What I am thankful for

This Thanksgiving is one which brings me lots of thanks. Over this four day weekend, we were able to truly start moving ourselves in to the new house. It started with clothes in the closet. Then dishes and other kitchen acoutrements. Then, in order to be able to keep the cats in the house with us overnight, we had to bring over the litter box and all their stuff.

Even with all their stuff, the fist night with both the cats in the house was not a calm and quiet one. Phya found herself a spot beside her dog downstairs where she stayed peacefully through most of the night. Mukki (her grown daughter), however, was a wreck. She is very confused about the move and spent the entire night trying to get back over to the cabin. When meowing incesantly didn't work, she tried walking on our pillows (which always wakes us in a very irritated way). When that didn't work, she apparently tried to find a secret portal through which she could escape. Leaping into every window she could, she finally got us out of bed when she pulled a screen on on top of herself and tumbled down the stairs. Finally, at that point (around 6AM, she was thrown outside where she had been begging to go. She was out there for the better part of the morning and was very frustrated because we wouldn't allow her back into the old cabin. Finally, she came to the front door of the house raising her paws alternatly to try to allow them to warm. Still, I had to scoop her up and put her in the house. When I did, I found the stubborn little cat shaking because she was so cold. Single digit temps will do that to ya. They also seem to have forced her to accept the inevitable. Last night, she hardly woke us at all and once she was let out with the other critters this morning, she came right back in with them. Piles of treats followed.

We have transitioned much better than Mukki has. I (Jane) have now cooked two meals in the house on my full size range. Today, I even plan to make tamales! By tonight, we should have the gray water line finished so that we can pour things down the sink and do dishes again. Good thing too because all this cooking and eatting is accumulating some dirty dishes pretty quickly.

Today may also be the last day that we will have to use the outhouse! I am less certain about that because I think that there might be a few parts that we'll need to buy. But, at any rate, we should be able to finally go to the bathroom INSIDE very soon. And, as Mukki can tell you, its not pleasant being out there in the cold for too long.

Today, our friend Ray is coming over to help move some of our heavier items such as the loveseat (which he sol us a while ago), the fridge and possibly the big freezer.

Oh, and of course there is always the weekend chore of collecting more firewood. That however, shouldn't be as frequent soon though because we are no longer heating both homes. Its amazing to wake up in the house and find that the temperature is still 60 degrees and when we'd gone to bed 8 hours prior it was only 5 degrees warmer. In the cabin, we'd get it so hot that we were roasting out of there (sometimes up to 80 degrees) and then wake up in a 40 degree cabin. Log cabins are cute but I would never build one expecting to stay warm. There just isn't any real R-value in logs; at least not compared to spray foam insulation. I have brought over pretty much everything that I can think of that really ought not freeze. Its nice to be able to move things over "as-needed" for so much of it. That way, I have time to put away the things that I brought before I get more stuff. In fact, I have mostly been moving with my reusable grocery bags.

Today, (Sunday) Eli is upstairs watching the football game on-line on the desktop computer. And here I am at the brekfast nook updating the blog before the tamale adventure begins. Its amazing and somewhat disorienting to be in different rooms, unable to see one another. For more than six years, we have lived in a one room cabin where, if we were both sitting down, we were hip to hip because the only place to sit was on the loveseat. We find ourselves yelling to each other to give a play-by-play of what we're doing.

Oh! And have I mentioned how amazing it is to look at my clothes hanging in the closet to choose what to wear and to be able to stand while getting dressed? And, I was able to sit on the bed folding laundry, hanging clothes and putting things away while watching TV (DVDs only at this point). It's like a dream!

Obviously, Eli and I are competely in love with the house. We couldn't be more thankful. Sorry, you don't get any pictures yet though because its  bit of a mess. I am sure that anyone who has ever moved can relate.

:) Happy Thanksgiving!

Getting so close

The Kitchen

The cabinets are all installed now!!!! We still need to put in the super heavy cast iron sink that we got from Craigslist. And we need to install the gas range as well. But, there isn't much left to do in this room to make it move-in ready.

The entry way

The flooring is down in the entryway. It is vinyl but looks just like slate with copper hues throughout it. We are imensely pleased with this. We need to find some flooring for the stair treads, install the railing and the composting toilet (as well as the wall beside it).

The Closet

We've bugun to hang clothes in the closet!  We are still going to be installing more shelves though. Our clothes look so different hanging in a well lit clean space.

 

 

By the end of the day today Eli had cut the hole for the countertop and had it dry fit.

 

 

 

 

All the painting is DONE!!!!

 

Eli has been working day and night to get the house finished. Last night, he finished painting the entry/stairway. It is a combination of a yummy chocolate color (in the areas that are more likely to get dirty) and a creamy (almost like Kalhua) color on the ceilings and some walls. It feels so decadent!

Hopefully in the next couple of days, we'll be getting the carpeting installed.

The paint sitting in the paint tray looked just like melted chocolate......

Hopefully there will be lots more to update you on soon.