Settling in

My husband and I relocated from Grand Forks, ND to Bismarck ND in late 2014. Upon our decision to move, we began hunting for a place to live and ran into something we'd not really had to deal with before - a very "non-pet friendly" city. Living in Fort Collins near the vet school, it wasn't too difficult to find rentals that allowed large pets. Bismarck was another story, however! After quite a bit of research, we realized that the only option that made sense for our family (us and our two large dogs) was house ownership. This was a pretty giant leap from our original plan to rent and needless to say we were a bit nervous. We heard arguments from both sides - the "pro" owners and those who warned us against buying property in a town we weren't familiar with. We decided the proposed benefits of owning outweighed the risks and purchased our first home.

So far, house ownership is bittersweet. I'm the sweet - my husband is the bitter (I'm kidding..sort of)! It's wonderful to have the settled feeling that comes with owning something. It's also a heavy responsibility (here we go, further into adulthood..how does that happen without me noticing?!). I tend to be more relaxed about things like a toilet that won't stop running. My husband on the other hand, does not handle broken things well at all, and therefore spends quite a bit of time and energy struggling with this part of house ownership. I'm the less practical house owner, as evidenced by my excitement to hang things on the walls and landscape the yard with flowers that attract lots of butterflies. However you look at it, we're in the adventure together, which has made the ups more entertaining and the downs more bearable.

Since moving in in November, we've got things pretty much unpacked and organized. The last step was the craft room (being as it was my room, and it takes me absolutely forever to get anything done. Aside from my unmatched abilities to procrastinate, I feel I have to be in the right kind of mood to express my creative side. If I'm not feeling it, I just can't figure out how to organize items or hang pictures on the wall in a pleasing manner. Heck, even when I am in the right mood...well, anyway. You can see how this might bother my husband greatly, as he is the type who must fix, finish, complete any broken, incomplete task as soon as humanly possible.

Anyway, since all scrapbooking activities halted my 3rd and 4th year in vet school, I've got a lot of catching up to do, and more time to do it with my new life in Bismarck. The past few weeks I was able to muster enough creativity to organize the craft room. I'm pleased with the results (no Martha Stewart here, but it suits me!), take a look at the pictures below!

Scraping work space. Cube units from Target. Desk top upcycled from the old piano we found in the basement!