Life in our new house

zinnias

Weird seed pods of love-in-the-mist

herb garden: lemon balm, oregano, dill, cilantro, 2 types of basil and 2 types of rosemary, thyme, lavendar and chives

record number of blooms on the hibiscus

container garden

It was about a year ago when I happened upon the Moose and Squirrel house on a bike ride. I could live here, I thought. I debated whether to tell  Steve. Once I did, he was hell-bent on moving out of our current house. Within a few days, we made an offer on M&S and it was accepted but inspection uncovered numerous problems. Even worse, the drain field had failed,  which the sellers and their agent failed to disclose until the very last minute. The house was much more affordable than the one we ultimately bought and it had a huge opportunity to appreciate given its location but it would need a lot of work. But the living room, dining room, family room and kitchen were much nicer than the house we bought. We pulled out of the deal. I was willing to wait another year before looking again giving us time to fix up our house but every week, Steve came up with a bunch of houses to look at. I did find some that I liked certain features of but usually the location was bad. He didn't even want to go on our trip to Italy because it was getting in the way of house hunting but he ended up enjoying the trip. Even better, for 3 weeks afterward, he didn't say boo about house hunting. Too good for that to last because soon he was pressuring me to visit the house we ended up buying.

Still no offers. We had 2 repeat visits yesterday and more negative comments though it is not clear if they were from the repeaters or not. Very discouraging.

I do like the new house much more than I thought I would. I love the gardens, the outside areas (big patio complete with waterfall) and the shaded porch. It is a good location for biking and running and is relatively quiet. I liked my old neighbors. Not a fan of some of these new ones. The head of the association sent as a letter saying our lawn didn't meet 'community standards'. He just happens to operate a landscaping business offering its services, at a big price, to fix us up. Furthermore, a good portion of the association fees go to landscaping of the communal areas. Guess what company provides that? Conflict of interest much? Meanwhile, he let his developer friend burn construction waste which was truly a danger. Fortunately the fire marshal agreed with me.

I haven't had much time to enjoy my jacuzzi bathtub but maybe in the fall, I will have more time. Once I decorated some of the rooms, they look nicer than I thought they would. I love the back wall of windows so I can see the birds and gardens. I like having room to put our cars in the garage and having room for my bicycle. It is nice having shiny wood floors and granite counter tops. I especially enjoy having the room for extended family.

So nice and cool this morning, good for a run. Even better, it was too cold for the biting flies that have made things unpleasant in the wetland areas on warm days. Yesterday I saw my first fawn of the year with its mom walk in front of me during a run. It was the last day of vacation Bible school. Afterwards, Shanna brought the 4 kids over for a pizza lunch. It was the first day in a week without rain so the kids were able to spend most of the time outside.