Still getting settled

I know it's been awhile since I posted. It's a little harder to get time to write with working full time. When not at work, any free time I have is spent still trying to get us settled. I don't like to make a habit of it, but last Sunday we ended up not going to church. I woke up feeling like the house would never get put together. It's hard to explain why it's taking so long to get finished with the move. I think the main reason is because of working full time and just not having the time I need to get everything unpacked and in its place. The other reason it's taking so long is because the house came with no built in storage. I think it's hard for Americans to understand, but in essence we bought a house with four walls and basically nothing else. I'm not crazy about the way they do things here in Germany, but that's what we're dealing with. We're buying closets and cabinets as we go. Storage is something we take for granted in the states. You just expect a house to come with closets (and a kitchen, lights, showers, etc, etc....).

I'm so thankful that we finally have our kitchen. There are a few things that need finished and I think they're coming back for that at the end of this month. I've put most everything away and we've even cooked a few meals in there. Of course, we've found a few things that we wish would have been done differently, but overall we're pretty happy with it.

I feel really good about what I got done today. We finally have a living room again. Until now, we've had a chair and a couch cleared, but boxes everywhere. We just had a path through the boxes. Today I finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. I've been able to get my plants out of the top floor and put back in the living room. I love live plants in my house. I think it brings life into the space. I got that from my Mom. She has a much better green thumb than I do though.

Sam's doing a great job with the outside. He has the fence completed and has planted trees along the fence line. We bought some black raspberry bushes and planted them along one of the fences. We have a cherry tree, apple tree and today he bought a plum tree. In a few years we should be set in the fruit department. Today he put in some pavers for stepping stones going out the back gate. He also planted some flowers. It's looking really good outside.

Painting the fence

The finished product. It should grow out through the summer and look really good.

Last weekend he installed cabinets in the laundry room. I was so happy about that because I can finally clear everything off of the washer and dryer. It gives the room a much more finished look. There are quite a few pipes running down the wall and he was able to cover them with the cabinets.

My Mom and Dad are coming over in May for three weeks. I'm so excited about that! There's still a lot that I need to get done before then. Even though it's still a couple of months away the time goes quickly. We're trying to think about what we should do while they're here. Everyone we speak to has a different idea of must-see places in Europe. No matter where we go I think they're really going to enjoy seeing the different culture over here.

Sunday - 9 March
I started this yesterday, but obviously didn't get it posted. It's a beautiful day in Germany. The weather is getting warmer even though just last week we had snow that stuck for a day or two. After church we came home and worked on the yard a little bit. I got some seeds planted. I'm going to try to get Grandma Thorne's Hibiscus seeds to grow. In both Hawaii and the house in Plattenhardt I had them planted, but we left before they had time to grow. I'm hoping that now we'll be here long enough to see them mature.

Sam was so cute the other day. He came home from the greenhouse with a couple flats of flowers. He's really been enjoying fixing up the backyard. He was so excited about the flowers he bought. They really were beautiful. He just planted them yesterday. The flowers are pretty cheap right now, so I should be getting my window baskets together before long.

Ok, it's now Wednesday morning and as you can see I still have not posted this. I need to get ready for work, but first want to get this posted. Through the week it's just so busy that I don't really get the time to do much other than work and sleep. I can't wait to have more to talk about then the house. Pictures haven't been too plentiful lately. Hopefully, one of these days we get back to living and I'll have more interesting pictures to share. Until then...