When we first saw this house we were delighted to see that there were two closets, one for each of us. Not that we mind sharing a closet, it's just a lot easier if we don't have to. We had separate closets at the last house, but mine was a lot bigger than Charlie's and I didn't use all of it so he kept some of his clothes in there too. When we found out we were moving, I did a huge closet purge. I got rid of six garbage bags full of clothes. Most of it had been in my closet for a very long time, because I hate to throw out anything and when you have a large closet you really don't have to. But I didn't want to move anything I wasn't really wearing, so I dug deep and got rid of a lot. Charlie on the other hand, not so much. He's always complaining that he doesn't have any clothes or he hasn't bought anything new in a long time, but that was debunked as I started unpacking from the move.
After the packers had finished filling the boxes, Charlie went through and wrote which closet they had come from so we would have a better idea of who's was who's when we went to unpack. Instead of just saying "Master Closet" on them, he also wrote Mary or Charlie. This was great until I actually went to unpack the boxes with my name on them and found them filled with his clothes. You know, the ones that didn't fit in his closet and had to go in mine. Apparently he didn't actually know what was in them when he wrote our names on them, he just wrote my name on the ones by my closet and his name on the ones by his closet.
When we were deciding which closet we would each take in the new house we decided Charlie should have the one near the bathroom and I would have the one next to the bed. That way there was less chance of him waking me up in the morning because his clothes would be closer to the shower and where he was getting ready. His closet was bigger, but not significantly and I didn't care that much. He offered more than once to let me put some of my clothes in his closet or armoire if I didn't have enough room. Except by the time we (mostly him, but I helped a bit on the last few boxes) unpacked all his clothes, there wasn't any room in either.
Luckily, thanks to my purge, all my clothes fit in my closet. As for Charlie, I see a purge of his own in the future. They say women have so many more clothes than men. We won't talk about shoes, that's another story.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Boxes
You would think after being in the house for two weeks that there wouldn't be boxes everywhere. That we would have unpacked most of the stuff and found a place for it and are starting to get on with life as normal. Nope, not the case. Not even close. Last night, while I was typing my I'm-starting-to-blog-again post, Charlie was unpacking boxes and organizing things with a fervor. Okay, I don't really know how much organizing he did because he just said he was going to put stuff in the unfinished part of the basement and I haven't been down there today, but it seemed like he was doing a lot. It may have seemed that way because I wasn't doing anything, but the house does look a little better today. Even Andy noticed, which is a big deal for a kid that notices nothing.
So this morning I had a renewed energy to unpack boxes. It goes in phases. I can live in chaos for only so long before I can't do it one more second and need to attempt to make the house look better. The first thing I did was unpack the last couple boxes in the front room, so that if anybody came to the door they would not see a box when I opened it. Surprisingly a lot of people actually do come to our door. I've had more solicitors in two weeks here than I did in a few months in Texas. Now my solicitors won't think I'm a messy person. Okay, why did I start there?
Next I tacked the boxes in the eating area. I'm not going to say anything too nasty about our packers, because very few things have been found broken and those that were are insignificant, but their labeling has much to be desired. I opened two boxes that said Holiday Decorations and Easter Decorations. Yes, I won't lie, those things were in the boxes. A very small percentage of what was in there, but they were there. There were also serving trays and other kitchen items that I forgot about and was even surprised to see when I opened the boxes. The amount of free space I have in the kitchen at this point is severely limited.
I also opened a box in the bedroom this morning that was labeled Hats. I didn't look all the way through the box, but on top were all of Charlie's ties. I didn't see a single hat. He's been (half-assed) looking for those since we moved in, never would he have expected them to be in that box. You know, since you don't wear ties on top of your head. It's that kind of stuff that stalls the momentum. That and the fact that looking at Facebook or chatting with the neighbors is way more fun than opening boxes.
I gave up on boxes and started on organizing. More specifically, getting all the stuff off the kitchen island that has been sitting there for two weeks and driving me crazy. I threw stuff away, put things in the kids' rooms, and moved it to other places. Not that much of it actually got put away, but my counter looks a million times better. And for me, if my kitchen is clean than I am at peace. It's not like I cook a lot or make anything fancy in the kitchen, but I like my counters clean and my sink empty. For a small time today I got just that.
We're still not even close, but I'll have a little more patience for it tomorrow. Plus, I pledged to Charlie that I would have all the boxes in our bedroom opened and put away by tomorrow, and I hate to prove myself wrong.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Back in Action
I can't believe it's been almost three weeks since I've written anything. I'm so sorry. Thanks to my mom's friend, Ruby, who finally gave me the kick in the pants I truly needed. I spoke to my mom this evening and she was telling me how excited she was that Ruby had called her but made sure to mention that Ruby was disappointed that I hadn't been writing. You're right, I haven't. I have many excuses, but I'm not going to give them all to you. The main one is that the computer did not fare well on the move and I am sitting at the laptop right now. I hate typing on the laptop, something always goes wrong. I wish I had been writing, to document all the craziness and remind myself I never want to do this again, but my laziness won over. But it's time to move forward and I just need to suck it up.
When I left off the movers were about to arrive. We've moved before, but never a huge move with movers and packers. It's always been by ourselves, piece by piece, never everything at once. It's kind of surreal to see your entire house and all your belongings packed up in boxes and then hauled off in an enormous truck. We spent that night at a hotel nearby. The next morning we packed up the few things that we had left, got the house ready for the new owners and then went to one of our favorite taco joints to say good-bye to some of our friends. It was a fabulous way to leave. All my favorite people were there and I got to say good-bye for the 100th time, but it wasn't sad it was just wonderful. Plus, I know I'm going to see them all again, just not as soon as I would like.
The first day of our drive we stopped for the night in Amarillo. The kids were great but we were all on different schedules so we stopped a lot to go the bathroom which made the trip that much longer. When we finally made it to Amarillo we stopped to have a nice dinner and Andy just broke down. It was all too much for him. I felt horrible but there wasn't much I could do, plus he was really tired and he gets extremely emotional at night when he's tired.
The next morning he was fine and we continued on our way to to Denver. We stopped at Cadillac Ranch on the way out of Amarillo. It sounds exciting but it's really just about ten Cadillacs in the middle of nowhere buried nose down in the dirt. Almost everybody there brought spray paint, and a couple of people were more than happy to share theirs plus we found a few unfinished cans on the ground. Nothing like teaching your kids vandalism at a young age.
The drive the second day was long and boring. It took us forever to get out of Texas and then when we did there wasn't much to be excited about. Lots of nothing and horrible cell reception. We drove most of the day and finally arrived at our hotel in Denver that evening, passing through the smoke and haze of the forest fires in Colorado Springs. I have to say I think the drive went so smoothly because Amanda was so good. The older kids know how to keep themselves busy with book and electronics, but it's harder for a two-year-old. She was fantastic. She didn't complain, didn't have to go to the bathroom an excessive amount and most of the time just watched out the window. I'd take her anywhere.
We spent the next two days in Denver, before heading out to the burbs where we would be living. The kids really enjoyed taking the free bus up and down the 16th Street Pedestrian Mall and then going to the movies (way to sight see, huh?). Of course they loved staying in the hotel, sometimes I think my kids are more comfortable in a hotel than their own house. The city was going through a little heat wave, it was in the low 100s. Coming from anywhere else that would have bothered us, but coming from Texas that was normal. Plus since there isn't as much humidity here it didn't even seem that bad. Of course everybody else was having a difficult time with it.
On Wednesday we had an early closing and by the time we got to the house the movers were already waiting to unload the truck. That's when the true craziness began. I had only seen the house for about thirty minutes before we bought it and then never again until move in day. The movers kept asking me where they should put things and I had no idea. Total finished square footage of the house is larger than our previous house, but this one has a basement so the livable upstairs space was smaller and the rooms overall were a lot smaller. I was starting to regret bringing some of the furniture we brought because there was nowhere to put it. Some how we got everything inside, but I'm still not sure it's all in the best place.
So the last two weeks have been filled with unpacking boxes and trips to Target and Home Depot and the Container Store to get shower rods and hangers and shelf pegs and shelving and so much more. The kitchen has tons of cabinet space but the pantry is really deep so I needed to put Elfa drawers in before I unpacked the food. That means that I didn't unpack the food for about a week after we got here and we just kept eating out. Ugh, so sick of eating out. The kids closets had bars but they were too high for the kids to reach so we needed to put in lower bars before we could put their clothes away. Best of all we sold our washer and dryer the day the packers came and went to buy one the weekend after we closed on the house. They couldn't deliver for another week, which we could muster through, but then called to say the dryer was on back order and it was going to be another week. No big deal, three weeks without a washer and dryer. Not. Luckily we found a fluff and fold. They are supposed to come this Thursday, if they don't you will be able to hear me screaming wherever you are.
So, in a nutshell, I haven't been writing because I've either been too busy trying to get my extremely messy house just the tiniest bit cleaner and more organized or I've been so beat down by the fact that it's not that I just can't muster up the energy to write about it. Either way, now that I've started again I really shouldn't stop. Plus, there's so much more to tell.
When I left off the movers were about to arrive. We've moved before, but never a huge move with movers and packers. It's always been by ourselves, piece by piece, never everything at once. It's kind of surreal to see your entire house and all your belongings packed up in boxes and then hauled off in an enormous truck. We spent that night at a hotel nearby. The next morning we packed up the few things that we had left, got the house ready for the new owners and then went to one of our favorite taco joints to say good-bye to some of our friends. It was a fabulous way to leave. All my favorite people were there and I got to say good-bye for the 100th time, but it wasn't sad it was just wonderful. Plus, I know I'm going to see them all again, just not as soon as I would like.
The first day of our drive we stopped for the night in Amarillo. The kids were great but we were all on different schedules so we stopped a lot to go the bathroom which made the trip that much longer. When we finally made it to Amarillo we stopped to have a nice dinner and Andy just broke down. It was all too much for him. I felt horrible but there wasn't much I could do, plus he was really tired and he gets extremely emotional at night when he's tired.
The next morning he was fine and we continued on our way to to Denver. We stopped at Cadillac Ranch on the way out of Amarillo. It sounds exciting but it's really just about ten Cadillacs in the middle of nowhere buried nose down in the dirt. Almost everybody there brought spray paint, and a couple of people were more than happy to share theirs plus we found a few unfinished cans on the ground. Nothing like teaching your kids vandalism at a young age.
The drive the second day was long and boring. It took us forever to get out of Texas and then when we did there wasn't much to be excited about. Lots of nothing and horrible cell reception. We drove most of the day and finally arrived at our hotel in Denver that evening, passing through the smoke and haze of the forest fires in Colorado Springs. I have to say I think the drive went so smoothly because Amanda was so good. The older kids know how to keep themselves busy with book and electronics, but it's harder for a two-year-old. She was fantastic. She didn't complain, didn't have to go to the bathroom an excessive amount and most of the time just watched out the window. I'd take her anywhere.
We spent the next two days in Denver, before heading out to the burbs where we would be living. The kids really enjoyed taking the free bus up and down the 16th Street Pedestrian Mall and then going to the movies (way to sight see, huh?). Of course they loved staying in the hotel, sometimes I think my kids are more comfortable in a hotel than their own house. The city was going through a little heat wave, it was in the low 100s. Coming from anywhere else that would have bothered us, but coming from Texas that was normal. Plus since there isn't as much humidity here it didn't even seem that bad. Of course everybody else was having a difficult time with it.
On Wednesday we had an early closing and by the time we got to the house the movers were already waiting to unload the truck. That's when the true craziness began. I had only seen the house for about thirty minutes before we bought it and then never again until move in day. The movers kept asking me where they should put things and I had no idea. Total finished square footage of the house is larger than our previous house, but this one has a basement so the livable upstairs space was smaller and the rooms overall were a lot smaller. I was starting to regret bringing some of the furniture we brought because there was nowhere to put it. Some how we got everything inside, but I'm still not sure it's all in the best place.
So the last two weeks have been filled with unpacking boxes and trips to Target and Home Depot and the Container Store to get shower rods and hangers and shelf pegs and shelving and so much more. The kitchen has tons of cabinet space but the pantry is really deep so I needed to put Elfa drawers in before I unpacked the food. That means that I didn't unpack the food for about a week after we got here and we just kept eating out. Ugh, so sick of eating out. The kids closets had bars but they were too high for the kids to reach so we needed to put in lower bars before we could put their clothes away. Best of all we sold our washer and dryer the day the packers came and went to buy one the weekend after we closed on the house. They couldn't deliver for another week, which we could muster through, but then called to say the dryer was on back order and it was going to be another week. No big deal, three weeks without a washer and dryer. Not. Luckily we found a fluff and fold. They are supposed to come this Thursday, if they don't you will be able to hear me screaming wherever you are.
So, in a nutshell, I haven't been writing because I've either been too busy trying to get my extremely messy house just the tiniest bit cleaner and more organized or I've been so beat down by the fact that it's not that I just can't muster up the energy to write about it. Either way, now that I've started again I really shouldn't stop. Plus, there's so much more to tell.
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