Moving House, Part II

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On Saturday morning, we woke up before six. Josh ran to Wal-mart for water bottles and cat essentials (we had painstakingly corralled them into one room in the old house, so they would escape or trip anyone. They get so terrified during moves). I had to wear some green snowflake socks because, just as I did during the previous move, I packed all my socks, and these just happened to come through the laundry.

We ate breakfast in the lobby--another great aspect of staying in the hotel. Meals are always difficult to orchestrate during a move. I had a bagel and cream cheese, a tiny brown sugary muffin, and a little chicken biscuit with milk and orange juice (something else I never liked pre-pregnancy). When I was little, my Mimi (great-grandmother) used to let me have two different drinks with meals, and that still seems so naughty and luxurious to me.

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At the old house, we did more grabbing and stuffing of little odds and ends, and then we drove the truck over to the new house (one street over). Dad arrived, wearing the cheeky "The Grandfather" (like The Godfather logo) T-shirt I gave him for Father's Day. Josh was wearing his Father's Day gift too--a gray T-shirt with an ultrasound profile image and "Oliver's Daddy" on it. He'd had to wash it quickly since he'd also worn it to the Def Leppard concert.

The two of them brought in the couch, wardrobe, table, and guest bed. We'd gotten a small truck for multiple trips since the houses are close together, and we could save on gas mileage. They returned to the old house to start the next load, and I worked on unloading cars. I knew I shouldn't do much, and being useless was frustrating, so I did all the little work I could. I made up the guest bed even though that wasn't an urgent priority.

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Josh's mom, dad, and brother arrived. Zach was seeing my belly for the first time and just couldn't get over the fact that a baby is in it. James reminded him that said baby won't be there forever but will soon be here "hanging out." Oliver is going to have good uncles.

Everyone did two truck trips while I ran errands to get key copies, a new litter box (a new house definitely calls for a new box), and a dowel for the wardrobe. When I got back, Zach was carrying three boxes of books at a time, Dad had set up the washer and dryer, Susan (Josh's mom) had made our bed, and the daybed we were giving back to Mom was loaded into our bigger car. I had had a pretty green spread with white polka dots on the daybed. Now, I get to use it as an extra blanket on our bed (which I often need because Josh gets fan-happy and freezes me).

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We all went to a local Mexican restaurant (I don't even know the name) for lunch and sat out on the patio. The two dads got massive mugs of beer, compared to which Zach's regular mug looked rather silly. Thanks to a burly chin strap, James probably could have ordered a beer too even though he's fifteen. Mexican restaurants tend to be very veggie-head friendly, so Susan (also a veggie-head) and Josh had stuffed veggie quesadillas. I had a quesadilla with tiny shrimp and stuffed in a whole little bowl of guacamole. Mmmm.

Josh's family headed back toward the coast, and Josh and I flew back to the OLC to meet the Time Warner guy who was transferring our Internet. He'd came and left, but luckily, he came back. Josh put up our green shower curtain with Shabby Chic rhinestone rings from Target. Dad put up the dowel in my wardrobe (a place for my work clothes!) and volunteered to help me transport the cats. This is usually an ordeal for Josh and I which involves forcing each cat into a carrier (usually with weeing, gnashing of teeth, claws, and demon-lawnmower like sounds from at least one cat) and stacking them in the car for a long drive full of deep, throaty cat cries. This time, I grabbed one cat, and Dad got me in the car and drove the sixty seconds or so to the new house, where I deposited said cat. We moved all three in about fifteen minutes. I kept hold of the backs of their necks, and this seemed to keep them from struggling out of my arms. I certainly was glad to have that done, and Josh was glad to have missed out on it (he was waiting on the Internet guy). The cats slunk low to the ground and cried a bit, but they perked up amazingly quickly. Maybe having all our stuff there helped them.

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After the guys left, Josh put up the first picture above the desk: "Girl in a Dreamland Garden," by C. Warde Traver (you can see her here. Josh bought it at Sleepy Poet Antique Mall with a Christmas gift certificate from my mom. I call the painting "the pink lady." She's lovely, and she compliments the floral couch. Zach had thought she was a painting of me!

I made our first dinner: a brown rice bowl meal with green beans, walnuts, honey, and cinnamon. It smelled like tea and tasted a bit like a dessert. We had more cleaning and car loads to do, and boxes were everywhere (and still are), but we slept well our first night in the OLC, apart from our smallest cat's dramatic cries of woe.

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