Packing Update

We are making progress. I'm nearly finished unpacking all the books -- there are four more (giant) boxes -- and then there will only be Dr. Skull's office left to unpack.

Unpacking has been delayed by my extensive social life. Yesterday, for example, my SIL taught me and her DIL how to make baklava using her mother's recipe. (SIL is Greek by heritage.) The day before yesterday SIL and I went to scrounge used furniture stores, looking for more bookcases. Today the kid is coming to cook dinner for us. Day after tomorrow, who knows! 

Wait, that's Hanukkah. So I do know. The kid and the boyfriend are coming over to make latkes and eat brisket.

Living room update:

Happy Dawn

Apparently I get up at five a.m. now.

Let's hope this is a transient phenomenon.

Addendum

So we had a deli night the other night, the day the kid came to help me unpack. We had rye bread, pastrami, corned beef, and half sours, and we had a birthday cake for Dr. Skull and the kid's fiance, since we were moving during their actual birthday. (Dr. Skull and the fiance share a birthday.)

ANYWAY. The kid ate four corned beef sandwiches and was barely restrained from eating a fifth.  The appetite of the young male, y'all.

As for packing: I am making progress. Slow, but steady. We are presently stalled because I have run out of bookcases. (We were forced to leave the cheap ones behind for lack of space on the moving truck. The mover offered to make a second run, but he wanted three thousand dollars to do it and I can buy a lot of bookcases for three thousand dollars.)

Also, did I tell you we brought our old fridge along? Now we're people with two fridges -- one in the kitchen and one in the garage where we keep mostly water and frozen food right now.

Good News!

You will all be relieved to know that I have found my tin snips.

Moving is HARD

I'm so exhausted, plus all my muscles hurt. Moving, even with movers, is hard work, y'all.

We are making progress, though. And the kid came over to help unpack yesterday. Plus the boyfriend put together my lamp, which I'd been putting off putting together for like four months now. It's great to have enough light.

Living Room Right Now

SO MANY BOXES

We've been unpacking for days (okay, three days) and the living room is still full of boxes, as is Dr. Skull's office.

And I still can't find my tin snips, so the laundry is backing up. (I need them to install the dryer vent.)

But both bedrooms and the second bathroom are now unpacked.

Green Land

 My new city is very much greener than my old city. There are recycling stations throughout the city, where you can recycle various sorts of items (cardboard, mixed paper, plastic bottles, glass, even food waste); they charge you more if you want a bigger trashcan; there's curbside recycling; and on the city page for trash collection, there are multiple educational videos about composting, reducing your waste, and recycling.

The city aims to "reach 40% waste diversion" by 2027, by these various methods. This will help reduce the landfill growth, but also reduce greenhouse gasses.

That's what you get when your city is progressive. Unlike Fort Smith, where the city-hired company (privatized, of course) was just dumping the recycling in the landfill with the rest of the trash.

The recycling center I took about fifty cardboard packing boxes to yesterday:

The parking lot was full of people hauling in boxes, paper, glass, and plastic to be recycled, so many people I had a hard time parking. Honestly, a pleasure to see.

Great Rejoicing!

We found the coffee maker.

Now we just have to unpack the 900 boxes of books. Also, I have to put a dryer vent* on the dryer.

Funny story here: I was looking for the dryer vents in Walmart and asked a worker who was about twenty where they were. She didn't know what a dryer vent was. 

Which I guess makes sense. All the apartments around here comes with washer/dryers now**, and maintenance guys to deal with any problems.

There was an older women (about my age, ha) in the hardware department. She knew what they were and pointed me in the right direction. 

*But first I have to find my tin snips.

**I used to have to ride to the laundromat with my duffle filled with dirty laundry balanced on the handlebars of my bike. Uphill. In the snow**

***I never actually went in the snow. 

.

Writing Chair with a View

Even before I unpacked the books, I set up my writing corner. Here's the view from where I sit:

Eventually I hope to screen in that deck, so that the cats will once again have a catio. And in more clement weather (as you can see, it's 62 degrees by my window), I may occasionally write outside.

Here is the view from my chair on starboard side:

We've unpacked the kitchen boxes, and I have found my shoes, but we still have not located the coffee maker. 

We had Chinese take out with the kid and the boyfriend last night. It was mediocre. The kid recommended a different place. "Do they deliver?" I asked.

The kid looked at me pityingly. "Ma. Everyplace in Fayetteville delivers."

We Are Moved In

For certain values of moved in.

Boxes and crates are everywhere, yesterday I could not find the box that held our clothing, the cats are very upset and we still have not found the coffee maker.

But we have the internet again!

What I'm Worrying About Now

I do have a list!

But first here's the kitchen in our new house:

My worries:

What if the movers don't show up?

What if the movers don't get to the new house on time? Where will we sleep?

What if we get to the new house later than the movers and they leave instead of unloading our stuff?

What if I can't get the postal order I need to pay them?

What if I get the postal order and then I LOSE IT?!

What if the power didn't get turned on?

What if the heat didn't get turned on?

What if the water didn't get turned on?

What if something happens to the cats while I'm boarding them?

How am I going to get the fig tree into the Forester?

God, I need some Xanax.

We Now Own a House

Or, you know, 22% of a house.

Talking to the movers today. Like 75% of the things I was anxious about are done!

Things I Am Having Moving Anxiety About

(1) Will the movers actually show up?

(2) What about the cats, will they escape during the move? Will they escape AFTER we move?

(3) Which should I use to pay the down payment, a cashier's check or a wire transfer? 

(4) What if I get a cashier's check and lose it? Or what if I get a wire transfer and I mess up the routing number and I send all my money to a guy in Toronto?

(5) What if I wait too long to get the cashier's check and then they can't get me one in time?

(6) What if the power company doesn't turn on the power?

(7) What if the gas company doesn't turn on the gas? It's going to be 24 degrees the night we move! I mean, that's if the movers show up at all.

(8) What if the movers don't bring our stuff to our new house? We'll lose all our stuff!

(9) What if the movers can't get into our drive to pick up the stuff from the old house? They're doing roadwork on our road, and also our driveway is long and tricky.

(10) What if this is all a big mistake and I shouldn't have bought a house and now I'm TRAPPED

I've decided to board the cats during the move, for what that's worth. 

Weather the day we move

Museums Online (h/t PZ Myers)

Over at Pharyngula, he pointed out that we can view collections at MOMA and at the British Museum, and that many of their images from their collections have been put in the public domain.

Look at this vase. My God. 

Over there, you can see different angles and zoom in. We're living in the future, y'all.

The Met Collection

British Museum

The Death of a CEO

A thread:

Took me a bit but I've found the framing to put into words a way to express to the people fretting about the death of the UHC CEO why we just aren't heeding their admonishment: The social contract stipulates that all life is sacred, and Brian Thompson violated it. But it's more than that.

— Nash (@radiodeadair.com) December 5, 2024 at 6:34 AM