Open House Part I

Howdy! Running a bit late this week on the posting. The usual excuses. Work, small children, crappy African Internet, etc.

But now that I am here, hi! Don't you want to learn more about where this chubby little almost cherub lives? We finally managed to get most of our art on the walls, and most of our stuff arranged in a semi-permanent fashion. I am not going to swear I want have a fit of OCD in a week and rearrange everything, but here is how the house stands for now. Or, at least, part of the front "public" half of this house. I am going to have to do this thing in installments, I fear. And, since this isn't Southern Living, Better Homes and Gardens, and certainly not Dwell (the nice modern design people would be appalled by the size and layout of this house, it is everything good, effective architecture should not be!) the house is somewhat untidy. Forgive me, I took the pictures over the weekend when the help wasn't on duty ;).

The front of the house. Directly behind me (which you obviously cannot see) is our gate. I am standing on the spot where our driveway touches the front yard. To the left, also out of view, is our pool. To the right is the side portion of the front yard with the tree K likes to climb (make a mental note of that for later). That is our lovely front porch, very nice for coffee and/or mimosa drinking on the weekends. We have a couple of sets of patio furniture out there. It is also usually decorated with at least some of K's chalk drawings.

Welcome, come in! This is the front hallway looking straight in. If you walk towards the stroller all the way in you find yourself in the TV room. If you turn right and go down a step....

Then you are in the living room/ pong room. That is our lovely stripped Embassy issued couch. We really like the hardwood floors, as they are easy to keep clean, even when you spill beer on them! Truth be told, we are rarely in this room unless we are playing beer pong. It is a bit sad, but it just isn't that welcoming of a room when it is just us in the house. It does get some use when we have guests.

Other side of the living room so you can see the red couch-matching chairs!

Now we have walked through the living room, and up the step on the left to enter the dining room. You can see the TV room off to the left. But if you go to the right, and through the door...

You find yourself in our kitchen! It is quite large, with lots of good counter and storage space, but it is somewhat oddly arranged. In this photo I am standing more or less in front of the sink so it is, as you can say, way on the other side of the room from the stove. And yes, the monstrous plastic contraption hiding off to the side is an exersaucer. I finally gave in and got one second hand from a friend out here because we had no good way of having T in the kitchen with us. While she sits up pretty reliably, every now and again she will get a little too exuberant about something and flap her arms and giggle until she loses her balance and goes straight back. I really did not like the idea of her cracking her head on the tile, so the exersaucer keeps her safe and happy while I cook.

See, tree that K likes to climb! I decided that it would be a great idea to kinda coach her up the tree the first time. Now it is all she ever wants to do. Way to go me!

That is all for now. The next exciting installment should include the TV room, playroom and the really long twisty hallway to the bedrooms. Stay tuned!