Wow, time flies!

We have been in our home for 2 weeks plus a couple of days.  Two weeks in which hubby has not had to travel, his commute has been relatively painless, we have unpacked a lot but still have a way to go, and hubby has turned into Mark Stuart, a male counterpart of Martha Stewart.  Ok, not really.  But he decided that before perfecting the TV/stereo set-up, we should paint the family room.  I did not disagree... there were severe fading spots, shadows of picture frames past, all the way down the main downstairs hallway.  Rectangular ghosts, if you will.  We also decided the kitchen has too much going on in it and are painting it one color instead of the two mismatched colors.  The tile and granite have very distinct patterns, and the walls fight them for attention.  It's not working for us.  We're slowly finding fixtures that suit our style/taste, as the early 90's brass does not....  but also trying to be frugal and strategic in using coupons, etc... 

The neighbors seem friendly.  One of them is building safety gates for the top and bottom of the stairs on the deck.  The deck, as great as it is, is a safety hazard when you have a 2 year old who thinks himself to be Buzz Lightyear.  We almost didn't look at the house a 2nd time because of it, after little Lightyear's episode at the park in November.

We had a tornado warning last week.  The kids and I simply went to the basement, cranked up the radio, and played.  I opened the blinds to be able to watch the clouds and listen for sirens.  We have also discovered that earthworms seek shelter from the rain by creeping between the doors and onto the blue and white floor.  And if they aren't cleaned up prior to the wild stampede and little tikes basketball fun, they get smashed.  It took us a couple of days to figure out what that red mush was on the floor.

I have cleared some brush out of the flower beds and planted some bulbs... white hyacinths, purple tulips, and my beloved acidanthera.  I could go crazy with this yard.  The neighborhood is well established, but our yard has almost no trees, except for a birch that is so close to the house it will threaten the foundation if we don't remove it in the next couple of years.  I don't mind not having so many leaves to rake, the trees in the surrounding yard are very pretty, but a little vegetation would be nice.  I want a veggie patch, as veggies are expensive and not impressive at the grocery stores.  That may or may not happen this year. I have garden envy of a house down the street that has a 3 or 4 tier vegetable garden built into their hill.

The extreme amount of space we have been blessed with means that taking our time to unpack is easy... out of sight, out of mind, until you want something and have to dig to find the box and then open it up.  We tripped over everything and each other in the apartment for the past 18 months.

The previous owners took their fridge and washer and dryer, so not only did I get a new house for Valentine's Day, I got new appliances.  Unfortunately, Lowe's did not live up to their next day delivery advertising... we ordered them on closing day (Valentine's Day), asked for them to be delivered the following Saturday, and they did not arrive until Monday morning.  Thank God for hubby's parents good cooler!!!! They are working great so far.

Perhaps eventually I'll get back into the blogging groove.  I am thankful for those of you who stick around, or drop by every once in a while to see if I am still here. But for now, we're getting settled into our new place and loving it.