The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

We don't have the internet set up yet . . . so Greg's being kind enough to take a text file into work, copy and paste it into blogger, and make it available to all you good people!

Anyway, so, we're into our house. For some reason, only made possibly by insane troll logic, I had somehow convinced myself we'd get all the boxes in, start unpacking, and everything would come together in time for Christmas. I mean, obviously my food storage wouldn't be sorted by expiration date quite yet (OK, so it never has been . . . Liz keeps threatening, but it hasn't happened yet . . . ), but I was thinking the main livable parts of the house would be, well, livable. Yeah right, crack smoker. I just found our first fork this afternoon. Greg spread peanut butter on Annie's toast yesterday with a toddler spoon. We've had Little Caesar's pizza THREE times in as many days (and we didn't get any on Sunday, when we went and mooched off of extended family, so that would be pizza for lunch AND dinner today.) But, slowly it's coming together. My parents even came by tonight, with my Mom helping me get the front room set up, and my Dad entertaining Annie so that anything else was possible.

The Good
Oh, my master suite. How I love thee. I keep referring to my walk-in closet as "the other room." "Greg, should we put our dresser in our room, or in the other room?" "Hey Greg, do you think we should keep these baskets in our room, or in the other room?" "Greg, when we have another baby, can we just put them in the other room, so we don't have to walk across the hall to pick up a screaming baby?" Seriously, it is THAT big. And Annie and I can't get enough of the big ol' tub . . . we won't need to go to a pool all summer, we'll just chill out in there. Annie was in there for a two hour bath this morning. I was uber-jeolous, as I was just sorting boxes in the bathroom the whole time, but that'll be me as soon as we are done with the unpacking!
For those of you who've bought a home before, or I'm sure the same could be said for those who've picked an apartment or whatever, but you know how when you walk through beforehand you're trying to keep both eyes wide open and notice EVERYTHING. Then you move in and you think, "Holy cow, how'd I not notice that?!" Good thing, very few of my "How'd I miss that?!" moments have been negative (more paint that needs touching up than I'd remember, but all in all, it's in such great shape), and my "Wow, that's awesome, did you see that before Greg?!" moments have been made me very happy. My kitchen cabinets, while not overly impressive from the outside (nicely done, but plain) are AWESOME inside . . . the shelves slide out like drawers, and there's a big ol' lazy susan in the corner. How did I not notice this when we looked at the house the first three times before we bought it?!
The best part. People must really like us, 'cause we had lots of family and friends help us out in one way or another with our move. From the packing up, moving it the first time, cleaning the new house, moving everything in, to organizing and unpacking, I feel pretty spoiled. Thanks to everyone who helped out. We also have VERY cool neighbors, as people stopped by in the morning when we were getting the first stuff in, and one neighbor was even scrapping the ice from the sidewalks and driveway. Anyone who scrapes ice for me can easily be called one of my best friends. I pretty much decided to marry Greg one winter morning when I came outside and found that he'd dug my car out of the snow and scraped my windows so that I wouldn't have to before work.

The Bad
We got my Christmas tree up tonight. Which would be awesome news, if it wasn't for the fact that my incredibly beautiful, intensely lit tree that I've cherished for several years now, chose this year to die. Plugged it in and about three random strands of lights work, out of about the 12 strands I have on it. I knew this day was coming, as we've enjoyed this tree since we got married, but did it have to be this year!? The year we plug it in just three days before Christmas!? Oh well, due to our incredibly crappy economy, my Mom was telling me that Kohls already has their Christmas trees on like 70% off (and we have an extra 20% off coupon . . . anyone around here have one of the 30%s?!) So, I may just go out and get a new one so that we have something to make it feel like Christmas around here!
My washer and dryer are on the top floor (and thanks to my very talented husband and my Dad, my gas dryer is even hooked up and running now!) I LOVED this when we first walked through. But do you know how much harder it is to fall asleep when a washing machine is bouncing around right outside your bedroom door? (Editorial comment from Greg: The washer just needs to be leveled. That will make the bouncing stop.). And do you know how often I start laundry at the end of the day as an afterthought? Crap, this is gonna take some reorganization of my time management.
Oh, and the bathrooms have no medicine cabinets . . . which for some reason bugs me beyond reason.
And Annie has decided that she is 'too little' for just about everything. She's 'too little' to play outside in the snow. She's 'too little' to go and get me a diaper for Ellie. And the big one, she's 'too little' for the new 'big girl bed' we set up in her bedroom. So, that first night, after lots of tears (mostly hers), Greg and I were up late setting up a small toddler bed right next to the horribly awful, terribly offensive, big bed. So now her small room houses two beds, and a large pile of unsorted toys. It's not a pretty sight, and there's not a lot of room left.

The Ugly
I still have other people's toilet seats on my toilets. The previous owners of our home were awesome, and clean; I think she must've scrubbed out every single drawer and shelf in the place before we moved in, and for that she will forever be endeared to me - and maybe make me feel a little inadequate as a home seller, since I merely vacuumed out drawers haphazourdly and thought, "Your problem now suckers!" (I'm kidding. Kinda.) One of the things that we first noticed about this house was its cleanliness (compared to all 10-15 other houses we looked at, when as soon as we walked in I'd turn to Greg and say, "We'd need new carpet and we'll need to paint." Not one, but TWO houses we looked at had animal droppings and urine in the basement.) But still. Toilet seats that belonged to someone else. Just wrong.
And Greg's back is so sore that I think he will be able to do nothing but sleep (and possibly take long baths in our cool new tub) during his entire time off for the holidays.
And my beautiful toddler is becoming increasingly difficult day by day. I know all this upheaval can't be easy (it stresses me out), but there are times during the day I just stare at her in wonder and think, "How does one find a Catholic Priest who can perform an exorcism in this small dominantly Mormon community?" I try to take a little time each day and just hold her and talk, or read books or something, but it's not enough, and I can't blame her for that, I just wish she understood that Mommy really has to get some of these boxes put away before she loses her mind, and possibly will to live. She does still do and say a million things a day that crack me up though. And she seems at least a little more understanding about Mom's split focus than Ellie does. She thinks I'm just mean. I think that if she REALLY loved me, she'd take longer naps than the three 20 minutes ones she's doing a day now. And she'd sleep for more than two and a half hours at a stretch at night. We're not seeing things eye to eye right now though.

Anyway, I hope everyone has an amazing Christmas. Working tree or not, I can't help but feel incredibly blessed this holiday season in our new home, surrounded by family and friends who never fail us, my wonderful husband and my two beautiful reminders of all that is right and beautiful about this world. And it makes me smile when my two year old, staring up with wonder at the Nativity Set I just got up, says, "Look Mom, it's baby Jesus. And Mary and Joseph. I hope He has a good birthday this year." Merry Christmas everyone!