Whoa.  The fact that we have been in our New Old House for three months is just mind boggling.  When I looked at the calendar and realized the time I thought it would be a good time to reflect a bit on how life has changed (or hasn’t) in our new space.

So, some thoughts, three months in:

1 – I remember coming to the New Old House to take measurements (before we had keys) and standing in the kitchen thinking “I will love this house when it rains”.  I was right.  The windows are so dramatic about the rain.  The window screens hold onto every droplet and the glass gets streaked like a watercolor painting.

2 – But on the topic of rain… Ben and I got quite the shock when we were down in the basement assembling some furniture a month and a half ago in the middle of a torrential downpour and heard water rushing through the back door.  Down the linoleum.  Into the laundry room.  Ben threw on his coat and shoes and took the shop vac out to handle the drain that wasn’t draining. I think that’s the day we became homeowners.

3 – Or maybe it was the day, a week into living here, that we had to call a plumber to fix our upstairs bathroom sink that wouldn’t drain.  No landlord to call there!  So I stopped freakin’ and called Beacon.  As it turns out, that obnoxious tagline is catchy and comes to mind at just the right moment.

4 – Henry still refuses to be upstairs or downstairs alone.  I am still annoyed by this.  I’m working on it.

5 – I think the Pumpkin Fairy might have come with the house.  I can’t be sure, because I have absolutely no idea who he/she is, but I know they didn’t visit our Old Old House.  The Pumpkin Fairy might be the best part of October in the New Old House.

6 – I thought the gas fireplace was a bummer because it’s all “automatic” and “not authentic”.  I was wrong.  I turn that sucker on every morning and really like watching Henry eat his breakfast in front of it.

7 – I still don’t totally know how to use my stove/oven.  The manual is translated (very poorly) from Italian and it’s got me stumped.  But so far I’ve baked a few things and made lots of dinners, so we’re getting there.

8 – I love having kind neighbors.  We only know 3 households but they are nice people and I enjoy the sense of community.  When Henry woke up with a fever one morning I was able to text a neighbor and she came over with a thermometer, a bad-ass one, and TOOK HIS TEMPERATURE FOR ME.  That’s so much better than borrowing an egg or cup of sugar.

9 – I miss walking to school. So does Henry.

10 – I don’t use the garage nearly as much as I thought I would.  Having a garage was on Ben’s “must” list, and I thought for sure we’d never find a house because, hello, garages in Seattle?  Not the easiest find.  We lucked out in that the first house we toured had a garage and now we own that house and that garage.  Ben parks in there all the time.  I park there maybe 40% of the time.  A back-up camera would help.  Or a wider alley.

11 – You get the house right away, but the  building of a home takes time.  I am impatient about this, especially when I’m flipping light switch after light switch with exasperation that I can’t figure out which one turns the damn porch light on, or when I can’t forget which cupboard houses the measuring spoons.

I will try to be more patient as we settle into this place.  Our place.  We have all the time in the world to be together here, to live here, to mess things up here, to listen to the rain here, to be mad that when you yell to someone downstairs from upstairs that they can’t hear you here, to eat dinners here, to host dear friends here, to watch movies here, to fret about the yard here.

This is our place, now.  And my guess is that sooner rather than later it’ll start taking on that comforting, familiar feeling.  After all, it’s only been three months.