We are officially moved in...

We we have been here in the new house for just two weeks and we are about 95% moved in. It is easier if you are just moving across town than if you are moving across the ocean. Marc stole my computer, after he killed it and then fixed it, and so I don't know how to do pictures on his laptop that is in my office. I will post more pictures later. We really like the new house. It has a better flow and is really easy to keep clean. The other house had a lot of charm, but like most old houses, it was nearly impossible to keep clean. Marc is closer to work and the boys are closer to school. We have a garage for the first time in our 8 1/2 years of marriage. We are happily settling in and only have about five boxes left to unpack.

MONKEYS...

We went to a "safari park", which means that you drive through the enclosures that the animals are in. It felt very much like Jurassic Park, especially when the double gates for the tigers and lions had to open one at a time to ensure that the animals did not escape. The boys thought it was too cool. We rolled our windows down when we could, and Marc almost didn't roll his up fast enough to avoid the BIG BROWN BEAR sneaking up on us. The picture of the monkey on the car is our car. He is sitting on the mirror eating a cracker that just "magically" appeared on our windshield (stuck there with squirt cheese I might add). In the other monkey enclosure, you could walk around and almost touch them. We had to keep our pockets closed because they apparently are kleptomaniacs. The cheekiest monkey stole gum from our friends pocket and wasted the whole pack. At the end of the day, we got to watch the keeper feed and care for the falcon. It was good it was after Easter, or the boys might have been traumatized to see baby chicks treated that way.

Update with no Pics

Ok, I forget you can post without having pictures. We have been super busy lately. We found out we have to move into a different house as of May 1. It is actually good because we found a place that will sign a three year lease. We have exactly three years left here so we are really excited. The boys can stay at their school and Marc has less commute time. I get to decorate all over again, which I actually love. I will post some pics of the new house and decorating style soon.

the "Master" bedroom

This is the first time in over eight years of marriage that Marc and I have a real bathroom off of our bedroom. We also have enough space to put a couch. I have to say, the couch was a freebie, I got a cute slipcover off of Ebay and added some pillows from the thrift shop. Our bed is the ONLY piece of furniture in our house that didn't come from a garage sale, thrift shop, costco or IKEA. The only reason we didn't get our mattress from costco was because I found a better deal. Every piece of furniture, including the headboard and our laundry basket is previously owned. Now you know why I said, "NO MORE PROJECTS."

rub a dub dub, two crazies in a tub

I have decided that I live with crazy people. Giovanni had a grocery store blue bouncy ball, you know that kind that are always in those towers of bungee cords?! Well today was actually nice enough to go outside. So they were outside playing and accidentally kicked the ball into a thorn bush. When he came inside crying to show me the damage, he noticed that the hole got bigger with some help. We ripped it in two pieces and of course, what better hat than half a broken ball?!
When they took their baths, they thought they looked like swim caps. So here are my two future olympic hopefuls....

my new "desk"

Ok, so I will admit that I am a paper stacker. I get important papers and put them in a stack. I study new topics and put them in a stack. Well, the stack desperately needs to be sorted. I have a ton of space, but no real surface to work on. I decided weeks ago that I needed a new table top to sort things. I wanted it to be large, but easy to store. I thought about a regular folding table, but found this instead. It is a drop leaf table that has a drawer in each side underneath. It is only about ten inches wide when completely closed so can be pushed against a wall or behind a couch. It needs a bit of TLC, but in no way is "another project". I hope this gives me the push to actually sort all my junk.

junk store finds

I go to thrift stores here quite often. They call them "charity shops" because they all donate their proceeds to a different charity. Well, here are some pics of my latest finds. I got two chairs, and an end table all for 5 pounds each.