Making our house Home

My things arrived in Germany and were delivered this morning. Praise the Lord and pass the wine.

Like any sort of household thing, I had an "appointment" for the movers to come, and like any typical house appointment it was between the hours of 8 and 6. With a stroke of luck the movers showed up this morning right after 8. Two German men came to unload my stuff, but sadly they were not as entertaining as the last German movers I saw. These ones were quite small, in fact. However, they still amazed me with the style in which they move things. I have a hope chest which is filled with things such as yearbooks, boxes of pictures, Broadway playbills, photo albums. Nothing fragile, but when it's packed together it's not light. Two men carried it out of my house in Montana, and it was a challenge for them. A German mover who was the size and build of my brother (and for those of you who haven't met him, Kyle is about 6' and maybe 160 pounds soaking wet after eating at an all-you-can-eat buffet) threw it on is back and huffed it up two flights of stairs. Yet both of the movers worked together to carry my empty bookcase upstairs - something I have moved by myself before. Nuts, I tell you, nuts.

It has been about two years since the last time I moved, and I'd forgotten the overwhelming feeling you get when you see a room full of boxes you know you have to unpack. I also forgot how much I hate unpacking a box and realizing I have no idea where I want to put anything. Beings that I'm married to the military, I suppose I should get used to it. However... our house looks a bit chaotic at the moment.

When I getting ready to leave Montana and I was trying to get my stuff together for the movers to pack, I kept wondering when on earth I had gotten so much stuff. Where had it all come from? How on earth had I managed to store/hide/use all of it? I had the same feelings today. How do I have so much stuff? How does it fit into so many boxes?
Thus far I've gotten the whole kitchen unpacked and put away (thanks to some help from Josh), my bookshelf unpacked and organized (obviously a high priority for me), and the majority of my decorative stuff unpacked. Putting the decorative stuff in place will be a whole different story. I did take some time to put a few things up in the bathroom (by far the easiest of my decorating).

A few weeks ago I worked on painting parts of the house. The hallways I simply re-painted white - but it made a big difference. We have an archway in our hallway that was a dirty white (like the walls) but I painted it a brown color. With my things arriving today, I added a touch to the archway which is very Kirsten.

Although my feet and back hurt, and I am exhausted I am excited to finally have my stuff here. I can't wait to get a chance to hang things up and decorate. The only question is if Josh can sleep through me drilling screws into the walls...