Settling In

Settling in to a new house is a challenging activity. In many ways it's fun, but it's also awkward and consumes more time and energy than seems reasonable. 

It's not just the physical activity of settling in, either. The more challenging part is teaching our minds to recognize opportunities in the new space. For instance, we tend to end up all in the office. Or at least the three guys are in the office and I'm nearby in the kitchen. At our old house we were always all together in one room because we didn't have any other option. Now we have to learn that it's possible and okay to be in separate spaces. Believe me, Ben and I have proved to be much faster at learning this than the boys have. ;-)

Settling in also involves making this house feel like our home. Our own space not only in the fact that we designed the space and decided on the paint and lights and trim and on and on, but a space filled with our things that makes us feel relaxed and rejuvenated. That takes time! And I gave myself that time this weekend. I was determined to put all my stuff (all the non-essentials that have been packed away for three years) to good use. So I unpacked it, remembered what I own, and put out the odds and ends of stuff that I wanted to look at. Then I turned my attention to the stack of artwork and other variety of things that are meant to hang on walls. I spent hours this weekend carrying artwork around the house, figuring out where it should go and then eventually getting it put up. Let me tell you, Command strips are where it's at. Love them. I'm not completely finished, but this house has come a long ways in the "feels like home" department this weekend.

Also...we're in the midst of a polar vortex, which brought a thin layer of sleet on Saturday morning and then a thin layer of snow on Sunday morning. The polar vortex can go back to the north pole as far as I'm concerned.

While Noah was at basketball practice on Saturday morning, Levi headed outside to shovel the sleet pellets off the driveway. I was hugely impressed with this since he rarely goes outside by himself. Bonus for me since I had plenty to keep me busy inside.

 Just after I snapped these photos Levi got the deck shoveled off. I hope he's this helpful when it snows more this winter!

 Inside, I'm holding on strong to fall. I refuse to make the season change inside the house until after Thanksgiving.

 Oh but outside it's looking quite bleak and frigid.

 By Saturday afternoon the sleet had melted away and the boys convinced us it was baseball playing weather.

 It was a struggle, but we stayed out long enough for each boy to get several good hits and then we ran back inside. Playing baseball when it's 30 degrees just isn't my idea of a good time.

 But see? The boys thought it was great and were not happy with us when it was time to go inside.

 The ladies were out and about on the farm Saturday afternoon too...so far we haven't had too much coyote trouble...although we know they're in the area.

 Soon enough we'll have to seriously restrict the amount of time the ladies get outside the barn each day simply to keep them alive.

 It's not only the four of us humans who are settling in these days. Our cats and chickens are also trying to figure out where we went and what the deal is. The cats immediately figured out where their food moved to, but where do they go when it's cold? At the old house, they could be in the garage, but not anymore. Now they claw at the doors to try and come in.

And I can tell that I'm spending less time visiting with my parents. At the old house, we'd often go over to their house just to be in a bigger space. The wonderful bonus was that we'd usually get to visit with my parents too. Now we have space, so we don't go over to their house as often and I end up feeling like I hardly see them anymore.
We're all adjusting, and there are times I can tell that the four of us are cranky with each other because we can't figure out what or where or how we're supposed to be. But we're figuring it out and new ways of life are becoming routine.