A Georgia Girl in Germany

I’m back in Germany now, and trying to get settled into our new house. Thankfully, the kids are spending this week with Matt and his parents, allowing me some uninterrupted time to unpack. I know, I know, it’s not exactly the best way to spend time sans kids, but I’m making good progress thus far.

This time, we’re living on the economy rather than living on-base. The good side is that we won’t have to worry about making too much noise to disturb our apartment neighbors (not that we ever heard complaints, but it’s always on my mind when the kids get rowdy). The down side is that we have to tend to a yard, which (fortunately) isn’t terribly large. Guess I need to get Zachary a lawn mower so he can upgrade his chores.

We have a nice open space downstairs for our living and eating areas. We even have an office/guest bedroom (see the door in the background?). Yup -- five bedrooms! We’re waiting for visitors to come use it. I expect Mom & Dad will be the first, but I’d love to be surprised.

The kitchen is a good size for German kitchens. Fortunately, I have a free-standing pantry and the base gives me another kitchen cabinet as well, so there should be ample counter and cabinet space. The base also provides an "American size" refrigerator since German fridges are about the size of a college or wet-bar fridge!

I've unpacked the kitchen enough that it's about 95% functional. I still need to get a toaster and blender that run off 220 power, but most everything has at least found a place in a cabinet or drawer without too much crowding.

The kids really like the idea of having a loft playroom. I’m hoping this will help keep their rooms a little less cluttered.

While we have two and a half bathrooms in the house, only one is on the second floor with the bedrooms -- so we’ll all be sharing that one. At least it has two sinks so we won’t be tripping over each other. I haven’t quite figured out why the shower head for the tub is on the side wall instead of the end wall. The hotel I stayed at in Moscow was designed like this as well, and I never could prevent the water from spraying past the shower curtain and onto the floor. Guess we’ll just use the tub for baths to prevent the overspray since there’s a shower stall next to it.

Labels: Pam's thoughts