Why we haven't posted much about the house....

Looks like the title of this blog may have to change soon...somehow I think a little one may take over any home plans we had:)

Happy Halloween!

Steve has named our new friend "Wilson" in honor the volleyball Tom Hanks played with in Cast Away. (We can't take credit if for its cuteness, Linda and Rick brought it up from CT during their stay this weekend.) The reverse side of the pumpkin says "Happy Thanksgiving" too!

Finally -

We have hung a few pictures up. This one is the first in a long line (literally, they are lined up in the attic!).

Even more impressive plants!

Not sure why, but the photos are overexposed or something, the color was more brilliant than it appears....

Walden Pond

The bushes finally escaped from their pots...

First attempts!

We planted our bulbs and also the (tiny) hydrangea. We'll find out next summer how acidic/alkaline our soil is. (The flowers will either be pink or blue).

We also bought some shrubs for the front yard. The are really tiny now but hopefuly in a few years (or 10) they will look to scale. There are 2 dwarf blue spruces and a rhododendron. Both types are found in abundance in our neighborhood, so they musn't be too hard to keep alive!

coming together...

Our new coffee and end table were picked up yesterday....They came from a furniture store/theme park we have here called Jordan's. The store where we bought these had a trapeze where you could practice/take lessons (yes, really a trapeze). It also had "liquid fireworks" which was a cross between a lite brite and the Bellagio fountains, an ice cream stand and an IMAX theater (yes, that plays real movies).

Despite the silly antics, we can't compalin as the people from jordan's were nice enough to send us a $100 gift certificate as new home owners. Obviously, this did incite us to spend some (though not much) money there!

2 new things

New rug for our front hall...



















New Lamp for our living room - a lovely anniversary gift (in advance) from Linda and Rick - will get a real picture eventually.. The pic doesn't do it justice.

Other new things...

New doorbell and mailbox - far far better than the rusty black ugly mailbox and white, stained plastic doorbell that were there before!












Hopefully this new thermostat will keep the heat from coming on at innapropriate times -

I think this will also make us pick a dining room paint color VERY quickly so we can get rid of the icky damage on the wall from the old one.

Sneak Preview!

His & Hers

For Her
(delivered today!)



For Him
(will be delivered in a few weeks)

Interlude from the housework...

Think these guys can help do some landscaping or maybe rearrange the furniture?




For those of you not familiar, these are "headshots" of the red sox mascots...
We went to a game Sunday and watched the Sox beat Kansas City (finally)....

Arlington Town Day

Mass Ave was shut down for "Town Day" in Arlington -

Steve and I went to explore. It felt like small town USA - Cub Scouts, cheerleaders, soccer players, etc all in uniform to raise money. We saw the high school's jazz band perform and there were free pony rides. There was an asssociation for every park, a PTO for every school as well as a philharmonic society, drama club, youth theater and a million other small local organizations.




Two Tid Bits we picked up:

1) Local teenagers call Arlington "A-Town"
2) Appetizers at one of the local Indian restaurants are "tit bits" hahahaha










There were also a few random minutemen at one of the historic houses shooting muskets much to the enjoyment of the kids.

Visitors

Last Sunday we had our first visitors (Nikki, Rob & Robby) since we moved in...

I figured I better clean out the bills, boxes and picture frames from the ground in the dining room. It is spartan, but it doesn't look too my bad. That said, at some point down the road a larger dining table will be found to fit in the room. Our current table is squished for 4.






They also brought us some lovely sparkling wine - so Steve and I finally celebrated our new house with some bubbly.

YIPEEEEEEEEE

New furniture, at long, long last! I have been hauling around an old couch and wing chair since I graduated college.

Couch (in person it looks the color of the second picture)



New chair!

Are you kidding me ???

Hmm..the former owners said the basement was dry AND there was no evidence to suggest otherwise...




Oh wait.... it is just our BRAND NEW washer that put ALL the water on the ground, and not with the clothes the FIRST TIME we turned it on. (It seems like an internal hose must be disconnected. The water is coming out where the detergent goes in.)

UGH






At least Steve is smiling on hold...

A basement tour (oh, exciting!)

Not sure if anyone remotely cares, but I realized there has never been a picture of the basement on here...


View from the stairs...


Strange, oddly located shower stall (under stairs)


The foot of the "finished" part, it is L-shaped.


The long, narrow part of the finished area.

More "almost" rooms

The office


The guest bedroom



Other things completed this weekend:
1. new shower head installed
2. lots of unpacking and organizing
3. ordered a new mailbox to replace the hideous one we have
4. removed french doors to hallway - it made the living room look 20% bigger, really! (I never thought I would take them down, but it is really a big difference). We will leave the ones b/w the living/dining rooms.
5. set up all computers

Good Omen

We planted this 2 years ago, but it didn't bloom at all last summer, though it did grow lots of green leaves. As soon as we moved in this starting blooming though! *



* No need to comment any of the following:
- If it bloomed when you moved in, the buds had formed long ago
- Red is color of mourning in parts of Africa or the color of communism
- These only flower every other year

Progress (though not much!)

Far fewer boxes, a new microwave....















Looks like a living room, albeit a messy, unattactive one. At some point we will buy new furniture to replace the current stuff, circa 1980 from my step-dad's old house. We need to decide on the best layout first.















Evidence our new washer/dryer isn't yet at the house. We just bought them tonight, they will be here in 1 week.



















At least one of us has been away the last two weekends, so this weekend we should be able to get some serious unpacking done.