House planning

It's starting to hit me that in a week we will have a house. A HOUSE. Where we will really build our lives together. Where we can create a space that we really love. Where our kids will start their lives. Where it's not temporary and we aren't constantly thinking of what we'll do differently the next time we move. This will be the house our kids grow up in.

There will be neighbors and this time I really want to get to know them. I've already talked to one of them on the phone and she was really nice--she and her husband have two kids, ages 5 and 2, and another one due in July. I'm already planning to bring over some sort of meal when the baby is born because I figure the last thing they'll want to do is cook. And by then we'll be NEIGHBORS. Real ones! And if we have a baby in a couple years, then their youngest will only be a couple years older than our oldest. They can play together!

And there are so many DETAILS. I mean, yes we have to get a ton of furniture, and that will be fun. But we also need to plant trees, and figure out if we want some sort of water feature to help block the highway noise (and, by the way, if we do install a waterfall, like most landscaped water features, it will use recirculated water--so it will not be a huge drain of natural resources). And figure out if we want fruit trees? And a vegetable garden? And ooooh daffodils, and what purple flowers grow well in Colorado?

And we're going to get a grill, and some patio furniture. This will be perfect post-surgery--grilled lean meat and vegetables are an excellent post-surgery diet, and I can just eat that all summer. Plus it means Torsten will be in charge of cooking--so I can finish work and go to the gym while he prepares the grill so we can eat when I get home. It's perfect!

And the two fireplaces! We have to get fireplace tools and order wood. And buy a rack to store the wood in. And a tarp to cover it with.

And maybe a dog door? Montana loves being able to go in and out as she pleases, as we have learned when we leave the balcony door open, and with our offices being upstairs in the spare bedrooms, it will be a pain in the ass if we have to keep going up and down the stairs to let her in and out when we're trying to work.

Oh, and the house doesn't have a mailbox, it has a mail slot next to the door. I didn't think those were still in use, but apparently they are, so we need to get a little table to put under it so that Montana doesn't come across mail lying on the floor and think it's fair game.

Basically there's a million things to do because we're about to be LIVING IN OUR HOUSE. But I LOVE this type of stuff, and even more because it's FOR OUR HOUSE. I'm sorry, did I mention that we're ABOUT TO HAVE A HOUSE? And that the house is PERFECT? Because we are, and it is. I want to go drive by the house RIGHT THIS SECOND, just to visit and say hello. But I will restrain myself, because soon enough we'll be LIVING THERE.