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.

Smells

Update. So you can sleep better. Honestly not more than 10 minutes after I posted about the odd smell in the house Daniel called with good news. As he was looking for the filter in the furnace he came across an open box of MOTH BALLS. That smell was permeating the entire house!! It was horrible! He told me that as soon as he took it out there was a noticeable improvement in the house's smell! Why on earth would anyone have those things!? Anyway, we are both incredibly relieved as the smell was nauseating. (We still have the occasional area with its own scent, but I figure those will fade in time.) So now if you are with me and I have an odor, well, I have a problem.

Lately

I just wanted to say hi before we turned the computer off for a few days. I took pictures of the house--inside and out--but I don't have the camera with me. I know, I'm making you all wait. Sorry!

A friend of ours who is a contractor has been painting the inside of the house this and last week--it looks so beautiful! Especially compared to the dingy, dirty state it was in before. Wow. I've learned that picking colors is hard. There are way too many shades of brown, white, basically anything out there. And it's true, you really have to see it on the wall in the space it's going to be in before you know for sure (so get samples!). Light changes everything. And try not to have to paint your whole house at once. :)

We are cleaning like crazy (with much help from friends) to be clean, but also to try to get a weird smell out. Some say it's smoke, moth balls, old people smell, or what have you. It didn't smell like this much at all when we looked at it!! But something happened between the offer and the walk-through--ug!! (Perhaps the moving of furniture/stuff brought it up?) It's getting a little better with the paint coverage, and should improve with carpet replacement/cleaning. Perhaps duct cleaning. But I don't know, I worry. Please be nice if I'm near you and I have an odor.

It's crunch time with packing at the apartment now. Starting to look bare. Starting to feel real. Somehow when you feel like you're getting it all done, you look and there's a whole new area to pack that you hadn't noticed.

Kids have mixed emotions for sure. Excitement to frustration. Sometimes they (A and A) are mad that we are taking them away from friends who live in the building. They love having them only 5 inches away. Daniel and I, however, don't. It's interesting to realize that this type of living is normal for them, but for Daniel and I it's this temporary less-than-desired state. A house and yard and privacy is normal. Hopefully they love the house and adapt to the friend thing. Eliza, however, is more than excited about it altogether. So that is nice.

I guess that's all for now. I promise there will be some before and after pictures as soon as the dust settles.

I sparkle.

Yep, it's true. From two places on my head. It's called grey hair.

I found the first one just after I turned 30. When I lumbered into the bedroom to show Daniel, he smiled and sweetly said, "I know, I saw it a couple weeks ago." When I stared at that thing in the bathroom, it was the first time in my life I really truly realized I was going to die someday. You mean I can't escape it?

Now I have two. I pulled them out a couple months ago, but of course they're back. To stay. Embrace the sparkle.

Pinewood Derby!

Andrew and Daniel worked so hard on this awesome car. Daniel did lots of little tricks to make this baby cruise.Here are the girls and I at the races...thank goodness for lemonade, cookies, and derby bingo.
Andrew experienced a variety of intense emotions as his car came in first, second, and fourth twice. But because the places are determined by time and by age group, Andrew ended up with a ribbon! 2nd place in the Bears! True elation!