Where To Find What's On My Mind: July 2008

We are making great progress on the unpacking. It is crazy how the same square footage can feel so much bigger simply by having a different floor plan. To the right is a picture of my computer space in the living room. Yes there is still a stack of things next to my Secretary desk and a couple of notebooks on the printer that still need a home but for the most part this is a cozy little den with a fire place. Below we see Jeremy's computer area and Ashton and Melaina watching TV. The Two couches create the perfect door to the "den" and we even found a piece of Plexiglas that we can slide out from between the couch and Jeremy's desk to keep the dogs out from under our feet. I love how bright the room is and even with the tree outside the window. In the next picture we can see that The DVD's need a little help but at least they are on shelves and Jeremy still needs to hang his swords over the TV so the clock doesn't look so out of place off to the side like that. The book cases need to be attached to the wall for safety and no it is not bowing that must just be the camera (I checked) You may also notice that off the far right there is a blue tub and in the picture above there are some computer cases. That would be the fringes of the small pile of things that Jeremy still needs to deal with. He makes a dent in it every day and when you figure that the couches were completely buried when my parents stopped by this is progress. I have to say that although the paint was poorly applied the boys who did it chose a great color. (Two tenants ago three twenty something partiers.) Now the picture below is the kitchen and you might think that there is not much to say about it but you would be wrong. To start it has a dishwasher. I have not had a dishwasher in almost ten years. next you will notice that there is no washer and dryer in here. Yes six years since I could cook without lint and do laundry without food in it. Plus while you can see the two drawers in this picture what you can't see is just out of the camera view next to the refrigerator is another three drawers. What is so exciting about this you ask? Well try six years without any drawers in your kitchen. Well we did get a little three drawer thing from Stacy's mom a couple of years ago. (we left it for the neighbors) To the right is what will become our dining room just as soon as the roof is fixed and we are able to put the Holiday decorations into the attic. This is the worst of what we have left to do. The wall to the left just out of sight is where the kids computer desk is. Next we have our room. While it is considerably smaller than the room we had downstairs it feels so much bigger with less furniture in it. No that is not a black pillow on my bed that is Moonshadow. There are still some boxes on Jeremy's side under the window that he needs to take care of but as long as they are on his side I can ignore them. As you can see in the picture below Melaina has already started on what I am sure will become a full room collage. (brings back memories of my room when I was a teenager) Directly behind the camera are about four boxes that don't belong to her. Once we move them she gets the corner piece of the couch in her room. Next is the boys room. As you can see they did not read the part of the chore list that says no clutter put things away. Aside from the fact that they did not clean their room theirs is the most put together. They have no boxes left and Ashton has been enjoying his couch piece under his bunk. He kicks back there to play his video games. I would really like to find a new place to store that folding table. Julian insists that it is his and he does use it but it is ugly. (Hmm maybe behind their door.) Well, that is our new place. Except the bathroom. It is long and narrow so I could not get a good picture of it. The features to mention would be the tub. I haven't had one of those in nearly ten years and the stacking washer and dryer are in there. (love that) I was pleasantly surprised to find that the linen closet is in the bathroom as well and that it is actually big enough for the towels, table cloths and bedding. While the chore list and chart have not necessarily helped the boys room just yet it is working quite well for the rest of the house. Check it out. Just so there is no confusion about what each chore entails I wrote them out in list form then I created a chart to show who does each chore each day. K=Kitchen, B=Bathroom, L=Living room, and P=Pets and Garbage. Everyone is supposed to do their bedrooms everyday and I do laundry. We all take turns making dinner too and it is working well for the whole family.

We had a lot of fun over the fourth of July weekend. It was a nice break from the moving and unpacking that was happening before. We went to our friends Nick and Jennifer's house in Marysville. Jeremy blew a water bottle bomb up in his hand and we were a little singed when one of the mortar tubes tipped over before firing. We had no serious injuries though and the fireworks were pretty.