Our Second Place

Robert, Mittens, and I have been living in our new townhouse for about six weeks now, and we definitely feel settled.  When we first moved to Missouri we didn't have anywhere to live, so we stayed with my parents for a couple of days, and then we stayed with a couple from the church for about two weeks.  They have a basement that is kind of like it's own apartment, and they took great care of us.  We ended up finding a townhouse that has been a really good fit so far.  It's probably about 1/3 of a mile away from the church where Robert works, so on most days he walks and it takes less than 5 minutes.  Occasionally, he drives and it takes about 30 seconds.  There's a sidewalk along the whole path, so we don't have to walk in the road.  The townhouse is about 500 square feet larger than our old apartment, but somehow we've managed to fill the extra space.  Can you believe it?  The extra space has allowed us to have some "new to us" items including the crib my parents used for Jim and me when we were babies, the rocking chair that Serina gave us, another bedroom set, and my grandparents' piano.

Our new bedroom suit and bedding

Overall, we really like the space.  It has some upgrades that we aren't used to: granite counter tops, tile floors, two reserved parking spots.  But we still have the normal downsides that come with living in multi-family housing:virtually no yard, no garage, and noises from our neighbors.  Another new thing for me at least is that, other than my three years in the dorm, I've never lived in a place with stairs.  Obviously, part of what makes it a townhouse is that it has two floors.  Let me just tell you, you discover a new aspect of your own laziness when you decide you'd rather have freezing cold feet than have to go up the stairs to get some socks.  I'm afraid that stairs have become a good stacking place for stuff that needs to go upstairs.  We're not the only ones who do this, right?

A cardinal visited our yard during the snow

The living room is all set.  We already had the couch, chair, pillows, curtains, and painting.  We ended up having just the right number of curtains from our old apartment, so we didn't have to buy any new ones.  Robert had a friend paint that canvas for me in college.  We found a flea market in town called Relics and scored the side table, trunk, and lamp.