Getting Settled In

We made it to Wisconsin...in one piece...with all our children. It was definitely a miracle, especially when we entered rush hour traffic in Chicago, came to a stop, and the gas light dings on. We made it through somehow to the last oasis on the toll road to get gas.
We enjoyed rather mild temperatures the first few days, but it's warming up a bit now. However, a high of 83 is still pleasant to us seasoned southerners. I have windows open every day letting in the breeze off the lake. It's been several years since I lived in a house where I had windows that opened and I'm loving it. I'm saving up to pay for that heat I'll need in the winter.
Despite a day's delay of the moving truck, we've had few glitches in the move...thankfully. Unpacking is tiring and some days very overwhelming. I about lost it the day I unpacked the kitchen. It was just so many boxes and paper and nothing seemed to make since in how they packed the boxes. I wasn't certain how to put everything in the cabinets and I just started setting everything out on the counters. I knew I would have plenty of space, it was a matter of the best placement. With some help and soothing from Blasen, I got it figured out. I would say we have over half dealt with/unpacked now. I have the kitchen, dining room, family room, bedrooms, bathrooms done. The sunroom(office/sewing room) and master is partially done. I plan on working on the sunroom today and Blasen has to go through his hundreds of t-shirts and pants and figure out what he can part with or how to arrange it all in his closet. The playroom(basement) needs to be dealt with, as does the garage..and soon. The living room is the space for all wall hangings and boxes of books for now. It's likely the last thing I'll do.
One of the selling points of this house was the yard. The kids our outside most of the day just running around and playing. We even have a garden that the former owners planted thinking it would take longer to sell their house. I finally go out there and picked. We have green beans, tomatoes, green peppers, jalapeno peppers, and cucumbers. There's also a bed of rhubarb, but it's not ready to pick until next spring. Oh, and there are two apple trees.

This was from my first night of picking and I went out last night and picked just about as much. I've been giving lots of it away that we can't eat right now as I just don't have time to do much else with it.

Everyone has been enjoying having the gardens. It's something that I've always wanted but never really have had the space nor time. With the timing of this baby, she should be old enough for me to be able to have time to plant a garden next spring. It seems like everyone here plants around Memorial Day...crazy I know. I have a lot of reading up to do on gardens in Wisconsin!

We've also met lots of our neighbors. They are supper nice. Someone brought this beautiful bouquet over on Saturday. There has also been dinner brought by and a goody basket on move-in day. We're starting to feel more at home here every day.

I've been looking for a dining room table for awhile now...we've outgrown ours and I've never liked the width of it anyway. I found one up here on craigslist the week we moved in and got, what I feel, is a steal of a deal($250).

It has five leaves and eight chairs, there was even a buffet. The chair seats are all original and need to be dealt with eventually, but it all works for now. The kids have loved having a larger table and funny enough being served at the table.

Here's the buffet(ignore the lovely wallpaper). And those hydrangeas are from a bush in our backyard...it's overflowing with blooms right now.
Now the real test will be getting our yard this nice next summer.



P.S. If there are typos and improper grammatical structure or just general confusion, know that I did not proof read this.