there's no place like gnome.

I haven’t shared a whole lot of details here yet but our house needs help. Projects that will make it all the more lovely inside and out.  And those projects are my life now. (Until I get a job of some sort. Projects + daily walk to the lake with the dog = my life.) Here are the current project stats —

When we first looked at the house and put an offer in to purchase, it was the end of winter. We could see that the backyard had some landscaping but we weren’t sure what exactly. As spring has (finally) arrived, we have learned that – OH MY YES – it has landscaping. Bulbs, hostas GALORE, and all sorts of questionable plants cover the garden areas. My mom came to stay last weekend and helped us get a lot of the garden under control – raking, weeding, and lots of “I wonder what that is”/”Why would they put that there?”  It was a great start; I continue to spend a little time outside each day to make a bit more progress.

There is wallpaper; I’ve told you this. The wallpaper in the kitchen came off no problem; we had that done the first weekend.  There was still the matter of the entry hall and guest bathroom. (Plus two bedrooms but those are projects for down the road.) My younger brother’s other, Jenny, is in the continuous 48 for a brief stay; she came over last weekend to help too. She VOLUNTARILY peeled wallpaper. (Round of applause.) She peeled the hallway and the bathroom which was awesome. Now, today, I attempt to remove glue from the hallway, whose wallpaper left a particular thick residue. (Can you see the discoloration below on the left photo? It’s glue that needs to go.) All the more closer to a coat of primer in all these places and PAINT! What a difference that will make. (See the super cool yellow shower in the bathroom? Totally keeping that. Everything else will go but that, my vintage loving friends, will stay.)

Other projects?
One block wall of the basement is covered in dry-lock; many more walls to go.
My sewing room is close to organized.
I’ve been to Home Depot and Menards more times in the past three weeks than I have in the last year … and there are many more trips to go because we’re home improvement people now. So far it’s exciting and only slightly overwhelming.

Ask me what I think in three months (or next week) and my answer may differ.

We closed on our lovely home on Friday. As TJ on Gilmore Girls would proclaim, “I’m in esss-ga-row!” (He didn’t really know what it meant but he shouted it a million times in a single episode. If you’re a GG fan, you might know what I’m talking about. If you’re not, simply move on. It’s really not important.)

We moved in the things we had in our vehicles, including but not limited to: a dog, an air mattress, cleaning supplies, and five pinball games. (These pinballs got a priority ride in Dave’s trailer; they are too nice to be trusted to movers, you know.) Throughout the weekend, we —

+ welcomed our first visitors
+ toured the village of Wind Point
+ made the first of many home improvement store runs
+ put contact paper in the cupboards
+ tried the pizza place just down the road
+ slept on an air mattress
+ stripped the wallpaper in the kitchen
+ tried a new coffee shop
+ readied a straw bale garden
+ met a few neighbors
+ began to dream about what our first big project would be to undertake
(Answer: master bath.)

Then Monday morning, the boxes happened. A semi rolled up with our favorite moving men and here’s how it went down: They would load boxes/furniture/what have you on their dollies, roll it into the house, look at Dave or I and we’d tell them where to put it. I literally sat at the kitchen island for the morning and pointed. Oh, the boxes. And the paper. As I began to unpack the kitchen that afternoon, everything was wrapped in paper. Everything.

A cord. Wrapped in paper.
A rubber spatula. Wrapped in paper.
Plastic glasses. Wrapped in paper.

The same routine happened on Tuesday with the second semi of garage items and pinball games. They rolled the pinball games to the basement and then asked us what we would like them to unbox. Simply to get some boxes and PAPER out of the house, we had them unbox a couple rooms. Obviously, they don’t put anything away because they don’t know where it goes (Goodness, I don’t know where it goes yet either.) but it was helpful to not have to do the unwrapping. To give you an idea, here’s the current state of my sewing room —

That is a project for another day.

More house posts to come!

Current status: As of 11:30 last night, I arrived – tired, sleepy, zombie – in Wisconsin at the hotel where Dave has been staying for the last two and a half weeks while working. Today, Emmett and I are chilling at the hotel – napping, Netflix-ing, and ordering a new return address stamp.  Today is the day I feel I can exhale and begin to process it all. Deep breath.

But before we hit the road yesterday, Emmett had visitors. While the moving crew loaded the last of the house, some of his favorite people came to shower him with belly rubs, gifts, and frisbee throwing. People who call him a FFF – Fur friend forever. Just look at him eating up every single minute –

Jessica was our go-to puppy/house-sitter extraordinaire. Anna and Lacey, her cousins, would come stay on the house-sitting gigs and visit Emmett in the yard whenever they were at church. They all love that furry beast.  And Emmett loves them!

Things are going to be a bit topsy-turvy for the furry one – long car ride, hotel stay, new house (probably with fewer squirrels – oh the horror), new bay window in which to lay. Now he has a new pillow and blanket from his friends to see him through. And maybe they’ll come visit or we’ll go visit sometime. Not the end of this fur friendship.

Just for fun – current status of the furry one. Transition is exhausting.