Just right!

Our washer and dryer were installed on the 9th and, as hoped, they fit nicely into their designated space. Just a small garden-variety set for a couple of elderly people that don't have to do a lot of laundry.  Most of the furnace register is exposed, so that's a welcome touch. I'm glad again that Nate reversed the door for us as it would have been very much in the way I think. 

The dryer has a great "Steam Refresh" setting which functions through a water hose hooked to the back. You just drop in your wrinkly clothes, it sprays some water on them, and steams out the wrinkles in maybe 10 minutes. Yup, definitely high mucky-muck over here. 

This morning we were thrilled to pick up our main Christmas gift: a piano! The best/only place we could fit it was in my office - oh, poor me! It's a digital piano - Yamaha Arius 184. It's beautiful and sounds great! Now if I could just find my Christmas music books...

Speaking of Christmas, I should show you that I did make a small attempt to decorate a little, at least in the living room, with several Nativities on top of the entertainment center and a few other cherished things here and there. (Not the best photo with the sun shining through the blinds. Oh well.)

 Even a small tree (same one we used last year), flanked by an abominable snowman nutcracker, and the little ceramic candy cane house some may remember. 

Close-ups of a few when the lights are on. I love these things!!!

Dear Washer and Dryer: We have a spot for you now!

The laundry room tile is grouted and done! What a massive relief that is and delighted that it only took a little more than two hours to complete which hopefully means we're getting a little more proficient at it... 

Here's how we get the job done: Doug keeps me supplies with fresh buckets of water + I the rest = a great team. Today he was into singing a funny little ditty called "Please Don't Send Me Fruitcake" again and again, so we didn't lack for entertainment. There is a recording of it sung by the Von Trapp Children (yes, from The Sound of Music story) if you're interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32hcbDod0yg

By the way, he'll get his wish because I'm not sending him any fruitcake but I am planning on baking it and sharing only with the few family members that actually do like it.

We're in!

A BIG thanks to Nate, Joe, and Jon for helping us get moved into our house the day before Thanksgiving! The lucky Nievaards finally got their garage, basement, and Emily's office space back. They were fabulous landlords!

                                 

The truck is all loaded up.

And now for the unloading. 

 We had a cute bonus helper!

 Guess who drove the 20-foot moving van? You guessed it: ME! We were so blessed to have a good-weather day and very light traffic so it turned out to be much more stress-free than expected.

Here's what we looked like sitting in our new living room the first night of officially living in our house. Comfy and cozy!

After unloading our stuff, Joe and Jon installed a plywood floor in the laundry room to serve as a nice base for the vinyl tiling. You can catch a glimpse of it below. Also that the room painting is finished (but no baseboards yet). 

The boys screwed the plywood onto the old flooring but ran out of screws, so Little Miss Nail Gun Expert added a few more screws and then finished it off with the nail gun at Nate's suggestion. This is now my latest favorite tool! So fun to shoot nails into stuff.  

The boys had sawed the crawl space trap door for us, but I spent another hour cleaning up the lines and corners with a utility knife and square to make it easier to tile. 

Today I worked non-stop from 8:30am-5:30pm except for a brief lunch break installing the vinyl tile. More than 80 tiles all-told. In one section I had laid a couple of tiles just a hair off, which sent the whole row into a frustrating, crooked mess. Doug suggested I try prying them off and adjust as it takes a while for the adhesive to, well, adhere. So that little activity probably burned up about an hour of time but at least let me get it to the point where I could live with it. 

The area that was most challenging though was the trap door. I laid each tile across the seam gap and then cut out the seam pieces using my trusty utility knife and square again. We wanted the tile pattern to just continue across the door and I think it turned out pretty well!

Of course my knees and hips are thrashed tonight, but hopefully a good night's rest will provide sufficient recovery so we can insert the grout tomorrow. It's imperative that it dry as hard as possible before our WASHER AND DRYER arrive on Monday. Yay!