Posts
We're back online here in Colorado after abandoning the safe haven of my mom's basement for the wilds of the new house. Monday night was our first night in the new house, I tossed a heap of stuff into the back of my mom's car (a.k.a Granny Annie's Big Big car) and we hoped for the best.
I did get all the toothbrushes and critical items, and it was awful nice to sleep in my very own bed for the first time in over three years. I did not, however, manage to find any of the sheets for it, so I did have to run out and buy a new set of sheets. Somewhere between Dublin, Brisbane, Perth, and the masses of boxes strewn about I know there are sheets, but I still haven't found the ones here in Denver.
This is by far the most challenging unpacking I've ever done. Now, I've packed and unpacked many times in my life, and done it several times since having FFM. We moved three weeks before he was born and we packed and moved ourselves using just our tiny Ford Focus. Move 1 (OK, so he wasn't around but I was so pregnant he might as well have been). Move 2 Dublin-Denver for an extended holiday of nearly three months. Move 3 Denver-Brisbane. Move 4 Brisbane-Perth. Move 5 Perth-Denver. Move 5.1 from Granny Annie's basement where we stayed for just over a month and then into the new house. So I'm used to packing/unpacking with an infant/baby/toddler in tow. We land/depart a place and Travis goes to work leaving the moving stuff to me. No biggie, I actually like the unpacking part. But right now, I'm thwarted. I get about three boxes unpacked a day. I'm exhausted and FFM's patience with "Mommy's got work to do today" is at it's end. He wants to play, and kick the ball, and go swimming again. He's used to having a full time Mom, not this stranger who keeps telling him to go play with the trains some more.
So, we'll get it done, I'm in no hurry. The house is a disaster and will be for a long long time. Today I went through one whole box and threw everything in it away. That's what happens when you pack things thinking you'll only be gone for a few months and you end up unpacking three and a half years later. It was kind of exciting, it went really fast ;)
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
#8
Eight years ago today, on a sunny fall day in the high Colorado mountains, I married the love of my life. I have enjoyed being married to Maggie every day, and I'd marry her again at the drop of a hat.
Travis
Travis
Sunday, October 4, 2009
PARK!
Welcome Home! FFM and I for the first time at our front door after closing on our house. We'll have to take another photo after Daddy arrives. 
It probably sounds like fun, but part of the brain damage of the past few weeks has been attempting to outfit our new home with furnishings. See, we took a family of two living the urban life in a city condo and turned into a family of three moving into a suburban house. Buying a houseful of furniture by yourself with a toddler in tow is not as much fun as it sounds. Anyway, there's one thing that WAS fun to shop for, the backyard playstructure.
It's the only thing to be delivered so far, and that's because we bought a floor model. Furniture? It will come about the time Travis arrives. So if you come to see the house you'll see us dining at the card table and sitting on lawn chairs, and our TV is a relic from about 1985 and is the size of my laptop screen. But I got up bright and early the day after closing to meet these guys at the house. So early, FFM wasn't even up yet.
But I think my favorite part of this whole experience so far is when FFM did wake up, and arrived with Grandma PenPen (Penny, Travis' mom) and stepped out onto the back porch to see this tucked over into the side yard:
It probably sounds like fun, but part of the brain damage of the past few weeks has been attempting to outfit our new home with furnishings. See, we took a family of two living the urban life in a city condo and turned into a family of three moving into a suburban house. Buying a houseful of furniture by yourself with a toddler in tow is not as much fun as it sounds. Anyway, there's one thing that WAS fun to shop for, the backyard playstructure.It's the only thing to be delivered so far, and that's because we bought a floor model. Furniture? It will come about the time Travis arrives. So if you come to see the house you'll see us dining at the card table and sitting on lawn chairs, and our TV is a relic from about 1985 and is the size of my laptop screen. But I got up bright and early the day after closing to meet these guys at the house. So early, FFM wasn't even up yet.
But I think my favorite part of this whole experience so far is when FFM did wake up, and arrived with Grandma PenPen (Penny, Travis' mom) and stepped out onto the back porch to see this tucked over into the side yard:He immediately started shouting, 'PARK! PARK! PARK!' and running with great abandon. See, while there's a lot of open space in our new neighborhood it's all green, no playground. So he's dead on, this is his park. Right in his very own backyard! We've all started calling it his park, little guy's made it stick.
No worries, Mom, I know just what to do. I remember test driving this one at the showroom.
Whee!
Hi Mom and PenPen!
Whee!Hi Mom and PenPen!
Friday, October 2, 2009
A peek in the windows
I've had a lot of requests, and I can't politely ignore them any longer. Plus we had our first visitor at the new house today (Karen H. who already had us programmed into her GPS, now that's organization for you!) so I better get on the stick and post some house photos for those of you who aren't in the neighborhood.
I'd like to preface the photos with this - these were taken the day I first saw the house so it's not our furniture or decor. Right now the house is still empty and we're busy cleaning and scrubbing and getting it in order. Other than beds, a dining table, a tiny TV and one cushy chair it'll be weeks/months before we get our own furnishings in.
While twiddling my thumbs waiting for the 28th (which turned into the 30th) FFM and I have been running all over the state picking out and ordering basically an entire houseful of furniture. We've combed consignment shops, made some deals, and things will trickle in from now until probably Feb 2010 when our shipment arrives from Perth.
It's a 4BR with 3 up and one downstairs and a full basement. The yard is big enough to run and play in but not too big to be a nuisance to take care of. We back to a green space so the feel in the back is nice and open without being something we have to maintain ourselves (yippee!). It seems to be a feature in this neighborhood, a whole lot of the houses back to some sort of open space and I think everyone has a gate into it so the kids and/or dogs can go out and run around.
I'd like to preface the photos with this - these were taken the day I first saw the house so it's not our furniture or decor. Right now the house is still empty and we're busy cleaning and scrubbing and getting it in order. Other than beds, a dining table, a tiny TV and one cushy chair it'll be weeks/months before we get our own furnishings in.
While twiddling my thumbs waiting for the 28th (which turned into the 30th) FFM and I have been running all over the state picking out and ordering basically an entire houseful of furniture. We've combed consignment shops, made some deals, and things will trickle in from now until probably Feb 2010 when our shipment arrives from Perth.
It's a 4BR with 3 up and one downstairs and a full basement. The yard is big enough to run and play in but not too big to be a nuisance to take care of. We back to a green space so the feel in the back is nice and open without being something we have to maintain ourselves (yippee!). It seems to be a feature in this neighborhood, a whole lot of the houses back to some sort of open space and I think everyone has a gate into it so the kids and/or dogs can go out and run around.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Finally
Oh, the pain and the agony...it took 4 hours and more mistakes than any professional should be allowed to make (including having me initial my power of attorney for Travis incorrectly necessitating starting over and redoing every single one of those pages again) and more bizzare requests from the lender than you could possibly imagine (I'm chalking it up to extreme caution over all new loans now, even though we are highly qualified borrowers) but we have closed on the house. For the first time in 3 years, 1 month, and 5 days we are homeowners again. I will readily admit I am wrung out today, so a more celabratory post will come when I am feeling more jubilant.
