Moved

Just got my laptop online.  The PC is at the doctor for the next THREE WEEKS!!!  They must have to plant and grow a new one or something. 

Just got back from Boise on Tuesday.  Took Andris to the airport yesterday.  He'll be in San Antonio until next week. 

Here's the new place.  Whatever those marks are on the front lawn have since greened up. 

This place is a blank slate, empty canvas, bare bones, other things that metaphorically mean "NAKED." 

I am trying to bring some charm to the place.  That's a process...a slow one at that, mostly because I don't feel at home here. 

Here is the dining room with the ugly white hutch. 

Here is a picture of the candles that lit themselves while I ran upstairs.

And here is the area after paint. 

All pictures taken with my BlackBerry as I still have NOT found my photography equipment since the move. 

Pics?

I don't see the option to upload pics to a new blog entry from my BlackBerry. Anyone know how I can do it?

The night after...

I was able to talk my dear friend of 22 years (that makes me feel old) into coming over and keeping me company and helping me paint. She loves to paint, and I knew if I had some wine to give her, we would have some fun conversation.

Well, we were discussing how those candles might have lit themselves (they are flameless tealights that are inside votive holders that I put inside the teacups.) there was a quiet moment, then we hear a "thud" upstairs. We look at each other, look at the darkness upstairs, then back at each other. We said a prayer and asked that the Lord bless this house, and told whatever *might* be hanging around here that this is God's house and evil is not welcome.

So we turn on the light to the stairway and walk room to room. Nothing...until we get to Aya Rose's room. One of the signs came down again. This time I put some sticky tape on the back of it and propped it behind two rather large screws on the uninstalled (leaning up against the wall) bed railings for her bunk bed. It had to unstick and come up over the screws to fall on the floor. Again, no windows were open, but it was quite cold upstairs. I put the sign on the floor. I figured it might be difficult for it to fall from there.

I talked Celexsy into staying. I went upstairs and preheated both sides of the heated mattress pad. I only ever have two things on my nightstand. A glass of water and my mattress pad control. About half an hour later, I took Everett up to nurse him to sleep. Not only was my bed not warm, but the control was on the floor, practically under my bed. No one went up there (esp. Not Everett as it was dark and we were painting the wall on the first landing of the stairs.)

So I put him to sleep. A couple hours later we go up to go to bed and the ceiling fan is on in my bedroom. I only use ceiling fans when it is hot.

I couldn't sleep. She has to have complete darkness and quiet to sleep. I was watching TV hoping Law and Order SVU could lull me to sleep. She tossed and turned a little. I told her she could go n any of the other four bedrooms or go downstairs. "No, this is okay. Actually, I am too scared to go somewhere else."

Settling in in Cookie Cutter Kingdom

My computer won't boot so I am making a blogging "go" via my BlackBerry. This ought to be good and frustrating.

Andris and the girls left for Idaho on Wednesday evening. They will be heading home tomorrow morning. In the meantime, adjusting to this house has been quite the adventure. It still doesn't feel like home. Not sure if it ever will. But I will be doing my best.

We went from 1100 square feet 3 bedroom 2 bath home built in 1964. That house was an atrocity when we bought it. Calico carpet. "Charming" avacado bath tub complete with the way groovy non-skid Brady Bunch flowers. We ripped out that carpet and uncovered a gold nine in original oak hardwood 2" slat flooring. It was the first place I ever lived where I had creative freedom. I painted for the first time.

This house is only a couple years old. We are a five-minute walk from the river in a cul-de-sac. Walking in, this house is so sterile and uninviting. White walls. White carpet. White linoleum. White tile countertops. I half expected to be wiped with an alcohol pad and stuck in the arm.

My first night alone with Everett in 2400 square feet, I had such an uneasy feeling. Even Memphis, our beautiful pooch, was acting strange. When Everett and I shared a sushi dinner together at the table, Memphis sat next to my chair whining and putting her paw on me. She is NOT allowed near the supper table. It was odd.

At around 10:30-11:00 p.m., Everett was in the couch watching Shrek and he was practically asleep. I finished cleaning the kitchen and too a couple dish towels upstairs real quick and threw them in the hamper. When I got at the bottom of the stairs, I noticed a glow coming from the "ugly white hutch." (That is what Andris calls it.)

I put some dishes in there. Teacup on saucer on plate. I thought it might be kind of pretty to put tealights in the teacups and have them on once in awhile.

I was upstairs for less than a minute -- more like 20 seconds. The ugly white hutch is painted -- and old -- so of course, the doors stick. In fact, I get nervous opening them because of the glass. Three tealights we're lit on the left side. Everett was still on the couch in the other room. He is not allowed to touch the hutch. Besides, he wouldn't have had time to do that AND I would have heard the door open AND heard the dishes clinking. There was no such sound.

I freaked out. Someone had to have gotten in the house and was doing this as a measure of psychological terror. I checked all the doors and windows downstairs. All was secure. I got Everett off the couch and too him to the hutch and asked him if he turned those canes on. "No. I watching Shrek." I knew he was telling the truth. Oh, I was scared.

I went upstairs and made Memphis get on our bed. After about a minute, I heard the sound of two aluminum signs I hung in Aya Rose's room fall. I wasn't about to get up and check it out. It was too dark. I hung one sign over her window and the other on her door. No windows were open.

M'kay. Before I write more I want to see if this actually works from my phone. I also have pics to share.

Oh, full days

Are so much better in so many ways than empty days, right?  Then why am I so goshdurn tahhhhrd?  Started out with sanding Eden's trunk.  Young Girls + Power Tools = Recipe for Disaster, and that's what we got.  Aya Rose went Speed Racer with the belt sander on a routered corner.  Basically took care of that.  While Andris and the girls were doing that, Everett and I were potting plants.  Still trying to figure out a way to fix that boo-boo, it was time to meet with the girls' ed advisor and turn in work samples and dig a heel into the homeschooling grind amidst all this moving tomfoolery. 

That was an adventure.  Not much with our family isn't an adventure, and we were informed that our adventure has been missed greatly.  (And will continue to be missed until after Christmas break because we're going on the road again for a couple weeks.) 

We went and looked for a new couch for the family room.  I want something very big and very cozy that we can all plop onto and bounce into.  That didn't work out.  So we went to our favorite Vietnamese restaurant for pho.  Scrumdiddilyumptios.  Got a call from a couch seller.  Will be meeting with her tomorrow.  It's red.  I hope it's everything it appears to be. 

After dinner, I dragged my girls into one of my favorite thrift stores trying to find some old trunks/suitcases to stack as a side table by the big cozy couch that I don't have.  Well, fine, 'cause I didn't find anything that'd work.  But I *did* find a goody for a fellow blogger, Jen, lead dreamer at Eden's Bouquet.  I look forward to sending it along.  It's just a little something that made me think of her.

Other than that, I will be hunting down the things that will be mine...oh yes, they will be mine...or I'll make it myself!  HA!

Almost forgot!

My wonderful husband offered to drive almost an hour to pick up this CL steal I found for Eden.

It also has pieces that connect the top to make it a canopy.

This is the bedding she chose.  We ordered for her yesterday.  Should be ready in about a week.  "A WEEK?"  "Yes, a week."  Not really my style, but not my room, either.  It's my favorite of all the others she chose and I think once we paint her desk and hope chest it's going to look fantastic.

Pretties: Check!

The pot rack went to the welder yesterday, and when he was finished, my husband took it to be powder coated.  It will be ready tomorrow.  I can't wait!!!  I got the girls' bedding (had to order Eden's.)  Barstools:  Check.  Beautiful wrought iron quilt rack:  Check.  Paint (for desk, hutch, group of vintage picture frames), hope chest.  Accordian mirror:  Check.  Plants:  Check. 

Still have plenty to do.  First on the list is to prepare for the girls' educational advisory meeting this afternoon.  We haven't been in touch since late September/October.  Still have packing to do.  And I still have to find a rug, a bigger couch, and I want to go to the thrift store and buy a bunch of old suitcases to use as endtables.  Two more days until we move!