Mom and Dad came last weekend and we all worked our tails off getting everything moved over to the new house. Once everything was moved over, Dad worked on a few things around the new house. It's nice having someone so handy!
Saturday morning (yes, the day we moved) was my annual Hot Chocolate Race. It's my favorite race of the year and I didn't want to miss it because you get certain medals for longevity. This year was my 4th year and if I didn't do it, it would have messed me up for year 5 next year. The forecast looked terrible but 3 of the 7 of us powered through and made it. It was actually a lot of fun. We wore rain coats and had a fun walk in the rain.
I got home to a lot of the hard work being done. Which, was kinda great. hahahaha. Lee had a few friends help with the heavy stuff and we ended up getting a Uhaul because it would not stop raining. It had been raining for about a week prior so the ground was really soft. I'm throwing mom under the bus here, but she did start our adventure. Our driveway is gravel and after the last load, she parked our van just off the gravel in the dirt area to leave room for the Uhaul. Well... it got stuck.
In an effort to get it un-stuck, Dad thought he would drive forward, thinking he could keep driving forward and eventually swing around and out the same way he came in. Well.... he then got stuck. And he got it really stuck. You can see how far down the tires are in the mud. Tyler came out of the house and said, "How did our car get out there???"
Lee, Mom and myself were on team 'Let's call a wrecker." (After all, towing is covered on our insurance.) But Dad was on team "I got it stuck, I'll get it out." The entire process took over 3 hours and involved jacking up each tire (with our lame, basic, jack) putting one of the 4 pieces of scrap wood we had under the tire, moving the van a little until it got stuck again and repeat. Many, many times over.
I went out to help him and my job was to move the boards.
This is also how we met our neighbors. The neighbor behind us (Bob) came out and introduced himself. Then a little later on the next door neighbor (William) came out to help in the end. William also had some towing strips so at the last little bit we were able to hook it to another car and drag it the rest of the way.
Dad was pretty proud of himself when he got it out.
Lesson learned: Only park on the gravel! But it was nice meeting our neighbors! It's good to know we live on such a friendly and helpful street. When I told William we wanted to call a wrecker he said, "Not on this street you don't. We take care of our own out here."
After the car shenanigans we kept Dad busy. He and Lee crawled under the house to investigate a leak we knew about prior to closing. It turned out to be a 2-part problem in the master bathroom tub. The drain leaked and once that was fixed we found out the pipe to the spout was completely broken. So it took another repair. But the good news is its repaired!
I wanted new toilets. I don't know, it was just my "thing." Since it's my new house I just wanted my bum to be where no bum had been before. This wasn't really on the week's agenda, but we were at Lowe's and saw some on sale. In the end, those babies came home with us! We upgraded the standard, "been in the house since it was built" ones to comfort height and a good flush power. It's such a simple thing but it makes me so happy!
Ah, it's a thing of beauty, isn't it? (Don't mind the back wall, these tanks are smaller than the others so I need to touch up the paint.)
Dad hung shelves in our garage and above our washer/dryer.
He replaced one of the lights in the kitchen. The old one was pathetic and looked like a microphone. I'm almost sorry I don't have a picture of it.
(This is the new one)
Mom and I were in Lowe's looking for said light fixture. I was looking up and having a conversation with her about them. When she didn't respond I looked over to the person next to me who was a muscled, tattooed, bearded man with a backwards baseball hat. I was in such shock that I said, "Oh! You aren't my mom!!!" He started laughing and said, "No, I am not." (He also must have thought I was crazy because it would have looked like I was talking to myself for quite awhile.) I started laughing too... and I could hear my mom laughing from the next aisle over. That mother of mine... you have to watch her. When she's on a mission she'll slip away without you knowing!
The funny thing was when I was picking out the light fixture, without even realizing it I picked out the exact one that Anna has. (I ended up getting a different one. I think Anna's is black, and mine is silver)
The even more funny thing was earlier that day I was looking at rugs online. Mom and I scrolled through hundreds of them. I narrowed it down to one I really liked. The more I looked at it the more I thought it looked familiar and then it occurred to me that it looked a lot like Anna's. I asked Anna to text me a picture of hers and it was the exact same one. It was so funny! We ended up picking another one but it was out of stock. So in the end, I ordered the exact rug Anna has. Mom laughed and laughed. I guess we will feel comfortable in each others homes! (and it's no surprise that we are sisters!)
Dad did a bunch of little projects too like fixing the fans in the bathrooms and installing a pressure release valve on the house. Well, that wasn't little but it was much appreciated! Needless to say, we kept mom and dad very busy!!! We all slept really well each night!
The kids have been having a ball. Amy thanked us a million times over for picking the perfect house. She even found a tree she loves to read in.
Will has met the neighbor and loves playing with him. Tyler has become a country boy with his shirt off and rolling in the mud. Thankfully those pants came clean.
Amy told him she was giving him a massage and in reality she was writing with mud and then chalk on his back. She wrote, "I am fun."
The other day Amy ran inside to get our help because apparently Tyler was swinging and his shoe flew off and got stuck in the tree. Lee threw a ball several times to get it out. We are so lucky to get this swing set with the house. The kids have played on it everyday. We've had a lot of rain and with it so much mud. Their shoes are caked with it. They needed new shoes anyway, but the mud made me order them quicker! I guess out here we'll need play shoes as well as school shoes.
The house has ladybugs all around. Ladybugs are a symbol of luck and prosperity so we'll take it! Amy and I nicknamed it "The Ladybug house." There are also bugs and worms galore. Amy is pretty happy.
We have project ideas out the wazoo- but that's part of the fun. The garage is full of stuff and we can't find anything, but again, it comes with the territory.
It's nice to finally be in our OWN home!!
(Sidenote- the street name is Windy Meadow. It was not named that by accident. It really is windy here! The wind never stops!)
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