7 Years

Kevin and I celebrated our 7th anniversary yesterday by hurling ourselves down a snowy mountain. We went to a small ski resort called Greek Peak that is about an hour from our house. It was nice and we had a great time, but I did question the appropriateness of the name of one of the slopes. Obviously, with a name like Greek Peak, it makes sense that the various runs had Greek names, but I think naming a slope Elysian Fields was quite an error in judgment! While poised at the top of the hill, I don't want to picture my soul going to its final resting place--it takes some of the joy out of the experience! We really did have fun, despite a trio of small girls, probably about 7 years old, who screamed like banshees the entire way down the hill. Luckily they were only behind us for one run, as their shrill, piercing shrieks rattled me right out of my blissful ski zone.
After we were done skiing, we snuggled by a roaring fire and toasted our marriage with champagne...hmm, that doesn't sound like us! Nope, instead we packed up our skis and zipped home to prune our apple and pear trees. Kevin left this morning for an insane 3 1/2 week long trip to Singapore, Norway and China, so he wanted to get the fruit trees pruned before they start to bloom...crazy to think that it really might be spring-like before he returns! We also finished hanging all of our pictures, so it is official--there is nothing left to unpack! There are no boxes left, everything is in its place, we are totally done! (Except for rebuilding the deck, adding a patio, doing some intensive landscaping including adding a pipe and pump so that our garage doesn't keep flooding, redoing the downstairs bathroom, replacing the downstairs ceiling, and replacing several of the light fixtures.) Okay, so maybe we still have tons of things left to do, but we are totally done unpacking! Yay!

I'm Married to a Robot

It has been awhile since I have written anything--I'm just starting to recover from the weekend. On Saturday, I woke up at 9 to begin working on the house. (Kevin had already been up for 4 hours, working on a plumbing project.) I painted our bedroom, cleaned, ran errands for Kevin at Home Depot and Lowe's not once, not twice, but three times, helped Kevin move all of our bedroom furniture in the bedroom once the paint dried, and then unpacked all my clothes and shoes and hauled them into the bedroom closet. By 1 AM, the final box was unpacked and I was close to collapsing from exhaustion. Kevin was still going strong--by this point he had installed a counter top, run pipes and installed a sink, hooked up our new washer and dryer, sanded and painted a wall, and cleaned and organized the attic and the garage. I fell into bed and didn't stir until Kevin woke me up at 11 (once again, he had gotten up at 5 to work on more home improvement projects). I was still sore and stiff from Saturday's insanity, so I was not nearly as helpful on Sunday. I caught up on all the laundry that had accumulated since the death of the old washer, I vacuumed, but mostly I spent a lot of quality time on the couch, begging Kevin to just take a break and relax. When he finally did sit down, it was not to rest, but to start working on a project for his job. This week is audit week at his company, so every day he will have to get to work early and stay late. I just don't understand how he can get by on 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night and continue to accomplish so much every day--I need at least 8 or 9 hours of sleep just to function. I went to the grocery store yesterday and I was still so tired and foggy that I walked off with an old man's grocery cart. I wandered around the produce section while he followed me, saying, "Miss, miss, you have my cart!" By the time his voice finally registered in my sleepy brain, I had pushed his cart all the way to the bakery aisle! I apologized profusely, but I didn't offer an excuse for my dopiness...I don't think he would have believed it if I told him, "I'm sorry, but my husband is a robot who never sleeps, and I made the mistake of trying to keep up with him this weekend." Oh well, lesson learned, and I think it is best for everyone if I take a nap now!

Another One Bites the Dust

I think our new house has some seriously bad juju! Our washing machine died in a most spectacular fashion--sudsy water everywhere, quickly soaking through the few boxes still sitting around. (They are now unpacked--nothing motivates me to unpack quicker than the threat of all my possessions mildewing!) On the bright side, we have a lovely matching front-loading Whirlpool washer and dryer set scheduled to be delivered tomorrow afternoon. I'm a little OCD when it comes to doing laundry, so the idea of a brand new, shiny washer and dryer has me all atwitter!

My Latest Conspiracy Theory

Kevin and I visited Home Depot at least 4 times over the weekend, and I have developed a crackpot theory about the store. Whenever I go there, I immediately get very dazed and loopy. Maybe it's all the orange, maybe it's all the fluorescent lighting, maybe it's the rows and rows of tools...but you know what I think? I think Home Depot pumps in some kind of gas that subdues women! Under normal circumstances, I would not be able to tolerate watching Kevin contemplate nuts and bolts for 10 minutes, but while under the influence of the vapors, I just stood there, staring off in the distance and thinking happy thoughts. I trailed behind Kevin, aisle after aisle, feeling stoned. I looked around and I don't think that I was the only woman who succumbed to the gas--there were lots of us milling about, allowing our husbands to make all sorts of ridiculous tool purchases with no argument, listening to our husbands talk animatedly with employees and other shoppers about pressure treated lumber, miter saws and grout. Am I upset about being drugged against my will? Not so much! In fact, I really hope that Macy's starts using the same technology on men! I dream of the day when Kevin stands contentedly outside of the dressing room, holding my purse and my purchases, while I try on outfit after outfit. Each time I emerge from the changing room modeling a new garment, Kevin snaps out of his stupor long enough to murmur, "That looks fantastic on you, and it doesn't make you look fat at all!"

SERENITY NOW!

I woke up this morning to pouring rain and flooding in the garage (I wouldn't have been too concerned if a lot of our boxes weren't stacked in the wet garage). Instead of unpacking more, I spent way too much time getting to know my wet vac and pump. Luckily, my very clever friend Gita came over to help me figure out how to get the water out of the garage. It ended up being no big deal, but at this point I am just so exhausted and overwhelmed that I tend to overreact to every new stressor that comes my way. I certainly have not stuck to my "no more swearing" resolution over the past few days!
Anyway, Kevin is now back in the U.S. and will be landing in Syracuse in a few short hours. I'm focusing on that, on how we will unpack and find space for everything together, on how we will continue to work on the many, many flaws of the house and eventually make it perfect (and hopefully leak-free). Kevin emailed me some really beautiful pictures of the snow and the sun low on the horizon which he took in Norway. I'm taking a few deep breaths and enjoying the tranquil scenes...serenity now!

And kudos to anyone who knows which sitcom character screamed the line "Serenity now!"

The Chaos Continues

The movers did eventually arrive and get the container unloaded. This is the scene we found when we opened the container--note the little antique table in the middle at the top of the photo. It wasn't wrapped in protective bubble wrap and is now in several pieces. Note all the small, loose articles scattered around. To say that many of our possessions were damaged is an understatement. The Norwegian movers wrote in permanent black marker on several of our things, including our file cabinet. They also stuck packing tape directly on painted surfaces, so you can imagine how the paint looks now!

This is my favorite example of the craptastic packing job--several things stuffed into a cat bed and wrapped with tape. Seriously, the aquavit must have been flowing when this creative idea was concocted. The insurance adjuster is coming over this morning to inspect the damage I have found so far--the chipped finish on the couch, the mangled Husky tool cabinet, the shattered antique chess table...the list goes on and on.

In the meantime, I am contending with boxes, boxes and more boxes. Sigh. Really, I can't complain--my friend Craig came over yesterday to help me put together my bookshelves and rearrange lots of furniture, his wife Katrina is coming over today to help me unpack more, and last Monday, my mom and my friend Gita helped me paint the entire second storey of the house so the walls would be nice and fresh before the furniture arrived. I have amazing, wonderful people in my life, so in the end, who cares about a broken table or a marred sofa? Not me (not much, anyway)!

Losing It

I have kept my cool (for the most part) during this whole nightmare move, but I have officially lost it now. Our container arrived at 7:45 this morning, but our 6 scheduled movers who were supposed to be here by 8:00 haven't shown up yet. It is 8:35 now--we have 2 hours to get our container unloaded and more than 1/4 of that time has been completely wasted. I'm running on 3 hours of sleep, I can't reach anyone at the moving company, I can't even reach Kevin because he is in a meeting and the tears just won't stop running down my face. If the stupid movers ever do show up I hope they unload the box of booze first--I think I need a drink or 5!
*Edited to add* Someone from the moving company just called--they're leaving the office now! If you only have 2 hours to unload a container, why the hell would you leave your office 40 minutes after you were scheduled to be somewhere? It will probably take them about 15 minutes to reach our house, so if I'm lucky they will be here for 1 of the 2 hours the container will be here. Seriously, if the truck driver decides to enforce this 2 hour rule and takes off before the container is unloaded, I hope he accelerates quickly--maybe the rest of our belongings will tumble off the truck in front of our house!

Resolutions

In 2008, I resolve to:

1) Stop procrastinating so much. Hmm, I'm doing my New Year resolutions on January 5...I definitely need to work on this!

2) Stop swearing like a sailor. Due to all of the moving turmoil, I have cursed approximately 1,347 times since the ball dropped. Luckily, our furniture is supposed to arrive at 8:00 on Tuesday morning, and we have 6 movers scheduled to meet and unload the container in 2 hours, so maybe I'll be able to tone down the saucy language by February!

3) Stop watching so much mindless TV. I have been glued to the "America's Next Top Model" marathon on VH1 this week. Today I was at the animal shelter taking pictures of dogs to put online on Petfinder, and I actually found myself saying, "Work it, Mango! Looking good, Ginger! Beautiful, beautiful!" Yeah, I really need to turn off the TV and read a book or something!

4) Start eating better. I feed my pets all-natural, by-product free food, yet I gobble down buckets of preservatives and chemicals. I need to drink a little more water and a lot less Diet Coke, I need to put down the donuts and pick up some grapes.

I should probably make a few more resolutions, but I'll get around to it later. The damn Oreos are calling my name, and I'm pretty curious about what Tyra and company are doing now. Eh, I have almost 12 months to improve, right?