Things I love right now

• Recycling. I'm having the best time finding any and everything I can put in our recycling bins. It's like my own personal scavenger hunt every day, looking for bits of paper and plastic and metal that can be reused again. Our old towhouse didn't have any kind of recycling, so we collected everything and drove everything to the redemption center once the bags got full enough. Problem was, they didn't accept anything beyond bottles and cans. Not even newspaper (it killed me to throw newspaper in the trash, but what else could I do when no one would take it?). Now I'm having a grand time, finding new things I can recycle everywhere I look.
  
• My own back yard. It's wide and inviting and so full of growing things, flowers especially. I love that the boys can run out and come back not five minutes later with armloads of roses, bachelor's buttons, and other flowers and you can't even tell they picked anything. Still don't know what most of the plants out back are yet (anyone want to take a guess if I post pictures?), but figuring it all out is pretty fun, too.
  
• Working out where to put everything. Sure, it's a bit of a chore to unpack and get all the stuff in place, but there's something really satisfying about finding the right place for things and getting it all just the way that feels right.
  
• Watching the boys explore their new home. Arden especially is thrilled to finally have his own room all to himself. They both are having a grand time running around the back yard, searching for "treasure" and generally getting covered in dirt in every way imaginable. Warms my heart to see them stack rocks and dig in the dirt and ride their bikes in the cul de sac. They already have a new friend who lives just 3 doors down, and it looks like there are several little boys of about the right age within 2-3 blocks.
  
• Oregon strawberries! Absolutely incredible - so sweet and full of flavor, it's hard to even describe. Delicious.
• My granite countertops. I can put a hot pan right down on the counter without giving it a second thought, keep pastry cool if I need to, and the counter never looks dirty. Ahhh....lovely stuff.
  
• Knitting with my handpainted yarn. I was going to jump into the glorious yarn my dye pal sent, but Dan has been drooling over the other half of the skein I dyed since it was fully dry. He kept making subtle comments like, "you are keeping some of that yarn, right?" and "you know, if you made some socks for me out of that yarn I'd love you forever." Yep, he's the king of subtlety. But the yarn is knitting up really nicely, and I love watching the colors turn and bend as the sock gets longer and longer.
• Ginger and "Yuzu" Wafers. Got the recipe for these ethereal cookies from A New Way to Cook by Sally Schneider. They're essentially tuilles with a hit of intense ginger and citrus. Just enough to nibble with some tea or alongside a bowl of ice cream. Yum.
  
• Living here. I'm so incredibly glad we went through everything we did to make this happen. This is the right place for so many reasons, and it feels like home already.