Living

I suppose when you buy a house there will always be surprises. We are trying to manage them. Like the Asian ladybugs. A musty smell in one bedroom. A frustrating oven. A toilet that has caused floor damage. Windows that are, let's just say old. Not related to the house but related to the move, planning for the likely school change next year (I am not doing well with this). And, completely unrelated to the move, a computer crashing.

Despite the troubles, we are loving the place.

I get to cook and clean in a kitchen that is open and sunny and looks out over the beautiful back yard. I get to have a friend over for each child and not feel overwhelmed because of the tight space. We can lay out homework on the dining-room table (currently a fold up card table) and not have to put it away in order to set the table for dinner. We have a whole room for the computer, which means my bedroom isn't a partial office. I will get to set up my sewing machine next to the computer (they have great chemistry) and it can be accessible always! This means pants get fixed and much more quickly! Rejoice! Our storage unit (aka "my summer home") no longer holds our extras...our basement does. Tool boxes go in the garage, not the kids' closet. A piano in the living room, not a bedroom. The list goes on!

It's been a whirlwind experience buying a home, moving in, setting up. I'm ready to finish the organizing and settle in so that it's only "regular" life to worry about. But I don't know...as my friend's blog title says, maybe "crazy is the new normal." I wouldn't be surprised!

Where we live.

So. Let's get to it.

Unfortunately for Daniel, I was taking a picture just as he unsuspectingly turned around. But the ol' camera is out of batteries and I can't grab another pic right now! But here, you can still see the family room. All wood paneling. We plan on changing it someday, but for now it remains. It's kind of a fun woodsy feeling anyway.
Daniel took the kids out for a ride on the mower today--the weather was gorgeous--and we figure within a week we'll be mowing!
Our little patch of daffodils. Most of the flower beds here have a purpose--hiding a well or septic thing that sticks out of the ground. I expect them to all look lovely--there's a lot growing here!
This is a look from the back door. Should have several lilac bushes--I'm very excited about this.
This is the front taken before the grass turned green.
Ok. Here come some before and afters. Now, pictures don't depict some of the subtle changes in color or the "fresh" clean feeling of new paint. And what's funny is while looking through the "before" pictures I really can smell the "before" smell! Uck! Here 'goes.

Dining room--notice the old yellow glass. (They have some nice updated light fixtures we really like.)
After. Had clear glass put in. Painted "Oklahoma Wheat" through here and the dining room--similar color I had put in the apartment in the kitchen.
Living room--just dingy, dirty walls. Got rid of all curtains (and the inch of dust they came with).
Our stuff, new paint.
The piano looks much more at home here than it did in Abby's room.
This is the main level half-bath. The yellow walls really clashed with the counter top.
Ok, so it still clashes, but we like the colors better. Let's get rid of the counter soon, eh?
The kids have been wanting to paint SO BAD. We let them help with the bathroom. Wow--that was interesting. Drip drip drip. I was the wipe-up queen. But I think they had fun.
The upstairs hall
Fresh paint and new fixtures.
Ah, the kitchen. I got really tired of that yellow. And even though I love yellow in a kitchen, I couldn't put it back in. We also decided to experiment with painting the fake brick...
And here's what we came up with. I look forward to finding a great sale on an oven sometime soon as this one runs 125 degrees too hot! Just ask the batch of brownies I burned to a crisp. Oh, and I'm going to come up with something to put in those little cupboard "windows"(to replace the gold-ish plastic). I've seen ideas in magazines. Craft paper and whatnot.
Our friend and contractor (who painted and did some odds and ends for us) said if we did nothing else, we should change this sink. His philosophy is to complete at least the master bed and bath before move-in. That way when everything else is a mess/under works you have a peaceful place to be at the end of the day. So, we took his advice.

And there you have it! You all must feel so satisfied. :) I'll put up pictures of the bedrooms later. they are very much still very messy. Very.

Have a wonderful Easter my fantastic friends and family!!

Grandpa Hovik

Just a couple months ago, Daniel's maternal Grandmother passed away. And just a couple weeks ago her husband joined her. Unexpected. So Daniel and his brothers flew to Utah and joined with family for the funeral. Daniel said it was very nice to be with everyone again. We will always remember and love Grandpa Hovik. He was always so kind and wanted so much to see us more often. How we wish we could have. He was our children's last living great-grandparent.
During the service the weather took a surprise turn.
The Byron Hovik family.