Progress on the Home Front--or Is It??

Thanks everyone for all your well-wishing on yesterday's post!

I don't know when I'll have pictures of the new house, but I will share them when I do!

On the financial front, we didn't get very far yesterday--Father Rooster and the loan officer were unable to connect, but hopefully will today.

But on the home front...

The kids were all so motivated yesterday to go through their belongings and start packing up, that I let them take the day off and do just that. When one child says, "Come on, guys, we don't want to take a lot of junk into our new house," and the others agree--you ride that wave!

I have to say that the thought of that pristine new construction motivates me too. Plus I have the AmVets or some charity coming by on Thursday--and it wasn't too cold yesterday--so I spent my day yesterday going through the second floor attic.

I can hardly believe that in our new house, we may have no attics. There is no attic over the garage--that's the bonus room off the master bedroom, which will be Fr. Rooster's office. And the attic over the bedrooms upstairs is probably full of trusses and not very usable, our realtor/construction guy/catechist/old college friend Jan said. Right now, the opening to it is placed in such a way that it would be impossible to install pull-down stairs, and if we can't do that, it's unusable to this family.

I love my attics--with their pull-down stairs--as a place to put items that are in-between uses. Clothes I'm saving for the next child down. Toys that are out-of-rotation. Christmas gifts I've bought ahead. Homeschool curriculum to sell at the annual used curriculum sale. Stuff a child has outgrown but can't emotionally part with yet. Stuff I can't emotionally part with yet. Stuff I haven't decided what to do with.

When you're moving, though, all becomes clear. "Come on, guys, we don't want to take a lot of junk into our new house," kept ringing in my ears. Especially when there may be no attic! (There will be a storage room in the basement, more closets and a bigger garage.)

So yesterday, I found loads of stuff to get rid of, and I packed up five boxes of loose stuff to move. The attic's not nearly empty, but it's considerably easier to walk about up there. (Oh, that's the other key to a good attic--you have to install a 3/4" plywood floor. Not all the way out to the edges--there's always light stuff you can balance on the rafters out there--but at least a good-sized area.)

I wish I could get back up there today, but we have friends coming over this morning to help us strip the dining room wallpaper. I can't say I'm excited about saying goodbye to it. Even Father Rooster, last night, looked wistfully around and said, "I don't know if I'm going to like this room without that wallpaper." It's about the third time he's said something similar, and I have to agree with him. The boldness of the fruit, vine and lattice pattern give me such a feeling of abundance and blessing, and the muted rust, gold and green colors in it complement our woodwork and our rust-colored floor so warmly.

Warmth--that's the word. Even painted a warm muted gold, that room is going to feel cold by comparison.

I should have posted a picture and titled this post, "Ode to My Wallpaper." But I don't have time this morning even to upload the pictures I took of it last night...because I have to run out now and buy Dif! (That's wallpaper paste remover liquid, for you fortunate uninitiated.) Our friends will be arriving soon.

Farewell, fruit and vines.