Moving

Shwew, we're finally moved in.

The packers came at 8 o'clock Monday morning and by the time Uchenna came home for lunch they were finishing up. I guess we don't have much stuff. They could have easily loaded and taken everything that day, but since they'd planned to load the second day they hadn't brought the truck.

Last time we moved, the moving company gave us all kinds of instructions on how to prepare for them, what things they couldn't carry, and so forth. This time they didn't say much. But it turns out that since we were just moving in-state, they could take everything without all that special preparation. Really, my only job was just to put aside the things we didn't want them to load up.

Turns out I didn't do my job all that well. For instance, I didn't think through what we would eat and how we would eat it. Or like when Uchenna said, where's my shaver, I had to say, I think it's in one of these boxes here. Or when he said, let's go get the certified check to take to closing tomorrow--where's the checkbook that they said we should bring? I had to say, oh gosh, it's probably buried in one of those boxes over there (although that worked out all right, because the bank didn't really need a check from us afterall, and they even waived the certified check fee). And finally, I did want to take a picture of all the activity, but who knew where the camera ended up.

Again on Tuesday the movers moved very quickly, like a whirlwind. We had to take off for Bartlesville, to sign our life away, very early in the morning. The movers came at 8 again, and by the time we were driving home about 11, they called to let us know they were finished and taking off. We came home to a completely empty house. I was reminded of the Grinch, who "on their walls left only some hooks and some wires."

So we got to work cleaning. Unfortunately, I thought we should also clean the oven, which wouldn't be difficult since it's self-cleaning. I've never tried it before, so it really was in need of some attention. After about a half an hour of cleaning at high heat, though, the whole thing went blank. The electronics panel was VERY hot, and it just looks like it fried. We had our realtor look at it the next day, to see if it came back to life when it cooled down. In her words, it was deader n' a hammer.

So we have repair guys coming on Monday. We're just hoping it won't take months to get a part, like last time the oven had a problem. We actually suspect that with that last repair, maybe the guy didn't replace the necessary insulation--because why would the electronics get so hot, when it's supposed to be designed to take the high heat of a self-cleaning oven?

On Wednesday, the movers delivered everything. Now we're just arranging it all. And suddenly, what seemed like not much stuff looks like a lot. For instance, in our last house the look was spare and clean--here the living room is full of furniture. I'm also missing my lovely built in bookcases, where we had all our movies and music, games and decorative knick-knacks. Anyway, we've got the living room and kitchen settled and livable--just need to get the pictures on the walls--and over time we'll get the stuffed, chaotic back rooms (where everything is hiding) in good order.