The old haunts...

Ah it felt so nice to be shopping back in our old Safeway store in Livermore. It's actually on the opposite end of town from where we live so most of our food stores will come from the smaller downtown store, but oh the treat for going to our old haunt. I always liked that store and it has improved since they finished renovating it (we moved before it was finished). It was a dream to wander down the isles and just know where everything was for the most part, very satisfying and both of us said wow we really feel like we are back at home. Must admit it was a funny thought as in the end we couldn't wait to be done with living in the apartment we rented in Livermore. However, we did have many great nights and Livermore in general feels like an old glove and fits us perfectly.

The wine manager was every so helpful too in the store and we purchased a white wine for dinner based on his recommendation and he even gave us the discount price that the wine was in sale for last week but had just ended ($3.00 off!). So tonight I cooked orange balsamic chicken thighs oh was it delicious and a nice quick recipe, and if you can't get honey pecans just use regular and you can put them in with the sage and butter it works just fine. The wine we paired with this was Champalou 2007, Vouvray. I have to admit the wine and the meal just went well together. Not too dry it uses a Demi-Sec grape most often used now in sparkling wines but this was a still wine. I have to admit the pairing was superb and the wine worth the price as we got it for just over $15.

Such a lovely lovely evening the girls we awake from 1:30 this afternoon and knackered by the time we got them to bed so here's hoping for a peaceful night (yeah right it's too hot I reckon for a good one but we can try).

Managed to hang nearly all the photos and pictures that I have, not too shabby. Was too hot for James to get up in the attic but we did a few other jobs around the house including 5 loads of laundry...we managed to shut the cats up in the spare room and well someone needed to poop. Least they had the courtesy of doing it on the bed cover which is easy to wash rather than the carpet...lesson learned don't shut the door without making sure the cats aren't in there.

Tomorrow we will do the weather proofing on the doors and if it's not too bad we will try to get the fans up, if however it's too hot again we will wait until next week and hope it's going to be cooler or at least try to do it first thing in the morning before it gets too hot up there.

So loving the fact that we can vacuum at 7:00 am if we want to and it will not disturb the neighbours although I'm still hating new carpet. Damn if that carpet didn't clog the vacuum up yet again (mutters), I reckon in about 6 months after cleaning 2 times a week I might get most of the fibers up.

I have to admit I was sitting in the bedroom folding up laundry earlier this evening and I just looked around and had to pinch myself is this really our home? So hard to believe sometimes but it feels good. James is totally loving the peace we have here and not really listening to the downstairs base. We do get to hear the neighbours music but it's never played late in the evening at loud volumes and so far really hasn't disturbed us. Oh and the lack of traffic is noticeable for sure, Lani doesn't have so many shadows to chase after :)

Settling in

Ah I finally feel like we are starting to settle in to our new home. Still lots to do but I was able to put up some of our pictures and cross stitch which just makes a whole lot of difference. It's turning out to be a warm ending to the week, thank goodness for the cool mornings although things were pretty stuffy first thing even at 5 am. It's nice to be able to open up all the windows and try to air things out before the day heats up. I will be glad for the weekend when James and Matt are going to try to put the fans up. Why oh why is it like around Labor Day the weather heats up to almost unbearable? I think last year was the only one where it wasn't up around 100, which is just as well seeing as I was heavily pregnant at the time. Gosh has it really be a year?

Amazing how quickly time goes by. While putting up my few family photos I realized I was lacking badly in framed pieces of my children. Now I know I have the frames it's just a question of finding them and then finding the right picture, maybe that will be my project for next week. I'm also aware we need photos to be taken of the girls in a dress. I'm thinking the soonest we can do that is about their birthday, we will have extra pairs of hands available and if we are gonna do this I would like the grandparents in there as well.

Looking forward to going out today for lunch, I'm also planning on driving up to my husband's work so he can have a drink after work. Just hope I can find somewhere cool for the girls. Our hope is year after next we can get central air installed, next year we have to get the roof done. Then after that well who knows, but central air would be a bit more efficient than the a/c units we use now and I am baffled a bit as to how the heaters are gonna work in the winter. Course those heater units are going to need a guard around them as little hands and all that tend to go where they shouldn't.

Getting things sorted out...

Wow we have a lot of work still ahead of us. Today we did the hardware store...got a border for the girls room and a few stickies to make it a bit more colourful, also picked up a neat looking fan which we will install eventually hehe. Also got ourselves a ladder so we can get up into the attic and a garden hose so we can actually wash the car! (wonders will never cease). Realized that the van will not fit into the garage with the current door and opener it just comes too low, so that is one of the things we will be putting the tax refund towards.

The stupid bath plug is giving us grief, Matt has fixed it twice already and my husband once (at least Matt showed James how to fix it!). Stupid thing I have a feeling we will have to replace the fixture. Hmm what else have we achieved oh yes, the pine shelving unit now has a home, I will apologize in advance the guest room is er cramped but it does have a nice queen bed, but I hate not putting anything in that room as it would be a waste of space and room, so currently the bookcase resides behind the door and the pine unit at the foot of the bed, on the bright side there is still room to walk around it...I've also put in a table and lamp so there can be light at least. It's functional and clean and cheaper than a hotel room at least :) And well ok so it doesn't have an en-suite bathroom but there will be free home cooked meals to make up for it.

My lovely wonderful husband is out trying to get blinds for the kitchen, sorry but I wanna be able to walk around in a spaghetti top and knickers and not scare off the school kids and neighbours in the morning, it's too bloody warm sometimes to wear much else.

Got two lovely fans for the living room and girls bedroom, looking forward to getting those up and working eventually. So glad that I am married to a practical man and have a great friend with an equally awesome husband who is also a good fixer upper. On the positive side of things this is our home, we don't share any walls the kids can make as much noise as they want and I'm not worrying about waking anyone. The kitchen I'm still in love with no really I am it's big and wonderful and I have plenty of work space. Life is good and even tho we might have the occasional bicker and we get frustrated now and then we still love each other and we work at it. We have to life would be so difficult with the girls otherwise.

Where to put things...

I think the hardest part of this move has been trying to figure out where to put the pine unit. Now this piece of furniture has been with me almost since I moved here to the states it was one of the pieces Philipp and I bough when furnishing our apartment in Jersey City. It went with me to Maplewood and has been very useful for storage with nice deep draws and shelves, in Dublin it was crammed with games and everything else under the sun. We have more storage here but it's still a good place to keep the wireless printer and other things such as my cook books until I can get them out into the living room area and that's not going to be for awhile yet. Yet I have found the spot! I didn't really want it out in the man cave...didn't feel like going out there every time I wanted a cook book and it's great storage for my photograph albums. Ah just need James to come home tonight and move it into it's new home. It has a lot of memories for me some good some bad but it's also just been a very solid piece of furniture I would hate to part with.

The bedroom is almost almost there, ok so the closet is a mess still but at least I nearly have everything away again in the bathrooms. Between us yesterday I think we managed to almost unpack about 4 boxes of stuff. I think the next problem I'm going to have is deciding where to put my pictures and needlework, hmm Debbie she has a good eye I think I'll have to enlist her help as I just don't have a good feel for it yet.

Ah the guilty pleasure of knowing that this stuff is going to be in it's place for awhile now. Last 6 years we have moved 3 times now and each time I've dreaded it...this last one was the hardest by far with the addition of 9 1/2 month daughters to have to care for in the mix. At least everyone now is starting to settle down and well we shouldn't have to move again if ever. The girls have a garden to play in, Mum has storage and a guest room. Ah breath breath breath. Will take the girls for a walk this morning too:) First one in a long long time and I'm kinda looking forward to it.

I'm home...

After many years of living in the US we now have a permanent home and the bliss, the sheer bliss. This is my home I feel alive here I really do. I have the best friends in the world near me and I can take my girls out of the house even if it's only to the backyard. I'm almost loving my kitchen if only the microwave actually worked but we are working on that one. Cats are starting to settle back in and emerge from their holes. The living room is child proof yay! No more having to worry about the fireplace...and the girls actually have more space to move around and play in too. Mum can actually work on the PC and keep every out of little arms reach. I'm more relaxed for sure and it's not made so far a noticeable dent in James's commute. It does help that this time we are on the west side of Livermore and not the east surprising how much of a difference that actually makes.

We do have a list of things that we desperately need a fan in the girls room is pretty much our top priority followed by a fan in the living room. I've come up with a cunning plan to make a computer work station area in the walk in closet in the master bedroom, but that does require power in there...

Ah so much to do but at least we can take the time to do it and do it right. I honestly think I'm going to be very happy here and shortly I plan on reaching out and making trips here there and everywhere with the girls.

Nothing much to say at the moment

So I haven't posted here recently, but I've found that recently I just don't have an awful lot to say. Em hi! Alright, alright but I did say something really I did. We should get the keys to the house today, weee! After we get that achieved we have sooo much to do, my head is barely getting around the concept. I have too much time on my hands to think about it yet too little time to actually do anything practical to help. Confused? Well I spend a lot of time with the girls which frees my mind up but not my hands. One of these days I'll figure out how I can get them to sleep in their cribs during the day but man it's hard. They don't understand the concept of nap time yet and to get them both asleep it generally takes holding them and then it's almost impossible to put them down when you have both hands full. That my friends is the hardest part of all about twins coz as much as possible you want them on the same schedule, but my girls just don't like falling asleep on their own. Let them cry, yeah right I let one cry that wakes the other up, I have been able to do it a few times and put them down on the sofa but well yeah, generally I prefer the lets all just take a nap together solution. Given half the time I'm working on limited sleep anyway it's not such a bad thing.

I do manage to get things done during the day, kind of...once they start playing with each other I can generally leave them alone for a few minutes go take a shower, put some laundry on, do some dinner prep that kind of thing. Cleaning em yeah right...might be easier in the new house where we don't have extractor fans in the bathrooms. I frequently manage to wash up at least during the day, although the house will have a new dishwasher so I'm hopeful that I can use that at least.

The girls at least will have more room to move around and explore and wreck yay! And I hope being able to get out more with them more fresh air and sunlight, hehe and more sunblock. I have hopes that I can do a bit of gardening with the girls outside with me.

Ah the possibilities are endless. I'm glad we are moving when the girls are so young I still remember the one move we did when I was 5 and the trauma of it! I hated to leave my old room and my friends, oh I got over it, but I still hated it. My girls are not even going to remember this apartment I hope.