A tree! And, the house (finally)

Our tree!! 

You get two here: one with Beebs' eyes closed and one with E's.  Ah well.   

Today was the big day.  We went tree hunting and picked out our tree.  It was COLD.  Freezing cold.  I'm not so sure we anticipated just how bad the wind would be.  Perhaps it should have been a hint that we were the only ones at the tree farm.  Hmmm.  Or, perhaps it was just that it was a Monday at around 1pm.  Either way, it really was nice to avoid the crowd this year.  Beebs was all bundled up (as you see) and didn't mind at all.  She rather enjoyed the whole thing.  She also thought seeing the farm's peacocks, chickens and ducks was pretty sweet.  Girl after my own heart.  

And finally here are a few shots of the homestead.  It's looking pretty clean, and nicely jolly.  The dim lighting helps hide the dust and other imperfections :).

The dining room. 

Looking into the dining room from the kitchen.  That's my trusty chest freezer.  Made it work even without a basement.  

Another shot to show you the openness of the floor plan.  You can see the living room on the left and the woodstove (and the diapers drying on the rack in front of it :) ). 

The kitchen!  We did: all new floors, new light fixtures (well, really, our trusty and fabulous electrician friend did that work, but I designed it :) ), all new appliances, new counter tops and a new sliding door.  Oh. And we had all the walls painted. You can't really see, but my kitchen is Araucana egg blue, and the TV room is "Bathsheba"-- the color of Sheba's eggs-- and the living room/dining room is "Hermione"-- the color of Hermione's eggs.  Yeah.  The guy at the paint counter looked at me funny too when I told him I was matching my chicken's eggs.  The colors are so warm and cozy and they go beautifully together.  

Another view with Beebs' hippo chair.  I really should have taken more "before" shots.  Imagine: no appliances, one bare ceiling light, a small island (we increased the top to create an eating space), and scary vinyl flooring that was supposed to look like wood flooring.  

The TV room with the tree (the TV is hiding over to the right). Pretty. So, those of you in the know, you'll see we decided to put the tree here, and we think it works.  It wouldn't have fit in the living room, and you can still see it from most of the house.