This summer's smells: damp earth, cardboard, drying paint, cleaning supplies, and rain-soaked leaves.
This summer's textures: humid air, soggy grass, sticky painter's tape, dust, and terrycloth rags.
This summer's sounds: the hum of the dehumidifier downstairs, the squeak of glass when you clean it, echoes in a mostly-empty house (lovely for belting out show tunes), and Eli shrieking in happy circles inside bare rooms.
I think I've hauled 35 carloads to the new house now. I've lost count. The rental house is slowly turning bare while the new place is starting to feel almost livable. We don't move our furniture until July 20, but we finally got our new refrigerator. (Woo hoo! Ice water after a long morning of hauling boxes!) We hosted our first dinner party this past week, sharing a meal with dear friends around a card table while sitting in camp chairs. Tonight we had a small birthday party for Brian. The walls of this house are beginning to soak up happy memories.
The incessant rain is something of a problem at present. Our new house is snug and leak-free. (Insert thankful prayer and knocking on wood here.) And it manages to be cheerful and fairly bright inside even on overcast days. We are vigilant about mold and mildew, though. We have a dehumidifier built into our heating/cooling system, but we're trying not to run the air very much since we have to pay to cool two houses in July. The overcast skies mean cooler temperatures, less air conditioning, and less air circulating through the house. Thankfully, my brother gave us a stand-alone dehumidifier that will help us through the month. Now if it will please dry up outside in the next nine days so we can haul furniture in through the yard without churning the lovely lawn into a mud pit!
The real rain problem is with the rental house. The master bedroom developed a ceiling leak. At this point we aren't eager to have the rental company coming around. The house is clean but cluttered with boxes. Outside, the clogged gutters and weedy flowerbeds are contrary to our lease but were on hold until after the furniture move. Sigh. Before the rental company repairman could visit, I had to spend many hours on a ladder cleaning sludge and on my knees tugging roots. The lawn is a big problem too. It is far more overgrown than our lease allows, yet much too soggy to mow. Ugh. We'll be so very glad to have this rental house off our shoulders.
That's about it for the moment. Thanks for keeping up with our progress and the good wishes!
One of my happy victories in the new house... These shelves downstairs were unpainted and used by the previous owners to hold paint and tools. Four coats of paint later, they are now shelves for games and puzzles. It turns the basement into a fun spot.
In the same basement alcove, the previous owners had more tools stowed behind some curtains. I added curtain tie-backs and organized all the outdoor toys. Now Eli and I can grab what we need before heading into the back yard.
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