Life As It Is.

Old vs. New.

Gardening season is upon us. March 17, the magical date, has come and gone. Normally, March 17 is the signal for me to don my gardening shoes, pull out the cultivator, and get to work.

But, I have to be patient this year because we have work to do in the yard before I can plant a garden this year. Seth and I moved into our first new house in the Fall of 2003, so Spring of 2004 found us cutting down trees, pulling out stumps, leveling, tilling, trenching, landscaping, sodding, seeding...you name it. And it was not Seth's favorite way to spend his time. But he loves me, so he did it. And now he has to do it all over again. He's a good man.

So this is the garden that I dreamt up the last time around, based loosely on drawings in a Susan Branch book. I loved this garden and it is easily the thing I miss most about old home. So now, as I'm brainstorming and planning what I want the new garden to be like, I'm trying to incorporate everything I loved about the old garden, but also trying to avoid the things I didn't love (there wasn't really anything I didn't like about the garden but there were things about the yard that I would do differently).

Like everything in my life though, I have this irrational fear of not doing it perfectly. It isn't going to be perfect. So why do I allow myself to live under the illusion that it could be? There will be things that I don't think of. That drives me absolutely crazy. I WANT to be able to think of everything. Stupid perfectionism.

By the same token, it is helpful that we have done this once before, I loved most of what we did last time around, so it will be even better this time. It is exciting to plan and dream and create.

We spent last Saturday planning out the landscaping, sprinkler system, and garden. Seth laughed at me when I pulled out my garden journal from 2004. I have all kinds of crazy stuff written in there....sketches of what I wanted, lists of what we bought and how much it was (anal but helpful), notes from the many Saturday mornings I listened to "Joy In The Garden" on the radio (who coincidentally turns out to be my college roommate's mom), notes that my friend Sarah Howsden wrote in my book to help me know when to plant things (stuff that is second nature to me now after 8  years of gardening), the recipe my grandpa gave me for a natural pesticide, reminders about companion planting, even orders that I made for bulbs and plants.

So that was last weekend....looking back to see what we did last time. Making a plan. This weekend, we start implementing the plan and creating our new yard and my new garden. I'm excited to get out there and get dirty. Hopefully we'll be ready for summer BBQ parties in no time at all!

 

Moving.

So I guess I should get around to discussing the fact that we are indeed all moved in to our new home and loving it!

We closed on our house, as planned, on Thursday October 13. Unfortunately, Seth was sick and was feeling pretty miserable, but he endured and got through it. Friday, Seth had to work half the day, but then we got the Uhaul that afternoon. By dinnertime, we were unloading the first truckload at the new house. By bedtime, the truck was probably halfway loaded (again) and our old house was pretty empty.

Our faithful moving crew returned bright and early the next morning and finished loading the truck, and by mid/late morning, the old house was completely empty and I was starting to unpack in the new house. By that night, the old house was completely clean and ready to hand over to the new owners.

Much fun was made of my hyper-anal OCD packing tendencies (every box was tagged by color, room, and number which corresponded to my little book where I documented what was in every box), but it is okay because it was worth enduring the teasing in the end because we were unpacked and settled in a matter of a couple days and I was able to find anything/everything. Seth took most of the following week off and he has been awesome at getting lots of little projects done. It was a great together at home...we had our own little staycation and it was definitely a blessing. We played hide and seek, shopped for a few new things for the house, played on the xbox kinect (Seth's bday gift), and enjoyed time making ourselves at home. Sadly, everyone in the family ended up getting the cold that Seth had (plus he shared it with some of our friends that helped us move...sorry about that).

But, we're all feeling very at home and most of the projects are done (until spring when we put our yard in). Seth still needs to do some work on his mancave, but I'm not allowed in that room, so it isn't my problem to deal with :) I still need to do a few things to get the studio fully-functional, but I'll get there.

We've had guests over a few times now, and Thursday we're bringing our neighbors from our old house over for dinner. I wish we could move them in right behind us here at this house, we miss having them right in our backyard.

So, we're settled, so don't hesitate to invite yourself over!

The box pile progressively growing....at some point I got too busy to think to take photos::

Birthdays & Moving.

So I have been putting off blogging until I could take some time to add photos to my posts, but I haven't gotten to it and probably won't until after we move, so I figured I better update anyhow. That was a run-on sentence.

Anyhow. I've been over my head in boxes. Literally. I have bruises in weird places on my body from carrying boxes. Yesterday I walked right into a thick wire that crosses Sadie's bedframe (I was tearing all the beds down). That should leave an interesting bruise. It was painful, I don't recommend it. Our garage is a huge block of boxes. The cupboards and drawers have been emptied, closets are barren. I'm so ready to just move already!!

We were supposed to close on the house yesterday, but we got held up a couple days so we'll hopefully close tomorrow or Friday. We had a week of rain right at the point that the driveway needed to be poured, thus the hold up. But all of that has been done now, so we're just tying up loose ends. It is hard to wait when I know the house is ready for me to be unpacking, organizing, decorating, and making myself at home :) Soon enough. We should be able to move in over the weekend, so if you are available, we would love some help....mostly just loading everything into the truck in the old garage and unloading it in the new garage.

Birthdays. We have a lot of them in the fall. Sadie's was on Saturday (I've written a separate post, but need to add the pics, so stay tuned). Seth's birthday is today. He was embarrassed the last time I wrote a gushy post about my "hubby", so I won't tell you how amazing he is, or how much I love him, or what a fantabulous dad he is, or that he is ridiculously good-looking.....because that would just further embarrass him ;) But I will tell you that he has had his driver's license for half his life now. He hasn't quite reached the point where he has been out of school more years than in school.He is halfway to 64. He is a third of the way to 96. I hope we're still poking fun at each other when we're 96. Happy birthday, husband.

Day 92.

Our house is so close to being done!! Looking on the inside, most of the house looks ready to be lived in. All the carpet is in (that was the last of the flooring). This week they've been adding hardware like doorknobs, rods in the closets, towel racks, etc. They should be pouring the driveway any day now. Still some things yet to be done....blinds, mirrors, and such. I'm very eager to move in!

Day 87.

The first photo is from standing outside the pantry. Second photo is after you walk into the pantry and turn right.

The studio flooring is in:

We close on the sell of our house tomorrow! Woohoo! Less than three weeks now until the new house is finished.

Day 79.

Well, today is actually day 81, but the photo is from day 79. The hardwood is going in. Hardwood is in the top five favorite things Jen is excited about in the new house :)The man was working on the hardwood while I was there, so I didn't get a great photo, but you get the idea.

Full Plate.

The Kappes plate feels very full at the moment. Life seems so very full. Full of good things, but I think Seth and I are both starting to drag. I think it always seems worse on weeks like this when our nights are as busy as our days. A retirement party, an ASM meeting. two nights of soccer practice, bible study, birthday party.... we didn't get a lot of down time in the evenings, which helps our family thrive. Good to do the things we were doing, but it can get tiring.

Summer has officially gone and homeschool is in full gear. Seth has his hands full at work. Bible study and mom's group resumed this week. Just four more weeks of soccer remain. The girls love soccer and we love for them to be involved in it, but it will definitely be nice to regain all those hours!

Last weekend, Seth suggested that we take a few days away as a family this weekend. As fun as that sounds, I felt like planning and packing for a trip right now, with all that we have going on, would be insane. I was almost relieved when the place we wanted to go wasn't available. But on the cusp of a busy weekend, at the end of a hectic week, I kinda wish we were en route to someplace free of responsibilities!

Things are moving along well with the sell of our current house. The appraiser and the home inspector both came this week. It looks like we'll be closing next week. We're so thankful to God that things have gone smoothly and in such perfect timing. Many prayers have been answered along the way, and while we know that God cares for us and our needs regardless of whether things go as we hope (His plan is not always our own), I have been blessed by God's provisions.

Things are going well at the new house. They started installing the hardwood yesterday. Lighting fixtures were installed this week. The shower/bath in the master bathroom are underway. It is looking more and more like a home that can be lived in :) We received notice today of the completion date which is October 11, which happens to be the exact day we were told by our builder before we started building (we were told 100 days). They've stayed on right on schedule. We have had lots of naysayers that kept telling us that it would take much, much longer than the builder told us. Good job, Nilson Homes....you said 100 days and it was 100 days!

So, yes, that's what is going on at the Kappes house as of late.

Day 77.

Shutters are on:

Granite countertops are in.

Stonework on the fireplace:

Day 71.

Wow, I didn't realize how far behind I gotten in updating photos on the blog of the new house. Things have been going fantastically. SO happy with progress. We are giddy everytime we show up to the house and see what has changed since we were last there.

Brick is almost done:

And stucco is almost done now too:

They've finished painting. They were finishing up cabinet installation when I was there today:

Fireplace mantle:

We're getting closer! Seth is hoping they hurry so he can have increased variety in t-shirts (evidently he was planning on wearing those t-shirts he hadn't touched in months).

Grateful tears.

I cried tears of gratitude in the aisle of Harmon's grocery store today. We got an offer on our house! I was surprised at myself as the tears welled up in my eyes, but I couldn't help myself! I'm just so thankful for the way that everything has happened in this entire house process. Things have happened just the way that I've prayed and hoped for. There were some specific things I've prayed for (not selling the house too soon and thus having to move twice, but selling the house before we close on our new house so we don't have to make payments on both, etc) and so far, we've been blessed to have things happen that way. I couldn't contain my thankfulness as I read the text message explaining the offer there in the aisle with Mrs. Meyer's basil-scented hand soap in one hand, phone in the other hand.

Amazingly, I haven't been stressed about the house selling. Normally, I worry more than I should, but I somehow have felt at peace with this. I think largely that is because I've felt very secure in Seth's planning. I'm thankful that he makes sure we stay on track with our saving, that he made sure we could carry both houses if necessary (though I've really prayed that it wouldn't be necessary).

We've accepted the offer, and while there's still no certainty, I'm incredibly thankful for where things are.