Thursday, October 23, 2008

Home Sweet Home

After a lot of struggle, frustration, and exhaustion, Danny and I have finally completed the move to our home. We got access to the house on Saturday at noon. As soon as we entered the living room, Danny and I shared a celebratory kiss.

We had already bought supplies at Costco and unloaded them from the car as soon as we arrived. Although the interior was basically ok, there was a lot of leftover dog hair, so I got to work on the floors. Despite the dog hair situation, Danny and I still want to get a dog of our own and have been checking out shelters.

On Sunday, Danny experienced the “joys” of yardwork while raking the entire front and back yard. We discovered a lawnmower in the garage but haven’t tested it to see if it works. If so, I may give the lawn a quick mow before winter sets in. We also met our immediate neighbors, Loraine, a nice older lady, and Paul, who has a dog (we’ve heard the dog, but haven’t seen it yet) which barks every time we close our car doors.

Monday was installation day: we had the cable set up and the washer/dryer installed. I was worried the latter might not fit down the narrow stairwell to the basement, but the movers were just barely able to squeeze them in. The house (built in 1942) has a laundry chute, a great time saver. We had considered spending the Monday night at the house, but with the movers coming early Tuesday morning, decided to head back to the apartment for one final night.

Tuesday was a frustrating ordeal, mostly because of continuing problems at Richmond Park Apartments. The elevator nearest our apartment hasn’t been working for ten months, so the movers had to haul our stuff all the way to the central elevator, which caused considerable delay. It took until 4pm for the delivery to our new place to be complete. And then there was the dilemma of unpacking. Danny and I did all we could before collapsing in the evening.

We awoke early Wednesday to pick up Zsolt for his trip to the airport - - he’s heading to Japan to play some concerts. Zsolt treated us to a comforting early morning breakfast at First Watch CafĂ© (we all ordered the same thing) before we battled rush hour traffic. After dropping Zsolt off, Danny and I headed back to the apartment where we left a few items behind. I plan to head there again on Saturday to do a quick cleanup and finalize our departure.

Over the past few days, I’ve reviewed a few small problems which will require attention soon, including a repair to the toilet that I plan to take care of this weekend. Although the house doesn’t appear to be a money pit, as an older dwelling it will definitely be a work pit for the foreseeable future. Ah, the joys of ownership...

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