Life + Self

Life in Our New Home

January 24, 2017 by Abbigail Kriebs 14 Comments

We are finally settled into our new house!

Mostly.

The counter in our laundry room is still covered in random cleaning supplies and tools that don’t quite have a home yet, and only 2/3 of our closets have any shelves in them. There are still a few boxes still to be unpacked, but all of them are stacked in those closets that don’t quite have shelves yet. #Winning

But mostly, we’re settled. And it’s even starting to feel like home.

Life in Our New Home | Inkwells & Images

The cats have fully adjusted to being fireplace-owning cats. #Spoiled

It feels like I can be a human again. I can think about something other than timelines and packing and moving preparations. And it feels so good. Deep breaths are easier. The little, mundane tasks like packing a lunch and brushing my teeth aren’t as annoying as they were while we were in transition, constantly looking ahead to the next thing that we needed to check off our list.

Instead, now we’re slowly checking off the days on the calendar toward a baby, which is just as life-changing, but much more on autopilot in some ways.

Scott MADE the hanging beam light fixtures over our island and dining room table. As I’ve said before, I will be worthless in an apocalypse, and am glad I married well.

Since we moved in the Saturday before Christmas weekend, we chose not to drive ourselves crazy trying to rush out a buy a tree and decorate. Instead, we hung the stockings on the mantel, noticing that it is our last (and only) year with only two hanging there side by side.

Almost everything you see made out of wood (pantry doors, trim, mantle, railing, etc.) were made by our good friend Gordy at Gordon Miller Woodworks. He does a fabulous job, as you can see, and really enjoys taking unique slabs of wood and creating one-of-a-kind pieces of furniture and picture frames and things.

We’re settling into new routines, and while we’re still in the stages where we have to think about where things like extra toilet paper live now, daily life is so much easier. A real kitchen sink. A dishwasher. Our own washer and dryer. These are the things that I will not take for granted again.

Our “nursery” – which is still almost this empty. Probably should start doing something about that.

My office is pretty boring at the moment.

But it has a nice view.

It’s good to be home.

Bogged Down [and a summer break]

May 24, 2016 by Abbigail Kriebs 3 Comments

I get bogged down by the everyday.

I’m sure you do, too.

I get so focused on doing that I forget to look up and refocus on the goal from time to time.

I’m an INTJ, a high-achiever, the type that never wants to stop for fear they won’t get started again. I like routine, I like deadlines, I like checklists.

Ok, I probably love all of those things.

Needless to say, breaks are hard for me.

It’s hard to admit that something might not be working, that I might not be able to do it all. But it is time.

Scott and I are moving this weekend to a short-term apartment while we wait for our house to be built. We won’t be too far from our future home, and I’ve decided to take a break from the self-imposed blogging deadlines and let us enjoy the summer and the building process rather than drive myself crazy trying to do it all and enjoy it all.

This comes at the perfect time, really. We are wrapping up the final few episodes of Chasing Creative’s Season 1 this week (new episodes will debut through the end of July!) in time for my move and Ashley to take some time before her new baby arrives. We promised ourselves that we wouldn’t allow the podcast to make us crazy – and we’re proud of ourselves for ending the season on a high note before it does.

So no blogging (or minimal blogging – I might hop in once a month), no podcasting… it’s going to feel strange. I will have June Dairy Month to contend with, but then it’s summer and I don’t have a lot on the calendar.

I’m looking forward to a couple of months off, a handful of weeks to catch my breath.

I’ve promised myself that in the absence of blogging, I will make progress on the novel. It’ll be the only thing I’ll need to attend to for a couple of months, so it really should get a fair amount of attention.

And I hope to spend a lot of time outside, going for long hikes and checking in on our house. I want to take pictures like I haven’t done this spring. I want to get out and live so I have something to write about when I come back inside.

What are your summer plans?

P.S. I’m sure I’ll be on Instagram most every day, sharing house pictures and life. Let’s catch up over there?

True and Not-Yet-True

April 19, 2016 by Abbigail Kriebs Leave a Comment

There are things that can be true and untrue at the same time. Or maybe the term is not-yet-true. That sounds right.

We are building a house.

Those words have been in the back of our minds for two, three, four years. But there was always a “someday” word attached to it, a not-quite-yet or a maybe-in-another-year.

It was true and it was not-yet-true.

And now it is all true. We signed papers yesterday to actually do this thing this year. It’s not really, truly felt official until now. But now it does.

It amazes me that something so simple as words printed on paper and written in ink can make something real.

But then again, it doesn’t surprise me: Words do make things real.

Real hurts start with words, often. Words like “I hate you” or “No way” or “We got your test results back.”

Real happiness with words like “Will you?” and “I do” and “Me, too.”

Real can be created in our minds and in our hearts. Ideas can become real, much like Velveteen Rabbits.

But very often, we need something to validate our real, to make it, well, more real. In our case, it was a bank. We needed them to say yes, you can do this thing.

And now we are.

What was not true yesterday is true today.

We are building a house.

Photos taken Saturday, as we cleared some brush to make room for a home.