aren't we done yet?

It feels like months since I've had time to write a decent post. Work on the house is all-consuming, always one more project to complete, one more box to unpack, and spending even a few minutes to do yoga, write, or just sit on my ass feels like such a waste of time.

I know it's not. I know that I need to recharge my batteries. I know I deserve some down time. I also know that I can't fully relax in our new beautiful home until everything is in its place and our daily life can proceed without the frustration of not knowing where the soap is or having to sort through a billion boxes to find a light bulb.

We've accomplished an incredible amount over the last few weeks and every day we get closer to living in a functional space (I'm leaving decorating dreams aside - those projects will take months).

Thom has been the best about plunging ahead and attacking box after box even if the contents don't have a great home yet. He unpacked almost the entire kitchen, and while I'll have to go through and rearrange all his work, at least everything is out of boxes and reachable. My focus has been creating storage space and doing handyman projects. I've loved building shelves, organizing closets, hanging art, and making minor adjustments on cabinetry and appliances.

Even though we've been living in various states of disarray for the past two weeks, it is infinitely better than being in a hotel. We love this space. We love the way we can spend time together in it. We love the memories we're already creating here.

I'm tired and I could use a massage and a weekend off, but overall life is very good right now.

amazing cakes

A few samples from the brilliant blog my husband directed me to last night, Cake Wrecks:

Amazingly cute things River did yesterday:

• Asked for "more" tickles "more" tickles!
• Loved the Natural History Museum at Harvard: pointed to monkeys and mimicked them by scratching under his arms, pointed to owls and said, "Who! Who!," made the "key" sign to free the locked up animals
• Held hands with his little friend Olive while they had their snacks
• Watched the construction vehicles with rapt attention for five minutes
  
• Snuggled up and read about 100 books with me
  
• Pointed at everything from Thom's pillow, sink, and pajamas and said "Da-Da"
• Climbed on his tricycle seat like Evil Knievel
• Pointed at his diaper as he peed or pooped and asked to go to his potty
• Practiced jumping, dancing, and shaking his booty
• Tossed every bucket and shovel out of the playhouse at the park
  
• Made the sign and said "house" (which is his way of asking to watch Bob the Builder)
• Helped mommy feed the kitties by scooping their food
  
• Ran from the bath in his birthday suit and made me chase him around before bedtime

Virtual tour

Well, we've managed to unpack about half of the boxes, and since we're no longer wading through the wreckage of moving (merely stepping in a pile of it every now and then), I thought I'd share some pics of our new home.

Here's the view from our front door. This is the living room which opens to a little office nook on the left and the bar on the right.




















Here's the office. It's a great space to land when we come in (drop mail, keys, and coats) and it's just big enough to house files and computer equipment.




















Next is the crowning jewel of the house. I think the decision to nix the planned fireplace and put in a bar speaks to how truly compatible Thom and I are. Our personal ads could have read, "Wanted: Soul mate who loves beer."




















Just beyond the bar is the dining room area, which looks into the kitchen. It's been great to have a space for our dinner table that doesn't make us feel like giants eating in a hobbit hole.

























Then comes one of my favorite rooms: the kitchen. I love the choices we made in here - cabinets, countertops, floors, and backsplash. Once we install a pantry in the corner, we'll have enough space for everything, but right now the cabinets are a bit overflowing.




















The stone and glass mosaic backsplash, which was the first thing I picked in designing the finishes.




















Next is a view of the hallway from our front door. On the right are doors to River's room and the second bathroom. I'm not thrilled with the color choice here. It came out more baby blue and less dusty than I imagined.

























River's room. In time, we'll move him downstairs and hope to turn this into a nursery. (I just realized how horrible that sounds. Images of Sloth shakled in his dark hole come to mind. Move over River! There's a new baby in town! Actually, the room downstairs is much more spacious and will be a nice change once he's ready for his big boy bed.)




















The second bath. The color is actually more rust in person. You can see the cats have already taken over this space.




























Here's our master bedroom. It's tighter than our last one, but the huge communal areas totally make up for lost bedroom space.




















The master bath. Two sinks and a jacuzzi tub. I love the tile, but the paint and decor need some work.




























So there's the first floor! The basement is still too cluttered for me to photograph. When we get some more unpacking done down there, I'll continue the tour.

et tu waiter?

River's growing interest in things large and mechanical is fascinating to me. Without any particular encouragement he started pointing to large trucks (buses, semi's, and construction vehicles) a couple months ago. I quickly decided that my vocabulary of "big truck" was way too limited and have now learned all the names from back-hoe to front loader, cement truck to steam roller. With the help of books and scant few sightings he has moved onto an obsession with trains with much vigor. The same time he learned the sign for "train" he picked up a "where did it go?" shoulder shrug, which is as adorable as it is exhausting.

Where did the birdy go? I don't know. Where is the doggie? Over there. Where is mommy? Under the table with her empty vodka bottle because you won't stop asking where things are.

On the night before we finally signed papers for our new house, we went out to dinner to celebrate our impending release from hotel purgatory. We sat in the outdoor patio of a great little Mexican restaurant that happened to be less than a block from the commuter rail tracks. As we were waiting for our meal to arrive, the tale tell ding!dong! of an approaching train sounded, so Thom walked over to the tracks to give River an up-close look of his beloved engines. When they returned River had a look of pure delight and kept signing "train" and pointing to the empty tracks. As we dined, another train came by, so I walked back to the tracks for a second viewing with my overjoyed little boy.

Throughout the meal, River could hardly sit still. His eagerness to see "trains!" kept him from eating and kept us busy explaining that we couldn't make the trains appear just because he wanted one.

Where is the train? It's gone, honey. Maybe another one will come later. Where is the train? Not here yet. Where is the train? We can't just pull it out of our ass, dear; you'll have to wait.

Finally realizing that mommy and daddy couldn't fulfill his request, he turned to a higher power. As the waiter approached to check in on us, River signed "train" frantically to the nice man. As he walked away to get our bill, River's face expressed his unbelievable disappointment that the waiter wouldn't bring out his order.

click your heels three times...

Our friends, The J's, have been so nice to let us spend this past week in their home. Thankfully, we won't have to impose upon their generosity too much longer as, the new house will be ours on FRIDAY!

I can't believe there's an actual, real-live, closing date for us to look forward to. We've been chasing after the Unicorn and Gryphon of fantasy close dates for so long, I can't believe we have an actual Liger in hand. (Did that metaphor go too far? It's late and I'm tired.)

I'm 90% thrilled to finally have a home and 10% terrified to have to unpack. Not too bad.