Monthaversary Five: Our new Home in Pictures.

This last month has meant a lot of changes for us. Primarily, we moved into an adorable little cottage (guest house/granny flat) that was completely dirty. It is now only partially dirty. Haha. Please bear in mind that all the pictures show some of the previous tenants things and some of ours during the moving in process. I'll probably never show "after pictures" so here you go:

The bedroom- not our bedding!

There are so many nooks and crannies and high ceilings that I can’t dust. I’m also realizing how sandy our yard is and how easily we get dog hair, dirt, sand, and grass on our floor. We have 3 exterior doors on the first floor, on the loft, we have two doors. There are three pocket doors on the first floor. The furniture is nothing to brag about. But all in all, this place has a lot of cuteness potential!

The "BICs" (aka built in closets). You can see the "kitchen" in the back.

It has been a HUGE adjustment, moving from a large 2-bedroom house to a tiny cottage. It is the smallest place we have ever shared. The entire footprint of our place is often the size of a bedroom in other homes. We have opened up many of our boxes now that we are in more permanent housing, so that has helped alleviate some of the space issues. Some boxes were half full of paper packaging!

The width of our kitchen. Really.

The sink- if you turn around, you find the stove and microwave.

The bathroom sink and washing machine. Not pictured: the water heater hanging sideways above the sink.

Our toilet- yes really!

Our dogs have had to adjust as well. They love the yard. Love it. Reeces is back to her old self. She can find things to keep herself busy for hours. The hardest part for Etta has been the stairs. The stairs are semi-open air, so sometimes her paws slide right on through and she falters; she has fallen down the stairs a few times. She gets better at them every day. We do try to limit how many times she goes up and down them so that she doesn’t strain herself too much.

The treacherous stairs and the dryer. Ignore the cleaning supplies.

One of the doors upstairs.

See the thatching!? Using the rafters like this is our solution for extra storage.

We celebrated the 4th of July with a Mexican dinner at another American’s house. We made a double batch of tortillas, salsa bandera, and pinto beans. They grilled/braaied some carne asada. I tried my first cup of rooibos tea. It was a nice day.

Doesn't this look idyllic? Pink flowers, Devil's Peak in the background, and a pool in front.

This week, my husband lost his wedding ring. He has lost weight, so the ring had become looser. Since it is winter here, it is cold and his fingers got even thinner. We think he lost it while bike riding home from work. I’m ambivalent about how to feel. I could take it personally and be upset about him losing the symbol of our marriage and love. But I think my ideas about material possessions have changed, and I’m not as upset as I would have been. I’d like him to wear a ring, but does it truly, really matter what type of ring it is? To me, what matters most is his intention to keep his marriage vows true. Everything is else is just icing.

R.I.P. wedding ring....

I made it to 100 followers this month! And I’ve had at least people from 55 countries look at my blog. I think that is amazing!


Thanks.



Song of the month: Lullaby by the Dixie Chicks. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a good live version…Such a beautiful love song for children or lovers.

Here is a nice cover of it sung by a young girl.