Finally, we’re in our new place. And in some ways, it’s like the beginning of a very long vacation. We weren’t sure exactly what area we wanted to live in long-term, and didn’t have a ton of time to pull this whole move together, so we’re living in a vacation rental through the off-season with the intention of finding something a little (hopefully a lot!) more permanent in May.

So what does that mean for this roving family?

It means that “moving” meant bringing our suitcases into a fully furnished cottage on Lake Michigan complete with towels, appliances, linens, and even a killer view of the water. Much, much nicer than having to dig through fifteen boxes marked “Misc.”, or worse yet, those trash bags filled with last-minute stuff, in order to find the hair dryer or toaster. It’s all right here, and I’ve spent the morning sending silly messages on Twitter, catching up on work, and putting away clothes into the dressers (which were ALREADY HERE) instead of unpacking. Pretty fantastic, if you ask me. We’ve got some cleaning up to do on the other end, but I’m letting my husband take care of as much of that as possible, and we’re selling off any furniture we aren’t in love with (we’ve been hauling much of it around for years, and most of it isn’t that nice…it’s time.)

Of course, 5 or 6 of the 8 months we’ll be here will be cold–and three of those months will be REALLY cold–but the view will still be great, if a bit frosty. I’ll post pics as soon as I find my good camera.

There are some funny things about moving into a vacation rental, too. For instance, the fridge came pre-stocked with condiments. But how do I know which condiments are trustworthy? I mean, sure I can read the expiration date on the mayo or dressing, but how do I know somebody didn’t leave it sitting on the deck in the sun after a backyard barbecue? I don’t want to waste good food…but I don’t want to give my family food poisoning, either.

Also: there’s a brochure rack in the dining room. Since I’m not likely to need reminders of all the stuff to do in the area or menus to local restaurants right at my fingertips every minute of the day, I’m trying to figure out what to put in the rack instead. I’m trying to encourage the kids to use cloth napkins and one way to do that seems to be eliminating obstacles (yes, when you’re 8, apparently opening a drawer counts as an obstacle). So I’d like to put cloth napkins into one of the shelves. But there are two other shelves, and I’d guess the rack is about 3 feet across–so there’s plenty of room to stash…something else. Here’s a pic:

Any ideas?