Settling in…
Well we have been down here for about a week now and I think that we are settling in quite nicely. Most things are unpacked. We have hit the beach 3 times and the waterpark once. I still need to hang pictures and shelves back on the walls but will probably wait until Jeff gets down here this weekend.
We had a lot of nice little things done during the off-season…we now have ceiling fans that work in the main two living areas downstairs. Amazing the difference that having a little bit of air movement can make. We replaced the single lighting fixture over the island with a nicer two fixture light that ties in better with the kitchen. Had recessed lighting installed in the main living area so we can now dim the overhead lights and had additional outside lighting installed.
We also had the closets and the pantry redone. Which I have to say is the nicest thing! The old closets basically just had a bar and that was it. Lots of wasted space. I put mostly shelves in the downstairs closets as we use the guest bedroom closet as an overflow pantry. The kitchen pantry is so much better! The old shelves were warped and badly painted. I also replaced the bi-fold dooor with two doors that swing out so now you can see everything in the pantry and the door does not block the back hallway the way it used to. It feels so good to have a place for most of everything now.
One thing that is really nice about being down here is that we really have less "stuff" and there are no major "house projects" hanging over us. No garage or basement to clean out, not as many piles of clutter to decide what to do with. I need to remember this when we go home so I can be inspired to get rid of more of the junk there! I also love how we really have no commitments down here, yet we stay very busy. No classes, no doctor's appointments, no reason to have to get up and out of the house other then getting to the beach. Not to mention that things on the whole are just more relaxed around here…things just operate on a different "beach" time. Which is fine as long as you are not waiting for a dinner reservation on a weekend! Which is why we tend to try to go out during the week and stay home on the weekends! Being able to walk to many places is nice too.
We are having to rethink some things…such as how to keep Ellie out of the cat's box. At home, the box is in the unfinished basement and Ellie is too scared of the wooden stairs to go down. Here it is in the small downstairs bedroom and Ellie has decided that it is fun to bring cat poop into the other rooms! Jeff should be bringing down a baby gate to put in the doorway so hopefully that will solve things.
One thing I was worried about was leaving Ellie during the day (we obviously are out and about more down here on a daily basis) but that has been working out really well. No accidents and she has been fine being out in the house (at home she would scratch at the doors…here the door is mostly glass, but I have noticed that she is not scratching as much).
The boys are funny…they want to do everything all at once. They have already had two sleepovers with Jack (one here a couple of nights ago and one at Jack's last night) and are begging for more. They want to go to Layton's for breakfast every morning and Fish Tales for dinner nearly every night (not gonna happen) and want ice cream and lemonades every day at the beach. Think that we might just do a Layton's breakfast once a week (kind of like how we have pizza night) and will have to think about giving the kids a "treat allowance" so they do not bug me all the time. Still need to get their annual henna tattoos…maybe this weekend when it is supposed to be cooler and possibly rain.
Well, gotta head off to the waterpark!
