Finally feeling like home

We're still not completely unpacked. I think it will be an eternity before we are finished. The neighbor, Brandy, said it takes about a year to really get unpacked. Yipes! That simply won't work for me. I had been trying to adhere to a all cardboard is to be gone by (last) weekend rule, but I faced a fierce bought of exhaustion and think I'll extend that rule out a week or two. Most of the stuff that isn't put away is decorating stuff. I don't want to put it all up, just to take it all down to paint, but who knows when I'll get around to that anyway. And I suppose, it's really not that big of deal to take down a picture and paint around the nail or over a nail hole...

I got things unpacked and cleaned up enough for some pictures the other day. Just the main areas, living room, kitchen, part of dining room, laundry room.... Hopefully, the rest will come this weekend.

Oh, the kitchen.... How I love the kitchen. Still, I have no desire to cook. I think it's because I am so caught up in unpacking. Also, I am lost at the grocery store. The last few weeks before the move, I didn't buy much for groceries since I wanted us to eat what we had so there was less to pack... and we were quite broke saving everything for the down payment. Now I don't know what to buy and I can't remember what we used to keep as staple and go-to foods. I've been slowly stocking up, but it seems like there is still so much missing in the pantry...

Of course this wasn't planned, but our old knife block and set of knives matches our new kitchen and stainless appliances PERFECTLY!

...as does the coffee pot. Not pictured is our "stainless steel" toaster that we bought about a year ago...

Very blurry picture of the laundry room. Fairly spacious. I like it. I also like that we have a place to drop our keys, purse, jacket and shoes before we enter the main living areas. Hooray for not cluttering up the kitchen counter witk keys and stuff! Although Mike still sometimes does.... He isn't quite trained all the way yet....

Oooh oooh oooh! This was a collaboration between my sister and I. I love the way the fireplace turned out. Before we moved in I really had no idea what to do with that space. We could have put the TV up there, but that's a little too high for a TV in my opinion.

Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms, and more cherry blossoms!

The living room... Nothing fancy, but I do love the new drapes we got. That was a top priority. I couldn't stand not havin something to cover the front windows with at night. Every time I went in there when I was unpacking, I felt like I was on display. Not any more! They're fairly sheer, but they get the job done and cheaply too! The photo collage on the right still needs to be hung, but it has some tricky hangers on the back that I am not sure are level to begin with.

Side table grouping....

I got the bell from my Grandma. Supposedly (this is a Japanese legend) , you're supposed to ring it to get God's (or one of the 7 Japanese Gods') attention when you need to speak to him (or them).... Something like that. I like it because it's something I remember from my childhood. She has the neatest stuff.

The buffet I got from my mom. This will house all my entertaining platters, dishes, table cloths, and napkins. It also fills a great void that was in the dining room. Now if I could only find a nice china hutch on Craig's List...

The new curtains for the dining room. These were a steal. We already had the curtain rod, and the drapery panels were only $5 each at Wal-Mart. Originally, I paid $15 each, but a few days later when I was in there, I noticed that they had been reduced even further, so I went to Customer Service and got some money back. Yay! These are the only two pics of the dining room so far. Somehow, the dining room table has become half toolbox...Ugh...