Catching Up

We are almost officially moved. Closing is 4pm today. Although we had lots of help loading the truck, we did all the packing, driving and unloading ourselves. I never want to do it again! The boxes weren't so bad. It was all of the bikes, furniture, etc that couldn't be boxed that was difficult. If we must move again, I will probably just sell it all and start over again. We managed to get almost everything into a 26 foot moving truck with the minivan packed as well, but boxes took just less than half of the space. Starting over would mean a much smaller truck as well. Then again, I had a dream once that we were gypsies....

In any case, we arrived in Texas on Monday and have been living in hotels/motels. Tonight we will be our first night in the new place. We're all excited about settling in one place and eating homemade meals.

Although the house feels a little smaller than it looked in the photos and the pool is a little smaller (we decided on it with only Thom having seen it) we really like it. The kids found a secret hiding place that they're really excited about. The kitchen space is used well, as is all the space in the house.

The land is covered in trees and is beautiful. Everything just needs some TLC. First on the agenda is to purchase a washer and dryer and put a up a fence around the pool. I'm very nervous about the little ones safety, so we're trying to get that up ASAP. Then we need to get a fence up for the goat pen. We're not sure yet where to put the chickens and orchard, but we have a spot chosen for the herb and vegetable gardens and the vineyard. There is about 8 acres that need the underbrush cleared to make it usable. The pond is nice, but covered in algae, so if anyone has experience in that area, we'd love to hear from you!

I also have to begin a regular schedule of book-learnin' soon as well. I have all of our books and supplies ready to be unpacked, we just need to get in a regular routine again.

There is a lot of work to do, but we're really excited and ready to begin!