Whoa. A Whole Year.

It's official: It's been a year since we closed on our house.

Whoa.

Okay, last Sunday was our real "anniversary" date. But it was Sunday, and as such, I was busy doing other things like church, kids, and being sick. Being sick was a bonus (haha - at least for the bad luck gods, cursed be they). And then Monday happened, and well, here we are at the end of another week. It happens.

So what have we done? By the numbers:

• 200+ bulbs planted (really, I didn't keep count)

• 79 perennials planted that actually came back this year. There are a few that I know of that are no longer with us (sob!).

• 11 fruit trees planted (one died, but we replaced it): apple, apricot, peach, nectarine, and cherry

• 9 windows curtained in 4 rooms

The front room and the kitchen, the handmade efforts

• 9 chickens "adopted", currently giving us 3-4 eggs a day

• 14 trees planted: 3 maples, 4 crab apples, 5 arborvitae, 2 dwarf spruces

One of the smallest, a dwarf spruce

• 5 doors replaced (or should I say added, since they weren't there to begin with?)

Two of the doors, on a closet and the master bedroom

• 5 rooms painted

The front room, Bonnie's bedroom and Malena's bedroom

• 2 art projects completed and actually in use: the swirly paper 3D art piece and a fabric-covered bulletin board

The bulletin board (right) is just fabric duct-taped onto cork boards. Useful and inexpensive!

• 1 backyard lawn planted

Used to be just weeds. Now it's grass...and weeds...

• 1 extra-large garden planted in 2011, and 1 in-progress for 2012 (go, Doug)

The 2012 garden

• 1 vanity replaced

• 1/4 fence installed (courtesy of our neighbors, but with our help!)

...and more maintenance stuff that can't be enumerated without putting us all to sleep.

And, of course, there is still plenty to do. Furniture that needs painting, recovering, and covering (wouldn't a piano cover be wonderful?). More curtains to do. Closet doors - no one has closet doors, to my dismay. Although Bonnie does have a closet curtain now, which she loves. Many more rooms need painting, and there are still some that need wallboarding, lighting, wainscot, etc. Ah, the work of a homeowner is never done!

In some ways, it is a great thing. There is always something that needs a creative eye or a helping hand. A great place to train up children (and keep parents out of trouble), is a home. Here's to many more years!