Settling In

For as glorious as our new home is there is one, tiny, set back. Technically we lost kitchen space and for two cooks, this is bad news. It actually made me depressed for a few days. Silly, I know, but the kitchen is the heart of the home and I was at a loss as to how to make things work. While we gained two cabinets, two drawers, and an island we lost a large walk in pantry. After some thinking, and yes, even praying about it, Mr. Sloth and I decided to get two armoires. One will sit in the formal living room and hold all of our liquor and drinking glasses and if there is extra space some serving dishes. Then we'll get another armoire for the top of the stairs to do the same. The previous owners had one at the top of the stairs and it looked nice.

Last week we found the perfect one on craigslist for only $50. Mr. Sloth and Obscure went and picked it up, brought it home, and brought it into the house only to find that the measured dimensions didn't include the crown molding at the top making it a half inch too small to fit where it needed to go. I was not happy. Mr. Sloth however, always with great ideas, sold it for $150 the next morning on craigslist so we were up $100. Great work Mr. Sloth!

Next we had to find another armoire which we did two days ago. Mr. Sloth is picking it up on Monday. :) Our new living room furniture is on it's way and our area rug is picked out so we are on our way to having the living room fully furnished soon. The last thing we need is a beautiful large picture to hang above our family altar and the room will be complete. Right now though it is serving as a wonderful train room for our wooden train tracks. I was building a train earlier today and Mr. Sloth asked if I was building it for the kids or myself. I declined to answer.

As far as the rest of the house, the family room is almost done as well. It took all week but Mr. Sloth finally assembled the entertainment center, moved the tv downstairs, moved a light switch and hooked up the surround sound. Today I dusted the shelves (full of dust from the light switch ordeal) so I just have to load up the shelf with books and dvds now.

I made a lot of progress in the homeschool room yesterday. It's getting so exciting! Furniture is where it needs to go and I actually like my make-shift desk (you'll see once I post pictures). We only have to hang a few things on the walls and anchor the shelves to the walls then we'll be done. :)

The only work in our bedroom is hanging a picture and eventually changing our bedding. The kids rooms get a little more complicated. I had decided to finally get a second crib. Happy is very content in his and Pax is still sleeping in the packnplay he's always slept in. I had decided to get an IKEA crib they are very inexpensive and actually have higher safety standards than US ones. Then I remembered that one of my friends had just moved her youngest out of her crib so I thought it might be available. It was, but she didn't have a crib mattress. No problem, I'll buy one. The next day another friend called and asked if I wanted a crib mattress. Why, yes, yes I do. At this point I came to the realization that I couldn't wait for the boys to get bunk beds to get a dresser. (I figured I'd wait and buy them together so they match.) Then my first friend, who loaning me the crib called and said that she had a dresser to go with it. Crazy huh? I was fully prepared to pay for all this furniture and here it lands in my lap. Best part is that I'm just borrowing it so I don't have to think about long term storage or commitment. Yippee!

So I have to pick up all the furniture this week so I can get more of the kids clothes unpacked. Rats, I forgot to buy baby hangers at Target tonight. Anyway, that's about the state of things around here. Oh, and speaking of free stuff. I don't know if I mentioned but on moving day we were welcomed to 8 inches of grass and we didn't own a lawn mower yet. Thankfully one of our wonderful friends volunteered to bring his mower over and mow the lawn for us...in the rain! It was such a blessing. The next day I was talking to our new neighbors and she said they have a spare lawnmower they were going to just get rid of and that we could have it for free and wait for clearance sales to buy one.

Mr. Sloth was working on the garage today. We live blocks from the county recycling center and it's coming in handy. He took a van full of collapsed boxes up there today and now he's starting to install ceiling storage racks in the garage. As soon as the garage is cleared of things he can build shelves for storage and a workbench. He's so excited to finally be able to do projects and I have a number of them lined up for him.

Ok, off to help the Mr.