Moving in!

The past week has been a flurry of activity. The house was supposed to have its final inspection this past Monday, June 17, so we gave it a few grace days and decided to move in Wednesday, June 19. Unfortunately, things didn't go quite as planned and we were asked to move the date back. We were able to go as far as one day -- and then have the movers for only a half-day, since they were booked in the morning -- but it is June, after all, and the movers are booked solid for two weeks. (Even my frequent calls trying to find a way to push back our moving date didn't help.)

We rented reusable, plastic moving boxes from AlienBox (which came with a dolly, labels, zip ties in five colors, and five rolls of packing paper) that arrived on Friday morning. The boys and I packed a little on Saturday while Bryan and our friend Fred, a retired carpenter, spent 12 hours building our master closet wardrobes. On Sunday we celebrated Father's Day with a nice family brunch followed by a torturous afternoon of bed, bedding and curtain shopping at IKEA and Bed Bath & Beyond. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, we packed. And packed. The boys went to bed, and I packed. Bryan worked and ran errands and picked up the bed that wasn't in stock at IKEA on Sunday, and I packed.

Fortunately for us, the movers called yesterday with a cancellation for this morning (all my calls must've gotten their attention!), so we got a whole day with them -- and boy did we use it. (Our movers, All My Sons, were fast, careful, strong and very hard workers. They did a great job!) Unfortunately, there was a previously unheard-of glitch with the downstairs concrete floor: The tape that secured the protective paper to the floor while the contractors were working actually degraded the surface of the floor, so the guys need to smooth those areas and resurface the floor, which then takes 48 hours to cure. Which means that, although we were moving our furniture and boxes in today, we can't actually put anything downstairs for several more days. So almost all of our furniture and boxes are crammed into the great room and the garage. However, Peter assures us that he and Val will help us move our stuff into the appropriate areas once the floor is ready. (He'll probably regret that.)

But at least most of our things are packed and at the new place, even if we're not allowed to sleep there yet (the final, final inspections should be tomorrow, followed by our Certificate of Occupancy). And I'm trying not to fret about the disaster of random things that still clutter the old house. Now Bryan is anxious and I'm feeling better. I have all summer to get the house in order, no school schedules to maintain, and all the little things left to fix in the house will get done in time ...

Plus, now, finally, it actually seems real. This is our house. Our stuff is in it. We get to live here. This beautiful, long, difficult project is now our home. Amazing! I am thrilled, excited, and beyond fortunate.

This amazing double-rainbow view from our house last night must be an auspicious sign. 

The deck is now complete with the lights, fan and railing. And we put some chairs out there today!

Code requires a railing at our upstairs opening windows because they open like doors. Peter built these beautiful cedar rails that can slide in or out and continue the horizontal lines of the sliding cedar shades for the downstairs windows.

The niche we added to hold our double-dragon carving is perfect!

Once our dining room table was in place, it really felt like home.

Thanks to our flooring glitch, the great room is cluttered with furniture that belongs both upstairs and downstairs ...

... and so is the garage, which also has our 100 green moving boxes.

Larry hopped into a visitor's car today and helped himself to lunch.  Beware of the hungry guard peacock!

Peacock butt. Larry keeps turning away when his feathers are extended so we can't see his front.
What does that signify in peacock body language?

He finally let us see.