Well, we have been in our new house for a month and Niko is really enjoying everything about it. Don’t ask me how many times he goes up and down the stairs? Don’t ask me how many meals he has eaten outside; whether it be on the front porch or back porch? Don’t ask me how many times he has opened and closed the fridge? Don’t ask me how many times he has opened and closed all the doors in the house? Don’t ask me how many times he has picked the cat up? Don’t ask me how many dishes he has tried to clean in the sink; yes, he has a stool?
Yes, we still have boxes in every room except his; well, he has a few bins of clothes and shoes in his room. Yes, it’s very hard to unpack with Niko mainly because he wants to either play or go through a box with you. A few days ago, a box of CD’s was emptied by him and all the CD’s were taken out, the liner notes were taken out, and all the cases were on the floor! It was actually kind of fun watching him because he wasn’t doing anything harmful and he was amusing himself; while he did that, Nina unpacked a book box and I sat on the sofa and sat still for a minute.
No, he hasn’t turned the gas stove on and I am glad because it’s very hot. We did show him what the fire looks like and told him it’s very hot and it can really hurt you. No, he hasn’t thrown anything in to the kitty litter. No, he hasn’t eaten the cat food. No, he hasn’t drank the cat water. YET!!!
As for me, I like our new house; it’s bigger and closer to things. Once we get everything unpacked, it will be even better! I still have things to assemble; Nina may go to IKEA alone next weekend so I will have more things to assemble. We need to hang shelves in the bathrooms so we can put a lot of things away. I need to go through all of my Beatles stuff and see if I can donate or sell some of them. I have a bunch of dry mounted Beatles posters and yesterday, I purchased the largest TV box available from Home Depot and will store them in it and stash it in the attic.
The neighborhood clubhouse and the elementary school are both within walking distance and less than 5 minutes in the car and although, we have only ventured out there a few times, Niko has enjoyed the variety of food trucks, the playground, the splash-pads, and just being outside in the world. He loves doing things outside and now that we finally got a new hose and new nozzle, we can have naked Niko again playing in the sprinklers!
This may not sound great, but to me it fantastic…we get trash pickup twice a week and recycling once a week. Our old house was once a week with no recycling. So, basically, cat poop and pee and Niko’s dirty diapers and wipes don’t have to wait a week to get picked up. Plus, as we unpack boxes, I can fold them really small and dump them in the recycling can. And, it is cheaper than old house!
So, my biggest complaint and I can’t do anything about it is driving to and from work; traffic stinks.
Old house was 22 miles to my work and took me 30-45 minutes in the morning and 45-60 minutes coming home; relatively easy and traffic flows well unless there is an accident or construction.
New house is 26 miles to my work and it takes me 45-60 minutes in the morning and 60-75 minutes coming home. Traffic is always slow or even stopped in the same places both in the morning and afternoon; and, most of the time it’s not construction or an accident, it’s cars merging onto the highway. As I tell people, I don’t mind. I have a great car and I have lots of music options to listen too; SiriusXM, Pandora, my iTunes music, and podcasts. My A/C works great and where we live, it gets hot. I got Siri and she can send text messages to my wife while I am driving. Nina always asks me to tell her when I get the traffic light to enter our neighborhood. She can see my driving and I can waive to our house as I can see it, for now. I say for now, because soon more houses will be built behind us and then I won’t be able waive to Nina and Niko when I come home.
