Still Adjusting

Well, I am still trying to come to terms with our rental house. During the day I'm okay with it. It's old. It's kind of like a barn/cabin/old house all rolled into one house. There aren't many bugs during the daytime. We have some wildflowers outside of our front door that the bees love, but otherwise I don't really see many bugs. However, once the sun begins to go down, the bugs love to come out. Our main problem is the very large, bat-like moths. They are mainly a nuisance, but they are pretty loud at night. They thump around the house. They even can knock stuff over with their wings! There are other strange fly bugs that look like pincher bugs with wings. Also, there are these tiny little bugs that crawl out of the drains into the bathroom sinks and tubs. E has yet to take a bath (she has been exclusively showering) because there are all of these little bugs in the tub whenever I go in there to start the shower. WS tried to kill them before we came. He pored bleach in the drains and of course cleaned everything with bleach cleaner. He also sprayed very strong bug spray all over the perimeter of the house and the windows and doors. The spray works very well on bugs (we've used it successfully in our condo). Needless to say I am covered with bug bites. I don't know which bugs are biting me, I haven't been bitten by mosquitoes, so I don't know.

Just one more complaint and then I'll move on to some positives. I can't sleep at night. The house creeps me out. There are strange noises, moths flying around, and just a creepy feeling. Also, we sleep right in the front bedroom and we're just a few steps away from the road on the first level. I feel very vulnerable. There would be no witnesses since we're out in the middle of nowhere. I know, I know, nothing's going to happen, but it's always on my mind. There are also wild animals outside. I know it sounds silly, but I hear coyotes (I saw them walk into the yard yesterday during the day!) and I hear other animal sounds. I heard some strange animal yesterday. It sounded like a really loud squirrel. WS said that it was a bird, but what bird is making crazy noises at 11 pm? It definitely wasn't an owl.

There are a few really positive things about where we live. The best thing is the huge yard. The main house is surrounded by grass and a few gardens and our place has a yard with grass, too. Our yard is huge! E loves running around and chasing the rabbits. There are rabbits all over the yard. I know that they're bad for the yard, but they are very cute. E picks grass and tries to feed it to them. They let her get within about 10 feet and then they hop away. It's great to sit out on the patio in the evening with a glass of wine and just enjoy the yard.

Another big positive is our neighborhood. Greenwood Village is a pretty upscale neighborhood. There are trees and huge houses. We could never live here under normal circumstances. It's so beautiful. I took E to our nearest park. It's called Dekoevend park and it was picturesque. It's huge with a big rec center and a play ground, hiking trails, and a creek. E ran around on the playground (it seemed brand new) and had a great time. Also, it wasn't crowded. All of the parks that we used to go to in Sherman Oaks always seemed pretty crowded. This had a very large playground and maybe about 5 other kids playing. I also took E to the local library (Koebel Library) for story time. The storytime was great! It was not only stories, but also songs and music shakers. She had a great time and it was free! The library itself was wonderful. It was huge and had a great children's section (this alone was about the size of our old library in Sherman Oaks). The library has a little bookstore, cafe, and anything else you could want.

Needless to say, I have been very impressed with our area.

I also have been enjoying the ample parking, lack of traffic (it doesn't take me an hour to go 15 miles!), and the friendliness of everyone (except while driving because of my California plates). All of the people that I have run into at stores or out and about are just calmer and very friendly.

Our escrow is getting to the final stages. We are hoping to close by next week. It seems pretty certain, but I'm not going to breathe a sigh of relief until the money's in the bank.