Homeowners

We signed a ream of papers last night and basically the transaction is complete on our end. As soon as the paperwork goes through and the sale is recorded we get the keys (which probably won't happen until tomorrow). I have to say, the process was very anticlimactic. Even though we handed over a giant check and signed our lives away until 2042, it was hard to drive back to our apartment and celebrate. 

That is, until we all sat down after dinner to watch Doc Martin, one of our go-to TV shows at the moment, and had to pause the show to listen to the band playing down the street at full volume. On a Tuesday. We rolled our eyes and laughed, vowing that Friday will be our last night in this apartment.

We will have our house tomorrow and there's still so much to do!

Eight More Days

Only eight more days until we close on the house! Yay! 

I couldn't be more ready. An encounter this weekend with the maintenance staff at our current building confirmed that I am no longer suited for apartment life. Well, more accurately, I am no longer suited for living in a building that is run by condescending lazy a-holes. I know I will curse home repairs later, but right now I can't think of anything more satisfying than to actually fix something that's broken on my own damn schedule and to my own level of satisfaction. I will get to be that condescending lazy jerk-wad with myself and that will be outstanding.

Anyway, the packing. It's coming along. We now have a nice large pile of boxes in the corner of our living room. It's hard to tell by just looking around the apartment, but we've actually made a good bit of progress. Our closet is cleaned out, the kitchen is about two-thirds packed away, and a good deal of our shoes and clothes are in boxes. Miles has not lost any of his toys yet, but I think they'll be next on the chopping block this coming weekend. That's when we go into pioneer mode, living with just the bare essentials and gearing up for April 14th's big move to the east side. Thursday and Friday after we close will be busy with packing and coordinating small moves with fragile stuff like our art, dishes, and refrigerator items. We are also lining up repair people to come in and do minor things that the sellers (another set of a-holes that I will be happy to rid from my day-to-day existence) declined to fix, like the leaky sink and garage roof.

Until then, I'm trying to concentrate on work, so I don't have any surprises and can fully devote the end of next week to settling in. I have a lecture coming up on April 18th and there is lots to do before then! Busy busy week ahead!

Packing Progress on Flanders Street

We spent last weekend packing our books and breaking down bookcases. By Sunday I was pretty tired and a little sore, but it was great to make such great progress. We have a few more book boxes to pack toward the end, but for the most part, they're ready to go.  As you can see, packing with a toddler makes for all kinds of spectacular chaos. All of those things that you normally keep out of reach on nice tall bookcases begin to spread around the house on any horizontal surface more than three feet high.

I also started packing up the kitchen, which is probably about half-way finished. We'll leave the necessities until the very last few days, but everything else will get wrapped, taped, and shoved in the corner of our living room where the Billy bookcases used to live. Little still has all of his toys at his disposal, but just give me a few days and some of those will start to get boxed up as well. He'll have to live like a pioneer baby with just a stick and a ball of string to occupy his time. Not that he really cares about his toys anyway, with screwdrivers, hammers, rolls of packing tape, and cardboard boxes at his disposal. 

He's taken to "decorating" our boxes as we pack. He calls it "art" and "painting". I call it graffiti. At least it keeps him from smashing all of the dishes on the floor. It gives him much pride to examine his masterpiece. He holds up his marker with a giant grin and says "did it! YAY!" I think the moving process is a little exciting for him, but also confusing. He walks around the apartment and says "house?" And I confirm that we are moving to that house we went to see several times and then he says "Matt?" (our real estate agent). I then explain that, yes, Matt will sometimes come to visit. And he nods and says "yep," as if he has it all figured out. It's amazing how much he understands at only 19-months (or at least he's really good at pretending). 


Only 21 more days until we close on the house. I can't wait.

Things I Will Not Miss (Portland Edition) #1: Blitz Bar

More specifically, Blitz Bar and their goddamn party bus that parks below our dining room window. I don't have anything against Blitz Bar, except for the fact that they opened a new location right next to our apartment -- only a few paces from our bedrooms. It changed the block, and not in a good way. We decided in December that we needed to get the heck out of here before its warm enough to open the windows (and before the drunken hoards take over the sidewalk for the summer season). God, I sound like a cranky old man (as I shake my fist out the window). 


The fact of the matter is that we've outgrown our space here on Flanders Street and we've also outgrown our neighborhood. So, we're trading in Blitz Bar and Pizza Schmitza's horrendous karaoke Thursdays for a Whole Foods and public library branch. And while we're definitely trading up, there are some things that we're going to lose. There are a lot of things about NW that I will miss a lot.

One More Move

Hopefully this will be the last one for a while. Our last move in Portland was just a few blocks down the road and we didn't have a ton of stuff. Now we have an entire basement storage unit full of baby stuff, twice as much furniture, and oh yeah, a 19-month-old who squeals with delight at the sight of boxes. 

Packing for this move should be interesting. We can't just start piling things up to the ceiling, because Mr. Little is a climber. It's going to be a careful game of rearranging, staging, and storing our stuff until we close on April 11th. Eek! That's just three and a half weeks away. Finding space to put boxes has been tricky, which is why we put Little to work disassembling a few bookcases. He's been very "helpful" as we start the packing process. It's pretty amazing to see him learn to use a screwdriver, but it takes about three times as long to get the job done.

I ordered our first round of boxes and will pick them up today. This weekend we are going to start packing up our books. They'll get boxed and stacked in the new empty space we've created. Prioritizing the things we'll need in the next three weeks will be key. And I assume there will be one last frenzied push as the end date nears to get things organized and move-ready. We will also have to make a little extra time to do some of our favorite things in the neighborhood before we leave. Of course, we're only moving across town, so it's not like we will never venture into NW again. But I imagine we will find new favorite spots in the new neighborhood and will see a lot less of the place that we have called home for the last four years.


Exciting (and hectic) times ahead!

More Space

In just under a month (provided all goes as planned) we will be homeowners! It's been a grueling two months of looking, and bidding, and hoping. Everyone keeps saying that it's a buyer's market, well, clearly they've not tried to buy a house recently in Portland. Inventory is super low, which makes the market a frenzied feeding fest on any decent house that pops up on the market in the close-in areas. This is the third house we bid on, and by far, the best. I can't wait to call it home.
 

We Have Arrived

I have lived for this day for quite a while. It did not come easily. Every muscle in my body aches, I have bruises in the oddest places, and my fingers feel like they may fall off. However, it is worth every ache and pain.

I joked with a friend a while ago that one day we wouldn't have to lug our laundry to the basement or laundromat. This we decided, would truly be a sign that we made it. Of course, I had imagined that the washer and dryer would be in a home that I owned, but really, I couldn't be happier. We're in a great neighborhood and I have everything that I wanted plus a couple extra bonuses. Behold, the first wash cycle. It contained our sheets that we promptly placed on our bed, which is still just a mattress on the floor. I'm not sure if we'll get the bed frame put together before we drive down to Santa Cruz for Thanksgiving, but that seems minor when comparing it to the long weekend of moving our stuff just around the corner. We also have a few more decisions to make, like whether we'll sleep in the small or larger bedroom. This decision will largely depend on where we find space for Jesse's desk.

So, what are those other bonuses you ask? Well, I now have ample counter top space in the kitchen in addition to a dishwasher. My Kitchenaid mixer can now take its rightful prominent spot in the room, instead of on a bottom shelf. Also, under cabinet lighting rocks! Who knew I could be so excited about fluorescent bulbs? I'm also pretty excited that we are directly across the street from one of our favorite bakeries -- although I'm not sure my hips (or wallet) will agree that this is a bonus feature of our new home.

Here's a sneak peek at our living room that is still insanely cluttered with things that will eventually move to other rooms. Rooms. Plural! It still doesn't seem real. The living room doesn't look all that different from the old place, but we have quite a bit more space. Jesse might even get an ottoman to go with his chair. His excitement over this is akin to my love for the front loading washer. I also have a sweet view from my chair (the orange one on the right) onto 21st Avenue. I think I will spend a lot more time gazing out the window with my morning coffee.

A Lightbulb Moment

On the moving front, yesterday was not very productive. I did get a permit to reserve parking space in front of our new building for our moving truck on Saturday. However, the remainder of the day was spent huddled in the library trying to finish up reading and writing for class. It was actually time well worth spending, because I think I may have finally figured out my focus while taking graduate classes at PSU. Rather than halfheartedly completing coursework toward a masters degree (that I have no intention of finishing), I think I'm going to work toward a graduate certificate in sustainability. While this wasn't the first time I had read about the certificate program, I initially dismissed it because of my limited understanding of what "sustainability" actually means -- I'm all for "going green" and sustainable building design, but as a career choice, it's just not my bag.

That's why the readings for last class last night were so mind blowing. I came to realize that environmental (or physical aspects) of sustainability are just one piece in a larger puzzle that includes economic and social aspects as well. Organizational sustainability is just as important as the physical stuff. I took a closer look at the certificate program and was pleased to find that the core classes are spread out in various departments including, economics, urban studies and planning, sociology, and environmental science. It's like American Studies with a focus. I love it! I found out that two of the core courses are being offered during the winter quarter, one of which is being taught by my current professor. Since there are no full time job prospects in sight, I think I'll sign up for both.

In other news, I made an awesome pot of chili earlier this week. In fact, it might be my best batch ever. It has ground turkey, black beans, kidney beans, garbanzos, corn, carrots, and roasted acorn squash. The squash and carrots add a nice sweetness and texture. I imagine this would make a pretty good vegetarian version, but I'm sort of partial to the chunks of turkey in addition to the veggies. While I'd like to take all the credit for the tastiness, I have to acknowledge Penzey's Chili 9000 spice blend for part of the success. I'm thinking there is enough chili for one more dinner, so I probably won't have to worry about cooking until tomorrow -- and by cooking, I mean take out. That is a relief, since I have a ton of moving to take care of today. I'm hoping to have the remaining contents of our kitchen and most of the closets emptied by tomorrow afternoon.

Taking it in Stride

Sharon's wedding was awesome. She was beautiful, the food was spectacular, and we got to meet (and re-meet) some Sharon's close friends. I gained quite a few more Facebook buddies Saturday evening. I also ate solid food for the second time this weekend (the first was the dinner that Graham cooked us on Friday night after a long day of travel). After dinner and dancing, my Christmas Sockets were not very happy, so we had to leave a little early. By early, I mean midnight even though the party was still going strong. I later learned that the bride and groom didn't get to bed until after 3am. And of course, a photo of me wearing the dress. Not the greatest picture I've ever taken, but you get the idea.

In other news, yesterday I signed the lease for our new apartment. After a few bumps in the road, I came to realize that the property management company is largely staffed by giant asswipés (pronounced ass-wee-pay). I hope our contact is minimal after we finally move in. I woke up this morning and decided that I'm not going to dwell on the events that took place yesterday, for fear of tainting the whole process of moving that was exciting until twenty-four hours ago. So, no recounts of yesterday's activities, which are minor really. Moving on.

And moving in (YIKES) four days. I will start to shuttle odds and ends throughout the week so that we're hopefully left with only large items, such as our bed, bookshelves, and random furniture. Jesse walked over to the apartment with me yesterday evening and was struck by the largeness. Our meager belongings are going to look very lost in all of the space. We're also going to have to invest in a few rugs to absorb some of the sound! I am also going to have to buy a jumbo bottle of laundry detergent to get me through all of the loads of clothes that I plan on washing in my very own full-sized, front loading washing machine.

The Furniture Game

Before we left D.C., Jesse and I sold a bunch of our stuff on Craigslist. With the proceeds, we set up a few different ING Direct savings accounts earmarked for purchases we would likely make once in Portland. All book sale proceeds went to the "E and J Savings" account, which was the largest account and pretty much paid for our move and will help pay for living expenses, new bikes, etc. Furniture sales went into the "Furniture Fund" and when Jesse got a performance merit award at work we set up a "Stereo Fund."

Jesse didn't spend the full amount set aside for his receiver, so his funds were redirected to support the purchase of furniture. The rules of the game are pretty straightforward: purchase as much furniture for the house while staying within the $609 budget allotted in the "Furniture Fund." Exempted from the game is anything purchased for Jesse's home office. So far I feel pretty good with how things have developed:

My Chair: Purchased for $89 at a consignment store in Portland. It's a solid chair that rocks and swivels, and is the perfect size for me. Also, it is totally cute. Yes, the fabric makes me sweat in 90 degree weather, but that will be remedied someday. Jesse said with my first paycheck I should treat myself to a new pair of awesome shoes - I think I'd much have a nail gun and air compressor.

Our Bed: Purchased on Craigslist for $125. Reason it is rad? It's solid wood and not Ikea. Other than sustaining irreparable knee, shin, and toe damage from running into the end posts, I have no complaints. (Well, maybe except for the dirty laundry that keeps piling up nearby.)

Kitchen Cart: Purchased for $56 at Ikea. Even though we have tons of built-in cabinets in the kitchen, we seriously have zero prep space. This was one of the first things we purchased after taking an initial scan of the apartment. Now there's room for one person to chop and mix while the other cooks or bakes.

Metal storage rack: Purchased on Craigslist for $25. Again, the kitchen has tons of built-in cabinets, but I was astonished at the amount of kitchen items that we unpacked. I think they may have multiplied in the storage crate. The shelf will provide a little extra storage space for things that won't fit directly in the kitchen.

That leaves me with $314. I'm a little nervous because I still need a couch AND kitchen chairs. The couch will likely eat up most of the remaining budget.

Will I win the game? Or fail miserably? You vote.

Pure Chaos

But it's already starting to feel more like home.

The crate arrived around 12:45pm, weighing in at just a tad under a ton. Seriously, 1900 pounds. The UPS delivery guy had to struggle to keep his fork lift from flying over the top. It was funny and a little scary at the same time. We were both giddy to open the door and see if all of our stuff made it alive. From the appearance of the boxes, it didn't seem as though anything was majorly crushed (we'll see). For the next four hours we unloaded and hauled boxes up to the third floor. It was an epic day, but we survived and there are only book boxes left. Brian said he'd come to help us haul the rest, since I really can't pick them up.

It's hard to imagine how we literally got rid of 50% of our stuff before moving and we still have (almost) a ton piled up in the living room. I certainly have lots of things to do over the next few days and oh, how I do love to organize. I think what I'm most thrilled about is having our kitchen items at my disposal again. We're already planning what our first home cooked meal will be in our new place. It's nice to no longer feel like we're living in a dorm room outfitted only with a desk, two air mattresses, and two chairs.

By the time we had finished unloading most of our stuff yesterday, my legs and arms felt like noodles. However, our mattress was the one thing left that we really, really wanted to have last night. I don't know how we managed to get it up three flights of stairs without breaking our necks (or a window). Luckily, we were so loopy from hauling all of the boxes that we laughed all the way up the stairs - mostly from my groans, umphs, and minor falls. I have a mysterious brush burn on my shoulder from one of my spills, but it was totally worth the fall. Last night I slept like a log on my own sheets, under our quilt, and on my pillow.

Hallelujah! We are Blessed with DSL

Finally, I can check email in my own apartment. Our phone/DSL service was officially turned on Tuesday, but UPS did not deliver the modem until almost 9pm. I nearly died waiting. Luckily, it was set to arrive at Anna & Brian's house, so we had a good excuse to hang out with them for the afternoon. We headed out to the Academy Theater for two-for-one movie night. We saw the new(ish) Indiana Jones movie for $3. Total. For movie "snacks" we had an awesome Oktoberfest micro brew and a slice of delicious cheese pizza. I don't think I can express how much I am loving Portland.

Afterward, Brian took us by his "office" and gave us quite a tour/talk about roasting coffee. He also gave us a few samples to try at home - one of which allegedly smells like Fruit Loops. I'm not convinced about the Fruit Loop bit, but it is quite tasty. We had two cups yesterday and I felt a little like I had tried crack for the first time. A spinning feeling in my head took over and I got the shakes as I came down from my caffeine high. One cup a day from now on. That stuff has a kick.

Oh, and say hello to our useless electronics graveyard. After buying three different phones, we discovered that the buzzing noise on our phone connection is the phone line and not our stupid cordless frequency. I have spent so many hours now on calls to Qwest that I give up. I'll think about the phone service next week, which will likely result in an $85 charge just for the technician to breathe on our stupid phone box. For now, Jesse (and his coworkers) will have to learn to love the buzz. I hate the buzz enough for everyone.

In happier news, our crate arrives today between 11am and 2pm (hopefully in one piece). I dread the unloading process, but can't wait to have my things in our new apartment. Let's hope that it's not too terribly hot outside and we find our fans rather quickly as we unpack.

First Day in the Apartment

We arrived at our apartment Saturday Morning and in no time had made a list of things that we desperately needed:
1. Toilet paper
2. Chairs
3. Food

Basically, we had to find a Target (or Target-like store) before the sun went down, otherwise we'd starve and have to use moving paper for our bathroom visits. I was so excited about the fact that we now have a bedroom that I decided (for the first time in my life) to set out on an excursion without a plan.

We first ended up at a complex of stores near the airport that didn't have a Target, but we browsed through Ross and IKEA for things we might want after all the desperate needs were fulfilled. Unfortunately, we just weren't finding basic things like mops and brooms and shower curtains at IKEA. In a stroke of brilliance, we decided to try to find an internet connection and stumbled on a Best Buy. There we strolled in and pretended to shop for computers while I Googled "Target." In a few minutes we were back in the car and on our way. In just an hour, we had filled up the back of the car with essentials like soap, shampoo, laundry detergent and basket, plastic forks and spoons, and lots and lots of toilet paper.

Somehow, even after the shopping spree at Target, two of our three items on the "necessities list had not been met. Still no chairs or food. After picking up dinner (and blogging a little over a beer) we walked to Trader Joe's for milk and breakfast foods. This was the sad state of Jesse's Sunday morning ritual, so we set out to find a desk and a few chairs so we wouldn't have to sit on the floor.

We were successful, but I've finished my iced tea and would hate to overstay my welcome at the free WiFi hot spot. More on our furniture adventures tomorrow.

Milestones

Today we found an apartment. We signed a lease and closed the deal. It's a one bedroom, a bit bigger than our old place and has lots of character. Because it's a corner apartment on the third floor, there's plenty of windows with a southern exposure (which I think will come in handy during the grey Portland winters). Moving day will prove to be a bit of a challenge, though, since there is no elevator. I'm thinking we may have to hire a couple of burly college students to help us unload the crate. But the location! So nice! Just a block away from Couch Park.

The minute we stepped in, we knew this was the right place and hurried to fill out the application and put down our deposit. The clincher for me? It has a wall. The clincher for Jesse? It has rounded doorways. There is quite a bit of storage space provided by the awesome built-in cabinets and closets and I am totally in love with the black and white tile kitchen. The only downside of the apartment (besides the whole third floor walk-up bit) is that it has an electric stove. That will take a while to master. But, for the first time since we arrived last week, I feel like our move is real.

This morning was a hectic start to the day with hurried packing, viewing the apartment, and then picking up our car for the afternoon. We drove around a bit, hung out with Brian and Anna at their new house, and then made it to the Kennedy School just in time for dinner. At the moment, I am happy and full and ready to relax. Tomorrow, all we have to worry about is making it to breakfast, checking email one last time, and catching our 2:15pm train to Sacramento. Now, I can officially rest without worrying about anything for the next 3 weeks (except for having to learn to drive a stick shift). My brain is officially on vacation.

Oh, and today I officially changed my laptop homepage from the Washington Post to the Oregonian. I very well may change it back in a few days since the Post has proven to be a bit more interesting, but for now I'll give it a try.

48 Hours: A Photo Essay

Friday, we officially kicked off our moving box packing festivities. By Sunday evening our things were in a giant crate. If I actually wrote an entry on the whole process, it would be about 8 pages. So, the photos will have to do a bulk of the work.


"State of the Crate" as of Friday mid-evening. At this point Jesse declared "standardized boxes rule!"

Delirium set in around 11pm and we started assigning random names (kitchen-ma-bobbers) and placing totally ridiculous "items" to the box list. Yes, we do have a really ugly Christmas plate. No, I do not allow J to own nunchucks.

Here is the view of our lovely crate, delivered exactly 40 minutes earlier than scheduled. Also pictured is one of the 86 billion ass-face-haters who parked 3 inches from the door of our beautiful crate. I guess "EMERGENCY NO PARKING" means nothing to about 98% of D.C. drivers.



"State of the Crate" Sunday morning before the grand process of loading commenced.


Breakfast of champions for the crate-loaders. J cooked up a batch of eggs with Corralitos Cheesy Bavarian sausage that complimented leftover homemade beer bread and marionberry jam. Yum. J cheerfully offered to "do dishes."


This is the guy who snagged the stuff we deposited in our basement. He sold it on the sidewalk Sunday afternoon while we were packing our crate. I was weirded out at first, but then he helped us load our mattress, so we're cool.


"State of the Crate" on Sunday around 2pm. Almost full, but a few more things left to cram. We made it though. ONE CRATE.

This is the pool at the hotel where we stayed on Sunday night. My Mom booked the rooms for us earlier in the month and I thought she was crazy. I was wrong. We checked in at 3pm, did the deadman float until 4:00pm, had dinner then were back to the apartment to do some cleaning.

Our apartment after packing and a little cleaning. Still a bit more to go, but it's pretty darn empty.
Looks pretty much the same as when I first moved in, only I'm not the one passed out on the floor this time.

J is actually sleeping. I can hear him breathing. I'm pretty sure that means we should head back to the hotel.

It was our last day of work in D.C. today (Monday) and I couldn't be happier. Tomorrow we catch our plane to Portland. One-way tickets.
I can't wait.

Oh Crap! It's Friday, August 1st

Not that I didn't see this day coming, but wow, we're here. The crate will be delivered tomorrow, but we still have a boatload of packing to accomplish. Luckily though, we decided that it wouldn't be a great idea to leave a crate full of our stuff (even if it does have a padlock) sitting just blocks from 18th Street on a Saturday night. Drunk people + dark street + abandoned crate = bad news for Erin & Jesse. So, we'll be busy bees on Saturday packing and setting up for the big move on Sunday.

On the work front, I still have a ton to do, but I keep plugging away and hopefully will make lots of progress today. This morning, I am driving our intern around to take the last few photos that we need for the building inventory and draft report. Given that there are about 40 buildings and I have only allotted a 3-hour time frame, I don't think we will finish. So, we'll focus on some of the scarier areas of the city and next week, after I'm gone, he can finish up with public transportation.

However, my biggest challenge today is not the report, or the packing, but living with the 80 billion mosquito bites on the lower half of my legs. We went out to dinner with a friend on Wednesday night and apparently I sent out the "raw meat" signal and was eaten alive. Seriously, it's almost comical how many there are (and that's just the front of my legs...the backs probably have twice as many).

Benadryl and other hydrocortisone gels have not even begun to relieve the itching welts. This morning I woke up in a fit because I couldn't think about anything but removing my skin, so I got up and consulted "the Google." And? The white stuff? It's toothpaste, which worked until the peppermint wore off and I was right back to itching. Then I tried vinegar, rubbing pennies, and even a cut onion. Out of sheer desperation, I tried one final remedy. Windex. Why? Because it feels good and the internet told me to do it. I know (gasp) it's probably toxic (but not more so than the water we drink in D.C.) I'm not sure how, but the ammonia works magic on the stinging and itching. I wonder if it would be inappropriate to take pit stops on our morning driving trip and ask the intern to Windex my calves?

Morning Musings

Monday was a good day. I turned in the final chapter of my DC Modernism study to my boss for review. It was a huge relief. While there's still a lot of work to finish (edits, bibliography, footnotes, formatting), I feel pretty good about putting it to rest by Friday and handing it over to someone else to tweak and submit. Then, this afternoon I obtained the permit we need to park our storage crate on the street for the weekend. I also tied up some loose ends for my job interview next week (yikes), confirmed hotel reservations, cooked an awesome dinner, and sold a couple more items on Craigslist. Jesse was incredibly productive and cleaned out the closet, as well as put away some winter clothes that we definitely won't need before September.

See the list? Lots of things accomplished! So, why the heck am I awake at 4:30am? I had no trouble going to sleep (except for the happy jig I did for Jesse before retiring to bed). When I rolled over at 2:45am, shaking my fists in the air out of sheer frustration, I realized this time my lack of sleep is not coming from dread. For the first time since we started this moving process, I am truly excited - to the point of not sleeping. After tossing and turning for another 20 minutes, I decided to just get up and keep myself busy.

So far, the things I've accomplished between 3am and 4:15am:

• Cleaned out items underneath bathroom sink, which included about a dozen bars of hotel soap. I don't like hotel soap.
• Added item to above list: stage intervention with my husband about his random hoarding habits (soap, mobiles, what's next?)
• Had a snack of leftover pasta salad from our going away party this weekend (more on that another time, writing about it still makes me cry).
• Updated Quicken and our moving budget spreadsheet.
• Began organizing closet, but caused an avalanche of posters and wrapping paper tubes to fall on my head. Decided to do something a little more quiet - like blogging and more snacking.

So, here I am, alternating between my new (temporary) miniature desk and our couch that now lives in the middle of the apartment. We moved it there for a Craigslister to inspect and she'll pick it up this evening. There's at least another hour to go before the alarm goes off and Jesse and I go out for our morning exercise. I think lots of coffee should be on our "meals" menu for tomorrow. I dread the sun coming up, because that means back to work for me.

More Packing

Last night Jesse was out of the apartment at a concert with his friend, Dan. On a normal night, his absence would mean lots of sewing and catching up on my favorite TV shows. However, since we are getting down to the wire with packing (only 10 more days until our stuff is shipped out), I decided to use my energy for a more useful cause. I caught up on the first two episodes of the new season of Project Runway while packing miscellaneous kitchen items. Then, I realized that after Saturday, we won't have a television anymore. Oh well, guess I'll have to catch up when it comes out on DVD.

Anyway, Jesse came home around 11pm and noticed that the blue taped box looked drastically different. I rearranged a bunch of the boxes, moved the chest of drawers (myself), and packed up a lot of stuff. All of our books are now packed, as well as about half of our kitchen. I left out four plates, spoons, forks, and knives, as well as some basic cooking utensils for the next week or so. Everything else is stored away until September. Jesse thought opening all of the cabinets and drawers was a fun game - like Where's Waldo - pointing out all of the empty space. So, as of today, these are the things that were sold (or will be sold by Saturday):

In addition to the above items that will not make the trip, yesterday morning, a bowl fell from our dish rack bounced on the counter top and smashed apart on the floor. I looked at it, felt bad for about 3 seconds, and said "oh well, one less thing to pack." I think Jesse was slightly disturbed as I nonchalantly went about pouring my iced coffee, leaving the bowl on the floor to think about what it had just done. Seriously, I'm so ready to go.

To prep for the weekend, I ordered another round of boxes that should arrive by tomorrow afternoon. Friday night has been officially declared Date Night/Packing Fest. We have a rental car reserved on Saturday to deposit a giant pile of stuff to Goodwill, so there's very little time to finish sorting and organizing. I'll gladly sacrifice my date night, though, for a good cause. I DO love organizing.

Goodbye Self Doubt, We'll Take One Crate

We found out last week from our building manager that our apartment will rent for nearly $1500 a month. Our little studio! I nearly passed out. Apparently people have been clamoring to live in our building for weeks and at least 6 different people have seen the apartment since we gave notice exactly one week ago. I think it's time to get the heck out of here.

This weekend was epic. Lots of sorting, dusting, and making of piles. We accomplished an impressive amount of packing and most importantly reaffirmed that we will, in fact, will be taking one crate to Portland. Thank goodness. I really was worried about having to get an additional street permit for that second storage vault.

As you can see, the progress so far is promising. I readjusted the blue tape to fit the exact dimensions of our reserved crate and we moved around quite a bit of furniture to get the chest of drawers in the imaginary box. The cardboard boxes contain 95% of our books and all of our CD's (except for the few that Jesse may acquire in the next couple of weeks). I decided this evening at dinner that the chest of drawers needed to move to a different position within the blue box, but decided that Jesse needed one more bourbon and soda before I broached the subject. Tomorrow, the box will have a slightly different appearance. Over time, I hope our apartment will start to look empty, rather than like it barfed our posessions all over every horizontal surface.

As of this weekend, these are the things we no longer own: