Yesterday I Looked Like a Squirrel

Or. a Porcu-Puffer. Or Sloth from The Goonies.  It was pretty bad. Half of my face was so numb I couldn't smile. This was the best I could muster, as you can see, the right side is in a big old goofy grin but the left is just...

 

 Dentistry and I have a long and strange history. I was a child with a lip-bumper and head-gear and I never had a cavity until I was 15. Now, at 27 its amazing how far I have strayed. A brief summary of my dental needs are as follows:

• Extraction of  #16 because of break 7 years ago
• Root canal of #32 (I'm mostly scared of this one)
• Fillings for #8, 9, 12, 14, 15, 2, 3, 18, and 29
• Periodontal Scaling & Root Planing for all (4 individual sessions) 

Fun times! Insurance is an amazing thing. (I would link to the "Big Book of British Smiles" of The Simpsons but I know there will be Channery a-foot and cries of "Lisa Needs Braces" until my head explodes.) But, I am not going to lie, being insured has been an important boon in this whole being a wife lifestyle. When I was a kid I never flinched at the idea of the dentist but when I had to pay for it out-of-pocket my anxiety grew and my state of my teeth declined.

So, yesterday was my second session of fillings. We were going to do the Upper Left Fillings and Scaling but we learned an important lesson: local anesthesia wears off faster on me than it does with 99% of the population. Yay! So my poor, lovely, and patient dentist tried to fix me up and get the job done. I was in the chair three hours yesterday. Oy! But well worth it, I will say. I've got one quarter of my mouth fixed up and I feel so much more confident. The first session he fixed up my two front teeth because he thought it would make me feel better. I scoffed and teased him n my head but boy was I wrong! I sent photos of my chompers to all my friends and/or made them look at them. He's a great dentist and his needling techniques are superb. Next stop of the Healthcare Train: Get a GP and a chat about tummy rumbles after eating eggs.

So, I am lucky enough to get an opportunity to repair damage to my body because I have access and it's not costly. Not everyone in this world is so lucky. So please, please take some time to consider helping. June 1-10 help push for an AIDS-free generation of kids in Africa. Here are 10 Ways to Fight AIDS in 10 Days

Go to RedRush.com for more info. Join ONE

Faustian Bargain Basement

The state of our basement in the old house is abhorrent. At our New Year's Eve party two years back I found a dear friend asleep down there and almost passed out with embarrassment and a wee bit too much bubbly. I'm excited that we will be forced to change this and please let us keep it that way ::fingers crossed::

The biggest issue is just plain STUFF. We have way too much stuff (shocking, I know.) This is mostly my fault, I am a keeper. I was raised by a grandmother who taught me to wash out zipper bags and keep every rubber band and twist-tie beneath the sink. I think she still takes crackers home from every restaurant. To be fair, this is a good thing for the new house since we are need of my air conditioner and microwave from when I was in high school and when I first moved out. The two boxes of dishes from when I first moved out on my own when I was 19 (eight years ago...?!) are however, decidedly unnecessary.

Gotta love a Scottish engineer!

Lucky for us, there was a sale on 20 gallon plastic storage tubs. We got some in teal and in green because this girl has color favorites. The goal is to take all of the excess in the basement and fill those tubs until "she can't take any more"

James rented a van for us to heave and ho all the crap out this afternoon. We were going to do it this weekend but James didn't feel well, then yesterday when I got some stomach bug. But no more excuses!

Now, does this mean that I will no longer take advantage of good deals? Heck no! We just inherited a beautiful dining table and chairs from my Grandmother. This frees the Ikea jobby we have to become our desk in the office and thus save a few bucks.

It does, however, mean I need to pare down on extraneous items. That mixtape I made in 1996 that's unplayable? Time to go, sir.  Every single note passed between my friends and I in high school? Just keep the juicy ones and let the past stay there. This is all pretty straight forward and I really should know better. Luckily the house is coming along really well and I quite like the way it looks without being jam packed full of trinkets. Because before you know it...

Goose: Throw it away and add it to that nasty collection of yours!
Be careful - a rotten egg can be a regular stink bomb!
Templeton:[patting the egg] I know what I'm doing. I handle stuff like this all the time

Day Five

We've been settling in here in the new house for about five days now. The Big Truck Move was completed with only minor troubles. We may have to buy this house so we don't have to move the dog again. She was a wreck, poor girl.

I didn't take part in the first load because I walked Chloe from old house to new. She was way too anxious to be in "a safe room" or the backyard for any extended time. Most of my responsibility on Saturday was to keep her safe and sound and point to wear furniture should be.

We were lucky to have some awesome friends come to help us so the three boys tackled the worst parts of our furniture: the Jon Hamm Bar and our Dresser.

Who doesn't want to drink scotch with Jon Hamm?

The Jon Hamm Bar is this great piece I found on the main drag of our old neighborhood for free. In December of 2010 we were walking up to our local bar for drinks and "Jeopardy" when I spied a large piece of awesome that said, "Free". It was born and raised to be office equipment — a filing cabinet it would seem — which only makes the Mad Men feel all the better. James had fear in his eyes so I brokered a deal: we would pass it up then but if it was still there when we came back, which I doubted highly, we would take it. Much to James' chagrin and my surprise it was still there! I had the fiery determination of a few drinks in me and there was no way — or weight — that would convince me otherwise. I should note that James is now as in love with JHB as I am. Anyway, we very quickly discovered why the piece was still out on the street: it weighs a ton. It is only mildly hyperbolic to describe it that way. It took us about an hour to move it the three blocks to our house. We would lift, shuffle about 15 steps, and have to stop to rest. A neighbor helped James haul it the last 75 feet which was a blessing. Two years later and this baby is still one of my favorite possessions. And the three dudes who took it to task and hauled it in all of its 100 pound glory are near and dear in my heart — almost as much as Jon Hamm.

The walls are still bare but I think a Navy Pinup Poster will suit it.
Possibly a framed photo of Jon Hamm, haha.

So now our middle room is really coming together. I'm temporarily referring to it as the Library/Lounge since all of our bookcases reside there as well. It's looking pretty spiffy, if I do say so myself. I like the idea of cocktails and book spines a lot. But the books will be for another day since that project is multi-faceted. So, lets talk about the other lumbering piece the boys had to contend with.

In Round Two our heroes must face the deadly Black Widow Dresser! (Spoiler: its only a threat for awhile but eventually defects and joins the good guys later on.)

This beauty is beguiling but dangerous.

This is the bed we snagged

before they changed the design.

The Dresser was a wedding gift from my mother-in-law. It matches our bed and I'd wanted it for quite awhile.  We scored the matching bed for $100 on a random trip to Ikea. It was perfectly timed because we wanted to swap bed sizes and give them a Full and begin life with a Queen. Apparently, Ikea has changed the Hemnes bed style so there were less than 10 of the ones I loved left.

Here's the new design. I like it
a lot less and it retails at almost $300.
I am happy to save $200 whenever
I can!

James gallantly put it together in our old bedroom and as such it had never been struggled down the steps until last weekend. My gal pal and I were sitting on the new porch with Chloe and wondering what became of the boys when we received a phone call asking us for a powerful drill so they could remove the bannister. The joys of the moving process. I imagine it was the worst part of the day for those guys.

All in all it only took three rounds and we wrapped up around 13:00. All of the small stuff has been or is being moved in other trips. This is so much less stressful and really helps with the culling process. We moved all of the books last week and that is the large portion of our possessions.

How odd

 Well, for some reason there is a post that didn't publish. But that's okay because we just got internet set up at the new house again. There is a lot to cover since this but I'll get there — there is also a lot to do in the house. I'll be back in a day or two with new photos!

So here is the Lost Post of Thursday

Big Truck Day approaches, we have two more days — it's really more like one and a half. The kitchen is close to being all shipped over. I am going to leave a few plates and cups at the old place for my roommate to use and for us while we finish up the last bits. We still have 2 weeks to get everything moved which is a nice grace period.

Half of our books are packed, including my beloved Tolkien.

But we still have all of James' books to worry about and a small shelf of Dad's, too. We are out of boxes so we have to go over to the liquor stores and grab some. (Pro tip: they are strong boxes since they're designed to hold glass and liquid.) The two of us are, no surprise here, already tired of moving. And we have just barely begun! But this is not meant to be whining space — that's what Facebook is for!

So, I'm going to think of cheerful projects to get myself pumped. And that means fabric choices for curtains! All of the windows in the house have venetian blinds installed — albeit nice and new ones — but I think they're awful nonetheless. I can live with the wooden-style ones.

For the kitchen I want a bold green to match all the other green in there. Although, an orange might be nice, too.

Moving was created by the Devil to get more folks on his side

There is no plausible explanation other than that, just sayin'. I curse, cry, and become willing to bargain my soul more during packing than any other time! I can just imagine Crowley making a comment about that now...

Good Omens is one of those books I'd like to make everyone read. Granted, a lot of the people I know have read it but it's the kind of book I'd probably get in a lot of trouble for giving to a teenage cousin. "But they have to read this— they just have to!"

Anyway, there has been some packing and even a little unpacking. None of course, done in the schedule I so carefully created a few weeks ago. I know that's a big surprise to everyone. (The devil's other instrument is Instagram, I betcha.)

Doesn't everyone label their book boxes by genre?

But the big, ugly, sweaty U-Haul fiasco is going to be this weekend. If anyone sees an explosion across the Baltimore skyline it's me and I've napalmed the whole neighborhood.

Is it clear that I hate moving? I do, however, love unpacking!

Dante: You hate people!
  Randal: But I love gatherings. Isn't it ironic?

And since we don't have any furniture upon which to unload our prized possessions we started with the kitchen. The kitchen has lots of cabinet and drawer space. More, in fact than we need — especially in the summer when it is viva produce — so I will have a fun time making sure I use all of them in a clever manner.

Let's do a Before and After reveal.

There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

We have signed the lease and received the keys! So we immediately went back over to the new place. And there was a bit of "oh, yeah, that's not so great. Oh, I forgot about that..." Luckily I immediately countered my Eeyore mentality with "so many awesome projects!"

I think the best "Oh dear, what have we done?" was after the discovery of two Exit signs on the main floor. I can only guess the building was once used for some kind of commerce or office space. Tricky but I've already got some ideas swirling around my brain. One of the best things about being the child of an artist and a programmer is that I can visualize all kinds of strange ideas. I occasionally can explain them well to the poor husband but I suspect that I sound like a lunatic most of the time. 

But the foremost "Oh this has got to go" is the super 80s chandelier dangling from the middle of my dining room. If we owned the place I would yank it but such is the life of a renter.

This house is so fire-safe it's not funny. Two exit signs and posted fire extinguishers in each floor.
I like the latter.

Yeah, that's right it has two layers of glass elongated octagon drops — in two sizes!There is an awkward sunburst pattern on each drop. Some part of me wants to incorporate some amazing 80s room but that would involve a whole lot of pastels and I don't even like pink!

My first idea was to get a spherical paper lantern to go around it. That way it would continue to shed light and hide all of the glass action. But that would hide — it's only redeeming feature —  the cool pattern that hits the ceiling. So, back to the drawing board. 

The drawing board that is various strangers' Pinterest boards, at least. There are so many cool ideas out there! What I'm leaning toward the most is a variation of two DIY projects:

Burlap & Plexiglass Pendant
This comes from The Keylor Family

Chicken Wire & Fabric Pendant
This is from Neal

The Keylor Pendant is lovely and clean. I will use their plexiglass and hoops to my advantage. The Neal pendant has that awesome fabric element that I like. Also, Neal's is open at the top so it allows more light and I can still get my pattern on the ceiling. (When I'm feeling really optimistic it reminds me of looking up through a tree canopy).

Photo courtesy of the Maryland DNR

Mayday!

We have one month to get all of our stuff together, streamlined and moved. This is a slightly longer distance move than I've done in the last eight years, almost a mile! (I've averaged a half mile in the last few, but the shortest was three blocks in which I moved most of my stuff with a handcart).

Looking at the calendar this morning I'm making a game-plan. If we don't stick to it strictly, oh well, but knowing that there is a relative time-line will keep me from going bonkers. It turns out to be a really good month to reduce my work load to part-time.

What is going to become a major concern is my current landlord wanting to show the place to prospective renters before we leave. I've never had that happen in a rental before and I'm a little creeped out by it to be honest. I can understand his impetus to get new people in the house as soon as he can though.  I need to ask the husband to get a ballpark date that these folks will be coming through.

Our Packing Schedule

May 1- 6

Office Area: This is currently the least-used room in the house (except for Lola who hides in the there from Chloe). There is a dresser to be given away/listed on Craigslist and I need to return the photos from my sisters' last exhibit that live in there. I need to sort through the old desk of my grandfather's (so gorgeous but in need of a good wood worker to clean up some of the rough edges). I think I'll begin to part with stuff that I've had since High School at this stage, which will hopefully be less traumatic than the last time i tried.

Cataloging of Books and DVDs: This is a monster job to be honest, at least with concern to the books so this will be an on-going job. There are a heck of a lot of them (especially with the influx of some of my father's). I'm reviewing Cataloging programs on CNet today and will do a test-run on Wednesday. as far as DVDs go we need to cull. I ordered a DVD binder from Amazon on Sunday that will allow us to reduce the physical space our collection takes and force us to sell/trade in/give away all of the movies we haven't watched in years. 

May 7-13:

Bedroom, Half of Basement & Storage Room: We started working on the basement this past weekend. We're donating towels to the animal shelter and clothes to the Goodwill. We both need to cull our collections of clothes. For me it's pants that are so ripped I don't wear anymore and cannot be donated and for him it's tee-shirts he hasn't worn since so-and-so stopped being an Oriole. I'd like to at least locate all of the boxes for things like my stand-mixer and get them in the same general area so we can pack up the kitchen easier. This will also make the basement seem less like something from The Inferno when hordes stream through to rent a hot new house on the rental market (sigh). I'd like to dismantle James' massive wardrobe sometime between here and the 20th. I'm sure we will Craigslist that piece too and Lola will sulk as she has for years attempted to get to Narnia. My poor cat. All necessary clothing can be housed in the dresser and the rest packed away.

May 14-20:

Half of Kitchen and Dining Room/Library: Once books have been catalogued I can begin to lovingly pack them up. The liquor cabinet will hopefully be drained during my Retirement/Birthday party this Saturday. I can pack up all our serving dishes, extra wineglasses, etc. After the wedding I have a bunch of glass storage and C&B crockery that I just unpacked and found homes for, oh well! I will of course leave the essentials at this point, like espresso machine and cutting boards.

May 20-31: 

Remains of Kitchen & Basement, The Living Room & Bathroom: The latter doesn't take much to pack up; most of the stuff in the Living Room is books, DVDs and records. And it's the same with the bathroom, the essentials we will be using right up until the end, obviously. What will be left in the basement at this point should be all of the boxes for the remaining items in the house (read: kitchen) and some laundry, ideally.  We can even break down our bed at a much earlier stage because our couch is a sofa bed - but a really comfortable one not a bar-across-the-back nightmare.

Oof, that's a lot to look at right now. I'm really avid to try out book cataloging, that's what I want to do after work today more than anything! 

What I need to remind of is that I have done many times before (this will be move number ten in my career). And I've done it relatively on my own before, too. This time i have a husband (and yes, a bunch of husband's stuff) but it's not like we're packing up Versailles! 

I just keep thinking about a Library Database and how much my father would smile to know I did it!