It was two weeks ago today that we moved in to the new house in Frisco. I am thankful that it was only 4 miles down the road, because moving is hard enough, but only having to go a short distance was really nice. Especially all the subsequent trips we made back and forth to get the miscellaneous items that don't fit neatly into a box - like a weedeater or a lamp.

So the past two weeks have been super tiring. Starting with the day we moved in, we've pretty much spent every night working until its time for bed; doing things like carrying boxes up and down stairs, putting beds together, arranging furniture, unpacking boxes, arranging closets, etc.

Another activity that took up a lot of time was replacing light fixtures. That is not easy, let me tell you. The concept is simple, but the execution is challenging, unless you have four arms with built in tool appendages.

We purposely waited to unpack and hang up certain things like curtains, pictures and nick-nacks. We were waiting until we got the walls painted. When we moved in, all the walls were white. While we appreciate the "blank slate", we were anxious to get some color on the walls to give it some warmth visually and to help make it feel more personalized. So last Friday, we were able to have all the walls painted. It makes a huge difference!

Little did I know that once the paint was dry, the real work would begin. Wow! This past weekend after the painters left, we began getting serious with personalizing this place with our own "stuff". Saturday and Sunday we worked like slaves. I worked like a dog and slept like a baby. :)

But it was fun work. And very fulfilling getting the new house to feel like home.

Cori and I are the type of people where our house is "our castle". We would rather have a nice home and drive old, shabby cars and not have the latest electronics equipment or cool gadgets. We feel like our house is our sacred abode where family nurturing and growth happens and we feel its important for us to establish a "homey" environment for that to take place. This is one reason why we are very thankful that we did not have to rent an apartment or house for awhile, which we thought we may end up having to do when this whole process began.

We are far from finished, as evidenced by the plethora of unpacked boxes in the garage and the array of nick-nacks and frames placed in the staging area (dining room) waiting to find a permanent place. But we are getting there and are taking pictures so we can show a before and after motif, hopefully.

I'm sure I'll leave some things out, but here's a list of things we've accomplished in the past two weeks:

Install light fixtures

Kitchen - over island (still a mess, pictures coming soon)
Kitchen - over sink
Breakfast nook
Front porch carriage light
Ceiling fan/light in living room

Assembled basketball hoop (much harder that it sounds or looks)
Assembled two bookshelves for kids' rooms
Put together 3 beds and 2 dresser mirrors
Curtains

Living room
Kitchen (still in progress)
Bennett's room
Chloe's room
Gavin's room

Several frames of artwork, a couple of wall shelves and numerous wrought-iron "things" all over the house
Installed a new dishwasher (and then cleaned up a huge water leak mess caused by the fact that I didn't realize one of the hoses was leaking. I made like 3 trips to Lowes and actually ended up installing twice after having to pull it all out to properly seal the hose. Also cut my finger real bad.)

I'm so tired of my seeing my toolbox. I want to just fling it in the creek out back, but I don't think I could throw it that far.

I'll end with a couple things I've learned through this whole process:

Mortgage loans are much harder to get these days (tighter regulations, more expensive in terms of closing costs, origination fees, etc.)
Directions that come with light fixtures, ceiling fans, shelves and basketball hoops are worthless.
The guy who invented the Phillips head screwdriver: genius. The guy who invented the slotted type: not so much.