Parents Know Best...

No matter how old we or they get, our parents always seem to know what's right. This rule especially came into play with the housewarming gifts our collective parents have given us. Neither of us expected any gifts and are just so thankful for the time each of our parents have put into helping us with the move, cleaning and fixing things around the house, and generally helping us make it feel more cozy. We've got a long way to go, but each of the little steps we've taken so far have helped make our new house feel more like our home (as cliche as it sounds).

Mary's Dad, George, came over to the new house the first night we were there to see the place and then walked in with a giant Kobalt tool set. He said he knew we'd be needing it and that it would be a good one since all of the tools were right there in one place. Even though I thought I had many of the tools in this set already, I cracked it open and have to say it's been SO nice having all the basics in one place, all contained in a slim kit — yep, just like George said. I decided to keep this set in the house for all of our immediate needs and the majority of my other tools out in our garage for now.

George also walked in with a galvanized bucket and a smirk on his face, explaining that it may just look like a bucket, but was really 4 different gifts at once. He said it would act as a cleaning supply holder when needed, an ice bucket at parties, a nice storage container for towels in the bathroom, and even a planter come springtime. He was so right — cleaning supply holder, check! Ice bucket at our Christmas Eve party, check! Thanks man.

Mary's mom brought over a special keepsake gift that we've been pining over for years. She's had three 4 point Hudson Bay wool blankets in her family since she can remember. These blankets are 100% wool — the quality that makes them so legendary. The 4 points, or black ticking lines on the side of these guys was to help reference the size and weight of a finished blanket. They are also rumored to have been the number of beaver pelts these blankets would have been traded for back in the 1700's.

She's told us stories of having all 3 piled atop of her as a small child when sick with a fever, memories of having them at the beach on winter vacations, and taking one of them with her when she went off to college back in the 60's.

Knowing how much Mary and I liked and appreciated them, she had all 3 dry cleaned and brought them over as we were setting up the beds in the house

 

These are the real deal, y'all. We definitely cherish them and are looking forward to finding the perfect places for them in the home so their stories of warmth, itchiness, and charm continue on.


My parents have set us up with a touchless kitchen. A what you say? A touchless kitchen.

Let me elaborate. Not only did they give us a touchless hand soap dispenser that you simply run your hand underneath for it to automagically (yes you read that right) dispense the perfect amount of soap for a single hand washing, but they brought over the big daddy of all touchless trash bins. It's a stainless steel double barreled beauty suited for trash on one side and recycling on the other — we love her so much already. Did I mention she's touchless?

We'll let Basil show you how she works:

We love both of these new contraptions since they probably aren't something we would have bought for ourselves, but after having and using them, they really have made life in the kitchen that much better.

So yeah — we've got two sets of parents that not only know us better than we thought — but still know what's good for us. Gotta love that. You'll be sure to see each of these new-to-us household solutions lurking around the house and making follow up appearances on the blog.