Except for hanging things on walls, the upstairs is mostly unpacked and even mostly organized. The last part to complete was the family history portion of our library which we couldn't even begin to tackle until we picked up the last of the family history tubs from the duplex in Columbia on Thursday. We have SO MUCH family history stuff: all my parents things in tubs, all of Steve's parents things in tubs, and then all of our own stuff spanning over sixty years of living. Our work going forward until we die is to organize, scan, and share all of this information. And, now, happily, we can begin because we know how to find it! We have begun to organize the downstairs now which feels very satisfying and we can FINALLY do our own laundry here at home! Yesterday we hung coat hooks in closets and tool hooks in the garage.
Yesterday, we also discovered our local library branch and got library cards. And we have updated our voter registration information. Gotta find a new bank as our current one doesn't have locations close to our house.
We made a trip to Columbia on Wednesday for my dental work and I packed the day full of additional activities - a cello lesson, visits with Elise, Steven, and friends, pick up of the last items left at the duplex, dropping off dozens of baby hats to Women and Children's hospital (happily, they are again accepting donations!), and even some shopping at Menards (we are not close to one here. Thankfully, there is one on the way to the Southerlands so we will start shopping there when we go on Thursdays for music lessons). Whew! It was fun but exhausting.
Speaking of fun, we had a great Labor Day weekend. It started with a Sunday visit from family friends, Derek and Emily Ellingson and their six children. We saw them back in early July as they had just moved up to Iowa after being in Alaska for over ten years. This time, they were in St. Louis for the City Museum and the Science Center so they came to church with us and then we shared lunch in our shady backyard (they brought homemade sub sandwich fixings).
Monday evening, we hosted a backyard feast of grilled hamburgers, tons of sides, and homemade ice cream with the Southerlands, Beckie, and Kyle and Micah. Poodles Luna and Armand came along, too, much to the grandkids delight. Everyone helped with the food. We inaugurated our deck and it worked perfectly. It is large enough to accomodate the long folding table to hold the food plus lots of chairs. And, there were those built in benches, too. The neighbor's huge oak and cedar trees provided shade and there was a nice breeze. Perfect evening. (below - Larkin and Luna)
NOT fun were the sewer problems we started to have very soon after moving in...in spite of trying to be pro-active and have it inspected and supposedly cleaned out before purchase! Water AND sewage would back up from our basement floor drain. It didn't spread very far (so nothing was damaged) but it was still horrifying. I tried filing a claim through our newly purchased home warranty the first time I had to clean up poop on September 2nd but I didn't hear back from the company until Monday, the 7th!!! And, we had a second sewage backup on Sunday the 6th so I called an emergency plumber and he found more roots coming in through damaged pipe! He cleaned everything out but warned that the pipe would need to be repaired to prevent future issues. Happily, though, since he came, we have had no backing up. Now I am wrangling with plumbing companies, the home warranty company, and the seller's real estate agent to see who is going to pay for the ultimate repair.
I will end with our movie watching report. I find my stamina is just not what it used to be and by after dinner, I am completly spent. So we watch movies. We saw the new "Mulan" with Beckie on Tuesday. It was just fantastic. We watched "All Together Now" on Netflix based upon Emily's recommendation. It was very enjoyable. We also watched "Remember the Titans" and never get tired of that movie. Finally, we saw the new, live action "Lady and the Tramp". I loved it. I was very happy with the "what the early 20th century SHOULD have looked like" multi-cultural aspect. I liked the new take on Jock the dog - hilarious. And, I was charmed by the spaghetti eating scene.
Next week - I hope we will be able to unpack the rest of the boxes and tubs in the basement!
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