may i introduce you to ...

saturday turned into family work day around the new house - so i didn't get around to blogging as promised. but we knocked so many things off the "to do" list. i'll blog more about a few of those things separately.

first let me tell you a bit about our move ...

we agreed that the seller could occupy the house until 9 days after we closed. unfortunately this pushed our move to friday, december 21st - yes 4 days before christmas. though we hired movers, we were blessed by a whole heap of friends dropping in on saturday morning before each of them went their separate way for christmas.

then it got cray! wade and i drove to his parents' that afternoon for christmas with his siblings. the next morning, we welcomed his brother and sister-in-law (and 6 kids under 11!) over for a quick house tour. wade's parents dropped by in the afternoon and we had in-town-for-christmas friends over sunday evening. by 8am on monday morning, we were back in the car and headed to christmas, part 2 w/ wade's family. from there, we drove directly to illinois for 2 days with my family. i ended up spending the 2nd day in bed w/ the flu. we packed the car and drove back to nashville on the 26th despite a snowstorm and recovering stomach adding 3hrs to our usual 6.5 hour trip.

we agreed to have the seller's repairs finished after our move bc of a quick closing & christmas and bc i was off the week between the holidays to oversee. thursday at 8am the contractor & crew arrived.*** over the next 3 days, our house was a mess of drywall, sanding, paint, caulk, plumbing, roofing, debris removal, and electrical projects ... and lots and lots of dirt + dust. the seller was awesome and had the house professionally cleaned the day before we moved in, but in the aftermath of repairs, the house was even more of a mess than it had been on day 1. now it was still in boxes and GROSS.

in the midst of all that crazy, we adopted a dog! hattie - a 4-year old english bulldog - came home to live w/ us on the thursday following christmas (yes - the day the contractor arrived!). if you follow along on instagram, i apologize. i've already become "that" dog mama. a few favorites:

poor hattie had all kinds of health problems after 6m of being passed around from foster to foster - double ear infection, impacted anal glands (def the only time you'll ever read that on my blog!), a skin rash from poor diet (hattie is gluten free like me!), allergies and the dreaded f-word ... fleas! talk about major pet ownership orientation! we're medicating and babying her back to health. i have to get over my ocd tendencies and find my loving, nurturing side. good practice for future little mundays? maybe.

my BIGGEST concern - fleas! say "flea" and i begin to itch! ick! i'm using a spritz of 5 drops lemon essential oils + 5 drops lavender oils + 1c water on her skin and her bedding in addition to her monthly flea/heartworm treatment and i sprayed the living room as a preventative w/ natural defense flea/tick spray. hopefully the essential oils will also be good for her skin. any natural suggestions to keep the fleas away? any other fun tips for new pet owners?

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*** 2 random things:
1 // i recommend seller's repairs finished before a move. there's already enough on your moving "to do" list. :-\
2 // our realtor blake campbell from village real estate went above and beyond! he was there the entire time watching over the repairs! moving in or around nashville? call him!