NEW HOUSE

As I said, I'll probably backtrack for a while to get caught up on the things that have been going on with us recently.
Charlie's waving to me from the front porch of our house. We moved on January 16, four days after I had a wisdom tooth removed!
We got what we thought was a great deal on the movers. But this past month has led to some unsettling discoveries. First, and foremost, we never located the back cushions for our sofa. I called the movers straight away and they said the cushions must be stuffed into some boxes, to protect some delicate items. To be fair, I hadn't yet been through all the boxes, so I got out my Sharpie and started marking the contents of all the boxes (wouldn't you think the movers would have done that?!).
Of course, some of them I had to open and unpack as the business of life demanded various items be found: my skillet, Charlie's crayons, my CDs, Neil's laptop.
Meanwhile, I set up my computer so I could write up the agenda for the St. Andrew's School Support Group meeting (of which I have been roped into being president). That's when I discovered that the movers broke the paper holder on my printer. So I had to feed it sheet by sheet until I bought an ink cartridge for my other printer!
Since then, I've found broken Denby dessert dishes, a broken Cargo martini glass and a bookshelf that was destroyed. What I haven't found are those damned sofa cushions and: a Denby salad bowl; the crystal mantel clock my mother gave us for Christmas in 2001; an Egyptian-style statue; a mother-and-child figurine; two crystal candlestick holders; a pyramid candle holder; and Charlie's two piggy banks (a Courier-Journal Savvy pig and an airplane that he painted himself) that were filled with coins!
Needless to say, we've made a claim. We're waiting to hear back.
There were a few teething problems too: the previous owner's stove wasn't installed properly/safely, so mine needed an electrician and a gas plumber to be installed! The dryer broke and had to be replaced (the repairman said it was inevitable and not down to the movers). The kitchen was built around the dishwasher (CRAZY, eh?), so I have to use the one that's here until we're ready to go down that convoluted route to install mine. It was two weeks before the phone was installed; and another two weeks before we got broadband. And we had to pay about £370 to have an aerial (antenna) installed to watch basic TV!
The upside: We live on a walk, not a street, so Charlie can play safely to his heart's content out front. We have a lovely green lawn (our first since moving to England) out front and a beautiful green patch in the back and loads of plants and shrubs to enjoy as the spring and summer unfold. There's a nice walkway out front with a perfect slope for scooter riding. And we're looking forward to teaching Charlie how to ride his bicycle without stabilisers (training wheels) and breaking out the grill for a few barbies when it warms up a bit.