the screaming pages
General
Places to Go
This page layout is based off of the Ruthsarian Skidoo Layout. All compliments should be routed to the skidoo-master.
You'll note the colours didn't change from the template to the end result..I blame it all on the template using colours I love!
owning a domicile
In May of 2005 we bought our first home and promptly christened it the Mouse House. It's an adorable bungalow built in 1951.
making a house a home
Before we moved into our new house in May, we had to downsize our "stuff" by about half. It caused a number of weeks of soul searching as we decided what we'd outgrown, what we'd never needed, and what we couldn't live without.
At the top of the can't live without list was the artwork, library, and home office. By culling a good 1/4 of our books, we've managed to combine the home office and library into the small third bedroom. We've had to spread the oil paintings, watercolours and prints throughout the house in order to fit everything in... but hey, who doesn't have an oil painting of a prarie dog in their spare bedroom these days?
Storage space is at a premium, so we're still working out exactly where everything will go until we can purchase new furnature for the master bedroom (and through the new dressers and wardrobes, gain much needed storage). Since we didn't want to be moving beds in and out of rooms, we've set up shop in the spare room and the master bedroom is currently the home of all of Drew's clothes and the artwork we haven't placed on the walls. The few unpacked boxes that aren't in the master bedroom are in my home office / library.
I haven't really missed anything we gave away and I wouldn't trade the mouse house for anything newer and larger, but as we're still trying to unpack and figure out the best place to put everything, it's been challenging.
There is starting to be some real light at the end of the tunnel now. We've put shelves up over the desk in the library/office so now there's enough space for both of our laptops to be up and running at the same time. The printer and fax machine (we have a new fax machine complete with a second phone line... I blame it all on Drew) My scrapbooking stuff (yes, I'm a closet scrapbooker too) has it's own shelves so it's no longer in boxes on the floor, and the bookcases now house only books (go figure).
Of course, there were casualties in the addition of shelves to the room. There's no longer any room to hang "Kittie", my beautiful lynx oil painting, in the office. We've had to move her into the rec room. At least she'll have some company.
things change when you're away
It's strange. I deal with change constantly in my work environment and have moved 4 provinces in 10 years due to Drew's position in the Air Force. I've lived in 7 apartments/houses during this time and have switched jobs 5 times. And yet, it was the smallest of changes that Drew made to the office while I was away that really made me uncomfortable.
The office was originally a nice little black hole where I could lose myself when I was trying to work. While I was in the Philippines Drew painted the walls Sage. Now, normally I'd love Sage walls - I'm a huge fan of almost any shade of green - but the combination of the new wall colour and the furniture arrangement (he moved the furniture all around the room) had me completely out of sorts. The placement was a good idea. There's a lot more space in the room now to move around. Despite all of this, something just doesn't seem right when I enter the room. It's not my comfortable little haven anymore. It's been modified, improved, "messed with" - and all done to update a room I thought was fine the way it was. Drew tells me it'll grow on me and I'll like it but I'm not so certain. Like I said, it's strange that I'm so resistant to change on this point. It's a minor change at best, so why do I feel like my country has just been invaded and occupied by unfriendly forces?
still more changes
I know we needed a new bed. The current one needed to be relegated to the status of "not so comfy visitor bed" as soon as was humanly possible but imagine my surprise when I returned home from Manila in March to discover that we were not the proud owners of two beds. Yep, that's right Drew bought a brand new bed without letting me roam around the store testing them out first. Ok, to be fair we had been doing that on and off for the last 6 months and had a good idea of exactly what matress we wanted, but it's one thing to see it on display in a store and a completely different thing to see it taking up 75% of the master bedroom (did I mention our house was small?). To top it all off, the thing is so big I'm going to need a step ladder just to get into it...at minimum I need a running jump, the top of the bed is well over my waist line!
So, now we have a new bed and guess where I am? Yep, I'm busy kicking off the blankets and sprawling out in the hotel bed at the Manila Pen once again. I hope Drew and the puppies are getting good use out of the new one at home. I plan on trying to banish the furry monsters to their pet beds on the floor when I get home. Considering that Hypnos was 55lbs and still growing when I was home last, he just might be big enough to win a shoving contest and I might be the one who's butt ends up polishing the hardwood floor. Wish me luck.