Getting Situated

Well, we’re all moved in to the new house!  And I mean that in the most basic terms possible.  Meaning, all of our belongings are at the new house.  Whether they are unpacked, let alone organized, well, that’s another story :)

I’ve discovered that I have no idea how to live life with a pantry, a walk in closet, and a host of other spaces that I’ve never had before.  The only rooms that are completely unpacked are the kitchen, and of course Cooper’s room.  The kitchen took me several days, because I would open a box, see what was inside and then stare around like, what do I do with this?  Is it supposed to go in the pantry?  And then I’d just stare some more.  While I’m on the subject, I told Lee the other night that I feel like people with pantries always have good food and snacks, so I keep walking into ours thinking there will be fun snacks, only to be disappointed that the best snack is a can of Gerber Lil Crunchies that Cooper will sometimes share with me.

We’re getting used to our new location also.  Our old house, which my dad calls the “city house”, was pretty much right in the center of work and shopping, and we never had to travel far for either.  Work was 10 minutes down the road, malls and shopping centers were just a mile away, and the grocery store was in the neighborhood, quite literally.  Target was only half a mile away.  I know.  Lucky.  The new house, which my dad calls the “country house”, is not really in the country, but it’s about as far out as you can get while still being in the city limits.  We had to go to the rural water department, with the deed for the house, to set up the water.  The city also doesn’t take care of garbage, so we have to call an independent trash company.  There is a huge horse pasture across the street from our neighborhood.  In the past 5 days, we have seen countless horses, lots of cows, and even….a llama!  No joke.  We have to plan trips “into town” to grocery shop, go to the mall, etc.  We’re not great at the planning part yet, but we’ll get used to it.  The drive to work is now 30 minutes, which is still not bad, but much different than the old commute.  And, if you’re the one taking Cooper to my dad’s in the morning, it’s an hour.  I have been dropping him off, and Lee has been picking him up, so it works.  And, I don’t mind the drive at all in the morning.  Gives me some time to wake up.  And there’s a Starbucks on the way :)

We have some really nice neighbors.  Several of them have gone out of their way to come over and meet us.  I love it.  There are lots of kids, and a family across the street has a one year old little boy!  And when you go for a walk, everyone waves and says hi and asks how you are.  Perfect :)

We don’t have a fence yet.  That is supposed to happen this weekend, and it couldn’t be soon enough.  You might be surprised to learn that I’m impatient. (insert sarcastic font here )  And I can’t handle walking the dogs around on their leash for 5 million hours while they decide if they want to go potty or not.  And, our houses are pretty close together, so the backyard neighbors are like, right there.  We can all see into each others’ windows.  Yes, unfortunately we have a smaller yard.  We would love to have a lot of land, but compromises always have to be made, and that’s the biggest thing we gave up.  It could be worse.

I am itching to start doing some decorating.  Everything is builder grade and builder neutrals, which is fine, but it’s not really me.  I need some color up in there.  I really want to paint first, but painting this house is a little different than painting our old house (which I painted no less than 4 times in the 4 years we lived there).  We have high ceilings, and a 2 story entry that I have no idea how to paint up to the top.  Scaffolding maybe?  Oh, then there’s that little fear of mine.  Heights.  So that should be interesting.  I’m not sure when any of that will actually happen, but you can bet I’ll keep you informed :)