Time to Purge

I think it's time to clean out my closets again. I did it in the spring when I was moving, but there is so much more I can give to Good Will. I have so many pieces that I look at and think, I don't want to wear that. What's the point of keeping it my closet then?

We all think of spring cleaning, but I think fall cleaning is better in some ways. If I give away a bunch of good but ill-fitting/not-my-style clothes right now, someone might be able to snap them up for Christmas gifts or to wear to their holiday party or something . It feels especially right to offer up all that I don't want this year when so many people have pinched budgets.

I'm also feeling a little claustrophobic in our apartment. We just have too much stuff. I want to minimize — fewer nick-nacks, emptier drawers, cleaner shelves. When I'm overwhelmed at work I often take a few minutes to clean off my desk. The clean space makes my brain feel clearer, too. I'm hoping the same will happen at home.

Fall Cleaning

Todd and I had a lazy night of take out food and TV watching last night. We spent the 10:00 hour watching Hoarders on A&E, which never ceases to fascinate me. It's the first time Todd's ever seen it, and he had the same reaction I think everyone has when they first watch the show: horror coupled with a deep desire to clean house. He spent the time between the show and sleeping worrying whether he was too much of a pack rat. He has plans tonight, and I'm going to try to organize and clean while he's gone. I'm mostly caught up on my homework, and the apartment definitely needs some sprucing. I think he'll love coming home to a place where professional help is not needed to find the couch.

A/Cs and Automobiles

Today was a little rainy and a lot dreary. It was definitely not a great day to be outside. Todd, the kids, and I played a couple rounds of Uno together in the morning — it's one of our favorite new pass times — before braving the elements to visit our storage unit. We (and by we I really mean Todd with the rest of us sometimes standing around to see how he was doing) crammed our air conditioners in there with our suitcases, bikes and never-unpacked boxes. It was great to get them out of our apartment. Ever since taking them out of the windows a few weeks ago they've been sitting on our floor just looking for toes to stub. And we came back home with Christmas decorations. I can't believe how quickly this fall has gone. I know it's not yet Thanksgiving and, therefore, not officially time to decorate for Christmas, but the holidays really do feel right around the corner.

While Todd was fighting with the storage unit, I went uptown a few blocks to revisit a car we might buy. We looked at it last weekend and want to get it checked out by a mechanic before committing. It's old, has a fair number of miles, and we need to know if there are any surprises lurking before plunking down some cash. The woman who is selling it is really nice and seems completely on the up-and-up, so I have a good feeling about it. Unfortunately, the garage we were going to visit lied to us. They promised we could bring in the car any time before 3:00, but when I went at 2:30 the place was all locked up. I think we're the only seriously interested buyers, because the seller has offered to drop the car off one morning before work so we can get it checked out this week. If everything works out, we might have our own wheels before long.

Indecision

I guess I want it all.

Todd and I can't seem to make up our minds what some of our big goals are. We know we can't do it all, but we can't seem to let go of any of our ideas, either. Do we want a nicer/bigger apartment in the city? Would that money be better spent on a country house where we could spend our weekends? Should we spend extra money on world travel and just forget about new digs all together?

We hem. We haw. We go back and forth.

A nicer apartment in the city is a lovely day-to-day improvement, but it doesn't necessarily change life a lot. Traveling — something I really want to do but rarely make time for — offers a burst of relaxation, excitement, and rejuvenation. A country house is intimidating. I'm not sure we could really pull it off, and it's the biggest commitment of resources of any of our half-baked schemes. But my fantasies of idyllic weekends and iced tea-sipping on a porch make it seem worthwhile.

We're also talking about getting a car. It'd just be something to get us from point A to point B — nothing fancy. But it would make short trips out of the city a little easier. A day trip to go skiing, a weekend trip to visit friends or family, an excursion to pick apples...all seem easier to coordinate with a car.

What do you guys think we should do?

Extremely Productive Weekend, Plus A Couple of Mediocre Movies

Todd and I cranked it out this weekend. We've been living in something of a mess, in part because our schedules didn't leave us a lot of mid-week time to continue unpacking my stuff and in part because several large items / boxes were going into storage. Until those things were out of the way, it was just impossible to put some stuff away or feel like we were making a lot of progress. Yesterday, though, a bunch of stuff went into our storage unit. We can now walk around the apartment without it feeling like an obstacle course! I also got my books more organized (Todd says I'm obsessed, but I really feel like it's disconcerting to have my copy of Twilight next to my copy of Feminism/Postmodernism). Todd put up two more shelves, in the bathroom this time. Everything is coming together.

And in between all of this, we even snuck in a couple of sort-of-funny movies. Friday night we watched Pineapple Express; we made the mistake of watching the extended cut, and boy did we feel that extra length. Yesterday we took a work break to eat and watch Role Models. Both movies had moments that were funny, but both also lasted too long, were kind of stupid, and wore out their welcome.

Whew

The big lift is over. Saturday sucked—hard. But all of my stuff is now in Todd’s apartment (our apartment now, really) and some of it has even been put away. Moving is always worse than I predict; somehow I talk myself into imagining that I’ll be able to find what I need when I need it in order to put things away in an orderly fashion. Obviously, that never, ever works. Why I keep thinking it will is anyone’s guess.

Worse, though, were my movers. Everyone, please tell any and all moving friends: Ben Hur Movers SUCK. Don’t use them! They essentially held my belongings hostage. Halfway through the move (i.e., when my stuff was in their truck), they said the price was different than the quote and they weren’t unloading anything until I paid. I really had no idea what to do and ended up calling Todd back from the park where he’d taken the kids. He dealt with them because I was too furious to able to. In the end we paid the money; it was that or say buh-buy to everything I own. I cannot believe that companies operate this way.

While moving is always painful and I got totally ripped off, there are some positive things to report about the experience, too. Todd was amazing, coming to my aid as soon as I needed him. He also worked like a champ helping me unpack and getting all the boxes out as we emptied them, a task that I hate far beyond what is reasonable. Dylan and Sofia were also amazing. Moving is no fun for adults who can rationalize why it’s necessary, so I can only imagine how awful it is for kids. They were really good, though, helping for some of the time and entertaining themselves admirably the rest of the time. Very impressive. And, finally, my mom came into the city for the day to help me move again. This is the third move in a row that she’s helped with, and I am so appreciative! It’s so generous of her to travel a couple of hours out of her way to spend the day with a grouchy, no-fun daughter who asks her to unpack box after box.

The apartment is probably 80% of the way to looking normal again at this point. The kitchen still needs a lot of work, and my closet is a hot mess. I threw so much in there just to get it out of the way that I need to spend some time organizing it now. The biggest improvement will come when we get a bunch of stuff into storage. We both have several boxes, big suitcases, etc. to store and they’re making the apartment feel temporarily more crowded.

All the sturm und drang is worth it, though. I love living with Todd.

The Move: With Cat But Without Furniture

As per Rena’s request, here’s the latest on my moving situation.

I’ve moved! Sort of, anyway. Last Thursday night, Todd and I went out for a delicious pasta dinner at Carmines. It was the site of one of our first dates, so there was a nice synchronicity to eating there again just as I was about to move in. We left extra full of carbs and Todd headed back to his place with 28 pounds of litter (too heavy for me — I plan on ordering all future litter from Fresh Direct) and I went back to my apartment to pick up Camilla.

This cat of mine is not much of a traveler. Wander lust? Not so much. She’s quite happy staying right where she is and lets you know it as soon as you try to put her into her carrier. She fought me, as always, but eventually I zipped her in and then just had to listen to her cry the whole time she was trapped inside. Luckily our apartments are only ten blocks from each other, so it was a short if meow-filled cab ride.

Once there, Camilla did the standard freaked-out cat thing where she scoped the place out while walking super low to the ground. She’s a little chubby, so it doesn’t take much crouching before her belly touches the ground, but she was doing it nonetheless. She quickly found a couple of good hiding places (mostly under beds) but hasn’t had to make much use of them. She seems to have adjusted quite admirably, really.

Tonight the kids come over for the first time since we’ve moved in, and I suspect she’ll spend more than a little time stressing out again. The kids have historically been very good with her, though, never chasing her, tugging on her tail, or doing any of the other bad-animal-behavior I’ve seen some other kids do. I’m sure Camilla will be nervous for a little while with so much change, but in time I think it’ll all be good.

The rest of the move will happen this weekend. I’ve pretty much packed up my entire apartment, and Todd has cleaned out some of his to make room for me. Movers come on Saturday (predicting 80 degrees and sunny, which is good news) and I’m planning to spend the rest of the weekend unpacking as much as I can. I’m ready to feel settled! I’m not bringing all my furniture over, and some random catholic charity is coming to get a couple of things on Monday morning. In some ways it still feels like a lot to do, and in other ways I think we’re almost there.

Moving Tomorrow (sort of)

So the move is kind of, sort of, finally here. I’m off from work tomorrow and Camilla and I are going to cab it ten blocks north and make ourselves at home in Todd’s apartment. This plan gives Camilla and me a few hours on our own before Todd (who she knows well by now) comes home. Then she’ll have a few days of just the three of us in the new digs before Dylan and Sofia are there, too. It’s a lot of change for her, so I’m trying to ease her in.

Housing Works, a community-based AIDS service organization complete with thrift store, is coming to my apartment to, I hope, pick up some furniture tomorrow. Nothing is certain because while Housing Works is a fabulous organization, they are also annoyingly particular about what donations they’ll accept. I was grilled about the state of my sofa when I offered it to them, repeatedly being asked if it was in perfect condition. I told the woman it probably needed to be cleaned and she then went off about how if there was a stain on it I could forget about them taking it. I think they need to chillax a little, but since that’s not likely to happen before tomorrow I’m just hoping that at least a few pieces of furniture pass muster. In the meantime I’ve also discovered that Goodwill in New York doesn’t accept furniture donations, so I’m finding it oddly difficult to get rid of my stuff. The Salvation Army looks promising, so I’ll be calling them soon, too.

It’ll be nice when all of this is finished. I can’t wait to get into my new home with Todd!

Woe is Me (Apparently)

I’m sorry that I’m such a sporadic blogger these days. I really do miss blogging on a regular basis, but I can’t seem to find a new rhythm that allows for both daily blogging and the time now spent on homework. I’m thinking of all of you often, though!

I’m feeling particularly stressed these days. The move is coming up fast and furious and my apartment is both a mess and only half packed. I need to go secure a storage unit for us tonight, buy more boxes, and get some more packing done. I have more bags to donate to the church around the corner from me, but their thrift shop has the incredibly inconvenient operating hours of 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. There’s more, but listing all that I have to do feels a bit like whining and also stresses me out a bit as I think about all that needs to happen. So that’s all you get on that front for now.

I’m in the homestretch for the semester. Sadly, of course, the homestretch includes lots of work, but still, some downtime is on the horizon. I got my final assignment for one of my classes two weeks ago and haven’t done anything on it. I know that a more organized, ambitious, and proactive student would be diligently working away so that she wouldn’t be crazed at the end...I seem not to be that student despite knowing I’d be better off if I were. Someone should tell professors that they can’t keep giving out weekly papers if they expect students also working full time jobs to start on their finals early.

Oh, yeah, and I had someone tell me the other day that taking two classes at a time while working a full-time job really didn’t sound like that much. I thought it was both rude and showed a serious lack of understanding on his part.

Sorry—this post has turned into a big complaining fest, which probably isn’t so fun to read.

It's Begun

The packing has begun, and my apartment is a hot mess. Four boxes are signed, sealed, and ready to be delivered. Five others are 90% packed, but the little pockets where books don't fit (because, of course, that's the only thing I've packed yet) are still waiting to be filled in. I need more boxes and some bubble wrap, but at least I'm on my way.