No place like home

Jenna modeling her new, sparkly, ruby slippers, courtesy of Gramma

So it turns out that moving into a house is kind of a big deal. The last few weeks have been exhausting, not for me personally, but I am very sensitive to the moods of those around me. Jarom was fortunate enough to be given temporary corporate housing when we moved here to Richmond, so we were able to stay in the apartment where we had been living while we moved everything in over at the new house. This was a very convenient situation, or at least Jarom thought it would be. On a Saturday morning Jarom went with Nate and Tyler over to the storage shed to get all of the furniture and stuff and move it into our new home. As he was leaving, he mentioned to Alixa that she should pack up the few things that they were going to put in the truck. They had previously discussed this, and the list of things included a changing table, a dresser, and a couple of larger boxes that would not easily fit into a four-door sedan. Jarom didn’t think about it again until he was swinging back by the apartment after retrieving all of his worldly possessions. He came back into the apartment to get a few big-ticket items and noticed that there were plastic grocery bags filled with stuff and suitcases littering the floor. Apparently what Alixa heard as he walked out that morning was “Hon, please pack up everything we own as if we were leaving the apartment today.” So the convenience of having two places to live was eliminated.



On the flip side, it probably acted as a motivator to get things organized over here at the new place as quickly as possible. And in that arena, Lix has been nothing short of miraculous. What was once a pile of boxes has become a livable situation, and while there is still some work to do, it very much looks and feels like a home. As is always the case with a move, or at least should be, many things have been thrown away. Gone is the Discman that Jarom has been inexplicably holding onto for the past who-knows-how-many years. Also gone are several boxes of Alixa and Jarom’s old clothes to the goodwill. And some of the cheap furniture that they inherited over the years from friends and neighbors has vanished. If Alixa has her way, and she usually does, the rest of the “apartment furniture” will be gone soon, to be replaced by things like bedroom sets that match and aren’t made of balsa wood.

Excitedly playing with toys

For now Lix spends her days at Lowes while Jarom goes to work. Jenna loves to ride in the cart, and their trips usually involve between 1 and 5 people stopping to meet her and tell Alixa what a cute baby she has. So far the purchases have mostly been little things like doorknobs, towel racks, and hooks, but there will soon be a new sink and faucet, and soon after that the painting will start. Jarom’s life has become a real life version of an episode of any show on HGTV. It’s okay though, because Alixa loves it and is quite good at it. Jarom just has to bite his tongue and accept that we are going to be hemorrhaging money for a month or two until things are the way that we (and by that I mean she) wants them.

In the mornings, Jarom will give Jenna some toys to play with in bed as he leaves for work so that Lix can sleep in for another hour or so while Jenna keeps herself occupied. Apparently Jenna didn't quite get enough sleep one night, because when Mommy came in this is what she found.

The biggest surprise since moving in has to be the puzzle that is known as the electrical system. The first night that Jarom and Lix slept over at the house the lights in the bathrooms were not working. Jarom’s initial fear was that they had purchased a lemon and would now have to pay to redo the entire electrical system. Breaker switches were checked, GFI’s were pushed, but nothing seemed to turn the power on to those rooms. The next evening, they worked. They both thought that maybe they were just crazy and moved on. Until the power went out again. It took a few days, but they finally realized that the bathrooms would only work when the upstairs hall light was on. Weird, but at least they didn’t have to shower in the dark anymore. After a few more days another discovery was made. It seems that there are two hall light switches, and only one of them controls the upstairs electricity. So they have to leave that switch on all the time and use the other to turn the hall light on and off. These are the sorts of fun adventures that have been going on around here lately.




Alixa also wanted to make sure that the new house had TV upon moving in, and Dish was chosen because it was by far the cheapest option. For the first time the Winns have a DVR, which has revolutionized the way they watch television. Commercials are becoming a thing of the past, and Lix will never miss another episode of The Price is Right, no matter what happens. Alixa’s other new habit is craigslisting, which she has taken up in an effort to earn some money for things like new bathroom vanities while simultaneously clearing out some of the clutter from things that we barely even knew that we had until we unpacked them. So far she has been quite successful, with several hundred dollars in sales. For the next post I’ll get her to make a video of the house so you can all see what it’s like.