It’s 5:30. Would you believe that the truck with all our stuff hasn’t even left our old house yet? It’s been, what, 8 hours, and they’re only halfway done?

(I am dreading finding out how much higher this actual move is going to cost over the estimate.)

On the plus side, Chappy’s been napping. Mom’s over here now. But … they can’t possibly get that entire truck unloaded at this point before … what? Midnight? One a.m.?

Another plus, though? Not only did my sister bring down some baked ziti for us for dinner tonight, but … around 3:00, I thought I heard some noise outside, but figured I was hearing one of the neighbors. Chappy woke up from his nap and asked to go outside, so we did, and walked around a little, and then came back in through the garage …

Wait, where did those flowers come from? And … that wasn’t there before! A box of food from an Italian restaurant in Caldwell, with a nice card from two of my parents’ oldest friends. (Awww!) She came all this way just to leave something nice. (She’s been known to leave flowers in the mailbox, too. She doesn’t ring the bell, or come to the door, just leaves the treat and disappears.

Chappy’s napping again. I’m feeling jealous. And both Mom and I are a little concerned about how loooooong this day is going to be. Especially since there’s so much we’re going to have to DO!

On the plus side, I’ve got my bathroom essentials set up, know where my toothbrush is, and I brought my feather bed, comforter and pillows with me when I came over this morning. At least I know where I’m sleeping tonight!

And, wow, the moving men must be TIRED by now…

UPDATE: Oooh, wait, update … Dad just called  (5:40) and said the movers told him that they’ll have to go back for Dad’s office stuff and MOM AND DAD’S MATTRESS. Um … what are they supposed to sleep on tonight??

Tags: Family by --Deb
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Another update. It’s almost 3:00 and the movers haven’t finished loading the truck yet, back at the old house. (Apparently there are only 3 of them, not the 4 who were supposed to come.) My sister’s headed back home now, and I’ve got most of the kitchen cabinets set up–or, at least, set up with the stuff I’ve GOT. (No dishes or glasses yet, no pots or pans.) I’m sitting right now at the front window, on one of the seat cushions from our old living room love seat. The love seat was too big to bring, though we’re taking the couch and chair from the set, but then it occurred to me … the seat cushions would make great floor cushions–especially for right now, while there’s no furniture at all.

Chappy is napping at the moment, which is GREAT because once the movers get here, I’m pretty sure he’ll get no more rest for a long, long while.

Tags: General by --Deb
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Tags: Family by --Deb
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The tape the movers used to pack my books is pretty terrible, but looks kind of cool.

Unlike the empty bookcases, which just look sad. (But not as sad as the fact that the movers didn’t know how to spell “downstairs,” or that the concept of keeping books from the same shelf together didn’t seem to occur to them. I’m really trying hard not to freak out at that–or worry about the way they piled some of the books into their boxes.)

Here are my clothes, waiting to move. I tucked them into plastic bags right on the closet rod and then carted them over to the new closet. They DO fit, by the way, though it’s a TIGHT fit.

Can you see the Chappy in this picture? Yeah, it’s pretty hard–he’s in his usual spot in the dining room window, but you can only see about half his face.

Oh, poor Chappy … as you know, we’re moving tomorrow, and today we took over some of our stuff. The clothes from the closets, for example. And my yarn/wool stash. My spinning wheels. Stuff that we could stash out of the way in closets over there so they wouldn’t be in the way.

So, the three of us loaded up our two cars this morning and headed over and lugged everything in. Mom and Dad finished first and came back about 15 minutes ahead of me, and Chappy, poor Chappy, was practically frantic! When I got home, he rushed to greet me like I’d been gone for three weeks … or three years! And he was panting so hard, we think he spent most of the time we were gone running around, hyperventilating.

For our second trip, Dad stayed home with Chappy, and called me five minutes later to tell me that he was howling…

This is exactly the reason that I’m going over early tomorrow, and bringing Chappy with me. If us taking stuff out of the house freaks him out this much, the movers would be even worse! And my being out of his sight is obviously that much worse. I’ve seen him on vacations, when we’re ready to head home, he starts worrying, so we always put him in the car first thing, so he doesn’t have to worry. Well, clearly, he’s really, really worried right now. Mom’s books are packed! Her yarn is gone! Her CLOTHES are gone! The end of the world is coming, and he’s not going to be happy unless he’s with me.

Poor little guy.

And, well, for a few hours in the morning, at least, the new house WILL be the quieter place to be!

I’m not sure when you’ll hear from me next–but probably NOT tomorrow. Hopefully Tuesday.

You know, the only real advantage to moving just now? Halloween (aka Barking Day) was barely a blip in the family-stress-level radar.

(And, of course, you KNOW I’m only showing you these disastrous, cluttered, messy house pictures solely because the house NEVER looks like that. We’re neat folk, here!)

Tags: Family by --Deb
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Here are the books I read in October. (You’ll have to forgive the short descriptions because, well, we’re moving TOMORROW.):

1. Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult (405 p.) An Amish girl murders her newb0rn baby … or does she?

2. An Assembly Such as This by Pamela Aidan (218 p.)
3. Duty and Desire by Pamela Aidan (238 p.)
4. These Three Remain by Pamela Aidan (335 p.)– Pride & Prejudice told from Mr. Darcy’s point of view.

5. Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath (252 p.) Why do some ideas or marketing ploys stick, and some don’t? Fascinating look at why.

6. Fledgling by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (375 p.) A couple years ago, the authors wrote this book live, without a net, publishing one chapter a week of the draft on the internet

7. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (324 p.) What if you needed a boy to fight a war to save the world? You turn it into a game, of course!

8. Ender’s Shadow by Orson Scott Card (469 p.)– The Ender’s Game told from Bean’s point of view

9. Gateway by Sharon Shinn (280 p.) New YA book from one of my favorite authors. Except … I think this is the first book of hers I didn’t love. It wasn’t dreadful, but I thought it was predictable.

10. Knitter’s Book of Wool by Clara Parkes (207 p.) Clara’s excellent new book about wool, wool, wool. Review here at Knitting Scholar.

11. How I Learned to Cook edited by Kimberly Witherspoon and Peter Mehan (306 p.) It took me a while to get around to reading this, but it was fun–first-person accounts by a whole slew of professional chefs about how they got into the cooking business.

12. Joust by Mercedes Lackey (442 p.)
13. Alta by Mercedes Lackey
14. Sanctuary by Mercedes Lackey
15. Aerie by Mercedes Lackey–a series of fantasy books in an Egypt-like world with dragons, this tells Kiron’s story, from becoming a “dragon boy” to when he escapes serfdom back to his own country. The first one is my favorite, the next two are good and round out the story nicely. The fourth? Kind of a waste of time.

16. Skies of Pern by Anne McCaffrey (468 p.) Naturally, Anne McCaffrey’s dragon-rider stories are my favorites, this is the last of the “real” ones, written mostly by her, with her familiar characters. Even if it’s not the best, it’s good to see Lessa, F’lar, Jaxom, F’lessan and the rest again.

17. Jovah’s Angel by Sharon Shinn (389 p.) The second of the “core” Samaria trilogy, telling Alleluia’s story, when suddenly, Jovah no longer hears the angels and calamitous weather threatens everyone.

18. Swing, Swagger & Drape by Jane Slicer-Smith. Review here at Knitting Scholar.

19. Getting Things Done by David Allen (259 p.) Well! I wish I’d found this one about three months ago. (Or six … or even a couple years ago.) What a great system for organizing your time … it’s just … right now, with the current house-moving chaos, it’s impossible to put any of this into effect! It’s great though–definitely recommended.

Tags: Monthly Reading List, Reading by --Deb
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