So, I think that we have the whole moving thing covered, especially if Kathy T. and the Professor show up on Friday. The Butcher has actually gotten some folks together, large able-bodied folks who are not having some kind of emotional and physical breakdown.
The second cable guy was much more competent than the first and got us all hooked up at the house. He was surprised that the first guy couldn’t do it, and frustrated that they’d scheduled us so late in the day, but very nice about my dad standing around near him cracking jokes.
The house is ready to go, I think. It looks terrific and I really cannot wait to be sitting in it. I think we’re in good shape on the large things we need (Thanks, Dad!), except for my dream of awesome bookshelves. But we’re going to have to make a run to Target for little plastic bins to put things in once we know what kinds of things we have to put in bins we might get.
The maids are coming to the apartment on Monday. I am tempted to hire them to come to the house all the time, too, but I’ll have to see if we can squeeze it in our budget. But damn, it would be worth it.
We have so much crap and it’s just crap. I feel like I’m filling a garbage bag for every box I pack. Still, you know what? It’s worth it to not haul it over to the house.
So, yeah, here’s another boring post about the move that will not die. It’s like a bad horror movie, in that it’s horrible to me but not to everyone else. Even my dad last night at dinner was like “Why are you being such a dork about this?” And my dad is a world-class fretter. He won the gold in the fretting Olympics in ‘68, ‘72, and ‘08 and medaled in every other year.
So, when he says I’m fretting too much, I’m fretting too much. And yet I cannot stop.
Filed under: Around the House, Stories About Me
The move will be over soon enough.
When I moved recently, I’ll tell you what I did. Pack up the stuff you want to decorate your fireplace mantle with (or some other reasonably out of the way area that’s not going to get bumped and jostled as you move the rest of your stuff in) and bring that over first. Decorate the mantle. Get it looking exactly like you want it. Then as your moving and feeling like it’s never going to end, look up at your decorated mantle and realize that that it what your whole house is going to look like soon. It brings back your energy and enthusiasm surprisingly well!
large able-bodied folks who are not having some kind of emotional and physical breakdown.
That means I’m definitely out, seeing as I’ve got both going on. I tried to volunteer my spouse in my stead but he appears to have some sort of walking pneumonia thing.
I second dolphin’s suggestion. Although I didn’t do my mantle–I did one of my built-in bookshelves–but it made it much more palatable to do everything else. That island of tranquility sort of reminds you of your end goal, a homey, cozy place.
I am seriously laughing so hard that I am crying because if you change a few details this sounds like what is going through my mind these days.
“It’s like a bad horror movie, in that it’s horrible to me but not to everyone else.”
I think you just described every move in the history of moving.
I have a husband who moved all the time when he was a kid (3 schools in 3rd grade — ugh!) so he was brought up to get everything unpacked RIGHT AWAY. We’ve done two moves together; last time it seemed to take years to get everything packed (technically I know this can’t have been the case, but I would swear that’s how it was) but we got our entire house unpacked, boxes out for pickup, and everything, in about 3 days. I mean every single solitary item was in its place, except for two miscellaneous boxes whose contents we didn’t have shelves for, which were properly stowed in a closet. Damndest experience I have ever had. We wouldn’t have had time to look at a mantle. I highly recommend letting the unpacking take a little longer, and fixing up a mantle, or a bookcase, or whatever, for your inspiration while you work.
A bag of garbage for every box is good! I moved old copies of Entertainment Weekly from Illinois to New York to Texas and was about to move them to back Illinois before I finally realized maybe it wasn’t worth moving them. Purging is good. And I realize I’m a bit of a freak but I love organizing stuff like little bins — your things need homes! And now that you’ll have all these delightful closets…they’ll have them!
And also — GALORE. ;-)