to play with my new toy!) Speaking of new toys, we also purchased a nice Energy Star dehumidifier. It's chugging along as I type. All these great gadgets, fun!!

So..

When it comes to fire and live electricity, our survival instincts are easily triggered and working with the furnace Sunday was a prime example. In the wild, Raendi and I would be the sneaky monkeys who would pass new berries for others to try and see what happens before we partake. If someone else can do it and get out unscathed, we can to. So, when our friend Dave came over to help up with restarting the furnace, we were very willing to let him be the guinea pig. We were in the basement where we had already checked the circuit breaker and we had flipped off and on the emergency switch in the kitchen. So, the next logical step was to press the RED BUTTON of DOOM (AKA the reset button for the furnace).

Dave: "Alright, I'm going to press the red button."

Me: *hovering intently at his right shoulder wringing my hands* "Are you sure? You can only press it once, you know. I read the sticker, it says only press it once. Did you already press it before I got down here? You know it can only pressed once."

Dave: *rolls his eyes and looks at Raendi*

Raendi: *rolls his eyes too while he is hovering over Dave's left shoulder, also wringing his hands*

When Dave reached down to press the button, he stopped about 3 inches away, realizing that while he was once flagged by two hovering scare-dy cats he was now very much alone. So, he looked up to find that we had both very quietly retreated to position about 3 feet away from him, juuuuuuuuust in case. He was fine, of course, the button was pressed,the furnace went on, no probme and now I'm confident about pressing the button. But at that moment, just in case our furnace dragon hiccupped, we wanted to be a bit further away. Thanks Dave!!

So, we've survived the weekend. It may seem to some of the more seasoned homeowners who read this blog that these are minor adventures. But I give you this: remember back to your first house, your first clogged drain, and your first realization that there is no landlord to call, no parent to holler to, that whatever problem that has come up is yours. YOU are at the top of the food chain, you are the decision makers, and this house is your responsibility. For one choking moment the sheer enormity of owning a house looms beast-like over your small stash of practical knowledge. But then, like a wave of water gleefully pushed into a drain, that fear slides away and leaves a little bit of pride in it's wake. THIS is mine. MY home. MY place. And I can take good care of it, I may not know how right now, but I can learn.

We've been here 2 weeks. And I heard that every new homeowner, especially those buying an older house, has their moment of OH MY GOD, WHAT HAVE WE DONE!!!! And that, my friends, is happening right now for us.

It started yesterday. I came home from church to a cold house. It was an especially cold and rainy day, the beginning of the Nor'easter and it had been snowing and sleeting. So, of course I'm a bit freaked out because the furnace (or anything involving flame and live electricity) gets me on edge if there is something wrong so I call our friend from over the hill who had a similar house to ours, to come over to help. And then I fire up the old laptop to see what I can find. Appearantly there is this red button, a red button you can press if needed, but only 2 times according to the Net and only once according to the sticker on the furnace. So, we turned the switch upstairs off and on, we checked the circuit breaker and then we pressed the button. And the furnace went on and the house began to get toasty warm. And, yes, we discovered that we need to replace a few whispering, well screaming yesterday, valves on the steam radiators. But, it definitely was a cosmic wake up call to get a contract signed with an oil company soon. We will be calling today.
And then last night, after spending a good 2 hours working on making the rooms in the front of the house look more homey (we organized the china cabinet, yay!!), we went to bed amidst rain and wind.
And I woke up this morning at 7am to a little bit of banging. I thought it might be a screen door and I checked both but they were latched. So, knowing it had rained a lot overnight I put on my shoes and opened the cellar door... and heard running water. See, with the few brass pipes that are left in the basement and the fact that we haven't gotten the plumber in yet this year, my stomach sank at that sound. So, I turned on the light and ventured downstairs and got to the bottom and stepped into 2 inches of water. UGH!!! I followed the sound of tricking water to an area next to the basement door.
AN ASIDE: So, our home inspector said that we needed to put a rubber cover on the exposed sewer pipe in the basement, it is in a little square sunken area and the POs, when they had put in the basement concrete floor, had graded it towards this area and made a channel on the side that also sloped towards that hole. There was a cinderblock previously covering it, we properly capped it last week, a very easy but still proud event in our fledgling houseowning experience.
So, yeah, we discovered why the POs had left that pipe upcapped...
I hollared to Raendi, peacefully sleeping upstairs to get his boots on and we both tromped around and he uncapped the pipe. It was like flushing a toilet. The water began to drain out of our basement down the pipe. ANd we discovered the source of our water, a dime sized hole in the foundation next to the door that was streaming water into the basement. *sigh*
So, with nothing else we could do right then, we tromped back upstairs and made coffee. In a few minutes we will go back down cellar to survey the damage. I'm very happy that we had already put our boxes on the shelves. We will be making a trip to HD to buy a dehumidifier and a shop vac this morning. AND this summer, we will be putting much needed gutters on the house which will definitely help alleviate the water problem. And sooner than that, we will be researching how to and then patching that hole.

This is a good house, a solid house. But, with all the positive things, it's an older house, and it has problems. These problems that were once blissfully theoretical and now are definitely present. And it makes me a little nervous. But I have to just breathe. We will be ok. We can handle this. It's a solid house. *sigh*

So, my house blogging comrade Leslie at Georgetown House (http://retrovation.blogspot.com/) tagged me with this challenge, to find 7 songs that talk about my house. So, here goes. :)

Song #1: In honor of my most recent plumbing foray, I choose Peter Gabriel's THE FLOOD: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ww9JS8dJ9fY
This song resonates with me on many different levels, it's beautifully written and Peter Gabriel has a very vulnerable and honest quality to his voice that lends to the emotionality of his performance. It reminds me a bit of global warming, ecological and social responsibility. And it resonates spiritually, reminds me of those deeper darker nights when I'm afraid to be overwhelmed by whatever lesson or realization I'm currently struggling with.
"Drink up, Dreamers, you're running dry..."

Song #2: One of the best dance with a mop songs, a nice slow Rumba, mmm: SWAY by the Pussycat Dolls: http://youtube.com/watch?v=aFPvKGL69kE
Is it terrible that I imagine my mop is Richard Gere? He's dreamy. :)

Song #3: From the Shrek soundtrack: Hallelujah by Rufus Wainwright:http://youtube.com/watch?v=mmbQEQltOwM
Heis version of this Leonard Cohen song is so very interesting and I sing a quartet version of this with my local choir, lots of fun to sing while doing dishes.

Song #4: Speaking of dish washing songs, this one is a good one! Bernadette Peters does a great version: WHAT'S THE USE OF WOND'RIN' from the musical Carousel: A snippet for you: http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-pop-up/B000002SK8001005/ref=mu_sam_wma_001_005/103-2059185-4325418
I generally don't get into the whole women loves man, man treats her bad roles, but this is a great song.

Song #5: The last the of the showtunes, I swear: DEFYING GRAVITY from the musical Wicked! http://youtube.com/watch?v=TNv6cFUvU9s Oh, it gives me shivers! And it's all about a girl who goes out on her own and takes a leap of faith. It's an up a ladder kinda song. ;)

Song #6: In honor of my late evening 2nd Winds unpacking frenzy, FLIGHT OF THE BUMBLEBEE on 8 pianos! http://youtube.com/watch?v=xXHd-ZLN_ew

And lastly, song #7: For the bone tired: SLEEP by Eric Whitachre, you can hear it on his Myspace Page: http://www.myspace.com/ericwhitacre A wonderful composer and though his chords are often dissonant (and difficult to sing, it took my group quite a while to get used to the sound), they are soothing, great to fall to sleep to! Also check out his wife, Hila Plitman's page, she is on his friends list. :)

So, I've run out of time so I won't tag anyone yet, but be warned, I will at one point. :)

Yes. I have conquered my first plumbing project. And for someone who has never even spooled out a length of teflon tape in her life, this was a big deal. So, please forgive the large pat on the back I'm giving myself in this post. :)

The diverter in the shower was very tired and only wanted to work halfway, which allowed 1/2 our precious hot water to just stream down the drain. After some online reserach and a quick check with a knowledgable friend, I bravely took on this project on a weeknight, a nice my dear husband is away at work, in our home that has only one bathroom. If I flooded the house, it would be a disaster, but I was confident.

I used a screwdriver for leverage and was able to twist off the old faucet.



I then took a drive to Home Depot to get a new faucet along with an extra long curtainrod for the livingroom. I considered getting some silicon caulk to seal up the top of the faucet, but decided it wasn't worth it as the original wasn't caulked at all. After returning I laid out my materials. The kitten through they were new toys for her, and they are, her own private drinking fountain!



So, I put some new teflon tape on the pipe and screwed on the new faucet and Voila! A working diverter!! Note that there is NO water coming from the faucet!



I then hung some curtains in the living room:



And danced around singing the Independant Woman song with a new verse about bathroom plumbing. The kitten was unimpressed:



Now, I'm off to take a nice long shower. :)

It was a battle royal. There were many casualties, war wounds, and for a few tense moments, it appeared the Wisteria would win, but the Loppers and I prevailed.

And, alas, I failed to take pictures of my progress. But, please envision a hungry Wisteria with sucker flying in all directions like a demented flailing Alien vine, hungry to invade our home. It had already snaked itself into a window and was spreading into the sill as well as worming it's way under the lip of the shingles of the roof. It was sending roots out along the foundation and attacking the poor plants on the side of the house. It was a vicious beastie that needed to be tamed. Here is a photo from a few months ago of the Pergola out back:

So, I went to work, lopping all the newer suckers on the main parts of the vines and then climbing the ladder to get at the house-hungry vines. I succeeded in bonking myself on the head numerous times with pieces of vines, raining down debris that went into my eyes and down my overalls, and at one point, in my zeal, accidentally positioning my head in between the handles of the lopper and then proceeding to knock myself on both sides with my hands on the handles. Not bright at all, but fortunately, the Wisteria didn't notice or take advantage of my momentary disorientation. And in the end, we have a much tamer Wistera who might refuse to bloom this year, but will ultimately be happier and healthier. Me, I'm nursing my war wounds and proud of my successful defense of our new house from the invader. We will sleep more peacefully, content and safe. Now if only I could do something about the Dragon in the basement... :)

For those house voyeurs who want a fix. :)

These were taken this morning. :)

Dining room looking into the living room, we still have no idea where to store the vacuum. These old houses have no closet space.



Living room looking into the sunroom. We're looking forward to getting curtains on those windows. It's like a nice little sunny fishbowl.



Raendi in the dining room getting ready to clear the walk. Notice how perfectly the piano fits into the space there. :)



The still cluttered kitchen and the kitten who finds the basement and attic much more interesting than the main floor. And who has been caught 2 times laying on the dining room table, a BIG NO NO in our household. She'll learn that just because it's a new place, the old rules still apply.



The very messy and still partially unpacked bedroom:



The 2nd bedroom, AKA Jail, at least we can watch TV!



Spring snow under the pergola. You can't see it but the Wisteria covering the pergola is threatening to eat our house. Gotta take care of that soon!



And finally, the backyard. I bet all the snow will be gone by the time we get home from work this afternoon!

Last night we finally succeeded in transforming our house from rooms of random box and furniture storage to a place that almost looks like a honest to goodness home. And now that the environmental stress of things not being in their place is dying down, I have time and focus to post some of our moving pictures.
Saturday was in the 50s and sunny, a perfect day to move, and Raendi picked up the truck at 9am and I went to the house while he drove the Penske to the condo to meet the guys, all 11 of them! I hear the load up went fine, though there were a few grumbles about how different individuals would have done it differently, but what can you do, not everyone can be in charge of the layout. Nothing serious got broken and no one got hurt.
While the guys were loading up the truck with the enormous amount of stuff we have, the girls and I were attacking the years worth of dust on everything in the house. The woodwork, light fixtures, and kitchen got the most attention. Our friend Kristen diligently attacked the grime underneath the kitchen stove that threatened to reach out and eat a small child. She won and the world is a safer and cleaner place because of it. All the girls worked very hard for the couple of hours it took the boys to load the truck and travel north to the Bungalow. We were ready when they arrived.



Then the unloading began. I stood at the bottom of the porch stairs and made educated guesses at where each box, bag, and piece of furniture belonged in the house. Here's me, waiting for the next trooper to come up those massive stairs.









And then, miracles of miracles, we were done at the promised time of 2:30!! Actually 2:29 and a smattering of seconds according to Creegan who was ready to just drop whatever he was carrying and start demanding beer at 2:30. It took 4.5 hours, not too bad for a 24 foot truck full of our stuff. Phew!!
Matt, (who traveled with his wife Jody over 3 hours from VT to help us move, great friends!!), sums it up gloriously in this picture:



While I was out picking up our 13 pizzas, way too much for 24 people by the way, a neighborhood dog decided that an open front door meant exploring the house. I think he was looking for his friends, the three dogs the previous owners had. He hung out and ate pizza with us on the porch. Raendi said if he ever came back, he'd keep him. :) (That's my husband there in the gray baseball hat. Isn't he cute. *grins*)



We hung out, ate pizza, drank soda and beer and topped it off with ice cream sandwiches.



Everyone left around 5:30, we did one last run to the condo to pick up the cat for the night and went home, made the bed, and crashed.

I'll post more tonight or tomorrow with more picts of the partially set up house if I uncover my camera. We are itching to get curtains on all those windows so we don't feel so, well, exposed. :)

But, looking through the moving picts, I'm reminded of how lucky we are. And we are grateful. To our families who came out and helped with the move. To our friends for their hard work and patience. Matt and GiGi had us over for supper Sunday, a nice respite from the box city. Raendi's brother Corie brought us dinner Monday night saying he knew what it was like to just move in and not want to cook dinner as well as organize boxes.
We couldn't have done it without everyone. *insert warm glow-y feeling here*

Just a quick note. We are among boxes and stacks of stuff in our new home. Moving day was yesterday and we had 24 loving, hard working and dedicated friends and family to help us with loading, traisping and cleaning. The two themes of the day were: "What a cool house with so much character!" and "Why do you guys have so much STUFF!!" :)

The move started around 10:30am and ended at exactly 2:21pm. Then it was pizza and beer and ice cream sandwiches for all. I'll write more but I'm working at the church this morning and need to get my notes in order. And, I'll ahve pictures once my wonderful friend GiGi and my Mom upload theirs. Yay!

PS I'm sitting on my couch, in the sun coming through those wonderful triple windows at the front of the house and loving that this place is all ours. :)

The closing is at 10am tomorrow morning. By noon when I get out of work, the paperwork should be on record at the Registry of Deeds and we will get the keys and the Bungalow will be ours. It's been a little over 2 months since the offer, that whirlwind of anxiety and quick decision making. Now it's here.

We signed the papers today, early because I am here at the firm. Raendi walked down from his office at lunchtime and we finished in a hour. (Considering we have two mortgages, that was quite a feat!) It's a sea of signatures and initials, words and numbers and promises. I'm very aware that the reality of home ownership in the US is a fallacy, the bank owns the house. We live there and pay them not to take it away from us. But, I'll live the fantasy that this house is mine, and mine along, along with every other deluded soul in the neighborhood.

So, now, tonight, home to finish packing... the rest of the dishes... the bathroom... the rest of the clothes... it doesn't feel like everything is packed because there are boxes everywhere, disassembled furniture, dust. Raendi even took apart the kitchen and dining room tables this time, took off the doors to the entertainment center. We need to pack the electronics, wrap the wires and put them in baggies taped to the appliance of their owning. Part of me wants to do all the rest of the packing, only because I think I know the "right" way to do it (and Raendi does it "wrong"). But the wiser part of me knows that just as long as it's all in boxes with some sort of label, we're good. I've gotta let go. Gotta just take one task at a time. Zen packing. Zen moving. :)

I don't remember why I wanted to write this post. I think I'm proud. I think I'm scared. I think I'm excited and happy. I know I love Raendi and that owning a house with him is a great decision. I know that sometime in the near future we will want to have kids and the Bungalow is a great place for that. I know that we can handle whatever comes our way. And I'm ready...