Hard to explain

Today is my last day that I can be in my apartment. Tomorrow I relinquish the keys to my landlord, have the electricity turned off and complete the move to the new house.

I have been in my little apartment since May 1994; a long time. Everything that has happened to me that held any gravity at all in my life as it is now happened in the time that I have called this place, such as it is, my home.

I say "such as it is" because it's small and not very posh. I have, for the past 16 years, slept on a Murphy bed, cooked in a small kitchen, dressed in a tiny room and showered in a bathroom that is even more so. So many people have made light of where and how I have lived, but I've always felt at home there. I always felt provided for and safe there, mostly because I have been able to make my own way. Though I have struggled at times, I've always been enough to give myself just enough and be happy.

To say that I am happy to be in our new home with Morgan is to say the very least. It's very comfortable and spacious. The bedroom, when combined with the bathroom and closets, is probably a small kitchen away from still being much nicer and roomier than my former apartment. Yet, leaving a place is still difficult, isn't it? Even if the place that you leave behind is just, well, a little apartment.

It's the picking up and the moving on that leaves behind the bad and the good. And neither are there still when you return for them.

Lights, camera, AUCTION!

Morgan and I went to the University of Arkansas surplus auction looking for a few more things for the house. We needed a desk of some sort for her office and something to put the television on, but were open to just about anything that we could put to use.

That's her in the center in the gray shirt.

And in the process, I learned something. Left unsupervised with a valid auction number, Morgan will buy a lot of stuff. I was able to stay for a bit before I had to head in to work and by the time I returned to check on her, we owned a huge desk; a cabinet; a former locker that we now have two of that will serve to hold the television and whatever else we wish to put in it; and several stools. We nearly came home with two large television camera lenses, an underwater video camera, an additional television and a VCR or two. I intervened.

But in addition to finding things to take home, she met several people whom we refer to by first name — one couple has actually agreed to have us over to their house, feed us a cookout and let Morgan ride their horses Sunday afternoon. I wonder if this would have happened if I had been there the whole time.

It's all very nice stuff and the house looks so much more like a home now with all of her purchases. And I'm so glad that she was able to meet some people and begin to work on making new friends. There's another surplus auction in December and this time, I might just drop her off at the gate.

Update

We knew there were azaleas behind and amongst all the scrub brush!



Sharing is good for you. Or so they keep telling us.



We've replaced the ballast (spelling?) and bulbs on one side of this two sided monstrosity. Guess which side we've replaced! We will replace the other side sometime this coming week.



I cleaned part of the deck off with a scrub bush and bucket. I just couldn't stand anymore how disgusting it felt beneath my bare feet. Ugh what fun! But what an amazing difference between where I've scrubbed and where I haven't. We'll try and borrow or rent a power washer or I'll just scrub the rest of it.


I made Andy put in new blades on the 80's throwback ceiling fan in the family room. The old blades had this lovely (NOT) wicker inset in the middle of them and the globes, you will note, are smoked glass prisms. Nice (NOT). Those have also been replaced and I'll grab a picture of that later. It really looks like a brand new ceiling fan, thank god!


He really is ready to whack me, I'm sure.


I spent two days trimming the bushes in the front of the house and what a difference. You can actually see the window to Tad's bedroom now. It looks so much nicer. Andy has planted a lovely Japanese maple tree in the front - will grab a shot of that later as well.


The back yard. It's really going to be fabulous when we get everything done. In a zillion years. Heh. But it is already a massive improvement over what it was when we first got the house and it will be even better next year.

While I absolutely love sitting on the back deck and listening to the birds (We have pigeons!) I discovered that the spot we had the deck furniture was poorly planned. Turns out it was directly under a favorite roosting branch for the birds. We've since relocated it to a more protected spot on the deck and all is well.



We've been in the house a week now, I think. Yes, a week. There is still tons to do but we've gotten a lot done already. Andy is delighting in having a yard and a garage. Super Truck came home a couple of days ago and spent his first night in a garage. He appears to have taken to it just fine and Blu is glad for the company. Ok, that's a lie. Blu is used to having the garage all to his self and is having to adjust to the notion of sharing his space.

Much the same as Andy and I are having to adjust. Neither one of us has lived with a significant other in over a decade. We've been very independent and used to having our own space and making our own decisions regarding that space and our lives, for that matter. So we are adjusting. I imagine that will be just like this fabulous house.....a constant work in progress but also a labor of love.

Still wiped out and as I speak it's 9pm and Andy is out on the deck working on fixing the screen door that sticks. I think it's time to call him in and just relax a little. We hope everyone else is doing more relaxing and less working.

Love on!

Morgan and Andy

Moving and previews

Total hodgepodge of photos. Too tired to bother with a neat organized entry. This gives you an idea of our move and the first few days in the new house. The house is fabulous and we love it but she sure needs some updating. Please notice the chandelier in the kitchen before Andy changed it and then the fabulous copper one that is hanging now. The thing was so awful that Andy changed it out our very first night here after he got off of work. It's as though the house was just never updated past the early 80's. Still.....it's already a wonderful home.

Stay tuned as our adventures will surely continue.

Love on!

Morgan and Andy