Another week of progress

We closed on the house last week, and have been very busy getting really settled in since then. We were blessed to meet the son of the woman who lived here, who told us all about the house and property, including the locations of many of her wonderful gardens.

Over the past couple of weeks, we've learned of several people who have keys to our house for various reasons. So far, we've had a visit from some neighbors who dropped off one set, and retrieved another set from the guys at the gas station. I'm thinking of having a key-returning party to let the whole town get to know us... we could just leave a basket by the door and they could drop off their keys on their way in. Wouldn't that be a hoot! I'm trying hard to overcome my social quirks and make sure we don't get a reputation here as cold, antisocial outsiders. It's a challenge, but I suspect it will be well worth the effort.

Lynae taped up some paint chips, and they will be gradually be eliminated as I decide the colors are just plain wrong. Hopefully we will end up with one clear winner in the next week or so.


Tonight Toby pulled up a piece of old linoleum so we could set a brand new utility sink (Arby's reject) in the back corner to await a remodel of the back room. We found part of a newspaper from 1966, which I'm sure will be fun to read.


Loren and I went out for our anniversary on Tuesday. We enjoyed a nice dinner, compliments of a thoughtful and dear internet friend. Then we did some grocery, Christmas, and furniture shopping. I think we'll end up getting a sofa and a recliner soon. That's a huge deal, since we're down to the stinky chair (which we plan to re-upholster), the squeaky chair (hasn't had its weekly WD-40), and a 12yo wicker chair in the living room. The old loveseat ended up in the dump before we moved. It was time... the bottom had snapped in half several months earlier. Eek!

Loren has been warned: if you give a mom a recliner, she'll want a laptop to go with it. Especially with our wireless internet. LOL Naah, really, I think I can wait on the laptop until it's time to replace my computer anyway, which hopefully won't be too soon. It's quite a ways down the priority list.

Tonight I figured out an arrangement for a kids' playroom. Now that's exciting! I'm hoping to surprise the littles with it sometime after Christmas.