Moss-Bird Friendly Arctic Commune

It's been quite some time since I last posted. Tough month. Will spare gruesome details, but we are here now in our new home and everyone is enjoying it. It has not been without tears and various meltdowns, but we are working into stretching ourselves all over this wonderful house. Leaving Melissa and Kathy was one of the hardest things I've done in a while, and while Estella has not yet said much about it, she sobbed hysterically about nothing for four nights in a row. I think we're finally over that particular phase.

Bittersweetness aside, it turns out that what we have been missing all along was five bedrooms, two livingrooms, two offices, a playroom, a music room, a laundry room, kitchen, dining hall, workshop and garage. And a storage room, yard, extra long driveway for safe bike riding, etc. We even have a room for the cat.



Estella loves having her very own room and going outside whenever she wants. She was thrilled to discover that Netfilx now has all the shows she likes to watch on instant viewing (on the computer), which makes up for not having the Cadillac cable we were accustomed to. Eva also loves having her own room, although she insisted that Estella sleep with her tonight. She also likes taking her clothes off outside and being able to have out all the toys we have been rotating over the past few years for lack of space. Libi hates having her own room, and refuses to be in it unless someone else is already in there playing and making it look fun. Otherwise she prefers to be hanging off my legs and/or hips, whining incessantly, or playing with the big girls upstairs. At least she has someone else to harrass, now, namely Hadassah. On the other side, Brendan and I love Libi having her own room. We no longer have to tiptoe to the doorway and dive from there all the way to the bed so as not to creak any floorboards and wake her H.R.H.


Brendan is planning to build a swingset for Libi's first birthday, funded by Mimi and Pop Pop. He's very excited about this and antsy to begin the project. It's really wonderful to be able to do something like that for the kids. His work schedule has been a little off, but we're thankful that he is working, and even more thankful that he will be teaching in the fall regular hours.

I have been enjoying my new daily routine of drinking Vietnamese coffee every day at lunchtime. My friend Bekah got me started on this, and neither one of us wants to know exactly why we've been feeling so good lately and having energy that lasts and lasts all day. And this apparently is not even the "wery good" stuff that the nice man from the Vietnamese market informs us is not allowed into the U.S. We just figure that whatever Uncle Sam does let in must be safe enough, and so no further inquiries are necessary. I do try to keep a low profile at home with this particular beverage, however, so as not to arouse the suspicion of our new neighbor who flies a POW flag from a steel watchtower rising through a luxurious bamboo forest in his backyard. I may get up the nerve to take a picture and post it someday, but you may just have to come and see it for yourself.

I'll try to get some pictures of the house once I can get us settled in a bit more.