Starting Over...Again

Well we've made it! We are now the proud owners of a new home on Sierra Lane in Rochester, Minnesota. We closed on the house and started moving in on May 1st, and let's just say the last week and a half have been, well, very full!

You never hear about how hard organizing is, so I'm here to proclaim it to the world: organizing is exhausting! Not only do we have to unpack boxes and suitcases, but we first have to obviously figure out where things should go. I consider myself a fan of organization and on a smaller scale I actually quite enjoy it. That's why I'm surprised to be so tired at the end of each day when the majority has been spent *only* organizing. Sheesh! Oh for the day when I can have something in my hand and put it in it's pre-existing place-!

Another thought I have to throw out there is opening new packages. I don't think I have or will ever open so many new things in such a short time again. I mostly mean food items, like ketchup, syrup, tea, peanut butter, etc etc. I think I'm a pro at finding the "dotted line" on any and every package, although some packages are definitely more user friendly to open than others. And then there's all the new household stuff like glasses, plates, cutlery (which may or may not have taken me at least half an hour to open each of the three boxes), hangers, furniture, and the like. Not to mention that every time I near the vicinity of Target or Walmart I can't escape the gravitational pull and end up finding numerous things I wasn't sure I needed upon entering but then couldn't live without by the end. It's an unusual type of settling in we are faced with: we aren't starting completely from scratch, having brought back boxes from Germany and combining my and Grady's childhood belongings, but yet we are empty handed in so many other ways. And it's like the experience we had in setting up our home in Germany somehow doesn't count because we only have the contents of that life with us now, not the structure. [sigh!] I would die happy if we never moved from this place, because then it would mean I'd never be faced with all this "unsettled-ness" again!

Ok enough ranting. On a happy note I love our new house! It backs up to a foresty area and we have seen so much wildlife already it's ridiculous. Squirrels, chipmunks, ducks, rabbits, not to mention birds (and we've heard even the occasional deer, although I haven't seen one yet) all frequent our backyard. Our patio doors are like a giant screen tv for Caitlin during every mealtime! (It beats Baby Einstein any day!)

Papa and Caitlin watch the wildlife while eating breakfast together the first morning in our new house

We have lots of space for those who might want to stop by and stay for a bit, as well as plenty of nice neighbors on our quiet street. Caitlin has her own huge, empty playroom at the moment, which makes life easy on all of us as she starts to pull herself around and we don't have to watch her every move.

One last side note: don't take your sofa for granted. Or any seat for that matter. The night we moved in we had only two wooden chairs I had picked up from a garage sale and a camping chair (G and I knelt at the table to eat dinner with his parents that night). We did finally acquire a couple more chairs, and I have never been so glad to finally own a couch as I was last Wednesday (6 days after going without) when we moved our first one in. Our second one wouldn't fit down the stairs and ended up putting a huge hole in the wall (a story for later!), but what bliss to at least own one soft surface to relax on. Oh the things one doesn't miss until they are without!