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| Me, pinning all the things |
In my defense, I’ve never really had the opportunity to decorate a home before. Since Chris and I were married five (almost 6!) years ago, we’ve moved six times. Allison has yet to have a birthday in the same place twice. We knew when Chris accepted his job in flight test that our homes would be temporary. It just didn’t make sense to spend the time, or money, fixing up a place that we knew we’d be leaving within a year or two.
Consequently, our house is filled with a hodge-podge of furniture. Most of it is left over from Chris’ or my college years. Some of it has been donated to us, and some of it we have acquired on craigslist or at garage sales. To my knowledge, none of it has been stolen.
I crack up every time the movers arrive to pack up our belongings. They always look skeptically at our 12 year old target bookcases and the file cabinet Chris has had for ages. “Ma’am, I’m not sure these are going to make it,” they announce grimly, “maybe if we use a lot of blankets around them...” When we left Renton, the top of the file cabinet came loose when the mover lifted it. He looked horrified. I stifled a laugh.
The entertainment continued when our things were unloaded in Maryland. A poor unsuspecting mover unwrapped one our carefully wrapped bookcases to find what appeared to be a pile of scrap wood...er...scrap particle board. “Do you want me to just toss this?” he asked apologetically.
“No! I’m sure it can be glued back together,” answered Chris. [And yes, he did glue it back together. It looks decent except for along the bottom where the trim is missing and the particle board is poking out.]
Later another mover unloaded a couple of our chests of plastic drawers. “In the basement?” he asked. “No, no. In the master bedroom!” I explained.
When our homemade, unfinished bookcases were brought in, the mover asked if we wanted them in the garage. He looked only slightly embarrassed when we announced they belonged in our living room.
Anyhoo, my point is, I’m pretty stoked to be able to outfit a house that we actually get to live in indefinitely. Poor Chris won’t know what hit him. I’ve been as frugal as he has the past five years, seeing no point in spending money on things that may not work in our permanent home. But I, unlike him, have also spent the last five years creating a wish list that is a mile long. And in St. Louis, I will no longer be two hours from a mall. Oh, the possibilities.
Having a house to dump money into is not, of course, the only reason I’m excited to be moving to St. Louis. We are really looking forward to being close to family and our Missouri friends again, and I am thrilled that Seattle will be a mere four hour plane ride away. The weather in St. Louis, namely the wretched three month long stretch of unbearable humidity that Missourians call “summer”, is something I will just have to learn to live with.
In other news, my baby is one year old already! Nicole isn’t quite walking yet, but she motors all over the place with her push toy. Chris and I are thrilled, but Nicole’s relatively sudden and vast mobility has brought less joy to her big sister. I am now privy to a constant stream of complaints from Allie: “Nicole is just eating my toys...Nicole is pushing me...I don’t want Nicole in my fort”...etc. My personal favorite? “Nicole is pulling my hair and then laughing! She thinks it’s funny!!”
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| The way Nicole feels after pulling Allie's hair. |
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| The way Allie feels after Nicole pulls her hair. |
But all in all, the girls absolutely adore each other. Nobody can make Nicole laugh like Allie can, and nothing brings me more happiness than hearing the girls giggling together. Because after all, two happy girls means a couple more minutes on pinterest for mom. Kidding, kidding. Mostly.
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| The girls adoring each other. |
