happy Halloween -- and happy anniversary to us!

It was one year ago today that I was making multiple runs of the rental truck, bringing all the final boxes, furniture pieces and odd items over from our rental to our home, making it the official move in date.  We actually spent the night and moved the kitties over the night before, but Halloween is the day I feel is our official move.

Last year, I remember getting done handing over the keys to the rental house, dropping off the moving truck and sinking into a chair, surrounded by boxes, grateful to be not in motion, when it occurred to me that within the next hour, we'd have trick or treaters visiting and I'd better hustle off to get candy, light a couple of candles and sit on the front porch.

I met a lot of our neighbors who came by to welcome us to the neighborhood. Dale was working late so he missed a good portion of the kiddos, but the cats were perched in the window watching all the little ones stop by.

This year, we actually got some decorations up (we have TONS of Halloween stuff), and have the candy all ready to go.  Dale worked last night so he'll be home, but I have to teach tonight and so might miss all the fun. 

In the last year, we've gotten quite a few things done in our house, and although we have many more to go, we've made some big leaps towards making this house home for us:

• remodeled the bathroom (huge job!) total gut job and added new drywall, tile, floor, ceiling, vanity, toilet and shower
• reworked the guest room, replacing the closets, adding crown and base and paint
• redid the front entry, removing paneling from walls and doors, adding crown and baseboard, refinished the doors and painted everything
• worked a lot in the yard - tore out and replanted the north side of the front yard, removed 6 trees, cleaned up the front yard and began replanting the curbside strip.  Planted succulents along the south side of the front yard.  Cleaned out and trimmed the trees in the backyard along the south wall.  Moved in a lot of plants while clearing out a ton of weeds.

On the agenda for the upcoming year:

• finish the crown molding and baseboard in the studio
• finish the crown molding and baseboard in the hall
• remodel the kitchen
• add a swimming pool
• continue working on both the front and back yards

We are getting started on the kitchen in the new year - we have several trips between now and mid-January, so after those are done, demo begins in the kitchen!  I hope next year's list of accomplishments is even better than this year's!