Live in Larchmont
Well...we are alive. I know all sixteen of you were wondering.
It was three weeks ago today that we left the house in Chesapeake, had a *slight* car accident and checked into the Navy Lodge.
In the meantime, we spent a lot of time sleeping (seriously, we slept until almost 8:00 every morning--thank God for room darkening shades). We paid one last visit to Nessie to retrieve some things that we had to leave behind when she was towed away.
We bought a minivan. I am in love with my minivan. The cold box is a bit of a disappointment, seeing that it merely keeps things cool and not cold...it should really be called the "lukewarm box" AND we really need to read the owner's manual and figure out how to run all the fancy schmancy buttons and voice-activated controls. But other than that, I love it. Josiah and Annika sit so far away from me that I can almost (almost) not hear them. Will loves to jump out and push the button for the sliding door...he views this as a major achievement and must get a high five each time. I am feeling the need to roadtrip to really test this baby out.
Threshing Bee 2012?
Anyway, we checked out of the hotel on Saturday morning and went to stay at Cory and Patty's house (aka: the MOST beautiful/perfect house ever). They are both out of town and live four blocks from our new house, so it was a great setup. Hans and the kids could hang out over there watching hours of Netflix on demand (or reading and going for nature walks or whatever they did) and I came over to the new house and scrubbed and scrubbed and cleaned windows and painted the master bedroom. Then I could stumble back to Patty's and collapse in fully-furnished, neat, clean comfort.
It helps with my OCD to be able to step out of the mess for awhile, regain my composure, then step back into the mess.
First POD arrived on Monday and instead of waiting for the movers to show up, Hans went all He-Man on me and convinced me we could unload our couch, etc. And lo, we emptied that POD (and saved $200, whoo-hoo!). Second POD came on Tuesday and we unloaded half of it and left the rest to the movers. We slept here on Tuesday night, in our own beds, in the middle of the mess. We worked all day yesterday at putting things into place, putting a few things in the attic, etc. Now we are ready(ish) for the third POD, which will come today and is the POD that is full of the s$%^ that has been gone for over a month, in other words, the junk we could probably live without. I'd remove a couple of things like my journals and some of the books (fully converted to Kindleism here!!) and then douse it in gas and light it on fire. WHY do we have so much stuff?
I'm going to become a minimalist. Seriously.
So, the house is good. Yes, it is a little bit smaller than our last house. The odd placement of things like electrical outlets and HVAC vents makes for some interesting furniture placement/cords strung around. But the gleaming hardwood floors make up for that. The beautiful neighborhood, the cypress and blooming trees in the front yard, the cardinals in droves, the great school, the proximity to the base and the commissary--far outweigh any negatives.
So yes, we're alive. Half organized and surrounded by boxes and packing paper, but it's good. We went and watched the fireworks last night and had our second annual 4th of July Ice Cream Supper. Josiah even ate two bites of ice cream after declaring that he "despises ice cream". Despises...now that is one word I've never heard used to describe the goodness that is ice cream.
Anyway, I'm back to work. Laundry to put in dryer, beds to make. Children to force to bathe...little dirty feet everywhere. Third POD arriving. Visit to Norfolk City Hall for water bill disentanglement and parking permit, visit to Fedex to send off Nessie's title so we can get our insurance settlement and spend it on a trip to Thailand. Kidding...we're actually going to do something completely unexciting with it: pay off Hans' car with it's 3.6% interest rate (Honda got me 0.9%). Actually, the thought of having it paid off excites me way more than Thailand...
Cheers from Larchmont!
It was three weeks ago today that we left the house in Chesapeake, had a *slight* car accident and checked into the Navy Lodge.
In the meantime, we spent a lot of time sleeping (seriously, we slept until almost 8:00 every morning--thank God for room darkening shades). We paid one last visit to Nessie to retrieve some things that we had to leave behind when she was towed away.
We bought a minivan. I am in love with my minivan. The cold box is a bit of a disappointment, seeing that it merely keeps things cool and not cold...it should really be called the "lukewarm box" AND we really need to read the owner's manual and figure out how to run all the fancy schmancy buttons and voice-activated controls. But other than that, I love it. Josiah and Annika sit so far away from me that I can almost (almost) not hear them. Will loves to jump out and push the button for the sliding door...he views this as a major achievement and must get a high five each time. I am feeling the need to roadtrip to really test this baby out.
Threshing Bee 2012?
Anyway, we checked out of the hotel on Saturday morning and went to stay at Cory and Patty's house (aka: the MOST beautiful/perfect house ever). They are both out of town and live four blocks from our new house, so it was a great setup. Hans and the kids could hang out over there watching hours of Netflix on demand (or reading and going for nature walks or whatever they did) and I came over to the new house and scrubbed and scrubbed and cleaned windows and painted the master bedroom. Then I could stumble back to Patty's and collapse in fully-furnished, neat, clean comfort.
It helps with my OCD to be able to step out of the mess for awhile, regain my composure, then step back into the mess.
First POD arrived on Monday and instead of waiting for the movers to show up, Hans went all He-Man on me and convinced me we could unload our couch, etc. And lo, we emptied that POD (and saved $200, whoo-hoo!). Second POD came on Tuesday and we unloaded half of it and left the rest to the movers. We slept here on Tuesday night, in our own beds, in the middle of the mess. We worked all day yesterday at putting things into place, putting a few things in the attic, etc. Now we are ready(ish) for the third POD, which will come today and is the POD that is full of the s$%^ that has been gone for over a month, in other words, the junk we could probably live without. I'd remove a couple of things like my journals and some of the books (fully converted to Kindleism here!!) and then douse it in gas and light it on fire. WHY do we have so much stuff?
I'm going to become a minimalist. Seriously.
So, the house is good. Yes, it is a little bit smaller than our last house. The odd placement of things like electrical outlets and HVAC vents makes for some interesting furniture placement/cords strung around. But the gleaming hardwood floors make up for that. The beautiful neighborhood, the cypress and blooming trees in the front yard, the cardinals in droves, the great school, the proximity to the base and the commissary--far outweigh any negatives.
So yes, we're alive. Half organized and surrounded by boxes and packing paper, but it's good. We went and watched the fireworks last night and had our second annual 4th of July Ice Cream Supper. Josiah even ate two bites of ice cream after declaring that he "despises ice cream". Despises...now that is one word I've never heard used to describe the goodness that is ice cream.
Anyway, I'm back to work. Laundry to put in dryer, beds to make. Children to force to bathe...little dirty feet everywhere. Third POD arriving. Visit to Norfolk City Hall for water bill disentanglement and parking permit, visit to Fedex to send off Nessie's title so we can get our insurance settlement and spend it on a trip to Thailand. Kidding...we're actually going to do something completely unexciting with it: pay off Hans' car with it's 3.6% interest rate (Honda got me 0.9%). Actually, the thought of having it paid off excites me way more than Thailand...
Cheers from Larchmont!
Comments
Please give the kids hugs from me. I miss all of you and do hope you make it to Minnesota in August. With Heidi and her family coming the last two weeks of August, it would be very nice if we could all get together.
Glad you are in your house--can't wait to see it once you're all settled. You always make it so homey wherever you are!!
Can't wait to see pictures.
Enjoyed reading this post from Larchmont.