Getting back to the basics

So we are all still settling in and getting used to our new place. It hasn't even been a week yet but in crazy way it is starting to feel like home.
Kaela drew this at school a few weeks ago and I don't know about oyu but I think it looks just like the original. She is quite the artist. She said, "mom when we move can we become farmers and can we get a cow for the backyard?" I told her that a cow needs more room but we will get some chickens for now and plant a garden and she was so excited. I told Aram that we could probably have a cow in our backyard and no one would complain?? We will start with chickens.

Kaela's beautiful drawing (She is only 6)

Chickpeas soaking

Aram and I have been vegetarians during the week and then we will eat some meat on the weekends but we have been feeling so much healthier. We are eating a lot of tofu, bean salads and couscous. I am starting to soak our own beans and I think it is saving us $, healthier and tasting so much better.
Easy steps on soaking beans: (I soak them the long way it gets me planning our meals)
1. Measure out your beans (Every 1 cup dry bean = 2 cups of cooked) pick out discolored or broken ones
2. Add water & Soak overnight 6-12hrs (Every 1 cup of bean = 2 cups of water) *Tip: You can use the same pot you will be cooking it in
3. Cook the beans bringing them to a boil for 1-2 min
4. Remove them from the heat cover and let them sit for an hour
5. Rinse then use for any recipe

Here is the recipe I used for our chickpeas

Some of our bulk food. Almonds, Cranberries/pecans for oatmeal, Oatmeal, Beans and Couscous.

We're Finally In!

Well, I know we haven't posted any updates all weekend, but the move has us both pretty exhausted. Plus, dealing with getting our internet up and running proved to be more complicated than we expected.

First things first, we decided that removing the carpet, getting the place professionally sprayed, and replacing the carpet was the best idea to remove the fleas. I really think it was worth the expense, and now the place looks really nice. Honestly, though, dealing with the carpet made the move really stressful for us, and we were literally moving in around the carpet installer on Friday night.

Overall, the move actually went pretty smoothly. We had tons of help, and also got to use a friends flatbed truck, which helped tremendously. We are so grateful to have so many great friends, and such a great family. Without them, things would have been much more difficult. The moving process is great for getting rid of junk, though, we are finding ourselves scrutinizing just about everything we own before we put it away at the new place.

So, now we are pretty much all set up. Our stuff is moved in, and the place is really starting to feel like home. Honestly, the more time I spend there, the more I like it. Everyone in that little community has been great so far, and we are really looking forward to doing projects, especially in the yard.

Here are some photos of the living area, before we moved our stuff in.

Living room

Kitchen/Dining Area

Kitchen

Things don't always go as planned

So Sat still may be our move day it just depends on if we can get carpet put in tomorrow.  We planned to move Fri & Sat but the minor setback pushed up back a bit. 
Things are looking up today.  Kaela Graduated Kindergarten & we had a fun family day together.   We got the whole place sprayed today and we hope to get carpet put int tomorrow but no final word on that yet.  The kids are so excited to move.  There is a park literally two house down and it is a great park better than most the ones I take them to.  There also is a huge Oak tree which has to be at least 900 years old I will post some pics soon.  It is one of the most beautiful oak tress I have ever seen.  I would love to know the age of it.
I can't wait to get all move in, unpacked & settled so we can start working in the yard building our garden before the season is over!  Thank God it is a late season.
-Melissa

The kids hugging before the flea incident Tuesday

Minor setback

Well this afternoon was rather interesting, to say the least.

We decided that it would be a good idea to take some boxes out to the mobile home, since we already have a lot of things packed. When we got there I started unloading my packed car, Melissa started vacuuming, and the kids started running and rolling around like crazy people. Honestly, I was kind of irritated that Melissa decided to vacuum while I was trying to move in boxes through the small hallway, but it's a good thing she did.

After the kids were rolling around on the ground in their room for a little while, Kaela started freaking out. Apparently, the previous tenant didn't take care of their dog too well, resulting in a flea infestation. The vacuum canister was crawling with them. Ugh. The bedrooms are the only areas in the house with carpet, and they are being bombed as I write this. I just hope the bug bombs take care of the problem, or we may have to spend some money replacing the carpet.

I am glad that we found this problem while we still have another house to sleep in. If anyone has any positive experience with getting rid of this problem, please let us know. If you have any horror stories, please refrain. :)

Countdown 3 days.....

  So, three more days until we move from our three bedroom two bath home. This place has been our home for six years and six days.  We brought home two of our three babies from the hospital here, and we remodeled the house to fit the personality of our family.  We made a beautiful garden, planted things and watched them grow.  Here we have made many memories that we will never forget.  This has been our home; our safe, comfortable home.  But, life is full of changes, and Aram and I know that change is good.
  So, now we must embark on this new journey for our family.  We are ready, well we think we are.  We are moving to a two bedroom mobile home and yes, it is yellow.   It was Aram's Grandma's home for nearly twenty years, before she passed away a few years ago.  It was her pride & joy, even though it was a piece of junk.  I hated going to visit because it smelled gross, it was dirty, and the neighborhood was well not a very good one.  I obviously judged and didn't even know I was doing it.  We will talk more about her and the mobile home later.   Yes, six years later, here we are moving to this yellow mobile home of all places and we are actually excited about it!
  So, boxes are everywhere and we are prepping to move.  This move, though, is not just a change of location.  We are changing a lot in how we are going to live and this blog is going to be a place where we document those things, as well as give tips on how to change your own life in simple ways.  While the world says,  "gain more and get more," we are realizing it is, "lose more gain more!" 

The kitchen is packed!