House Update

Tengu and Tallulah, on our borrowed dining room table.

 Life here in Columbus is chugging along. We have lived here 7 months and are still working on making our home (both inside and out) ideal. As you may know, we left furniture behind and pared down many of our possessions when we left California. We have been blessed with caring family and new friends that have made the transition easier.

When we moved into our place, we had a lot more furniture than I expected, thanks for my partner's family and our new friends. Our friends let us borrow (indefinitely!) a dining room table and some (uncomfortable) chairs. So we have a place to eat as a family. Thank you thank you thank you!

My partner's family saved for us an old living room set as well as bedroom furniture from his grandmother (she moved into a nursing home last year) and my partner's old things that were never moved out of his parents home when he moved to California (including his piano!).

So from day one, Rowan had a brand new twin bed, we had dressers for all three of us, we had a bed frame for our bedroom, and our living room was instantly furnished. We are so blessed.

We are finally in a better position financially to start trying to make up the rest of the deficits. Yesterday, we took a two hour trip with my mother-and -father-out-laws to the closest Ikea. They have larger vehicles than our tiny Honda Civic. On our agenda was cheap book shelves, a kitchen cart, and maybe a few small items.

Road trip to look for furniture!

Right now, our home isn't quite finished. We don't have all our temple furniture, we don't have enough bookshelves, and we don't have a few niceties (rugs, curtains, a TV) yet. But I am amazed at the help we have received since coming to Ohio in getting started. After all, we did not move most of our furniture from California. And I am not sitting on the floor right now as I type this.

Last month, we went to Ikea with my out-laws (I am not married to my partner). We were planning on getting a kitchen cart and some bookshelves with some money that we saved up. After looking at the cheap bookshelves that were were going to buy, my father-out-law was annoyed. He is a proud woodworker with his own workshop. "I could make better shelves than these, you know! This is sawdust and glue!" I told him that I knew that, and that his work is great. (We have several examples of his handicraft in our home.) But he doesn't have the time and we want to get this project started ASAP. We want our home to be complete soon. No more boxes, dammit!

He promised that if we did not buy the crappy shelves, that he would make the shelves, to the dimensions that we want on his next long break. (He has a job where is off for over a week at a time every few weeks.) How cool is that? So we are waiting another month, but will have better shelves, for free. For the cost of one of the shelves, he can make all three. And he won't let us pay for them. Family! What a blessing!

We bought our kitchen cart and made the requisite jokes about its Swedish name and Rowan was also gifted a tall, kid-sized, dining room chair. It's really nice and that means we can chuck the crappy plastic outdoor chair he was in (with the phone books under him). Onward and upward!

The day after out Ikea adventure, we put our kitchen cart together. It is awesome to start finally maximizing the space we have and get rid of the boxes and clutter that comes from not having enough storage or counter space.

After the bookshelves, the next upgrades are a dining room table and chairs, furniture and shelves for our temple, a few shelves for our altars, curtains (I hate mini blinds!!!) and picture framing. Then we will finally be complete. Probably just in time to start working on the yard in the spring- when we start building boxed beds and such.