And one year later - we're in our house

This has been the most eventful two weeks I have spent in quite awhile.  The culmination, of course, is that we are in our house and loving turning it into our home.  It was a tight push on the part of our contractor.  He had subs working late into the evenings and on weekends to get us in by the end of January.  Because of the strange weather we still don't have our outside compete; the concrete walks are not poured and the landscaping hasn't been done, but that will happen when we are sure of a few good days in a row.

Things were made extremely interesting when Gary broke his right hand - and yes, he is right handed - one week before our move.  He was making a hole in the entertainment center when the drill just wrapped his wrist and snapped the bone that holds the thumb to the wrist.  The prognosis is good but he will be in a cast for about four months.  Those of you who know Gary can understand how much it bothers him not being able to jump into things both inside and outside.  Luckily we have met wonderful people who have been pitching in with food, trucks, advice, muscles, and who have taken over manning the electric drill.

Not even a broken hand can keep Gary from trying out his Christmas present.  He doesn't have a man cave, but did get a man aerie in the bonus room above the garage.

It's great to finally see our stuff again.  The movers arrived with our load from storage last Tuesday. Even though our house is around the same size as our one in Visalia, the style is so different that it has been a creative challenge trying to locate things in their proper places.  I know that once everything is placed it will be moved a few times more to make it work for us in our new woodsy lifestyle. Of course there are still unopened boxes.  Those must be the things we shouldn't have brought with us because apparently what they contain is neither necessary nor wanted enough to look for.  It's great having a real kitchen again and after our Costco and Walmart runs, it is stocked with the basics.

 The dogs seem very comfortable to have their things back as well and have found their comfy places in the sun.  They enjoy that some of our windows are low enough to be Yorkie height so they can watch for deer and turkey in our back, but last night they weren't so pleased with the howling of the distant coyotes.  They also don't like that this red clay causes them to need a lot more baths.  I think they are going to need new hairstyles.

I will include a few pictures here, but most of the rooms are still embarrassingly cluttered so I am just posting a few where we have been able to hide our boxes and strewn paper.

Since I first started this post we have made quite some progress.  We were able to take a large load of flattened boxes to the recycling center; the propane tank is filled; the dryer is working so the laundry pile is shrinking.  It's looking like we will be ready for our first company next week.