Making a house a home
We're in. Yesterday morning three scrawny but strong young men pulled up in a van with all our 'stuff', and started unloading. Five hours or so later they were done, the beds were put together, and they pulled away, leaving us ready to make this house a home.
Yesterday was exhausting. We tried so very hard to pace ourselves, to not feel pressed to get more done than we humanly could, but there were so many rabbit trails we kept going down. By the end of the day we'd located the coffee maker, one towel to share, and bedding for our bed. Everything on us screamed 'what on earth are you doing? You're too danged old to be doing this stuff?'
At ten o'clock I ran a bath in my new soaker tub, and found there was no hot water. I may have texted the builder, the manager and the sales guy we have worked with for two years, explaining that I was dirty and grimy and exhausted and a bit mentally frazzled, and no hot water was not going to work for me.
Within minutes the phone rang and the manager walked CS through how to relight the pilot. The bath wasn't hot but it wasn't cold, and I was at least not grimy before turning in for the night. There aren't many kinds of grimy like the moving day grimy - sweat and dust and dirt coating every inch of you. So a sort of hot bath was much appreciated.
We hadn't slept in that bed for seven months and I can't find a way that adequately describes how it felt to crawl under the covers last night. To lay my head on the pillow and feel it find it's way into the groove I'd worn there. Every part of both of us hurt but Advil and exhaustion lulled us both off to sleep pretty quickly.
Early morning sunlight filtering through the blinds of our new bedroom woke both of us up. No noise whatsoever in our neighborhood at that time of day, a huge blessing. By 7 am there are more white pickups and workers than you can shake a stick at, with a steady stream of men making their way up and down the street, to the bright blue porta potty adorably situated right in front of our driveway. The internet and TV people were arriving at 8 sharp, so we stumbled into the kitchen, ready to sit and sip a cup of coffee.
No coffee.
Cub Sweetheart assured me he'd set it the night before. I flipped the switch again and it immediately dinged, telling me it was 'done'.
No coffee.
I opened up the pot to see that we'd neglected to add water or coffee.
Start over. Add water and coffee and wait 10 minutes.
By the time we'd sipped half a cup the TV and internet people were upon us, and we were tearing open boxes, trying to find remotes, and all the other stuff they need to actually make anything work. We have a history of them coming to our house, flipping a few switches and assuring us we're 'all good'. They drive off and we're far from up and running, so we've learned the hard way to have everything turned on and ready for a test drive.
By mid morning the TV was working, and since there are big basketball games on tonight, I was happy for CS that we were good to go. We also had internet and I was able to face time with both off our girls in Idaho. So good to see their sweet faces after two weeks of being on the road and out of pocket.
As of tonight we've been eating in restaurants for 12 days and neither of us is willing to step on the scale. Restaurant eating is not the stuff of which maintaining weight is made. Hopefully tomorrow I can conjure up something easy and we can actually eat in our house.
I'm also picking up Miss Lily tomorrow. This brand new house isn't ready for her. We had a section of fence blow over this past week in the crazy storm our town experienced, so if she were to go outside she could visit with cows pretty easily. We also don't have a dog door installed, which is good since it would only encourage the visiting with cows. But she's been on the road, or in Dog Jail for 11 days and I expect she is beyond done. I've let CS know I know our house isn't really dog ready, but she's coming home anyway. I'm ready and I'm pretty confident she is too. Monday morning we'll be out walking the trails in our neighborhood, so she can sniff to her heart's delight. Tomorrow night she and I will be spooning in bed, both of us happy to be together again.
Right now the unpacked kitchen consists of two coffee cups, two wine glasses, and one spoon. But it's getting better every day, and I know, from way too many moves under my belt that every single day will improve the situation around here immensely.
The house is a mess, we're a bit of a mess, and we've got a long way to go, but already it feels like it's going to be a great place to call home. I'm off to put on blinders, to tuck myself in bed with a book and a cup of tea. Tomorrow is a brand new day.
Yesterday was exhausting. We tried so very hard to pace ourselves, to not feel pressed to get more done than we humanly could, but there were so many rabbit trails we kept going down. By the end of the day we'd located the coffee maker, one towel to share, and bedding for our bed. Everything on us screamed 'what on earth are you doing? You're too danged old to be doing this stuff?'
At ten o'clock I ran a bath in my new soaker tub, and found there was no hot water. I may have texted the builder, the manager and the sales guy we have worked with for two years, explaining that I was dirty and grimy and exhausted and a bit mentally frazzled, and no hot water was not going to work for me.
Within minutes the phone rang and the manager walked CS through how to relight the pilot. The bath wasn't hot but it wasn't cold, and I was at least not grimy before turning in for the night. There aren't many kinds of grimy like the moving day grimy - sweat and dust and dirt coating every inch of you. So a sort of hot bath was much appreciated.
We hadn't slept in that bed for seven months and I can't find a way that adequately describes how it felt to crawl under the covers last night. To lay my head on the pillow and feel it find it's way into the groove I'd worn there. Every part of both of us hurt but Advil and exhaustion lulled us both off to sleep pretty quickly.
Early morning sunlight filtering through the blinds of our new bedroom woke both of us up. No noise whatsoever in our neighborhood at that time of day, a huge blessing. By 7 am there are more white pickups and workers than you can shake a stick at, with a steady stream of men making their way up and down the street, to the bright blue porta potty adorably situated right in front of our driveway. The internet and TV people were arriving at 8 sharp, so we stumbled into the kitchen, ready to sit and sip a cup of coffee.
No coffee.
Cub Sweetheart assured me he'd set it the night before. I flipped the switch again and it immediately dinged, telling me it was 'done'.
No coffee.
I opened up the pot to see that we'd neglected to add water or coffee.
Start over. Add water and coffee and wait 10 minutes.
By the time we'd sipped half a cup the TV and internet people were upon us, and we were tearing open boxes, trying to find remotes, and all the other stuff they need to actually make anything work. We have a history of them coming to our house, flipping a few switches and assuring us we're 'all good'. They drive off and we're far from up and running, so we've learned the hard way to have everything turned on and ready for a test drive.
By mid morning the TV was working, and since there are big basketball games on tonight, I was happy for CS that we were good to go. We also had internet and I was able to face time with both off our girls in Idaho. So good to see their sweet faces after two weeks of being on the road and out of pocket.
As of tonight we've been eating in restaurants for 12 days and neither of us is willing to step on the scale. Restaurant eating is not the stuff of which maintaining weight is made. Hopefully tomorrow I can conjure up something easy and we can actually eat in our house.
I'm also picking up Miss Lily tomorrow. This brand new house isn't ready for her. We had a section of fence blow over this past week in the crazy storm our town experienced, so if she were to go outside she could visit with cows pretty easily. We also don't have a dog door installed, which is good since it would only encourage the visiting with cows. But she's been on the road, or in Dog Jail for 11 days and I expect she is beyond done. I've let CS know I know our house isn't really dog ready, but she's coming home anyway. I'm ready and I'm pretty confident she is too. Monday morning we'll be out walking the trails in our neighborhood, so she can sniff to her heart's delight. Tomorrow night she and I will be spooning in bed, both of us happy to be together again.
Right now the unpacked kitchen consists of two coffee cups, two wine glasses, and one spoon. But it's getting better every day, and I know, from way too many moves under my belt that every single day will improve the situation around here immensely.
The house is a mess, we're a bit of a mess, and we've got a long way to go, but already it feels like it's going to be a great place to call home. I'm off to put on blinders, to tuck myself in bed with a book and a cup of tea. Tomorrow is a brand new day.
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Kelly in Texas :)