It'll be because I'm moving house.

This is a much welcome move (I've been on a waiting list for almost a year), albeit a short one (8 miles), since it involves moving from a 2 bedroom townhouse I've been sharing with my mother to a one bedroom townhouse all by my little lonesome (aside from my 2 parrots).

I've taken today off work to (hopefully) finish packing, and will start moving stuff myself tomorrow when I get the keys. I have 5 friends coming over on Sunday (one with a van) to help move the larger stuff (bed, dressers, etc.). Naturally after a fairly mild summer here, it's supposed to get up into the 90s this weekend, and be godawful humid. Ah well.

At any rate, it'll probably take some time to get my old computer hooked up and working at the new place (for example, I'll have to assemble the computer desk first), assuming it works at all, since it's been in storage for the last year or so (the one I use at home now is mom's). So don't expect to see me much in the evenings for a while.

BTW, if anyone is curious, there are some pictures of the complex here:
[www.universitytownhouses.org]
The last two pics without snow show pairs of one bedroom townhouses.

And here is the floor plan (mirror image of mine, actually):
[www.universitytownhouses.org]
There's also a full basement for storage.

Should be a vast improvement over living out of a small bedroom and a storage locker, which is what I've been doing for the past 10 years.



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"I've often said that the difference between British and American SF TV series is that the British ones have three-dimensional characters and cardboard spaceships, while the Americans do it the other way around."
--Ross Smith

Good luck with the move Magda, enjoy the new place!

Congratulations on getting your own house :) What a great accomplishment.

BTW, it's technically a Co-op, with a $2000 buy-in (which you get back when you move out) and a monthly carrying charge. Since this is a HUD affiliated low income housing place (but actually a nice one) the carrying charge is very reasonable, and there's an income cap (which I'm well below, sadly). For more details you can explore the rest of the website.

I hope that the move goes fine, without any problems, and that we hear from you again soon.

************************************************************

"God rot Botchkamos Istochnik!"

Good luck Mags. Thinking of you...

Good luck with the move Magda, hope all your help turns up.

Wow! Envious!

I lived round the back of our local Co-Op for a while once when my wife kicked me out, but that's about as close as I ever got.

Good luck to you, Magda!

All the best with the move!



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That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah

yay good luck!
have fun and careful with the neighbours if you have a housewarming party

Good luck with the move! I hope it goes well for you.



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There's a hole in my creativity bucket and it's all leaked out.

Best wishes for sorting it all out ! Lol

I've recently had all the 'joys' of packing and unpacking a house, pretty much twice over this year, but without actually moving someplace else ! I sympathize, Magda, and hope the parrots cope OK.

I hate moving. Haven't moved for four years and don't look forward to ever having to do it again.

Good luck with the move, hope it goes all well for you. And congratulations on the new house. At least it looks much (very much better) than the holes I've been living in since I moved out from my parents. yeah, I'm envious.



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Colourless green ideas sleep furiously.

(N. Chomsky 1957)

I'm moved!!! It's been an interesting weekend.

Thursday:
Stayed home from work to pack. Power went out at 4:15pm. Continued packing until it was too dark. Mom arrived home with her car nearly running on fumes, because she was going to buy gas (petrol) after shoping, but the power went out while she was in the store. Pumps don't work without electricity. Generator power allowed her to check out. Ate cold spaghetti for dinner, sat around talking with mom by candlelight for a while, and went to bed early, since I couldn't do much else.

Friday:
Mom called the lab she works in at the hospital. They were still open and needed her. One coworker had arrived from Chelsea (about half an hour away) and said they had power and gas available there. I was low on gas myself, and needed to start moving stuff as well as signing for the new place. Drove with mom to Chelsea. Waited in line for 1 hour to buy gas at single open station near freeway (other was already out, as they'd be a bit @#$%&). Paid cash because credit card machines weren't working. Fortunately, had gotten cashier check for buy-in and first months rent Thursday before the power went out, and had gotten extra cash at the same time. Drove mom to work (1 hour late) and signed the papers for my new townhouse (15 minutes late).
Drove over to unload things in car and check out the new place (I'd only been inside briefly to look at the blinds and the washing machine I bought from the previous occupant). Next door neighbor (Merideth) pulled up while I was getting out of car, and said hello. We chatted for a few minutes, and I admired her kitten who was climbing the front window screen and then playing with the tie on her skirt (She has a couple of older cats too, and vounteers at a local animal clinic). She seems extremely nice and friendly, but not pushy or nosey. Very lucky there. She said the previous lady to live there was nice, but not very talkative, and seemed pleased to have a neighbor who was willing to chat.
Scooted out to the store (still running on generator) to buy drinks for the moving crew (and myself). Bought 4 kinds of soda pop, and Mikes Hard Lemonade, to put in the fridge in hopes that they would be cold by Sunday.
Got back to the new place, to discover the power was back on. Yippee! Put drinks in the slowly cooling fridge, and headed back home for brunch (hadn't eaten anything yet). Power at home was still off.
Took a couple loads of stuff from my storage locker (including my box fan) to the new place, and unloaded them and carried stuff up/downstairs as necessary, while periodically wiping sweat from my face (it was 90 degrees and hazy and muggy). Not as efficient as anticipated, since I had my hatchback rather than moms out-of-gas wagon.
Headed back to the locker for another load. Almost missed the turn, then got pulled over for turning from the straight lane and given a ticket. Sigh. Need to call today to find out what the fine is. Just what I needed on top of my moving expenses. Drove up to town to pick mom up at work, and took her to have a look around the new place while I unloaded. Ate dinner at a nearby restaurant that had power (and air conditioning), then headed home to discover that the power had come on there while we were gone. Since we hadn't opened the fridge or freezer, most of the food was fine. There was still ice in the ice bin, although it had melted together a bit. Just had to throw out a few things in the fridge (like the sliced turkey) that we didn't quite trust. I made one more trip to the new place with stuff, then to bed.

Saturday:
Still miserably hot and muggy. Several trips back and forth with stuff in mom's now fully fueled wagon. Last minute packing.

Sunday: Moving day!
Thank GSD, a cold front had moved in late on Saturday, and it was only in the low 80s, with lower humidity and a nice breeze. Got up early to finish packing last few things. Moved birds into mom's room so they'd be disturbed less. Had a fabulous turn out of friends from my local SCA (medieval recreation) group, including a few folks I don't even know that well yet (but will make an effort to!). I'd posted about not being able to rent a truck because they were allready rented by students returning for the fall. I ended up with 4 vans (2 cargo, 2 mini) and a pickup truck, and about a dozen people. We moved an amazing amount of stuff in an amazingly short time, using the bucket brigade method of passing boxes down the line, first from the vehicles to the living room, and then from there to the basement (which is where most of the stuff went). We started after 10, and were finished before 3, with a break for pizza in between. I have lots of empty soda cans to return for the deposits. The cold drinks were much appreciated. We ate the pizza at the Picnic table in the central area out back, under a tree. Quite lovely.
After we'd finished, David and his van stuck around and helped me pick up a clearance display model entertainment center for only $59 (They were out of boxed ones). So I have at least one new piece of furniture I don't have to put together myself (unlike the computer desk, lingere chest and the bench with drawers for the foot of the bed).
Needless to say I thanked everyone profusely. It would have taken me weeks to move all that stuff myself.
Mind you, things were moving fast enough that stuff I'd like to get at now didn't all get grabbed, and some is in the 6x20 foot pile of boxes in the basement. I'll be sorting through all that for months, I suspect, and figuring out what I can use and what I want to get rid of.

BTW, it will probably be some time before you see me online from the new place. First I need to unpack and sort all the boxes of kitchen stuff which are where the computer desk needs to go. Then I need to put the desk together. I also need to split the phone line, and send a branch along the baseboard of the kitchen into the dining room, where the computer is going. Then I can find out if mom's old p200 still works after being stored for a year. If not, I'll also have to wait for a new computer to arrive. (If this one works, I'll see if I can limp along with it for a while first).

But I now have my own place for the first time in 10 years. Yippeeee!!!!!

-Happy but exhaused Magda-

Glad to hear that the move worked out more-or-less OK despite the blackout. Condolences about the traffic ticket.

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"God rot Botchkamos Istochnik!"

Sounds excellennt and it looks a lovely place Magda - well done you! Hope you're very happy there (and that someone miraculously loses all trace of the ticket!)



_ _ _ _ _

If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur.

Congratulations, I hope you settle in quickly.

When I moved out of the shop last November I shifted eight van loads of stuff in three days, mostly alone. Took me a month to get over it.

Are you having a virtual housewarming party?
Last time we moved ourselves, I drove the removals van. It was longer than I thought, as I found out when I backed it into my previous kit car. Fibreglass makes a very strange noise when it smashes.



Post Edited (08-19-03 17:39)