I forgot to share my big news!

well the girl friend is young enough that she isn't ready fro nesting and having her own home yet. I'll bet your luxuriating with all the pressure off now.

LOL...we'll still have 2 women in the house on weekends but I'll be the older one now and stepson's girlfriend and I mostly get along. She's getting much better at learning how to help run a household but knows I'm more in charge than she is. I think she and I will do just fine. MIL always wanted everything her way whether it was good for the rest of us or not. It has been so peaceful without her around so much!

I was pretty surprised about it all working out so it was extra good news...actually at first I was skeptical but once I realized it really was happening...you can't even imagine!

Enjoy every minute! If things get a little sticky, remember the bad old days and you're sure to cheer up right away.

LOL...you'd be more than welcome to! They are actually moving into their big camper that they'll park in a year round camper park closer to town. They can't afford the gas to go back and forth to work from all the way out here and don't want to drive back roads in the winter anymore. They always planned on moving into it and spending their retirement traveling the country and this will be as close as they'll get until they can get out of debt enough to retire....which honestly isn't likely but that's not my problem! The 4 of us have already been discussing rules and hope to set things up so it's more like 2 households....they'll pay for their own phone line, tv and food plus 1/2 the heat, mortgage, and electric. We've also talked about the possibility of them saving up for an addition off the kitchen and living room for their own section of house down the road. So far things really seem like they'll work out well for all of us.

Oh my goodness, I don't think I have enough space to share all the changes I want to make! Let's just say they better be planning to rent a big storage unit because all of their stuff and collections are not staying here! We'll rip up the carpets and finish putting down the nicer wood floor (already bought, they just haven't done it), there will be lots of painting and rearranging...and those are just the inside changes. Outside I have plenty of big plans also!

It is really nice up here. The house is all the way at the back of the property so the full 6 acrea spreads out in front all the way to the road. They neighbors horse pasture is directly behind us and the other neighbors are blocked by patches of trees so it's really private. Having it just us here most of the time is already making a huge difference!

Right now it looks like October for good but they've been mostly staying elsewhere for the past ouple weeks.

LOL...I know, it's like 10 years of birthdays and Christmases wrapped into one!

They've been gone a lot lately and it really has been nice here, I can't wait til it's permanent!

Eh...not terribly close, it will be a bit more than a 1/2 drive from here. But they'll have no reason to come this way unless it's specifically to visit us and that just won't be allowed very often.

Oh there will definitely be a party LOL! The kids are already benefitting from not having them around so much even though they still stay here a few days a week.

It really will be great! I have plans for a big vegetable garden..the plot is already there, just the fence needs fixing. There's a perfect spot for wetter things like watermelons and pumpkins. And I'm looking into getting chickens and putting up bee boxes for eggs and honey. I've got enough land to proguce the majority of our food and it's so exciting! I briefly considered doing oats and wheat for oats and flour but figure that might be a bit too much LOL!

Oh, it does feel so good to think that this is what I've been "hanging in there" for. It has been almost 1 year since I moved in and it has been a long year, I am so glad it's almost over! Oh, lets see, more details...stepson will be moving into what is now the inlaws bedroom so I'll get his room which is literally a bit over twice the size of the room I have now. On the back side of the house I want to put in a nice walkway and outdoor furniture. It's actually a really pretty little corner of the property but it doesn't get used for anything anymore. It would make a perfect spot for quiet family picnics. This isn't a fun thing but I'll get a few loads of gravel or something brought in to fix the diriveway, the hill part of it always washes out really bad and there are some big potholes at the bottom. It doesn't bother inlaws because they both drive bigger new vehicles. I usually have old little two door cars that practically fall into the holes and ruts. I wrecked my Mustang last year winter because it was icy and I got hung up on a rut near the top of the hill. I couldn't go forward anymore, I tried to put it in reverse thinking I'd crank the wheel and put it in the snow next to the driveway but the poor little car just bounced off the snow drift and continued down the driveway backwards until it slid off into the little creek at the bottom of the driveway! Ugh! So the driveway might be a boring change but definitely a necessary one!

forgot to show you the end of my little car