Things We Did Not Carry

As all y'all know, we had to move out of our old house rapidly (in less than two weeks) because our landlord lost his rag. This meant we had to pack up everything in only a few days -- I think it was less than five days, total -- and that meant we ended up either donating or throwing away so much stuff. Some things toward the end we just shoveled things into boxes and donated them, without really paying attention; some we just abandoned in the yard for the local trash guys to haul away. (They will do this free of charge four times a year.)

Things we have now discovered we left behind or donated that we really wish we had not:

• The whisk broom we used to sweep crumbs off the table
• Dr. Skull's cleaver 
• several small trash cans (I think I must have filled them with junk and donated them)
• My other jeans that fit (I accidentally kept the ones that don't fit)
• Two lamps
• The dog's leashes
• the rake
• the shovel
• the ladder
• the branch cutter (these last four I think I must have left out in the back yard -- luckily this new house came with its own ladder)
• my cast iron skillet (this must have been shoved to the back of the cupboard so that I didn't see it)

None of these are huge losses, aside from the jeans that fit, obviously. It is so hard to find jeans that fit right, or at least for me it is. I share this only under to prove that point that three moves equal one fire.

Also, I'm sure we'll find other things that didn't survive the move as we go along. 

Also, have a poem!

Yet Another Moving Report

This one about the cats and dog:

The little dog adjusted right away. He loves it here. He especially loves all the many windows that run floor to ceiling that he can look out of, watching vigilantly for bunnies and birds and squirrels, but also leaves that blow across the yard. Each time, he barks wildly and demands to be let out to chase them.

The cats have finally emerged from hiding, but now they wander the house wailing. Once they find me (specifically me, mostly, but sometimes Dr. Skull) they are fine; but until then, they walk the halls and scream: I'm lost! I'm lost! What is this place! I'm lost!

This lead to us making chirping kitty noises and saying, "Kitty! Kitty! We're in here, kitty!" over and over and then, finally, exasperated, "In here, dumb ass! Here!"

As a last resort, I go and pick the cat in question up and fetch her to me. Dr. Skull just shuts his office door and plays his guitar louder.

More about Moving

We're about 90% unpacked now, I guess. My phone has not revealed itself. I am guessing it is lost for real. 😕

But that seems to be the only casualty of the move, so I will take it. It was a fairly cheap phone, and served its purpose, which was to give me a phone while Dr. Skull was teaching at the Governor's School this past summer. I can have its service terminated and save that money, along with the savings in rent. Hurray!

Meanwhile! About the new house:

• The window units, which I was worried wouldn't keep the house cool enough (as opposed to central air, I mean) keep the house extremely cold
• The storage space, which I was worried would be insufficient, is more than sufficient (donating about 40% of our books and clothing and excess belongs probably helped)
• The wooden floors are even more wonderful than I expected
• The stove is a gas stove. I have missed cooking with gas so much
• The immense back yard is full of bunnies and the trees are full of squirrels. The little dog is in paradise
• The bath tub is an old one, original with the house, I suspect, which means it is huge (our previous house had a modern tub, very good for saving on the water bill, and no good for soaking blissfully
• The cats are starting to adjust, though they spent the first several days hiding and the first several nights prowling the halls wailing in outrage
• We no longer have a library, a lovely grocery, and a post-office within walking distance, which is a loss; but we've traded that for the university, which is half a mile away
• And there's a grocery within a mile, and a post office and a library less than two miles away, so

Meanwhile, non-stop intensive packing and unpacking for the past -- what has it been? Ten days? Twelve days? -- has left us exhausted. We will be a month recovering, I suspect. But it is worth it.

Once again, thank you to everyone who made this move possible! Y'all are the best, and we literally could not have done it without you.

Now with Added Pictures

Dr. Skull took pictures for me:

The Window Where My Chair Currently is Stationed

Living Room with Unpacked Boxes

Dr. Skull has been a living saint through this process, by the way.

Unpacking -- No, LITERALLY

Since we moved in -- well, I lost count, but I think it was less than five days, we did a really terrible job of labeling boxes. So now we are unpacking like it's a treasure hunt. "I'm sure I didn't put the coffee maker in the box to be donated. I mean, I hope I didn't..."

"It's in one of these boxes." (Said bravely.)

The coffee maker has turned up. So has my checkbook. But not my phone. I still have hope! This has been a very lucky move. As I said in the comments to one of these posts, it really feels as though our luck has changed. Our movers were wonderful.

The fact of the movers was wonderful! I was filled with panic over how we were going to get everything moved out of the house in three days, including our refrigerator and our washer-dryer and two immense solid wooden bookcase, I saw a link on U-Haul that let us hire guys to load and unload the truck for you, for a ridiculously tiny sum.

This was a guy named Mike, who had started this business, We Move it Mike's. Other guys work for him. It is not a job I would like to do, let me tell you, but they were great at it. Despite the fact that they work by the hour, they were fast. We could not have done it without them. If you're moving in Fort Smith or anywhere around Fort Smith, I highly recommend.

Yesterday afternoon the internet was connected. Also, I discovered the dryer outlet did not work. So I facebooked my new landlord (yes, we are FB friends) and he sent someone over 20 minutes later and 20 minutes after that it was fixed.

In contrast, I would have had to call my old landlord, leave a message, call him again, have him call me back, have him interrogate me about what I did wrong to break the outlet, have him complain about everything I had willfully broken in the last six month, and then have him tell me he would "see" if he could find someone to come fix it. Then he would demand to know when I would be home. "You're never home," he would inform me. "I can't get anyone in there to fix things when you're not home."

"Mark and I both work," I would point out, for like the 600th time. "But I work at home on (whatever days it was that semester). If you can schedule it for --"

"I'll see what I can do."

Only he wouldn't. So a week later I'd have to call back.

Also. Also. Also. This house is so beautiful. It's true it's smaller, but it's just so lovely.

I promised you pictures, and as soon as I find my phone, you will have some! Right now, imagine me in my chair, drinking coffee, surrounded by stacks of books still in boxes, upturned chairs, and golden mid-morningsunlight pouring through tall many-paned windows. The cats love these windows, by the way -- they run floor to ceiling, so the cats can sit by them and stare out at the wide back yard, filled with trees and birds right now, though Darin (our landlord) promises deer and bunnies later on.

More later!




*three days, because once I told our landlord that we would not accept his 'terms,' which were frankly ludicrous, he said we had to 'vacate the property,' and while technically in Arkansas that means we are supposed to have five days, he was going to change us a ridiculous amount of rent for the other two days -- did I mention that I think this landlord is suffering from dementia?

Packing to Move

So plant operations has finally sent me my packing boxes. I am packing my books and files, preliminary to the moving guys showing up, next Thursday, to move me to my new office, over in the fancy new building.

Well, newer building.

Meanwhile, I certainly have a lot of books. And more art on the wall than I would have guessed.

I don't think I'm going to have nearly enough boxes, y'all.

ETA: Man, I shoulda wished for money. No sooner did I hit post than the plant operations guys showed up with 15 more boxes!

ETTAA: Man, do I have a lot of books.