Skeleton Key

Last night, we went and paid our first month's rent and received the key to our new home in Small Town. It was rather an anticlimactic moment considering how much I've been fretting over moving the past 2 weeks, but there was a sense of relief that followed as we explored all the spaces.

Bear went up into the creepy, very hot attic and announced there were a set of speakers, some more old stuff he didn't want to move around, and an ironing board. He was using the flashlight app on his phone to look around. We'll probably explore more in the winter when it isn't so dastardly hot up there, and when I get over my fear of attics. Let's just say for now that when I was a kit, and in my last House before the 16-year Warren stretch, that something nice but very creepy existed in the attic of the House. That's a story for another day; and, one that I feel makes me completely irrational, or at the very least a superstitious shill.

We planned out that we will be able to fit Bear's favorite desk in the bedroom, with the agreement that we'll turn it into a faux vanity. The problem with a desk in the bedroom is my fear of it becoming a computer desk, or a work desk...and that is a big no-no considering I have just started to master sleep hygiene after years and years of bedroom abuse that turned what should have been my sleeping place to a dining-room table, or a study space, or a paper-writing lounge. I'll probably cover a chapter on sleep hygiene, since it was a major turning point in how I viewed my living spaces (thank you, thesis advisor!). I'll also create a walk-through of making the desk a faux vanity, for the heck of it!

We also admired the dark wood that's been with the house for a very long time. Bear piped up that he wondered if green and purple would look nice down in the livingroom, which I gently disagreed with by announcing that unless we wanted to live in the Hulk, I wasn't too keen on the idea. We have settled for green, brown (the wood), and gold.

The back yard needs some work, and we found out that the black walnut tree in back came down partially during on of the bad storms earlier this summer, meaning it will have to come down all the way sooner or later. Black walnuts have a history with me: I used to take the fruit, put a small cut in them, and then plant them in people's shoes during camp. They stink to high heaven. We were arguing over what kind of tree it was when I told Bear that it smelled like a black walnut, and lo and behold there were a few husks on the ground.  It's made the further part of the back yard very inhospitable to grass, and the branches and twigs are everywhere. Bear started planning where to put the garden and said, "Yeah. With the walnut, it'll have to be a raised bed." I did a little dance of joy, because until that point Bear was shrugging off the idea of a garden, and now he seems excited for it, too.

The other nice part of seeing the house was getting to see our homeowner's 4-month old daughter, who is cute as a button, very vocal right now, and entirely intense. The strength of her tiny hands is equal only to the strength of her stare as she considers everything. I sang to her a bit, and she just stared. So. Hard. Mum and Dad also showed off some of the inborn reactions in her that fascinate Bear and I, such as the little foot-curl when you stroke the bottom of their foot, and breathing in when you blow in their face (gently!!). I admit it. Rabbit has baby-fever. Inasmuch as I don't want a baby right now, but I love to hold, watch, and interact with them. Bear finds it unnerving, as a guy his age might, but "kinda cute." I was never really a baby person until I started dating him. Such is the biological drive! He must be a good match or I'd still be hating on babies like I did a few years ago.

All in all, I am very excited and Bear is...Bear. When I asked if it was starting to hit him that we'd have a Home soon, he just tried not to smile. This weekend we'll be going down to Small City where my mum lives to pick up our donated furniture and all my stuff from childhood. It'll be the heavy move. Sorry for the rather boring post. From here on out it should pick up as we just got our skeleton key and now, the real Home making begins.

-R