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Experiencing Technical Difficulties
Apr. 12th, 2007 01:24 pm::staggers out from cardboard forest::
We're in the house! Well, I am, at least--Jim has yet to move a lot of his stuff over. He hasn't sold his old house and wants it to have that 'lived in' look when it's on the market. I'm not entirely sure how the presence of his rather aged furniture is going to induce potential buyers to make higher offers, but, hey, whatever. That's his strategy, and I'm staying out of it.
The moving process itself went reasonably well, although it took a long time. The elevator in my apartment building was being cranky, so it was a bit of a bottleneck. And the hallways in Jim's house (the kids' stuff got moved over) are very narrow, which limited how much each moving person could carry at a time. Nearly 13 hours later, however, it was finally done. Unfortunately, the only pair of shoes I'd left unpacked on the big day had no support--my feet hurt so much by the end of the day that I could hardly walk for the next two.
My mother, wonderful woman that she is, came down and helped us unpack for three days, and even took us out to dinner. By the time she left, the place was pretty much functional. Last weekend was an extra-long one because of Easter, so we got even more done. There are actual pictures on the wall! Woot!
The best line of the experience came from LittlestJim when he saw how much unpacking we'd done while he and MiddleJim had been at their mother's for the week. Jim's not exactly known for his housekeeping skills--his place always looked like a bomb had gone off in it. LittlestJim sat down at the dinner table, looked around at the general state of tidiness, and said with a satisfied sigh, "FINALLY, our house looks nice." Heeee.
I made an Easter dinner of baked ham, scalloped potatoes, asparagus, and beets last weekend. MiddleJim ate so much that he hurt afterwards and didn't even touch his chocolate. :-) Jim's not exactly known for his cooking skills either.
There have been a couple of hitches along the way, of course. There's something wrong with our cable connection, and all three TVs are slightly snowy. Cable guy is coming on Friday to fix this. Part of the eavestroughing went kerplooey the week before we moved in, so the basement was a bit damp where water had seeped through the wall. That'll have to be repaired someday soon. And my cat and Daughter o' Jim's cat dislike each other--there have been numerous hissing and spitting matches. Usually in my room because that's where the patio doors (i.e., "cat TV") are. Said behaviour generally gets them pitched into the basement for an hour to sort it out on their own.
And last night the furnace died. We paid the overtime fees and had the guy come in to look at it. Turns out that the previous owners didn't believe in furnace maintenance--the dirt and dust inside the thing was so thick you could write your name in it, and it's only four years old! The nice furnace repairman temporarily fixed it, but it died again overnight. The house was pretty chilly this morning (we had snow last night). The part to replace the one that's not working won't be in until tomorrow. I had to bring my houseplants into work with me (I've had one of them for over 30 years, so I wasn't risking it freezing), and I'm not quite sure how tonight is going to work. It's not bitterly cold, but it's not very comfortable.
I've also had a supremely frustrating morning at work today, AND my car is making weird noises. So I'm having sushi for lunch. I'm half-tempted to grab my laptop and spend the evening reading/writing fic and ignoring the world at large in a hotel.
We're in the house! Well, I am, at least--Jim has yet to move a lot of his stuff over. He hasn't sold his old house and wants it to have that 'lived in' look when it's on the market. I'm not entirely sure how the presence of his rather aged furniture is going to induce potential buyers to make higher offers, but, hey, whatever. That's his strategy, and I'm staying out of it.
The moving process itself went reasonably well, although it took a long time. The elevator in my apartment building was being cranky, so it was a bit of a bottleneck. And the hallways in Jim's house (the kids' stuff got moved over) are very narrow, which limited how much each moving person could carry at a time. Nearly 13 hours later, however, it was finally done. Unfortunately, the only pair of shoes I'd left unpacked on the big day had no support--my feet hurt so much by the end of the day that I could hardly walk for the next two.
My mother, wonderful woman that she is, came down and helped us unpack for three days, and even took us out to dinner. By the time she left, the place was pretty much functional. Last weekend was an extra-long one because of Easter, so we got even more done. There are actual pictures on the wall! Woot!
The best line of the experience came from LittlestJim when he saw how much unpacking we'd done while he and MiddleJim had been at their mother's for the week. Jim's not exactly known for his housekeeping skills--his place always looked like a bomb had gone off in it. LittlestJim sat down at the dinner table, looked around at the general state of tidiness, and said with a satisfied sigh, "FINALLY, our house looks nice." Heeee.
I made an Easter dinner of baked ham, scalloped potatoes, asparagus, and beets last weekend. MiddleJim ate so much that he hurt afterwards and didn't even touch his chocolate. :-) Jim's not exactly known for his cooking skills either.
There have been a couple of hitches along the way, of course. There's something wrong with our cable connection, and all three TVs are slightly snowy. Cable guy is coming on Friday to fix this. Part of the eavestroughing went kerplooey the week before we moved in, so the basement was a bit damp where water had seeped through the wall. That'll have to be repaired someday soon. And my cat and Daughter o' Jim's cat dislike each other--there have been numerous hissing and spitting matches. Usually in my room because that's where the patio doors (i.e., "cat TV") are. Said behaviour generally gets them pitched into the basement for an hour to sort it out on their own.
And last night the furnace died. We paid the overtime fees and had the guy come in to look at it. Turns out that the previous owners didn't believe in furnace maintenance--the dirt and dust inside the thing was so thick you could write your name in it, and it's only four years old! The nice furnace repairman temporarily fixed it, but it died again overnight. The house was pretty chilly this morning (we had snow last night). The part to replace the one that's not working won't be in until tomorrow. I had to bring my houseplants into work with me (I've had one of them for over 30 years, so I wasn't risking it freezing), and I'm not quite sure how tonight is going to work. It's not bitterly cold, but it's not very comfortable.
I've also had a supremely frustrating morning at work today, AND my car is making weird noises. So I'm having sushi for lunch. I'm half-tempted to grab my laptop and spend the evening reading/writing fic and ignoring the world at large in a hotel.
