Life continues to be rich and full in the Miser Family Household. In particular, the "house" part of "household" has played a large role in our lives.
Last week, I spent much of the week moving just about all our earthly possessions out of the house-hold and into the garage-hold. Any pretensions I had toward having minimalist tendencies were drilled out of me as I packed and carried box after box after box, and as I had friends help me lug multiple pieces of heavy furniture.
Meanwhile, as I was disassembling the dining room table, my husband celebrated the international year of the periodic table in the birthplace of Primo Levy. On Thursday last, as I packed up the last few bits, took Prewash to a friend's house, and headed for a nearby hotel, my guy started his long (26-hour) journey home. He had plane cancellations and rebookings, train break downs, and other adventures. He made it to the hotel sometime around midnight.
On Friday the 19th, as temperatures climbed their way toward new highs for this year, we went to one title agency and sold our home. Then we lived out of our car for an hour. (Actually, we went to my air-conditioned office, because internet + comfort). Then we went to a second title agency and bought our new home. We went out for lunch, picked up a moving van with two hand trucks, and started carting the first load of stuff from Old House to New House.
At 3 p.m., a group of friends and church mates showed up and started carting things from the garage into the truck. Since it had taken me something like two months to get everything moved (wedged) in there, I knew it was going to take forEVER to move it over -- I'd organized things so urgent stuff was toward the street, and things we could wait a month or so to move were furthest back. I was very glad that we'd arranged with the new owners to be able to leave stuff in the garage until August.
And yet, many hands really do make speedy work, and we ended up moving almost all of the boxes and shelves and such into the next load in the truck. Unpacking was also easier than I'd thought; new neighbors showed up and lent a hand. We sweated our way through moving things on a nearly-100-degree day. The next load of the truck, which basically finished off the garage, was even faster. We picked up Prewash at 9 p.m. and fell asleep in the heat and humidity of our new house soon after.
The next day, N-son came to visit, and he helped me use a pulley system to get the box spring upstairs (it wouldn't fit around the corner of our top stair case). That pulley was probably the most intellectually satisfying part of the move!
Since then, I've spent my week happily bouncing back and forth between work (last round of page proofs, preparing for upcoming math meetings) and unpacking and setting up the house. Almost everything is out of boxes now. My husband's job in all this (which is to admire my progress and exclaim over how nice things look) is going well. He also got to go to his every-five-year flavor of medical appointment, where the doctor said he's beautiful on the inside. He would like me to say that he was pooped.
We know the mail works, because we got a lovely card from our daughter and from my sister. I got to spend an evening playing a local version of Monopoly with I-daughter, who is psyched about spinning two skeins for the Tour de Fleece. I admit I haven't been as good at staying in touch with K-daughter or J-son.
And . . . HUGE kudos to L-daughter, who passed her thesis defense! We've got a new doctor in the family! I'm so proud.
And that's the news from our family, which continues to be wealthy in our adventures. May you and yours be similarly prosperous.
Last week, I spent much of the week moving just about all our earthly possessions out of the house-hold and into the garage-hold. Any pretensions I had toward having minimalist tendencies were drilled out of me as I packed and carried box after box after box, and as I had friends help me lug multiple pieces of heavy furniture.
Meanwhile, as I was disassembling the dining room table, my husband celebrated the international year of the periodic table in the birthplace of Primo Levy. On Thursday last, as I packed up the last few bits, took Prewash to a friend's house, and headed for a nearby hotel, my guy started his long (26-hour) journey home. He had plane cancellations and rebookings, train break downs, and other adventures. He made it to the hotel sometime around midnight.
On Friday the 19th, as temperatures climbed their way toward new highs for this year, we went to one title agency and sold our home. Then we lived out of our car for an hour. (Actually, we went to my air-conditioned office, because internet + comfort). Then we went to a second title agency and bought our new home. We went out for lunch, picked up a moving van with two hand trucks, and started carting the first load of stuff from Old House to New House.
At 3 p.m., a group of friends and church mates showed up and started carting things from the garage into the truck. Since it had taken me something like two months to get everything moved (wedged) in there, I knew it was going to take forEVER to move it over -- I'd organized things so urgent stuff was toward the street, and things we could wait a month or so to move were furthest back. I was very glad that we'd arranged with the new owners to be able to leave stuff in the garage until August.
And yet, many hands really do make speedy work, and we ended up moving almost all of the boxes and shelves and such into the next load in the truck. Unpacking was also easier than I'd thought; new neighbors showed up and lent a hand. We sweated our way through moving things on a nearly-100-degree day. The next load of the truck, which basically finished off the garage, was even faster. We picked up Prewash at 9 p.m. and fell asleep in the heat and humidity of our new house soon after.
The next day, N-son came to visit, and he helped me use a pulley system to get the box spring upstairs (it wouldn't fit around the corner of our top stair case). That pulley was probably the most intellectually satisfying part of the move!
Since then, I've spent my week happily bouncing back and forth between work (last round of page proofs, preparing for upcoming math meetings) and unpacking and setting up the house. Almost everything is out of boxes now. My husband's job in all this (which is to admire my progress and exclaim over how nice things look) is going well. He also got to go to his every-five-year flavor of medical appointment, where the doctor said he's beautiful on the inside. He would like me to say that he was pooped.
We know the mail works, because we got a lovely card from our daughter and from my sister. I got to spend an evening playing a local version of Monopoly with I-daughter, who is psyched about spinning two skeins for the Tour de Fleece. I admit I haven't been as good at staying in touch with K-daughter or J-son.
And . . . HUGE kudos to L-daughter, who passed her thesis defense! We've got a new doctor in the family! I'm so proud.
And that's the news from our family, which continues to be wealthy in our adventures. May you and yours be similarly prosperous.
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