In Vermont...

We have been here for two weeks now and are busy settling in. We have reached the “functional” stage of unpacking and have lost all motivation to finish:

But our living room looks quite nice, if you ask me. In fact, I love the living room. Something about the blue walls (after eight years of rented apartment white walls that we never painted since we were sure we would be moving to Vermont at any moment) and the staircase that make me feel very happy. 

Here is looking at the living room from the doorway:

 

Please excuse the mess. I haven’t cleaned up yet this evening. See those stringy things hanging above the couch? Those are decorations that Katherine made to make the living room “more fancy.” Because we are only renting this house for a year before we hopefully find a permanent home here, we decided not to unpack our books and pictures. So the walls are a bit plain. Luckily Katherine is decorating for us. In case you can’t see the detail - here is a close up. They are made from wrapping paper.

 

And one of my favorites, here is the view from the kitchen window:

A dream come true. I can watch the kids play in the yard while I make dinner. In DC it was always a tradeoff: take kids to playground because they desperately needed to get out of house or stay home and get through my list of things to do. The playground almost always won because the satisfaction of getting through my list was never worth the consequences of keeping 3 kids inside a small apartment in the middle of the city all afternoon. But now, here in Vermont, I can open the kitchen door and singsong, “Outside you go, my loves!” Well, maybe it isn’t quite that perfect - I do need to go out with them, but I don’t have to pack up for a trip to the playground (water, snack, spare clothes, potty, etc.), and I can pop in to check something on the stove if I need to. 

Before we moved, I had ideas of what it would be like in Vermont. Housing is less expensive, but groceries and coffee are not. We don’t live across from two French horn players, nor are there leaf blowers roaring through the neighborhood three times a week. I love the quiet. No ants in our kitchen, but lots of Daddy Long Legs. Katherine and Clara have named them Alex. We see that Alex everywhere. I haven’t found those three extra hours in the day, so I still find myself staying up until midnight trying to get everything done. I really miss my friends, but like our old neighborhood, everyone here is very friendly, there are good coffee shops, and it has a small community feel.  All in all, we are settling in happily. Slowly we are making this our home.