Closing a door...

Today, we closed on selling our home of 26 years. It's a little bitter-sweet to be turning that page in our lives. There are a lot of memories associated with this place, most of which are good.

Getting that Christmas spirit!

I'm starting to get really excited about Christmas! My old job was really a drag during December, and that, along with only getting 2 days off, always managed to stifle any Christmas spirit I had. I think this year will be different. Being part time, having a longer break, and not being the "buck stops here" person any more helps. I've been browsing through Pinterest a lot, and found this beautiful wreath. Since I am florally challenged, I asked my talented sister to make me something like it. It turned out beautiful, plus smells all cinnamon-y. I already have it hung, in spite of my usual vow to never start decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving.

Inspiration:

My sister's creation:

My Little Pinterest-ish Project

I've been wanting some sort of house marker. Delivery people always have a hard time finding us, even though our number is on the house near the door - I guess it's just too small.

I looked online, and wow - nice address markers are quite expensive!

So while I was at Lowe's today, I picked up a few things to design my own.

 Landscaping stone - $2.25.

 Block & Stone adhesive - $4.97.

Aluminum numbers - $1.48 each.

The hardest part was squeezing the adhesive out, because I didn't want to go out to the buggy shed to get a caulk gun.

 I think it looks pretty nice!

House pictures

This has been one of the biggest challenges of our lives - this move, and trying to downsize into this house. We have come miles, but still have miles to go. We've bought shelves and cabinets, and made a zillion trips to Lowe's and Wal-Mart. We've gotten to the point where it's functional, just kind of cramped and inconvenient. Once it gets functional I guess our natural tendency is to slow down. There are still boxes to unpack, but nowhere to put the stuff that's in them, so there they sit. Pictures need to be hung, but nothing seems to look quite right.

We had furniture in both our sun room and living room before, and it's all in this living room, even though it doesn't go together. We were going to get rid of one set, but decided to keep it to have more sitting space when kids are over.

A bit cramped...

The piano fit perfectly into this corner. It's straight ahead when you walk in the front door. Note the stuff leaning against the wall that still needs a place.

I've got so much stuff on top of the cabinets, I'm surprised they don't fall off the walls! I still have another box of blue and white plates to unpack, and nowhere to put them. We got the rolling kitchen island as a way to get a few more drawers. It's not much help - they are a bit shallow, and don't open very far. *Sigh*

We gave away our old table and chairs. It had served us well for 30 years. Larry's sister and her husband built it for us as a gift for our first Christmas. Last week I finally got out to the furniture store and ordered a new set - we're using the patio table for the time being.

Claire's room is done, and she actually cleaned it yesterday! She loves having carpet, and I'm a little jealous of it. It's so much nicer to walk on than hardwood. But when you see how much dirt accumulates on the wood, you realize what's in your carpet.

Our bathroom. What can I say - it's small and doesn't have enough storage. We got the little shelf, which is in the way, and the medicine cabinet, which is nice, but doesn't hold enough. Ugh! I have a bigger vanity on my Christmas list - Ha!

They've been working on our back yard, and the side. They had to lay a drain pipe for the gutters, and now they are scraping the dirt back in around the patio wall. Past the treeline in the back yard is the academy ballfield, and then the elementary school where Mia goes.

The house may be cramped and inconvenient, but I am loving being so close to everything. Mia is thriving, walking to school, walking home, playing with friends around campus, and going to academy activities whenever she wants. Claire has become a little less social. I think she has built up in her mind that freshmen are low on the totem pole, and it makes her feel awkward. She swings back and forth on this pendulum of hating for us to be around to enjoying having us around if she forgets something, and being able to get off campus easily. I guess we'll all adjust eventually.  

Oh - Andy is loving it. We are in and out of the house all day, so he gets more attention and potty breaks, and he gets to go on lots of walks! Here's how he looks when I ask him if he wants to go for a walk.

 

My barn is here!

My little storage barn arrived yesterday, so now we can move out a lot of boxes, and hopefully get ourselves organized. We registered Claire last night, so she is all set with a very packed schedule for the semester, and has a job in the cafeteria. She starts this afternoon - yea! I think she is going to enjoy it, and her supervisor, Mrs. Watkins is a wonderful lady. Claire will even get to log in some hours this weekend. Every little bit helps toward her tuition. What a relief. My job is getting off to a slow start - there is definitely a lot of work to be done, but so far, no time to train me in.

Here is a picture of my barn. The neighbors have a bigger barn just on the other side of the fence from this one, and it's red with white trim. I hope this thing can stay as bug-free as possible!