With each passing day I’m learning more about our new home, and further despairing of ever finishing unpacking. At a certain point here I’m just going to start throwing little knitted doilies over everything and pretending that it’s part of the decor.
Fiddle-dee-dee! Set your drink over there on that stack of, um, art!
I did spend a couple of hours upstairs in the kids’ rooms unpacking the countless boxes of their stuff, today, and they expressed their thanks by rejoicing over the contents and then making a gigantic mess of all their refound stuff and pelting each other with toys until I told them to stop it before I put the two of them into a couple of boxes.
There are a few things about the new place that I’m really growing to love. Things that I didn’t have before.
The world’s quietest dishwasher. Sure, the rest of the house is falling down around us, but DAMN that’s a quiet dishwasher. It almost makes me less irritated about the fact that the owners TOOK THE SILVERWARE BASKET out of it (who does that?) when they left. It cleans well, but more importantly, you can barely hear it. Which is important, because the television is already going up against the seven billion frogs outside, each night.
The gazebo/casino. Actually, I love the entire deck. But the gazebo allows us to sit in relative comfort and watch our friendly neighborhood hawk swoop around the yard or the local deer come eat our plants. It’s also a nice place to sit and watch Otto charring animal products for our dinner.
Laundry on the same floor as the bedroom. It’s very handy, being the procrastinator that I am, to be able to just kick the laundry basket full of clean clothes over into my bedroom to be dealt with “later.” Before I had to carry it all the way up the stairs! Who has time for that?
The neighbors are actually friendly. About a week before I left New England, someone asked me if the Soandsos still lived next door to me. I had to admit that I had no idea. Because neighbors don’t talk to each other in the northern states. That would indicate weakness. (The people across the street brought us PIE and wave to us all the time. You KNOW how I feel about PIE.)
High-tech trash disposal. We have a garbage disposal AND a trash compactor. It’s like some futuristic land of ground-up, tightly packed refuse. Plus I no longer have to take recycling to the dump, because it gets picked up with the trash (what a concept).
Water AND ice in the door! Otto’s fridge has a water dispenser right in the door. So fancy. The children and I have all developed an addiction to crushed ice.
Of course, there are also things I’m missing.
Friends who call up and offer to take my children. When I type it out like that, it looks like I know people who were constantly removing my children from the premises for their own good, or something. But I mean the kinds of people who will call up and offer to just take them for a few hours to entertain THEIR kids, and then everyone’s happy. Right now, my kids pretty much spend every waking moment asking if they can go see if the kids across the street want to play. I had to explain that at 7:00 in the morning, it’s unlikely that such an invitation would be appreciated.
Knowing where to shop. If not for the GPS unit I wouldn’t be able to get ANYWHERE. With it, I’m doing okay. But I still don’t know the ins and outs of the area, like where one goes for the best deals on produce or shoes.
Being able to walk outside without becoming coated in sweat. Nuff said.
Having a skin regimen that works. Different climate, different skin needs. If you ask my skin, it says it needs to break out twelve times as much as it did at home. (Perhaps that’s related to the “coated in sweat” issue from above. Hmmm.)
That special little cord that allows me to connect my cell phone to my computer. Seriously, WHERE IS THAT THING? I cannot for the life of me find it. And it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but shortly after landing in Georgia my cell phone started freaking out with some sort of electrical issue, and I had to have it swapped out. The new phone doesn’t have my pictures or ring tones and I was okay with moving 1000 miles to a new house, but I draw the line at being without my Chickadee and Monkey background on my phone, dammit.
The cord’s in a box. I’m pretty sure of that.
Produce comes from Publix or the farmer’s market or the flea market. (Seriously, good stuff there.)
And …. YOU DON’T GET TO COMPLAIN ABOUT THE WEATHER!! You wanted this. B-)
-otto
Wow! I’m first! It makes me feel special.
I sooooooooo hear you on the sweat-coating thing. Here in Central TX, we have grown gills to cope with the humidity. As hubby says, we like to have our air and drink it, too.
I’m sure I would looooooove to have Chickie and Monkey at my house! I’m so sorry I can’t get them here…. Have you found a church yet? (I know, probably not, but at least that will hopefully help make some friends until school starts!)
Drat. OTTO!
We like to have our air and drink it too. HAHAHAH. That Rachel May, she’s funny. :)
Seems like people are nice everywhere but the northeastern states. I don’t know why that is, but seems to be true.
Glad you’re getting settled in and before you know it, you’ll be telling US where to shop if we’re ever in your neck o’ the woods… soon, I promise!
Oooh, trash compactor!
Maybe you’ll turn out to be one of those families that sends their kids to 18 different VBS’s this summer. Because VBS is cheap! or free! and full of other kids!
That disoriented shopping feeling goes away after a month or so.
The previous tenants here took the sink stoppers. Who DOES that?
A quiet dishwasher, a gazebo, and Otto too? Sounds like heaven. (And he is married to you, so he has to love you, skin problems and all).
Welcome to the South. The land of perspiration attachment to your underwear from May to September. Oh, remember it is mandatory to wave in the South, failure to do so may result in lack of future pie presents.
I am so envious of your dishwasher, ours emits sound reminiscent of passing aircraft. One day I will have an ultra-quiet dishwasher with all the bells and whistles. Of course then I will have to work on the teenagers belief that dishes actually insert themselves for cleaning.
I envy your trash compactor . . . and your dishwasher (ours is quiet, but we keep having some kind of weird electrical problem with it – sometimes we can turn it on . . . sometimes we can’t :). The sweat . . .well . . . you don’t ever really get used to it – when I’m sweaty I try to think about all the calories I must be burning (yeah, right!). As for hospitable folks taking your kids . . . all in good time :)
Yeah, sweating in the south is SOP, so welcome to Georgia :-) At least you have Otto, and the gazebo/casino, and a quiet dishwasher. If Tifton wasn’t three hours from you, I’d take the kids for a while (not that they would enjoy being here… my kids are all grown!) I DID enjoy that when the kids were little, though… it was great. And, you’ll find friends like that there as well.
comeon Otto – give her a break. of course, she agreed to it. but NO ONE who didn’t grow up here is prepared for Georgia in the summer. So – cut her a little bit of slack. She’s just a bit overwhelmed right now. You’re under a good bit of stress too, so cut yourself some slack while you’re at it.
you’re both good peoples.
I have lived on the West Coast all my life. I’ve always known my neighbors, so hearing some people (out side of NYC) don’t boggles my mind. It also boggles my mind to find out people don’t recycle or have to take it some where to recycle.
As a lifelong resident of the South, I’m about to share a valuable piece of information with you, and you don’t even have to pay me: the heat’s not nearly as bad if you just stay inside most of the time. In the air conditioning. Where it’s cool. And air conditioned.
In fact, tonight, after cleaning out my car in what was surely 142% humidity, I cranked down the air to such a low temperature that I needed a blanket while we were watching television. And I was happy.
I am envious. I would like to watch deer eat my plants. They are sweet, and we have too many plants. The bunny is doing his best, but he can’t keep up.
I would especially like to be able to see a deer without having to scream LYME DISEASE and run away. I am pretty sure you don’t have to worry about that in the South.
Our dishwasher is so quiet I’ve opened it several times mid-cycle, thinking it was done. Apparently I don’t read lights well. ; ) Happy! housewarming.
Dave, my Mom contracted lyme disease resulting from a hike in central Florida. Her doctor was ill-informed and ignored the initial rash because she wasn’t experiencing joint pain. Everyone should be informed and watchful.
Ice cold water does wonders for the internal body temp.
Fresh produce and shoes. Glad to know that all that heat and humidity hasn’t thrown your priorities out of whack. While it appears that Otto has the lowdown on the produce, I guess you’ll just have to make several excursions around town to discover the shoe deals. And that probably involves the purchase of shoes. That should make up for the sweat involved.
Crushed ice is a good thing. We’re in Maryland (predicted temp. 98 degrees today with no central air in this old house) and we like our crushed ice. My teething toddler sucks on it all day long.
Also, have you tried eating frozen veggies still frozen? I am not kidding.
Water and ice in the fridge door is the Best Thing Ever. EVER.
And I lost my favorite corkscrew in our move. It was here and then it wasn’t. Sob.
At least you have an Otto to tell you about the Publix and other things. When we moved to San Diego, we didn’t know anybody and none of the supermarkets have helpful names like PURITY SUPREME or STOP & SHOP. It took us a bit to figure out that Ralph’s was a supermarket.
Is there a Marshall’s nearby? I do love the shoe selection and prices at Marshall’s…. they have FANCY brands of shoes. And don’t worry, I won’t suggest that you already have enough shoes. There is no such thing as “enough” shoes.
With seven billion frogs making music outside, who needs a television? Oh, that’s the green momma inside me emerging again. And it’s easy for me to say, because with my hearing loss, the frogs would sound much quieter. I probably wouldn’t even know your dishwasher is running.
Sweetie, that sweat is gonna look soooooo good to you when you NEVER have to shovel snow AGAIN. Trust me. ;)
Pie has mighty bonding powers. Our neighbors brought us a pumpkin pie when we moved in. Sixteen years later, we do parties and holidays together, and consider their girls to be our nieces. The Power of Pie.
Southern women don’t sweat, they GLOW.
All of those things take some getting used to. Speaking of out with the old, in with the new: Bossy is selling her favorite blogs over at her Virtual Yard Sale. Stop by for musty advertising or an old purple font…
http://iambossy.typepad.com/i_am_bossy/2007/07/bossys-virtual-.html
I always say that we spend as much time being stuck in our houses in the Summer as our neighbors to the North do in the Winter. (As an aside, I never know what the rule is about capitalizing directions and seasons. Anyone?) It’s not so hot here (Austin) this year because we have non-stop-freaking-rain. Now I know that our neighbors to the Northwest (northwest?), like Seattle, probably spend as much time stuck in their houses as the rest of us. The only place on this continent that I can think of where the weather doesn’t trap you inside is California. But oddly enough, no one there makes pie OR knows their neighbors. (At least according to my BIL who lives in LA. He told me that when they first moved into their house, THEIR neighbors came out to tell them that it was a great neighborhood but if anyone pulled and gun and demanded their money, they should just give it to them. (Uh, YEAH.) Now, guess what? They are totally stuck inside their house.)
Sweaty is never good. Never.
It was almost 2 years after moving in that I finally found my pepper mill. If your cord doesn’t show up soon, just save yourself the frustration and get a replacement.
Oh, you can’t tell me you didn’t “glow” in New England! I was at Cape Cod last June and I swear I was sweating IN THE SHOWER.
And I agree with Otto, the cord is in a box…it’s in a box with all the other things that were near/next to where you kept the cord before.
Unless it’s not, then it might be in your purse or your luggage.
Or it’s with your camera stuff.
I moved from Canada to just north of Mexico. MY skin hated me, but then it did even out after a while. I use a toner more often, I use the lightest moisturizer with spf I can find, and only apply it after the shower. Oh and a quick shower before bed helps too.
The absolutely best produce in the entire metro area is at the Dekalb Farmer’s Market. Plus the best dairy — chocolate milk that your kids will finish before you get home it is so good — and the best meat. It is totally worth the trip. http://www.dekalbfarmersmarket.com/ (Not the best baked goods. Those are only ok.)
The best regular chain grocery store for produce is Publix. Most of the Krogers are only tolerable. The only exception I know of to that rule is probably not local to you, the Ansley Park (near Piedmont Park) Publix and Kroger have a role reversal thing going on.
Well, it sounds like the pros outweigh the cons. I hate losing things, though. Makes me cranky. And sad, when it’s something valuable. Like when I lost a John Hardy bracelet in our last move. I still haven’t gotten over that yet.
Ah, yes, the old I need a shower again because I just trekked the 6 feet to my car, weather….
Our previous owners took the closet doors. *boggles*
Technically, you are still a couple of states over, but somehow, probably just because you are drinking the same air I drink, and enjoying the same weather fronts, I feel like you’re right next door. Welcome, neighbor! And please, do not even try to skimp on the air-conditioning. You will die.