Miscellany Monday: Moving

I haven't participated in the Miscellany Monday over at lowercase letters in several months, and I have a million thoughts swirling around in my head regarding our big (though local) move, so I figured today would be the perfect day to do participate in the link up.

I don't have a ton of pictures because I don't have a camera right now, so what I have is off of my cell phone and as you can see the quality is crappy, hence why there are only three. But I hope you'll enjoy them anyhow.

Also, it's weird taking pictures of empty rooms and piles of boxes.  Once everything finds it's place I'll borrow someone's camera and start snapping pictures. Lots and lots of pictures.

Here is a shot of the awesome welcome mat that my MIL Karen bought us :) I'm amazed at how something like a welcome mat can make a space feel more inviting, more welcoming, and more homely. I'm so grateful that she came to help us last week and for everything she and Brian's dad did for us while they were here. I'm glad that I was able to get to know her even better while we scrapped, painted, and shopped, and was blessed by the thought behind these (we got 3 welcome mats) gifts.

I didn't get a picture but the mat at the backdoor is for the kids, it's got fish on it and says "hello", I wanted the backyard to be more playful and figured people re-entering from the back have already been formally welcomed.

Yeah for pastor's who are super helpful and the son of a "Jack Dave of all trades," after church last night Tim (still in his church clothes) and his dad Dave came over and fixed the water hoses to our washing machine, so I can now do laundry again :) and yeah for a husband who did two loads for me last night!

Living out of boxes really is no fun. Simply hanging our clothes in the closet made our bedroom feel 90% better. It's begining to feel like the oasis and retreat I want it to be. Even our kids are learning now, that they don't play in mom and dad's room!

"People have moved in now, move out already!" "{{Smack}} Go tell your friends" and "This isn't your home, this is my home" are all things we shout (feeling a little Happy Gilmore-eque as we do, ugh yes I have seen Happy Gilmore, not my style anymore but loved that movie when I was in college) as we attack the carpenter ants that wont get a hint. We have sprayed 3 or 4 times, and they. just. wont. leave.

Though they are slowly reducing in number, but that happens naturally when you physically kill 20 or 30 a day.

Killing ants feels a lot more humane when you stomp on them with your feet. When I hit it with my hand or watch it writhe in pain from poison I just sprayed on it I can hear these little ant voices saying "no, not me, save me please, little baby Suzy needs me" and I kill it anyway, but it hurts a little when I do.

Even Owen has been heard saying "Get out of here, tell your friends!" right before or after a giant whack. The kids enjoy the ant killing game. It's exciting to beat ants.

Micah does not yell at the ants. He does not yell at me when he sees an ant. He picks up dead ants between his fingers and says excitedly "Eant" which really sounds more like "eat" than "ant" and for a few days I thought that's what he was going to do but after I said "don't eat it, throw it in the trash" he now picks them up saying "eant, trash, eant, trash" over and over. So stinking funny.

Here is a crappy blurry picture of my darling three men eating popcorn out of the beautiful popcorn bowls I picked up at Goodwill just before we moved in. We were supposed to do this our first night at the house, but we didn't and it didn't happen the second night either, but finally on the third night I made it happen and he (they) were happy. Notice: we are not eating in the living room, or the basement.

New rule. We only eat in the kitchen. The boys are catching on quickly. Once they are in bed, we can "break" the rule. It is holding up well. I'm so so glad.

New rule. We no longer watch tv in the morning. This is harder, each day that goes by Owen is fighting it a little harder, I'm hoping by the end of week two he'll be over it, but today was rough. My reason is because of a video we watched at woman's study on Wednesday about giving God our first minutes and first dollars. I give God lot's of minutes and lots of dollars (and I"m pretty good about the firsts with my dollars) but I struggle with getting up early and putting Him first. We read to the boys every night before bed, but I think Owen has already figured out that the rule is "we read the bible before bed when we feel like it" it's not that something like a bath or being lazy would push it out, but if we went to church that night or were out too late, or moving to a new house, then our routine would get skipped. I don't want them growing up with weak and poor bible habits, they need to be formed young.

Another reason we don't watch tv in the mornings, the one that keeps getting stronger now that I've started this and I'm seeing his behavior, is that Owen is getting way too attached to the TV. When our new service got hooked up Owen was able to work the remote (thanks to daycare I think) and quoted, a commercial to me. It wasn't just a whine "I want that" which I hate so much, but he actually was selling the product to me. "Mom, you should get that, it's only 19.99 and it lasts for 10 hours, plus you can use it for work not just for school or take it on picnics" he said about a lunch box. I know he knew the info because I was listening to the commercial as he was talking and this particular commercial hadn't mentioned work or picnics.  If I say "no, you can't watch tv" in the morning or whenever he throws a full fit, when he was asked to leave tv for dinner he started crying about how he was going to miss the movie that was on. His heart is way to into his heart is way too into TV for 4 years old. If I don't nick this in the bud now, it is only going to get worse.

Oh, and a bonus to this nifty new rule? Owen is sleeping later. Why? Well, my guess is that he no longer knows what shows are on TV and he isn't "worried about missing my cartoons." Sleep is good. :) 

New rule: Ok it's not really a rule but an attitude, one of contentment and peace. It's hard to feel peace when your life is packed in boxes but I'm so blessed and excited to have our new home that I don't want this joy and pride to fade with little "homeowner problems" that come up, or to feel discouraged or have my blessing weighed down by the burdens of life. I want to cling to the blessing that this home is to us, cling to the unending list of things the Lord did to bring us into this home specifically, and praise His name for this home ALL the days that we are in it. I often think our blessings get forgotten and what we once praised the Lord for we later start gripping about and I have already begun making a conscious effort not to let that happen with this blessing. I'm excited about this new adventure and I know this is the Lord's house for us, I want to make sure that 8 months from now I haven't forgotten what I know now.

A picture of the kitchen finally starting to come together. Seeing these vases and this set up really made me feel like I was in my home, even though everything else was still in shambles.

Hoping we can put up picture frames soon. Tonight maybe.

Thanks for hanging with me, even though I've been sporadic lately.