We have spent weekend II in the new house. We find it hard to go over to the old house. The old house has rapidly declined into an abandoned state.. it smells stale and unloved. It is dusty and cold. It is an old friend, and deserves better, but for now, bright and shiny gets all the attention.

All the wonderful old familiar things that make the home are now in the new house. We celebrated our first birthday in the new house with the birthday boy’s pancake request.

I am really loving the new appliances.. so far the only thing I don’t like is that the oven timer issues one short beep, and a few minutes later, one more. Which, when I am far away doing something else means I smell burned roast in my future. Must. be. disciplined.

People are still hungry in the new house…that didn’t change, and it has been fun to cook for them.

With the help of true friends.. the sort that show up on a rainy Sunday to help move the last MASSIVE furniture through the mud without a dent or scratch or broken glass… Nana’s hutch and all the much loved family treasures are back in their old familiar places.

The pitch of the old roof didn’t exactly match the pitch of the new roof.. but this solid bookcase is lovely and familiar, and we know it will hold all the favorite children’s classics.

But there have been some changes. The old baking cupboard, that served us well for many years as an extra work surface in the kitchen, and housed all the baking spices and ingredients… is now obsolete. It has no space in the shiny kitchen. But it will have new life upstairs as a computer work station.

And then there is the hutch. When the man about the place and I moved to North Carolina, we moved into a townhouse which would be our temporary home while he went to grad school and I worked with middle schoolers (last time ever.. high school all the way…) We shared a love for old things and found the local fair grounds had an ongoing flea market/antique/junk stall thingy going on the weekends. We went, because we needed something to set our $12 TV on. We found a couple of small pieces we have used for years… and we found this.

An antique step back hutch from a Virginia farmhouse. We bought it.. and that was the last time we saw it put together in its almost 9 foot glory. The top came off the bottom, and we used the 2 pieces separately while we lived in the townhouse… and when we looked for our more permanent home, we hoped for tall ceilings. But house number one did not have them. Then when we contemplated the move to house 2, the one we have just abandoned, I could not believe we went down in ceiling height even more.. 7 ft ceilings do not a step-back hutch accommodate. But instead of selling it off, we moved the behemoth around in various positions over the years.. until today. For the first time since the day we bought it, it now stands reunited in all its glory..holy cow, the thing is tall. But for all its heaviness and cumbersome, weighty ways…it is still perfect. And now together, ready to be loved again.

Sigh. Life feels complete and wonderful at this moment.

There was a first birthday celebration:

And the first wisdom teeth have been pulled:

There is still alot of work to do.. but the wind can blow, the cold rain can fall.. we have a snug place to call home surrounded by all the pieces of our family’s history.