July 2011

And how was your summer break?

Break? Break??? If you mean breaking our backs, well, then yes we are having quite a break! Michael and I (and even the kids) get up in the morning, have a quick breakfast and pack lunches and haul over to the new house to get cracking. There has been so much to do. We have definitely bought a fixer upper. But it is also really satisfying to see large chunks of it getting done. We've been getting home and having dinner out someplace on what Michael refers to as Barcelona time.



We've had new hardwood floors put in throughout. We've torn down the ugly fake rock behind the ugly wood stove (and gave away the stove on Craig's List)and put up some slate and tiled the kitchen. We've had all the kitchen cabinets and appliances pulled out. We now have just toe kicks where the new ones will go eventually. We've had plumbers out to the house three different times and the well/pump people out twice. The electrician just spent 8 hours out there yesterday solving mysteries. Michael is insulating and sheetrocking this weekend as well as building out closets. I've mostly been painting. I find that to be very satisfying. There's going to be some color in this house. I will put up some before and after pictures soon.

Our kids are pretty stoked to find that there are actually kids in the new neighborhood. Actually, the other kids in the neighborhood are pretty stoked to have my kids move in. So, they run around like a mob on bicycles, eating otter pops, drawing with chalk, swimming in pools, shooting each other with squirt guns and running through the sprinklers. So, the kids are definitely getting some bonus out of this move. In our old neighborhood, there are no kids their ages to play with. How happy are they!

On another note, we've met so many of the new neighbors. They are all curious and extremely nice. We've already received veggies from some of their gardens and the neighbor across the street invited me over to see her back yard (full of fruit trees, veggie garden, grapes, pergolas, roses, play structure, etc.) And I can't wait to meet the people with all the animals. There are people on the street with horses, chickens, pigs, goats, etc.

We are supposed to close on our present house August 5th. So, we are going to physically move August 3rd. That's just next week! It will be really nice to just wake up in a house and stay there. Of course, it will be really nice when we have a kitchen to cook in. That's coming mid-August, allegedly August 10th.

Corporations versus People

I know it's a little political. But this reaches across party lines and is important. So, I'm sharing. I think this is a fantastic, well done video!