end of year continued

Well, it took 9 months from when we saw the property to move in, 5 of it spent on renovating.  Our simple project of adding a bedroom and redoing the kitchen somehow turned into a near gut.  There is no such thing as the perfect home, but we are pretty happy with the way it turned out.  The project was a pleasure since we hired our friend Amanda to be the architect and our wonderful builder Gabor did a beautiful job.  I've never had to figure out where the light switches should be and the outlets, so it was good to have people who do this for a living that we trust advising us.  We've been in for a little over a month now and have miraculously unpacked nearly all the boxes.  When you build your own space, you tend to build places to hold all your things.  What an advantage.  Not sure I would recommend this for everyone, but it worked out for us.

Our daughter started uni after 2 gap years and is loving it.  She has mentally flown the coop and I think she thinks of coming home as "visiting".  Son in his last year of senior school, looking forward to a gap year next year.  I am very lucky to have two very different wonderful children, they are fun to hang out with.  I enjoy having them around but am very happy that they have their own full lives.

I spent the year getting ready to start my new life.  I had the feeling that things would get going once we moved into the new flat.  Since that didn't happen until the end of the year, it will have to wait until tomorrow, when the new year starts.

For the first time in many years, I plan to bring in a little tradition for the new year's celebratoin.  We will be having soba this evening.  It is traditionally eaten to bring long life.  Tomorrow morning, I will make a traditional soup to start the new year.  It will just be the two of us probably since the kids are with friends for new year's.  Not the elaborate creations of years past, but much more than I have done in a long time.  Maybe it's because I feel like I am at home here.

Here's to a healthy happy new year.