Eight days in...

A week ago we "officially" moved.  By "official" I mean that we actually started sleeping here.

But the actual move started a week before that which saw us ferrying boxes between the rental and the house.  SO much ferrying!

We had both taken the Friday before and the Monday/Tuesday off...thank God.  By Monday we were completely sick of each other and of moving, so we took Tuesday off from moving and dealt with regular life details, such as putting new tires on my car (oh joy, an added expense to the already stretched budget).

There were SO many moments that should have been recorded for posterity - but what can I say...they weren't.

But, we are in.  The rental was relinquished today - not without some kind of insanity, of course.  After the stress of the actual move last Saturday we agreed, there was no way we had it in us to go back to clean the rental.  So we hired someone to come in to clean the unit.  Yesterday we went back to the unit to make sure that the cleaning was up to par and to leave the keys/garage door openers.

The cleaning crew did an excellent job.  As we walked through the unit, we were pleased.  When I walked into the guest bath, we noticed that we had left behind a bath mat.  As I went to pick it up, I noticed it was sopping wet!  I turned on the light and found that the floor was covered with water!  Cue the sinking feeling of horror while I assumed the pipes had frozen or something more dire.

After cleaning up the mess, we couldn't find a leak or evidence of frozen pipes - much to our relief.  We turned the water off to the toilets in both bathrooms, just in case, let the landlord know and walked away.

Now onto the stuff you may (or may not - and if not, then why are you here reading this?) want to know...I LOVE this little house!

Yes, the very same house that has the teeny tiny living room.  The one where I still don't know where to put the Christmas tree but we'll figure that out next Christmas.

I love the color we picked out.  It's almost perfect.  If I had to do it over, I'd go a titch darker but really, it's pretty close to perfect.  One day I'll even get around to posting pictures....you know once all the boxes are unpacked and everything is "prettified."  Which, at this rate, may well be around next Christmas.

Despite the copious amount of cabinets, it seems we are running short on kitchen storage.  That may be because The Husband requires what I consider to be too much stuff/food for a kitchen.  He insists that it is all "necessary."  Which, to be fair, is the same argument I have regarding my shoes.  We have worked out a plan to add some cabinetry (eventually) to the garage for the overflow and the things that aren't used on a daily basis.

The master bedroom appears to be the one room that I should have been the most concerned about.  When we viewed this house we noticed they had a king size bed in there and it fit comfortably, ours is a queen so we figured it was all good.  What we did not notice was that they didn't have ginormous furniture like we have, nor did their bed have a headboard AND a footboard.  This all became glaringly apparent on move in day when the mover's placed the bed where I wanted and we discovered that the door wouldn't close.  I made some quick calculations and relocated the bed and the armoire and realized that there was no way we would be able to get the dresser or the highboy into the room.

Now, I had already planned to use the highboy in one of the other bedrooms, that I had appropriated as my closet since the master closet is ridiculously tiny.  Once The Husband's clothes went in it was apparent that there was no way the two of us could use this closet.  The builder should be ashamed to call that a walk in closet.  At any rate, once I realized that the dresser wouldn't fit in the master we made the call to move the dresser into the other bedroom.  Now I just need to figure out how to move The Husband's clothes from the dresser into the master.

Details, details.  It will all be sorted out in time.  But even with these details, I'm loving this house.  I'm loving that it's not too big and yet, not too small.  As Goldilocks once said, "It's just right."

We have many, many ideas for the future.  Changing the exterior trim color from cream to white.  A possible tiny expansion which would make the living room and master just a tad bigger - which could also lead to a reconfiguration of the master bath and closet.  The kitchen, while certainly livable, may face a renovation a long, long, long time down the road.  The bonus room will eventually become a Media Room for The Husband and Man-Child.  Although, I have informed The Husband that our current television would be perfect up there and a smaller one could be found for the living room - he disagrees.  Methinks he is on the hunt for an even larger television. *sigh*

Some of the above ideas may never come to fruition and that's okay, because in this house we feel like we are home.  Like we are where we were meant to be and it's all good.

Finally.  After all my grousing...I have my house.  And I am happy.  WE are happy.  And that's a good feeling to have, especially on Valentine's Day.

T-Minus Five Days and Counting...

The past few days have been chaotic to say the least.

Thursday evening found us doing the final walk through.  Everything seemed to be in order.

Friday found us signing the papers and moving a few boxes.

Saturday found us doing nothing but moving boxes.  Unfortunately, there was no emptying of boxes as we want to have the house painted first. *sigh*

We did meet with the painter and he claims he can have it done by Thursday or Friday, at the latest. Which is good as we hope to move in for good by next Saturday.

We finalized our paint choices...Benjamin Moore Smoke Embers for everything

It doesn't quite look like this on the wall...

With Glidden Silversmith Gray as a contrast in the kitchen....

Yeah, this looks a bit more true to color...but I am concerned that on the monitor this color looks lighter than the other...

Sunday found us moving even MORE boxes.  All of which will have to be moved again once the painters are done.  But, at least they are now "on location."  I plan on taking three days off and hope that is enough to get us situated with "living." (i.e., the kitchen is functional and we can find our socks).

Moving is stressful.  But I must admit, this move, so far (fingers crossed), has been WAY less stressful than the last one.  Which tells me that I will NEVER, EVER move prior to Christmas again.  Although life being one big roller coaster that it is, you really can't say Never, can you?

The one big downer came today, when I was attempting to transfer our internet service.  I asked to have the service transferred on Saturday.  I was informed that the first available date was next Wednesday.  What?!  FIVE days without internet?!  I don't know how we will survive.  If we get desperate, we can come back here to get our fix, as we don't officially move out of here until the 14th and the internet won't be cut off until the 10th. (Seriously, is it THAT complicated to transfer service?! Inquiring minds want to know!)

Luckily Saturday will be filled with all the moving stuff.  Sunday will also be filled with moving stuff...until the kickoff of Super Bowl Sunday, which means the boys will be preoccupied, while I continue with the unpacking/moving stuff.  So technically, we will only be Monday/Tuesday without internet.  Which, in my case, will be a good thing as I really need to be setting up house and not faffing about on the internet.

I will tell you this...EVERY SINGLE time that I have driven to the new house, I have felt like I was coming home.  That may be because we lived out there for so many years or because this house was meant to be, but I am ready for this move.  Yes, the commute will be longer, but I have a feeling that this is where we need to be - and I'm ready for it.