Archive | June, 2007

There are no pictures. . .

by Mir on June 30, 2007 in The Year of Living Changerously, What do I do all day?

… because I can no longer lift my arms.

Maybe next week.

So. Um. We bought this house, and then we pretty much went over there and painted for the next forty eight hours straight. Otto managed to lure various friends of his over to assist, which was nice, but it was still a whoooooole lotta painting. AND we’re not done yet! Because the copper wall takes TWO coats of base color and TWO coats of metallic overlay, which means we have one more metallic layer to go tomorrow, after which I suspect the living room will be six inches narrower than it was before we started, because HOLY HELL four coats of paint seems like a lot. Also, cathedral ceilings are highly overrated. (more…)

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Love made us land barons

by Mir on June 28, 2007 in Ottomatic For the People, The Year of Living Changerously, Woohoo!

As of around 5:00 this afternoon, Otto and I are now the proud owners of three houses. We think it’s good to have a couple of spares around, just in case, you know.

He did carry me over the threshold, though he didn’t throw me in the pool… probably because the pool was still looking a little scary. (The pool people are coming tomorrow to finish readying it, which I hope means they will be vacuuming up the fuzzy stuff floating all over the bottom, because EWW.)

I didn’t accidentally sign my old name even once on the mortgage paperwork! A good way to learn your new name is to sign it eleventy billion times on pieces of paper that say things like “I agree to repay the bank a million trillion dollars in interest or I authorize them to pull off my fingernails and feed them to me while Bette Midler sings.” (more…)

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15 hours, 50 years

by Mir on June 27, 2007 in Ottomatic For the People, What do I do all day?

I do hereby recommend that everyone be required to take one really long-ass road trip with one’s new spouse within the first few months of getting married. This will be a perfect test of compatibility and tolerance for the long haul (as it were) of the union as a whole, right there in the microcosm where no matter where you go, there are a dozen McDonald’s and nothing decent to eat.

Otto and I seem to have cleared this hurdle without much trouble, although it was certainly an experience to remember.

* * * * *

(more…)

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This is not about packing

by Mir on June 26, 2007 in Haven't been hit by lightning yet!, The Year of Living Changerously

Today marks a momentous occasion: For the first time in weeks, I have nothing to say about the packing of boxes. Hooray!

I have to admit, however, that the “oh yeah, throw that in the back wherever, I don’t need it” bag which Otto wedged into the trunk behind everything else did end up being the back into which I’d put my medication. WHOOPS. He was a very good sport about retrieving it for me when I pointed out that PROBABLY I could go without my estrogen without turning into a man for quite a while (and then my dad looked at his watch and said, “Probably not before 4 this afternoon, anyway”).

The cheesecake brownies from my favorite high school haunt have been purchased and set aside for the trip; the sushi has been consumed in copious quantities; the moving company has left me a lengthy voicemail apologizing for yesterday’s debacle but neglecting to sense the irony in reporting that oh, by the way, they don’t have a delivery date for me yet (that was promised to me by this morning); four people have popped up out of nowhere to respond to my Craigslist listings from last week now that everything is sold and gone.

In other words, we’re getting into the car tomorrow morning and getting out in Georgia tomorrow night, and things are going about the way you’d expect them to if you were me.

By this time tomorrow, we’ll be home.

Comments { 34 }

And then I burst into flames

by Mir on June 26, 2007 in It's not a regret, it's an "experience", The Year of Living Changerously

Hello! Did you know that most people, when they move, hire some people to come move them, and the people come, and their stuff gets moved, and other than maybe a missed box or a broken chair or something, it’s pretty straightforward and uninteresting?

Those people do not have blogs. Also those people are not me.

If you are me, it has to be a long involved process which may or may not end with your stuff being loaded on a truck for later delivery. Who knows! It’s an adventure! And we lived, so I guess it’s okay. (more…)

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Come to pack, leave with a car

by Mir on June 24, 2007 in Friends, The Year of Living Changerously

Dude, I was NOT KIDDING when I said if you come over and help me pack, you get to leave with fabulous prizes. Today Otto’s brother Wild Thing came over and did an amazing impression of the Tazmanian Devil in my basement; what I’d feared would take us well into the night to pack was DONE before dinner. His stipulation before coming over was that he get to leave with his pick of three things. We’d agreed, of course. He ended up with 6, I believe, or even more if you count that I made him take the remainder of the Easter mix candy I had floating around here.

A friend from church came (twice!) and left with a car packed to the gills with stuff for the church yard sale (twice!).

And then another friend from church came and we made him take my car. (more…)

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Final countdown

by Mir on June 23, 2007 in The Year of Living Changerously

You know what would be a great idea, when you’re trying to pack up your remarkably clown-car-like house which is—despite appearing to be nearly empty, now—crammed full of stuff everywhere that needs to be packed and you only have like two days left to get it all done?

Why, have a party, of course!

Duh.

Not here, though. Of course not. Not unless you want everyone to split up the last case of Diet Coke with Lime and eat spaghetti sauce. (I stocked up during a sale. So sue me.) No, ideally you then go have a party over an hour away, taking you away from the house that needs to be packed. That would be superb.

We are brilliant. (more…)

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C’mon baby, light my fire

by Mir on June 21, 2007 in Ottomatic For the People, The Year of Living Changerously

Things you cannot put on a moving truck: Detergents, aerosols, propane, live animals.

Things I can stuff into Otto’s car, should I so desire: Detergents and aerosols.

Things I would like to take to Georgia with me, because I PAID MONEY FOR THAT, DAMMIT, which are rather large to take in the car given everything else we have: The propane tank on my grill.

Solution: The propane tank has got to be nearly empty… let’s just leave the grill running until it’s empty, and then the movers will be willing to put it on the truck! (more…)

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So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, g’bye

by Mir on June 21, 2007 in Offspring: ecstasy and agony, The Year of Living Changerously

It’s the last day of school (finally!), and the children are utterly crushed.

As evidenced by the skipping, prancing, whooping and hollering that accompanied the last trip to the bus stop.

I asked them if they were sad to be having their last day of school here, and they never stopped running around in circles long enough to answer. Because today is exciting; they still have business cards to give out (Otto made them business cards with their new address info) and gifts to bestow and THINGS to DO. They haven’t stopped moving long enough to be sad, yet.

Come to think of it… neither have I.

The long walk to the last bus pick-up in the north.
(photo courtesy of Otto)

Comments { 27 }

Home is where we collide

by Mir on June 19, 2007 in Offspring: ecstasy and agony, Ottomatic For the People, Woohoo!

We had no idea what time Otto was coming today, due to a confluence of events wherein he had to make several unplanned-for detours. (One of them was due to Audrey—the name Otto has decided to give the new GPS unit—failing to predict that there is traffic in New York City. GO FIGURE.) As of our last check-in call, we figured he wouldn’t arrive until after the kids were in bed.

So when he pulled up while the kids were still hanging up their towels and getting into their jammies and screeching and dancing and generally being spazzy, they didn’t even notice. (more…)

Comments { 51 }
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