we finished painting

Thanks so much to everyone who lent a hand! We painted the house in seven colors over Saturday and Sunday. For now you'll have to take my word that it looks amazing, but we'll post pictures soon to prove it.

The internet guy came by on Saturday to install our life line. He was banging around outside for a few hours to get it all set up. I haven't been able to confirm that it works yet (I tried plugging it into my laptop but it didn't seem to take), but I'm sure we can get it working by the time we move in for reals. Yes, I'm quite certain.

Also we met the gardeners who have been taking care of the place. They were very nice, and quite keen to continue working for us. At $30 a visit it's hard to say no. That's not more much than I would have charged when I was mowing lawns as a teenager, and these guys actually do a really professional job.

So for now they'll keep coming around every 2 weeks, at least until we come up with another plan. I think eventually we may want to take over ourselves, but we just have a lot of lawn that needs a lot of regular attention, and we need a chance to settle in and re-evaluate our yard master plan first.

...So next weekend is the move, and I guess the thing to do before then is to clean and pack. The new place needs to be cleaned and unmasked, but that shouldn't take more than an evening. That and we need a few more supplies. We got a few things from Target but we'll need to make several more trips (Ikea, Home Depot, Smart and Final, etc..) before we're really on solid ground for household supplies. Trash cans, trash bags, cleaning supplies, kitchen odds and ends...I love this stuff!