Christmas, New Years.....Moving day

Can y'all believe it's only ONE week until Christmas? Just like every year-minus the years I was a kid counting down the days-December is like the blink of an eye. Although there have been some pretty cold nights lately, we've been mostly blessed with weather that is conducive to our living situation. I've spent some time doing dishes in a coat, hat and scarf. I've spent time in a reasonable indoor outfit.
I have, I think, reached my limit on packing. Every Friday I pack. I've gotten into a pretty efficient rhythm: toothbrushes, pajamas, laundry....Every Sunday afternoon, I unpack. Put away laundry, remake beds, put suitcases in closet....Brian so sweetly reminded me this week, "this is it. This is the probably the last time you have to do this." Oh, thank you, honey. I got this.
During the Christmas holiday, we decided to "move (back) in" with my parents (Thanks mom and dad!) to have hot showers, a dishwasher, laundry on site, and to BE WARM. Just in time too. As I write this, the wind is howling and bringing in a cold front. A very cold, cold front, especially for a good Texas girl like me. So, for now #ranchlife is on hold, but adventure year lives on, and goes into 2017 here in North Austin.
Progress has been happening on the house, and it's really looking more and more like a real house. Like, I can't wait to live here, where am I going to put the sofa, which cupboard will my mugs go in....etc etc

The front door is just to the right of the stairs

view from upstairs, in the playroom

Monday, the floor crew is supposed to start sanding and staining the wood floors. The usual time frame for completion is a week- a week and a half. I was assured that they would stay and finish up Saturday if they had to so that they could be finished by Christmas. Yes, please. The Tuesday following Christmas, the carpet will go in upstairs. The upstairs is the playroom, and the kid's bedrooms. I was also assured that this crew WOULD be there the Tuesday after Christmas. Trying not to get my hopes up about that. Once the floors are finished, appliances go in, touch up paint happens, and they hook up our plumbing to our tank. A lot of things are still coming together, but we are so, so close.
Here's the stain we decided on for the floors: hard to see in the picture, but it's about 3 shades lighter than I originally chose.

Hoping I can share photos of how the floor turned out after Christmas. Maybe I'll have more good news about a firm closing date! Brian and I are really brainstorming about the placement of our fence, so hopefully I can share about that soon too. What type of fence do y'all picture around our house? We love the look of a split rail fence. It's obviously aesthetically pleasing, but all that really keeps out is cows, and still allows armadillos, possums, skunks and similar animals in.  Maybe something like this?

https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/abbey-fence-and-deck-baltimore?select=oolnVKMUDb3dJxx1sCc4XA&utm_campaign=www_photo_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=(direct)

Merry Christmas y'all! Thanks for reading. -Steph