Crowded House

If I didn't mention it, it's not because it hasn't been on my mind... but did I say anything about our new roommates? That's right... with just a couple of weeks left in this house, we added two more people to the mix!

Evan and Heather were looking for a new place to rent at about the time we decided to move. I mentioned offhand to them that our house would be up for rent mid-June, never thinking they'd be interested. We decided to move to Florida on the day of the Titanic Party and discussed the possibility of them renting after our lease was up. It sounded great and things looked like they would work out. Our landlord was thrilled because he wouldn't have to find new tenants.

The downside was that their lease at the time ended May 31, so come June, they'd be homeless for three weeks until we moved...

Which led of course to the decision to all move in together for a memorable three weeks. They moved in the last few days of May and since then, we've been living it up in absolute chaos.

It's a great fit, albeit a tight one. Though there's stuff in every place imaginable, it's been great for us to pack up more of our things and just rely on theirs. Of course that's strange too, since they put their things in different places and we have to re-learn how to get around in the kitchen we've had for nearly two years.

But because of this we've packed the entire upstairs, the kitchen, most of the dining room (mugs and other Community Group things are going to stick around until our last week), most of the living room (ie: all books), most of the bathroom (except for a few toiletries and towels... the essentials).

Here's our nearly-packed kitchen looking strange without the microwave, curtains and things on our counters.

Carson moved the shelves from upstairs into our bedroom and put all the yet-unpacked things we owned onto it. He says that he loves the way it looks (the colorful aspect of it, I'm guessing), but it is making me crazy. Too much chaos.

Last few moments of it being "ours"... only a few boxes in there.

This room now holds their bar, a bunch of boxes, and slightly unpacked kitchen items.

The upstairs, obviously pre-roommates. There are bookshelves and a few beds and who-knows-what else up there now.

At the moment, the living room looks only marginally better than this shot. There are still two couches, two arm chairs, one rocking chair and a wealth of folding chairs, which makes for a comfy community group, but a strange looking room. We have since sold the futon (which used to be upstairs, and is under the large frame in this picture) so it's a little better.

Before the transition was completely made, Carson ate cereal out of a tupperware that's getting trashed (no lid) with a plastic spoon because necessity is the mother of invention... even when "necessity" is actually just eating Lucky Charms.

In addition to more couches, less living space and making shower schedules, we are also enjoying the benefit of living with great friends of ours. There are people to talk to when we come home from work (I work with Evan, and Heather works for the same company, so there's also that bond), people to take more boxes from, and friends to hang out with in our final days here. It's a crazy time, but also a really good one. I think we'll look back and wonder how we possibly fit two households under one roof, but also look back at this time as a great memory. We have been so blessed by their friendship and we're happy to have an extra dose of it these days!