Week One

Wow!! We spent Friday and Saturday cleaning. Unfortunately the house was very dirty. The previous owners also left a lot of "stuff". We have four large spaces to sort through and decide if we are going to yard sale or garbage.

I'm still not quite sure on garbage yet. That's going to be another thing I have to learn about.  It looks like you can put out one bag every other week. But there are also recycling depots to take your tins and glass to in exchange for money. That however does not solve the actual garbage issue! Zoe and I have formed a burn pile and have appreciated the hhuuggee fire pit that sits in the middle of the back yard! It is heaven after five years of using a 24 inch metal pot! This new fire pit takes care of a lot of the garbage.

I got sidetracked...due to the cleaning, and cleaning, we were unable to unpack much yet. Therefore we got creative and used the shower by hanging the travel, plastic, mattress protector as a shower curtain and the towels we had used for cushioning artwork during transport for drying ourselves! We laid a mattress and a futon on the living room floor where the three of us slept during this cleaning process. Zoe did manage to clean and set up the kitchen! However we have no stove, no oven and no microwave! Early Saturday morning Zoe and I drove an hour and a half to a Home Depot where we purchased a washer and dryer and a barbecue. The barbecue was a Mother's Day gift from my children...thank you!! So with no stove, oven or microwave, I have learned that you can cook almost anything on a barbecue. We cooked the typical potatoes, carrots, chicken, peameal bacon (thanks Laura and Martin at Naked Acres Farmstead) and eggs but also ventured into soup, lasagne, and even put a Hungry Man TV dinner on the barbecue for Brandon!

Sunday we drove to Halifax and dropped Brandon off at the train station to send him back to Ontario. It has not gotten any easier saying goodbye to him. Zoe commented it would be different now because with Brandon staying with us it had felt like home. Now we are going to have to figure out our new home with just the two of us.

By Wednesday we were tearing up carpet and ripping out flooring. This was really neat, seeing all the different layers from over the years, and seeing the beautiful original flooring underneath. The main reason we were doing this all at the same time was smell. The previous owners had had many indoor pets and the flooring was very stinky. I was starting to feel overwhelmed. We were working on every room and therefore still had nothing unpacked and no more rooms set up. After living out of a suitcase for nine weeks-I wanted to unpack! So I did. I have found over the past four years, the best way to handle my stress and anxiety is to tackle it. So whether the rooms were ready or not...I have unpacked and feel like I can live in my new home. We even finally got the mattress out of the living room into a bedroom, set the futon up as our couch and put a table up in the dining room. Ready for company! And just in time.
Mom and Dad are coming out for a "workcation" soon!