Home Sweet Home

We've been in our new home for 13 nights tonight, and it's starting to feel more normal. I don't wake up and wonder where on earth I am. We got to bed at 11:30 pm last night and congratulated ourselves on going to sleep before midnight.

Good grief but we're too old to go to sleep at midnight.

Because we have a new alarm in town. Every morning, around 6:45 am the construction workers pull into the neighborhood, in their white pickup trucks, then they climb into their big machines, and put them into reverse. And the beep beep beep starts up, sounding much like an angry alarm clock that just won't stop.

I'm wondering how long we'll have to live here before we zone it out and don't notice it at all. We're at the back side of phase one, and phase two starts immediately behind our gate. Phase three is beyond that, so I'm thinking we have two to three years of construction before all the workers and big machines and beep beep beeping go away forever.

Sometimes tunnel vision is helpful. I can go outside, squint, and see only our tiny little patch of grass, our little patio, look up and see blue sky and ignore all the crazy around me.

Or I could pour a margarita, grab a platter of chips and salsa and pretend I'm in the Riviera Maya for all the fun music playing all around us.

A few workers have been in our home this week, finishing up some stuff that needed attention. Every single one of them was a male thirty years old or younger, and they all told me about their gaggle of little kids at home. Some even pulled out their phones and showed me photos. And when they met Miss Lily they told me about their little dogs. Chihuahuas and Rat Terriers and such. I'm taller than almost every single one of them; when they smile at me I'm struck by how white their teeth look compared to mine (note, find a local dentist for overdue appointment). I'm also realizing I should have worked harder in Spanish 1.

There's a pickle ball court right across the street from our house. Last weekend, when our family came over for a visit we played. The wind was blowing so that the wiffle balls were flying every which way, but the Littles thought it was fantastic. We were terrible but laughed till our sides hurt. The pool is filling with water, so maybe swimming is in our near future? and they put in a bocce ball court today. I've never played that either, but maybe it'll be fun? I'm pretty sure our Littles will think so.

We made a run to Goodwill today, with the back of the truck half full, and I wondered at all the stuff we paid for, then paid to store for seven months, then unpacked and hauled away. We downsized a lot, but should have gotten rid of even more. Or not bought it in the first place.

Our new neighbor, who fell last week, has grandkids coming over for Easter. Tomorrow she's coming to borrow our pickle ball paddles and balls for the weekend. I love that we're already on a sharing basis, like neighbors used to do fifty years ago. The bananas on the counter are starting to look questionable, so maybe I'll bake up a couple of loaves tomorrow, and deliver one with the paddles. Nothing makes a house feel like home as much as baking, right?

Tomorrow I'm also off to buy flowers for the front planter, find a dress for Easter, and get my new library card - all parts of settling in.

This is the stuff of which moves are made. Overall we're feeling at home and enjoying the process.

How about you? What have you found makes a house feel like a home?