...housewarming...

...we've had so many nice people bring by food and housekeeping necessities...

...but I wanted to show you this basket of vegan goodies...

...all locally obtained...

...so happy to be living in a vegan-friendly place...

...and a

BIG THANK YOU

to everyone who's stopped by with welcome wishes!!!

PS...see that little bit of bare floor behind the table...the blue carpet is gone...

...unpacking...really heavy boxes...

...our AWESOME movers packed the dishes in special dish boxes...

...called dish barrels...

...these boxes full of dishes are very heavy...and they're in the garage...

...so I take some baskets and open a box and unload about 2/3 of it into my baskets...then I can carry the more manageable weight in the baskets upstairs...and finish unpacking...

...clothes are really heavy too...heavier than I would have thought...and the same process applies...

...practically everyone here (except maybe Jack) is still looking for something that is still in one of the boxes in the garage...even though the boxes are labeled it's still a bit of a 'treasure hunt'...

PS...have I mentioned that there's carpet in the kitchen (you can see it in the picture above)...ICK...

...unpacking...and contac paper...

...you may well be asking yourself what those two things could possibly have in common...

...well...the latter must be removed before the former can be accomplished...

...using a hair dryer to soften the glue I started pulling contac paper off the kitchen cabinet shelves...as there really seemed no point in unpacking the dishes and then moving them out again to remove the contac paper...

...so imagine my surprise when I found little bits of another older design beneath the top layer of sticky paper...and sometimes full sheets of it...so just double the time that it takes to pull that gummy stuff off...and you pretty much have my whole weekend...

...and when I finally got all the contac paper off the shelves were still sticky...and they were still sticky after a good wash...

...so I just lined them with tea towels...for now...when I find my sewing machine and have a little more time...I'll fashion some proper liners from a nice cotton...striped I think...

...and then I got on with the business at hand...

...so how's Jack doing?...

...some of you have sweetly asked how our Jack-Jack is adjusting...

...just fine...

...he has certainly landed in a dog loving neighborhood...

...other people's things...

...I wonder...

...about the things that get left behind when we move from one place to another...this little Bible was left all by itself in a kitchen drawer...

...I love it...the verses she chose...the DATE...the childish crayon scribbles...

...we bought this home from an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife and moved into a nursing home...and they just left some things behind...

...these things were all left in the kitchen cabinet beneath the drawer with the Bible in it...

...I love the mixer...Yep...I plugged it in and it still works...it's heavy though...

...and the coffee percolator...with the little baggie of cords...surely one of them fits the percolator...

...and the sweet pitcher...I think maybe she collected antiques...some of the items still have little estate sale type tags...

...in the bathroom...her drawers were left intact...I'm thinking it may have been too painful for him to go through some of her things...

...it makes me wonder...what did we leave behind in North Dakota...

...a few (scary) 'befores'...the blue carpet version

...you may want to shield your eyes...these are some pretty bright images...

...the Man chose/bought this house for it's 'good bones'...and also for the nice neighborhood...

...not it's decor...obviously...

...there's a lovely bright blue carpet throughout the upstairs...

...it will be (one of) the first things to go...love the fireplace though...

...guest room...blue carpet...check...

...master bedroom...blue carpet...check...

...hallway...blue carpet...check...

...some people could probably take this colour and run with it...bright bold colours and some matching/coordinating furniture...but I'm not that person...I want neutral colours and white walls...at least the walls are white...

...some more new things...the Organic version...

...remember how I used to lament that the health food store in ND was 90 miles away...

...now it's about 1.5 miles away...and it's not even a Health Food store...I got all this at my corner grocery...so YAY!