Settling

We've spent the last few weeks settling into the house, unpacking boxes, STILL PAINTING, and trying to establish some kind of routine. It's really strange having two floors to ourselves and so many rooms. Sometimes I lose TJ and have to call out "Marco!" and wait for him to answer "Polo!" from whatever area of the house he's in. We're still trying to find places to put things away and realizing it's hard to find spaces to fit in furniture because the majority of our walls have either a window, door or cast iron radiator on them (and sometimes several windows, doors or cast iron rads....) so there's only a small selection of areas to put furniture. The hardest one to place is my giant haberdashery cabinet and I'm beginning to worry that I might have to get rid of it.

Our reading room and sun porch aren't done yet and are currently being used as storage for furniture, tools and various building supplies, so I haven't been able to set up our actual reading spaces, so I'm beginning to find other favourite little spots for reading, which is great. I love finding those cozy spaces that are perfect for snuggling in a warm blanket with a book and cup of coffee, where the light comes in from the window and hits in just the right spot.

To make things even cozier, we had our flue examined and cleaned, and were given the ok to use our fireplace insert. TJ was very excited about this. I, of course, panicked.

Do you see that sheer look of man-setting-fire-to-things-induced-excitement in the first photo? Luckily, wood that has been stored in the basement for 30 years, as well as 28 year old newspapers (March 12, 1984) make for very dry burning materials, which will go up in flame quickly, and then be done. Our first fire was short and sweet. After restocking, the next fire lasted a little longer, and heated up the first floor of the house enough to make the smoke detector go off. And no, it was not because we forgot to open the flue. This thing gives off heat!! TJ made lots of plans for how we can cook things when the power goes off, as well as how we can seal off the living room and make a cave that will keep us alive until the power comes back on. I'm not sure what storm he's preparing for, but he's very certain it's coming this winter. Fair warning to everyone reading this, start preparing now.

We also celebrated our 8th anniversary over the Remembrance Day weekend. Our gift to ourselves was a chef's table and two stools, which TJ stained and finished just in time for a nice dinner.

(No, we didn't indulge in a full bottle of straight vodka, we just ran out of wine bottles during our last home brewing session)

It's starting to feel more like home now, though it still looks like a bomb site. I can't wait for the day when I wake up on a Sunday morning and can just come downstairs for a cup of coffee and sit in the reading room without having to think of the 5 million projects that still need to be done. Speaking of which, the sun is out and the frost is starting to melt from the trees, so it's time to get back in my jungle garden. More on that later!