Pretty Settled In

Most of the boxes are unpacked now. We still have a small pile of "what do we do with this?" and we will be adding a few more pieces of furniture and rearranging what we already have, but we are settled in to our new home and we are all very comfortable here.

I love love love the floor to ceiling windows. It keeps everything lofty and light and makes me feel like I am walking through the pages of a decorating magazine.

I am home.
Eden is also home. She is very happy and over-adorable. Seriously, she could tone it down.

Every room in this house is my favorite room. I love the Florida Room. What's Florida without a Florida Room, anyway?

And the terrazzo floors are amazing. They help keep everything light and cool and other than being super hard floors on impact, they are (any guesses?) MY FAVORITE!


And I love this kitchen. I could do a cooking show in this kitchen. In fact, I pretend a cooking show on the daily right here in this kitchen.

What a great window.

Please, bring me your dirty dishes. I can handle anything while gazing out of this window.

Did I mention "HAPPY" ?


What about "adorable"?
Need more milk Mom.

And here is the big picture of our main living space.

I am hoping to find a big farm table for our dinners.

And did you see my ABC wall?

I love it.
Still gathering letters, but I am sure you can see where I am going with this...


And no house would be complete without a little feline love.


There are actually 2 of them and they are about 12 weeks old. BOYS. Outside eeeows as soon as they are old enough. Until then, they stay in the bathroom, and if Madee wants to play with them she has to go into the bathroom, tell them to "go potty" and go potty herself.

So far, there is a rising interest in pottying.

I know, stupid and genius rolled into one.

Come and knock on my door

Any move is stressful. In fact, I have been known to get tense about knowing I have to move as I am moving into a place, and this move? This is a cross country crazy counter clockwise and not organized kind of move.

And I am stressed.


And at the same time I am very calm about this.

Everything's going to be okay. (If not GREAT!) But mostly I just keep trying to "keep moving forward" and "don't look back" and tell myself "everything is going to be okay" in between.

Serendipitous circumstances landed us the PERFECT house. And I don't mean just *a* perfect house THE PERFECT HOUSE. It s absolutely one of my favorite houses in my favorite areas and it is close to my favorite church and my favorite dog park and my favorite Orlando amenities.


It has actually been one of my favorite houses for quite some time, as it is my friend's house, and the layout, the flow, the space as a whole, is just, well, IDEAL.

The girls and I went to play at the new house the other day and I took a few pics to give you a feel for what it is I am looking so forward to.

This is Poochie and he lives in the house currently. Lucky dog is moving to the beach.

I can only imagine he will be just as cute among the sand and sun and water.

This is one of my greatest friends. We have known each other through many aspects of ourselves, and have found ourselves "orbiting the same planet" as it were.

::upward side eye hand to chin::

We just connect, and it seems that serendipity has joined led us both into our own ideal situation.


This is her baby and my baby, 2 years ago.This is them now.


Ono making herself at home.

There is lots of pretty stuff in the backyard.

This is one of the reasons I love Florida.

The house is so light and even has some floor to ceiling windows that are going to walk right up and kiss my camera on the mouth, oh I just cannot tell you how excited I am to take pictures in this space.

Why yes, E you DO look fabulous.


More to love in the garden.

The girls are already so happy there, I can't wait for it to dawn on them that we are going to be living there ourselves.


I am expecting serious squeals of delight.

Oh and the kids will probably be excited about it too. ;)

Withdrawal

My computer is officially 2.

Meaning, that is all it will do. Press some number 2.

And because of it, I am having the withrawals. Shaking, shivers, scrathing, irritableness. You know the drill.

Also, I am quite discombobulated by the whole moving back to my homeland, which is just surreal to me. Like I think I might wake up from a dream.

So much to do, so little time, and I hate to neglect the blog.

But bear with me and things are gonna get really good around here.

Update

I wish I had more time, but I did figure I should at least let all of you know that we are here, we are safe, and it is hot.

We are currently shacked up at my parents' house where my 2 sisters are also currently living.

Boom Boom leaves tomorrow to get our stuff, and the humidity is messing with my keyboard so when he goes tomorrow, so does my main computer. Or the only one we have left, depending on who you ask.

So it may be a while before you hear from me again.

And if someone has a pad in Orlando they need lived in, we might be able to help you out.

Feeling

Like a puppet on a string.
And I am supposed to dance.
(DANCE monkey DANCE!)
To no music.
With no movement.

But I think I am dancing - I even think I've got moves.

And apparently I am not moving at all.

Like those long afternoon naps.
When you think you woke up 5 minutes ago, but you are still sleeping.

Yet, you are convinced you have fully awakened, and you are going on with your life.

Only to have someone walk in and wake you and prove you wrong with a rude actual awakening.

Anyhoo, not sure if you can relate, but my afternoon naps happen like that.

Duluth, Minnesota

For some reason, I can't upload pictures today.

Boo.

Anyway, we have made it to Duluth and are all settled in our little 1 bedroom apartment right downtown. It is really plenty of space for us. Dad goes to the office for work.

It is a totally different lifestyle for us.

I would tell you what I think of it, but it has only been one day and all, so I don't know yet.

But we like it here.

It hasn't even been that cold so far. (Oh yes, I know it is coming eventually.)

Anyhoo. Hopefully I will get some pictures up at some point. Our ride here was nice, we stayed in the cutest little Best Western in Lusk, WY, we took a drive by Mount Rushmore, we seriously booked it across America and the kids were awesome.

The neatest part was the Needles Highway, twisting and turning and tunneling the way to Mount Rushmore, The Corn Palace, which I like to call the Porn Callous because it always makes Charlie laugh. Okay we actually didn't go by the Porn Callous this time, but I still thought I would mention it.

Oh. And all throughout Wyoming and South Dakota everybody was just so nice. They all wave at each other and say hi even from across the street.

And when you are driving around, any time your car comes up on someone else's car, they wave at you.

Like to say "Hi."

Which is just so much different than in Southern CA where people are always flipping us the bird and cutting us off.

If only I tweeted...

I think I will need to up my technology ante.

10 Facts about today

1. Madee and Brody and I found a dead seal on the beach.
2. We moved campsites to a much better view of Half Moon Bay and the campers at this park.
3. We haven't played with toys or watched TV for 3 days.
4. Need more space bags.
5. The color for the day was green.
6. Madee likes to walk Ono on her leash and talk to other dog owners with their dogs on leashes.
7. RV people are nice and helpful.
8. It's kind of like Burning Man without the music or the drugs or the nudity.
9. A quarter will buy you a pretty long shower.
10. I don't even know whose internet connection I am skanking.

This is so cool, and then it sucks, and then it is so cool again. We need an outdoor space set up. We need a porch area with lights and colors and personality. A place where Madee can glow in the evening fire and say hi to people as they walk by with their dogs on leashes.

I have so many things to share about RV people, but right now, I am just experiencing this culture shock as I settle in to this transient, unsettled society.

We are gypsies now. And we are not alone.

Oh, and apparently the other gypsies are packing heat!