One more move!

December 15th was our last move day.  We left the beautiful beach condo to a lovely house out in the country.  We were very pleasantly surprised at the price for the size of property.  We searched for quite a while and saw more properties than I can count!  We were trying to work within a budget, find something that feels safe, is comfortable, and near the kids friends and our church community.  It is very comfortable, the yards are beautiful and it has a pool.  It is in a gated community which makes me feel much safer while Geoff is still traveling and leaving home a lot.
It is missing some niceties including furniture!  We took some advice from somebody living in La Serena who said that we ought to look for unfurnished houses because they are much cheaper and furniture was cheap. We decided that we didn't need much furniture anyway and this was probably our best option.
So we did find one of the least expensive properties with many more amenities and niceties than any other property we found and finalized a contract.
Here are some photos of the house.  The front door is in there somewhere.

You can imagine how fun it was trying to furnish this home in the middle of all the crazy Christmas shoppers!
We are bargain shoppers so of course we couldn't just go to the first store and buy beds and such. After searching through many stores we were a little frustrated to learn that furniture was NOT cheap and a little difficult to find.  Very frustrating!
Geoff found beds for the kids.  And we found bedding for ourselves.  Well, we settled on bedding.  I am going to be just fine on an air mattress until April but I'm not sure Geoff is sold on the idea.  It was cheap, and to be honest, similar (haha) to our sleep number bed we have at home, right?  Those are air mattresses also....pretty much.  After buying beds for the kids, a microwave and other kitchen utensils and necessities the budget was spent!  We just couldn't afford to buy another bed!  They are so darn expensive!  I'm not a high maintenance kind of girl but buying a used mattress sounded kind of gross.  This will work just fine! .....still trying to convince Geoff of that.
Here is a photo of our bed.  You would never know there is an air mattress under those blankets!  The camping chair is our end table.

There are ants EVERYWHERE! 
Here is a photo of an ant pile we swept up in our bedroom.

We all wake in the middle of the night with ants crawling on us.  We have cans of ant spray everywhere including the bathroom.  It makes a certain person really mad when he (Wes) mistakenly picks up the can of ant spray and starts using it like hair spray.
I woke up a while ago and said, "dear, this feels like we are camping!"  I don't know if it was the ants on me or the air mattress.  Could've been the clothes out hanging on the line on the porch.  BUT you know what!!! I have a dish washer and that's a TREAT!  This may be one of the largest kitchens in all of La Serena too.

It has no dryer- a convenience that I already miss!  So our porch ALWAYS has clothes out on the lines we strung up.  I did say we are a little (lot) red neck, right?

The yard is beautiful and peaceful and it has a pool for the kids to enjoy.  It is beautiful and comfortable- mostly.
Here is a photo of my favorite corner.  These are my most favorite flower ever!

 We brought in the ping pong table that was outside and we use it for our dining table.  It works out great.  It's large enough that all the kids are able to get their computers around it for school.

I kindof miss snuggling up into a cozy couch and turning on the tv to just sit and veg.  We don't have either- a comfy couch or a tv!
The internet is so darn frustrating!!!  I've got to get 4 kids on the internet everyday doing school work.  Internet doesn't work throughout the house and it gets extremely slow with all of us on it.  That's also a little frustrating.  So to do the blog I have to pick a time when nobody else is on the internet or it takes FOREVER!

Ok- it sounds like I am complaining- I am about just a few things.  Overall we are happy to be where we are and we are loving the yard and pool.  All is well!  All is good!  This is an adventure we will remember forever!