our L I V I N G room

I've been completely unproductive today and feeling quite guilty because of it. Not much of anything even got checked off my list. I started out ready to go, then fizzled fast. How does that happen? It's cloudy, rainy and almost cold enough to start a fire in our new fireplace. The crock pot is going if you can believe it.

It's been more than a week {more like 10 or 11 days} since we handed over the keys and tried to check out of our old house in order to end that short dreadful chapter of our lives. I've sent three e-mails and a left a phone message with the English-speaking realtor who agreed to be the go-between and translate for Rosa. Still no word on the price of our repairs {an oven because we broke the handle and some paint}.

We're running out of patience.

If we still had the key and knew it would be this long, we would have gone and gotten a new oven, plaster and paint and made the fixes. Since we don't- we'll have to wait.
Landlords do this because they have hold of such huge security deposits. Ours were in such a hurry to get their money. When roles are reversed- there is no rush on their part. Why can't they just make one thing easy for us- just one?
I finally put a call in to the Housing Office Liaison this morning to get some help. She said she'd make some calls and get back with me. So, I've been waiting by the phone all day long. Literally, by the phone since we have only one phone and it's on a super-short cord.

Who in the world still has corded phones, anyway? We do. At least over here, we do. Maybe it's time to buy a new cordless unit since our American one won't work here. They're just so expensive.

Here's a look at a little more of our house. This is obviously the dining and living room areas. It's two levels of living space with the laundry/kitchen/dining/living/fireplace/master bed and bath on the main level.

Upstairs there is a second bathroom, three full bedrooms, a cute little hideaway toy room behind Coleman and Caden's bedroom, a slanted half-room and a great {super sunny} loft area that we are making into an office.

Downstairs is a fabulous full basement for storage. It's old, the ceilings are low but it's SO nice to have the space. I actually have some hiding spots for Christmas gifts this year. I sitll can't believe how much space we have and how much this house is saving us in stress and Euro. I need to add it up.

Here's how it looks after a week. The charm of the wood floors has really grown on me. I don't normally favor lighter woods, but I really like them here. So cozy. I usually want to paint walls as quickly as I can as well, but I really like the stark, clean white. Maybe {Pepto Bismol} pink and {Oatmeal puke... Jess's description, right?} yellow walls do that. For now, white is beautiful.

Maybe, I'll make it upstairs to the loft to work tomorrow. Boxes, boxes and more boxes.