Living in two houses is for the birds.
We’ve spent the past two days carting smaller breakable or odd-shaped things to the new house. We’ve put quite a few miles on Berta’s car doing it. We’ve managed to get a reasonable chunk of things into the house to start off, and the place is slowly becoming livable. And that’s the problem, really.
Just as soon as you start to get comfortable with the idea that you’re going to live there, you realize that, for example, there are no chairs. There is no kitchen table. The bathroom works, and it’s stocked with toilet paper (a terrible thing to be missing on the first day in) but there is no hand towel.
Figuring out which switch works which light is an exercise requiring patience. You’ll notice that some lights have switches with a little slider along the side, and others have a turning knob that toggles when you push it, and still others are just a glowing switch that doesn’t toggle as much as slowly make things get brighter and then snap into full brightness. You’ll also be disturbed by switches in your basement near wall panels that are sealed shut with paint that do nothing when you toggle them.
The living room carpet is a decent berber that looks beautiful at first gaze, and then turns evil as you become more intimate with it. First, you notice that it’s texture makes it look a little dirty. Then you realize that it is a little dirty. Then you realize that it’s a bit sticky to the touch. Then you realize that it’s not comfortable to lay on at all. Then you’re wondering if you can get a discount on carpet if you do three rooms instead of two.
Standing in the driveway in the late afternoon yields many fruitful results. We met Bob and five kids from our street (whose names will hopefully eventually be etched into my memory) riding bikes by standing near the basketball hoop. Inez from across the street is very friendly (and generous with tomatoes), and we finally met her husband Jerry while out to dinner tonight, who had previously only been a distant figure. Ross lives across the street, and I think we saw him again after we met him with a wife and a couple kids. Jack has a 19 month old, which left a much different impression when he said it slowly - invoking “19 year old” in my brain before I heard “month” - and made me happy to realize that Riley would have a friend his age nearby.
All of the neighbors that we’ve met so far have been really friendly, and I’m looking forward to meeting the others and spending time getting to know everone better.
Of course, spending time around the house is difficult to do without a bed.
We’ve been making one or two trips between the houses, perhaps giving the kids a bath in the new house, then driving back home at night to sleep. One of our biggest irritations these days is that there is no furniture in the new house.
There is no place to put most of the boxed items that we’ve moved. There are no shelves. There are no book cases. There is no rack on which to place the new entertainment devices. (Some of the boxes of new things I ordered were just sitting on the front porch the other day.) And there are no beds, so there’s no staying over night.
I suppose if we had all of those things, we’d be moved in and there would be no need to return to the old house at all. Hopefully all of that will be remedied on Wednesday.
Tomorrow - Dish Network install in the afternoon. Riley looks like he has an ear issue again, so Berta will take him over to the doctor at some point.
Tuesday - Washer and Dryer install. By Tuesday night, everything in the old house needs to be in boxes for the movers on Wednesday. We’re pretty well on our way.
The computer will probably be disassembled sometime soon, meaning no internet for a few days. I’ll be posting and collecting email via phone. Yes, I’m an addict.
