Moving In

Monday was the big day -- the truck arrived from NY with all our worldly goods, minus a few things we brought with us in June (Stephen) and September (Diane). Stephen had arranged for a co-worker's son and three of his friends to help unload. They got a little lost trying to find us in the maze of confusingly-named streets and cul-de-sacs in our neighborhood, but arrived in good time to start. It had turned sharply colder overnight, which was a bummer since Stephen had to pack the truck in the cold as well.

Our helpers were tireless, and by the time I picked up pizza for a late lunch, we had unloaded everything except for the big garage stuff such as the air compressor and the lathe. Stephen had borrowed the forklift from work to handle those items. Thankfully, I had to leave to go to work at that point so I didn't have to watch!

This is what every room in the house looked like when I left. Stephen and I had to work all day on Tuesday, so we didn't make any progress reducing the chaos. But on Wednesday morning, I needed to wait for the Direct TV guy, so I started unpacking boxes and setting up the bedroom and kitchen. My goal was to make it so that we could move in on Thursday. I didn't make much of a dent in the boxes, but I found the coffee maker, mugs, some bedding, night stands, and a lamp, among other things. By the time I went to work, I felt as though we might reach our Thursday goal.

On Thursday I had to be at the house by 9 AM to meet the mattress delivery guys. I wanted to get as much stuff as possible out of the apartment and bring Annabelle to the house by that time. I started as soon as Stephen left for work and made 17 trips down four flights of stairs with stuff. Annabelle and my oboe were the last things to go into the truck, and we made it to the house by quarter to nine. I really wish I understood what Annabelle was thinking. It must have been confusing to her to find our old familiar things (the couch, her toys, our bed) in an unfamiliar place. She followed me around all morning as I unpacked, talking away the whole time. Finally, she curled up on the bed and fell asleep. She acclimates very well to new situations, particularly considering how old she is (10). Our cat Maggie moved with us many times and always spent the first day hiding under a bed, terrified.

We stayed in the house overnight for the first time Thursday night. On Friday morning we were able to find the coffee and all the breakfast things. Stephen went off to work and I went shopping for food and bedding for the guest room. I also had to buy a microwave and various small items for the house such as magnetic cabinet latches, a paper towel holder, and a floor lamp.

Stephen picked up Katie at the airport after work and when my lessons were done I met them at Cafe Da Lat on Central Ave. Katie had done so much of the packing that she decided to come help with the unpacking! What an amazing housewarming gift! We were so excited to show her the house after dinner. Since we were exhausted from our crazy week and she was on East coast time, we turned in early.

On Saturday morning Katie and I got started organizing the kitchen before Stephen got up. Katie had actually unpacked and organized the kitchen in our Schuylerville house when we moved in, and in 16 years I only moved a couple of things. However, I have also come to enjoy cooking and baking since then, so I did have some idea of where things should go this time. Katie approved of most of the decisions I had already made, which made setting up the kitchen quite a bit faster than if we had needed to change everything I had already done.

When the kitchen was done, I wanted to show Katie the outside of the house since it was dark when she arrived the evening before. There were some things in the house that were supposed to have gone to the shed, such as flower pots, so we moved those and explored outside. Katie was glad to see that we have some cactus and large yucca in the landscape. We walked up to the start of the trail in the open space and Katie took a video. Then we decided we'd better get back to work!

We accomplished so much on Saturday afternoon that I can't remember the order we did things in. We put together the dining room furniture, found places to store things we don't use often, organized the boxes that can't be unpacked until we get more bookcases, put books on the bookcases we do have, and helped Stephen set up his office.

We quit at dinner time, and watched TV in the evening.

Saturday night I woke up hearing strange noises and got up to investigate. There was a tremendous snowstorm with wind blowing waves of snow against the skylight in the hall. Once I knew what I was hearing, I relaxed and went back to sleep. This is what we saw out the music room window Sunday morning.

The temperature was already above freezing, and the snow disappeared by about 10 AM.

After breakfast, Katie and I started breaking down boxes, folding packing paper, and consolidating boxes of packing peanuts. It was a lengthy process, and I was extremely glad I didn't have to do it by myself. Now Stephen has to take all the empty boxes and packing material to work where it will get reused.

When we were done with that, we brought boxes of books to Stephen's office and Katie got to see where he works. Then we went to the apartment to finish clearing it out, and while we were there I did a load of laundry, since we don't have a washer and dryer at the house yet. We had a late lunch at the Flying Star Cafe and headed back to the house to unload the apartment boxes. More boxes!

All work and no play would have been a shame, so Katie and I went to Old Town in the afternoon for some shopping. There was New Mexico music playing in the square and lots of people out enjoying the day. Katie got a kick out of the Christmas decorations next to cactus in several locations. We went in galleries and gift shops and Katie took photos of the old buildings. Then we headed back to the house for dinner and some more unpacking. We skyped with my family and Katie talked with her family on the phone, then we settled down for some TV and a snack.

Monday morning Stephen got ready to go to work and Katie packed. He took her to the airport on his way to the office. It was such an amazing weekend and I feel like we're really settled in to our new house now, able to find almost all of our things and to get on with our excellent adventure.