(no subject)
Moved
So the stuff that I needed to get done pretty much got done. Friday morning I spent some time over at K's house watching bicycle racing with his housemate and participating in some friendly banter, as one does. Then I came back to the apartment, packed a box, sat still and thought for a few minutes, and got back in the car.
And I went up to Syracuse and got the catering food from the Dino. That was slightly exciting, given that a) it was the 2nd day of the State Fair, b) the road to the State Fair and the road to the Dino are both 690 West, and c) the ramp from 81 onto 690 West was closed due to some brainiac's ill-timed accident. But the GPS on my phone was able to recognize "Dinosaur Barbecue" and give me directions. So that worked out well. And then I came back to the apartment, got everything into the fridge, and sat still for a few minutes. And then I drove down into the Poconos to meet up with my parents, who had Matthew, as part of a brilliant plan to not have to somehow figure out how two drivers could get two cars and a U-Haul from Binghamton to Wilmington. We had dinner. It was nice. I ate most of a lobster. (I haven't had a ton of appetite for... a while now.)
And then on Saturday, we went to the county landfill to dispose of car batteries and electronics that were toast. And then we went to a diner and had breakfast. And then Matthew got the U-Haul, and we went back to the apartment, and the load-out began. I was not carrying particularly heavy things, but by about 3 PM I was flat on my back on a couch cushion left in the living room. But the furniture was pretty well out by 4:30, and at that point the first round of friends left and Matthew and I went down to Front Street for frozen yogurt and packing tape. While we were down there, we got a text that brightened our spirits for the next stage.
See, a few days before, I'd gotten a message from a high school friend who is now in grad school at Cornell. He was going to be coming through on his way back to Ithaca that day, and wanted to know if I would be around. I told him "Yes, but we will be loading a U-Haul, so you're welcome to stop by, but you will probably be recruited into carrying boxes." Bless his heart, he said that that sounded like fun. And he showed up at the perfect time, and he gave us two and a half hours of his life, and we wound up getting all of the boxes out of the apartment, and it probably kept us from being there until midnight, and it was amazing. And so I gave him a bottle of wine and a bottle of mead, and he headed on to Ithaca, and we headed down to my parents' house for the night.
And by the time we got to my parents' house, it was after 1, and I was an exhausted human being, and I pretty much crashed. Mentally before physically. And then in the morning I woke up reluctantly, and Matthew had already headed for Delaware, so I drank a cup of tea and ate a croissant and me and my parents and Amy (who had magically appeared the night before) each got in a car (my mom in my dad's car, my dad in Matthew's, Amy in hers, and me in mine) and by various routes we all eventually reached the house in Wilmington. I made a brief stop at the dollar store because I realized that I had no idea where oven mitts (for warming up the barbecue) were, and also takeout containers so that people could leave with leftovers. My father called me to ask for directions, because he had missed a turn. When I asked him where he was, he said "By a DuPont research facility." Being a respectful daughter, I did not point out that this was a good description of most of northern Delaware, but I got him headed in the right direction. I'm calling this impressive, given that I had been to the house twice, MAYBE three times before this point.
And at that point, I planted myself in the kitchen and started to unpack a little and give direction as necessary (and as I was capable). My parents, one of my brothers, four friends from grad school (with their two babies, about 9 and 6 months) (two separate families), Amy, lots of assistance. Later in the day my other brother and his girlfriend showed up. Ultimately the U-Haul was empty. My feet were killing me. Everybody likes the house. I like the house too. It was a nice day, although by the end of it I was wiped out and Matthew may have been tireder. And so our first meal alone in our new home was matzo ball soup courtesy of Mama Manischevitz. And we slept.
Monday we went to return the U-Haul first thing. I woke up with a headache (amazed that it held off that long) and got all the excitement of vomiting water in the U-Haul parking lot. I spent the rest of the day napping, pretty much. (And reading Joan Aiken novels.) Matthew brought home sausage and sweet corn and grilled, and then immediately after dinner I went back to bed.
Tuesday I had some tutoring hours, which I spent in Starbucks. Before I headed over there, I got the tea cabinet box unpacked and my spice racks settled (my brother and his girlfriend, while doing some organization in the lower kitchen cabinets, did not mock me for having three boxes of seasonings. I still can't find the regular salt, plus there's everything still in Matthew's cupboards, but having that accessible makes me feel a lot more present here.) Then I got a mess of beef barley soup going in the crockpot. From there, headed to Starbucks, made some money, caught up a little on the online world and news and stuff, and tried to get myself oriented to the rest of the errands I wanted to do. After that, I headed to AC Moore and bought dye to refresh the very very faded bedroom curtains, and then to Target to look for curtain rods that would fit the somewhat oddly-sized windows in this house. (I love this house. I'll love it more when we're unpacked.) And then I went to Lowe's to buy some basic garden tools and some organizational things and to start thinking about paint colors for giving new life to some old and yellowed Ikea furniture (which belonged to my brothers when they were small) for the baby's room. And then Matthew texted and I went to the house and then to his old apartment, at which point I was a tired tired person, and also a person who is not used to the idea of being somewhere with a rush hour, so I sat still and did some serious breathing while Matthew ferried stuff into a car, and then I drove the car back to the house and ate some delicious soup. And then Matthew brought me a giant lemon water ice.
Now, it is Wednesday, and I am thinking about what I can reasonably expect to accomplish.
Goals:
1) Get stuff out of the pantry cupboards at Matthew's old place
2) Go to the grocery store and get stuff to use leftover pulled pork to make fry bread tacos
3) Not throw up
4) Get the two sets of curtains that I want to dye and wash them both with a color remover to get things a little more level right now
5) Revisit the pots-and-pans cabinet and find a way to be able to get things out without knocking all the other things over
6) Go through another box or two of Random Kitchen Stuff
7) Go back to Target in search of a very very long curtain rod and also a very very short tension rod. Well, three very very short tension rods. And return one of the slightly-too-long tension rods.
So the stuff that I needed to get done pretty much got done. Friday morning I spent some time over at K's house watching bicycle racing with his housemate and participating in some friendly banter, as one does. Then I came back to the apartment, packed a box, sat still and thought for a few minutes, and got back in the car.
And I went up to Syracuse and got the catering food from the Dino. That was slightly exciting, given that a) it was the 2nd day of the State Fair, b) the road to the State Fair and the road to the Dino are both 690 West, and c) the ramp from 81 onto 690 West was closed due to some brainiac's ill-timed accident. But the GPS on my phone was able to recognize "Dinosaur Barbecue" and give me directions. So that worked out well. And then I came back to the apartment, got everything into the fridge, and sat still for a few minutes. And then I drove down into the Poconos to meet up with my parents, who had Matthew, as part of a brilliant plan to not have to somehow figure out how two drivers could get two cars and a U-Haul from Binghamton to Wilmington. We had dinner. It was nice. I ate most of a lobster. (I haven't had a ton of appetite for... a while now.)
And then on Saturday, we went to the county landfill to dispose of car batteries and electronics that were toast. And then we went to a diner and had breakfast. And then Matthew got the U-Haul, and we went back to the apartment, and the load-out began. I was not carrying particularly heavy things, but by about 3 PM I was flat on my back on a couch cushion left in the living room. But the furniture was pretty well out by 4:30, and at that point the first round of friends left and Matthew and I went down to Front Street for frozen yogurt and packing tape. While we were down there, we got a text that brightened our spirits for the next stage.
See, a few days before, I'd gotten a message from a high school friend who is now in grad school at Cornell. He was going to be coming through on his way back to Ithaca that day, and wanted to know if I would be around. I told him "Yes, but we will be loading a U-Haul, so you're welcome to stop by, but you will probably be recruited into carrying boxes." Bless his heart, he said that that sounded like fun. And he showed up at the perfect time, and he gave us two and a half hours of his life, and we wound up getting all of the boxes out of the apartment, and it probably kept us from being there until midnight, and it was amazing. And so I gave him a bottle of wine and a bottle of mead, and he headed on to Ithaca, and we headed down to my parents' house for the night.
And by the time we got to my parents' house, it was after 1, and I was an exhausted human being, and I pretty much crashed. Mentally before physically. And then in the morning I woke up reluctantly, and Matthew had already headed for Delaware, so I drank a cup of tea and ate a croissant and me and my parents and Amy (who had magically appeared the night before) each got in a car (my mom in my dad's car, my dad in Matthew's, Amy in hers, and me in mine) and by various routes we all eventually reached the house in Wilmington. I made a brief stop at the dollar store because I realized that I had no idea where oven mitts (for warming up the barbecue) were, and also takeout containers so that people could leave with leftovers. My father called me to ask for directions, because he had missed a turn. When I asked him where he was, he said "By a DuPont research facility." Being a respectful daughter, I did not point out that this was a good description of most of northern Delaware, but I got him headed in the right direction. I'm calling this impressive, given that I had been to the house twice, MAYBE three times before this point.
And at that point, I planted myself in the kitchen and started to unpack a little and give direction as necessary (and as I was capable). My parents, one of my brothers, four friends from grad school (with their two babies, about 9 and 6 months) (two separate families), Amy, lots of assistance. Later in the day my other brother and his girlfriend showed up. Ultimately the U-Haul was empty. My feet were killing me. Everybody likes the house. I like the house too. It was a nice day, although by the end of it I was wiped out and Matthew may have been tireder. And so our first meal alone in our new home was matzo ball soup courtesy of Mama Manischevitz. And we slept.
Monday we went to return the U-Haul first thing. I woke up with a headache (amazed that it held off that long) and got all the excitement of vomiting water in the U-Haul parking lot. I spent the rest of the day napping, pretty much. (And reading Joan Aiken novels.) Matthew brought home sausage and sweet corn and grilled, and then immediately after dinner I went back to bed.
Tuesday I had some tutoring hours, which I spent in Starbucks. Before I headed over there, I got the tea cabinet box unpacked and my spice racks settled (my brother and his girlfriend, while doing some organization in the lower kitchen cabinets, did not mock me for having three boxes of seasonings. I still can't find the regular salt, plus there's everything still in Matthew's cupboards, but having that accessible makes me feel a lot more present here.) Then I got a mess of beef barley soup going in the crockpot. From there, headed to Starbucks, made some money, caught up a little on the online world and news and stuff, and tried to get myself oriented to the rest of the errands I wanted to do. After that, I headed to AC Moore and bought dye to refresh the very very faded bedroom curtains, and then to Target to look for curtain rods that would fit the somewhat oddly-sized windows in this house. (I love this house. I'll love it more when we're unpacked.) And then I went to Lowe's to buy some basic garden tools and some organizational things and to start thinking about paint colors for giving new life to some old and yellowed Ikea furniture (which belonged to my brothers when they were small) for the baby's room. And then Matthew texted and I went to the house and then to his old apartment, at which point I was a tired tired person, and also a person who is not used to the idea of being somewhere with a rush hour, so I sat still and did some serious breathing while Matthew ferried stuff into a car, and then I drove the car back to the house and ate some delicious soup. And then Matthew brought me a giant lemon water ice.
Now, it is Wednesday, and I am thinking about what I can reasonably expect to accomplish.
Goals:
1) Get stuff out of the pantry cupboards at Matthew's old place
2) Go to the grocery store and get stuff to use leftover pulled pork to make fry bread tacos
3) Not throw up
4) Get the two sets of curtains that I want to dye and wash them both with a color remover to get things a little more level right now
5) Revisit the pots-and-pans cabinet and find a way to be able to get things out without knocking all the other things over
6) Go through another box or two of Random Kitchen Stuff
7) Go back to Target in search of a very very long curtain rod and also a very very short tension rod. Well, three very very short tension rods. And return one of the slightly-too-long tension rods.